Issue #261: Left Handed

By Derrick Ernst

March 22, 2026

Travis Achane

I got carried away last issue that I didn’t leave enough space to tell you guys my thoughts on the leagues newest Achane. I’ve been seeing things saying that his signing to NO is a Kamara 2.0 of sorts (who by the way is still with NO). I had similar initial feelings until I took a deeper dive. Do you know how horrid NO’s run game was last season? Last in the league horrid. It didn’t help that every one of there RBs struggled to stay on the field, but none shined when they were on it.

Have you ever seen a worse set of RBs?

Source: Fantasy Footballers

Perhaps every last ranked RB room looks like this at the end of a season. What’s crazy is that all these RB’s are still (currently) with the team as of today, in addition to T. Etienne and T. Chandler. I’d like to think Kamara is out the door, plus some others. There’s no denying Etienne will get the lion’s share, but even that doesn’t get me too excited. One of the things that has made Etienne (and Kamara) valuable is there pass catching abilities. Over his career, Kamara has averaged 85 targets/season. Last year, NO RB’s saw 77 targets combined. Assuming scheming remains relatively unchanged YoY there’s a facet of Etienne’s game that may not be as well utilized as fantasy managers would like. I believe I’ve said this before, but I think QB, T. Shough could be a sneaky fantasy play this season, especially if NO beefs up their WR room via the draft.

Lefty Loosey

When Tua signed with ATL my first thought was that two left-handed QBs on the same team feels like an oddity. I mean, there have only been 33 left-handed QB’s in NFL history to ever appear in a game. To take it a step further, there have been only two instances of two left-handed QB’s playing on the same team and starting at least one game for that team in the same season:

1) 1991 Cincinnati Bengels (Boomer Esiason and Erik Wilhelm)

2) 1997 Jacksonville Jaguars (Mark Brunell and Steve Matthews)

Assuming the Penix/Tua duo does such this year, it’ll be made three.

What do you think of when you hear “left-handed QB?” Admittedly, I think “not very good.” There are exceptions to this, but there are reasons for why left-handed and NFL don’t pair well together:

• Opposite blind side: traditionally the left tackle, having a left-handed QB switches those duties to a right tackle

• Clockwise spin: traditionally the football spins counterclockwise when a right-handed QB throws it. A left-handed QB spins it the opposite direction making it more of a challenge for WR’s to catch

• Coaching development: Most offensive minds gain experience going through the ranks with right-handed QB’s mainly by why of the sheer volume of them

I’m sure there are others, but I think you can understand the heightened level of difficulty. As a result, the number of successful left-handed QB’s to ever play the game is limited. Question for you: Who are the QB’s that come to mind when you think of being left-handed?

I bet your answer depends on your age. For me it’s the likes of Tim Tebow, Michael Vick, Tua, Penix, and Steve Young and Boomer who are outside of my era but I know from a historical sense. Perhaps this is not so much a hot take, but I’d argue left-handed QB’s are better serviced in the NCAA than NFL.

Some fun facts about left-handed QBs:

• Only two are in the Hall of Fame (Steve Young and Kenny Stabler)

• There have only been two instances of a left-handed QB throwing for over 4,000 yards in a season (Mark Brunell, 1996 and Scott Mitchell, 1995)

• Michael Vick has the 2nd most rushing yards by a QB in NFL history with 6,109 (trails Lamar Jackson)

• Kellen Moore has the most wins by a QB in NCAA history (50)

• Dillon Gabriel has the most passing TD’s in NCAA history (155)

We’re going to cut things here. It’s 75 degrees(!) in MN today (Saturday) and the outdoors is calling my name. T-minus three weeks until Masters Sunday!