Sales of Wild Turkey undoubtedly increased to levels unmatched since Pat Summerall stopped imbibing Sunday afternoon in New England and across the country where fantasy football players who spent a top five draft pick or large percentages of their auction dollars on Tom Brady mourned the all-but-confirmed shredding of the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee.

While Brady’s injury cleary presents a massive blow to the hopes of many owners be glad that it happened in week one rather than in week 10 or 12. You have three months to find a way to replace the league’s first or second best quarterback.

In all likelihood, to fully recoup his value, you’ll need to make a big trade somewhere along the line. But in the short-term there are several options available to you at quarterback. While none of them will leave you whole they can get you by until you can make that bigger move.

One option is taking a look at Matt Cassel. While he hasn’t been a starter since high school he does have a cadre of weapons unmatched by nearly any other team. Randy Moss, Ben Watson, Wes Welker, Jabar Gaffney and four running backs that contribute as skill position players give him a lot of options to utilize as he attempts to fill Brady’s shoes for the next 15 weeks and change.

Don’t forget, it was an injury to Drew Bledsoe that allowed Brady to earn his star status in the first place. Nobody is predicting that kind of success for the least-heralded of the recent USC quarterback alums. But he is a young, hungry quarterback in search of an opportunity to show what he can do.

It’s likely that if you had Brady you didn’t keep a backup quarterback. If you opt for Cassel I’d suggest adding someone else just in case he proves to be nothing more than a low-level backup.
Some guys that might still be sitting on your free agent wires include the following:

Trent Edwards, Buffalo – Edwards looked solid in leading the Bills to a win over Seattle Sunday. He’s got a solid receiver, albeit an inconsistent one, in Lee Evans. And Marshawn Lynch provides a solid punch in the running game. James Hardy should emerge as at least a red zone threat at some point this year. He was the immediate answer for one of our teams and one of my brother’s teams in replacing Brady and while he is clearly several steps down he should be decent filler.

Kurt Warner, Arizona – Warner won’t be available in all leagues but he falls somewhere into that mid-tier of NFL starting quarterbacks. But what he has that most quarterbacks don’t is weaponry like Larry Fitzgerald and Anquan Boldin. Add to that a workmanlike running game led by Edgerrin James and Warner’s own leadership and veteran presence and you have a guy more than capable of stepping in on your fantasy team … as long as that offensive line can keep him healthy.

Jon Kitna, Detroit – Ditto for Kitna. The Lions quarterback will again hover around 20 interceptions for sure. But Kevin Smith shows signs of being able to provide a running game and Kitna, like Warner, is surrounded by weapons. Roy Williams and Calvin Johnson are a top five wide receiver combination that will keep Kitna’s numbers formiddable, as long as your league doesn’t do negative points for interceptions.

Philip Rivers, San Diego – Coming off his own ACL injury, Rivers went undrafted and unbought in at least a couple of the Zoneblitz leagues this year. But he started off the season with a bang, tossing three touchdowns to each of Chris Chambers, Antonio Gates and Vincent Jackson. While he’s been a bit of a yapper in the past he appears ready to provide LaDainian Tomlinson with some help in the passing game that hasn’t been as strongly available for San Diego in recent years.

Jake Delhomme, Carolina – Delhomme is another quarterback coming off of an injury-lost season. But check out his numbers from before he got hurt last year – he was on fire. The Panthers stole a win from San Diego in week one and when Delhomme gets Steve Smith back in week three his numbers should improve over what he has done already.

Matt Ryan, Atlanta – It’s hard to say whether his week one performance was a result of him being that good or Detroit still being Detroit. I thought the Lions were going to improve this season though, so I’m giving Ryan some credit. It’s incredibly risky rolling with a rookie quarterback on a fantasy team, especially one that starts for a team that will likely be as bad as Atlanta still should be this season. But his success in week one was enough for one Zoneblitz league opponent to drop Kurt Warner and pick up Ryan. I’m not recommending that but his performance did leave him someone to keep an eye on.

Jason Campbell, Washington – Washington stunk in week one. And it’s hard to say why. Campbell doesn’t have the same level of weapons as Kitna, Edwards, Rivers, or Warner, but he does have Chris Cooley, Santana Moss and change. He wouldn’t be my first choice but if you have to pick a quarterback on a matchup-by-matchup basis, you could do worse than Campbell some weeks.

Damon Huard, Kansas City – The Chiefs offense took a dramatic upturn when Huard replaced Brodie Croyle, who left his game with a bruised shoulder. He’s another guy I wouldn’t necessarily sign as a full-time replacement. But against certain teams he could fare fine.

Matt Schaub, Houston – There are a lot of questions about Schaub, who hasn’t lived up to the billing he had leaving Atlanta as Michael Vick’s backup. But he’s shown flashes. If he and Andre Johnson can stay healthy he’ll have some big weeks this season.

Losing a guy like Brady is definitely tough. He’s not a replaceable part. But it’s waaaaaaaaaaaay too early to give up on an entire season because of one injury. This is why you don’t blow off the late rounds of your fantasy drafts – you need depth, especially early in the season. And you need some sleepers to come through to provide yourself with trade bait that can land you a more legitimate replacement for Brady down the line.

Choose wisely and you can still have a successful fantasy season.