Our analysts have put together fantasy football outlooks for all fantasy-relevant players. You can find them on our player pages and via our Expert Consensus Rankings (ECR). These will be updated throughout the preseason to help you navigate your fantasy football drafts utilizing our bevy of tools, including our FREE draft simulator and cheat sheet creator. We’ll cover players in different groups to help you identify those to target and others to avoid. Let’s take a look at Konami Code quarterbacks to consider in fantasy football drafts.
By now, most fantasy football managers have heard of the term Konami Code. As it sounds, it’s become a cheat code of sorts. Rich Hribar of Sharp Football Analysis coined the term as it relates to fantasy football. In his words from this 2013 article:
If you’ve never played Contra, it doesn’t matter (except we can never be friends). What’s important is that this is the most famous cheat code ever created. And I’m here to tell you that the Konami Code has been entered into our game of Fantasy Football, namely the rushing quarterbacks and how they affect standard scoring.
Since then, rushing quarterbacks have taken the league by storm. It’s important to know of the strategy and identify potential Konami Code quarterbacks to target in fantasy football drafts. Here’s a look at 2023’s crop of Konami Code quarterbacks.
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Fantasy Football Konami Code Quarterback Draft Targets
Here are 2023 Konami Code quarterbacks. Pat Fitzmaurice provides his outlook for each of the QBs listed.
Josh Allen finished QB2 in fantasy scoring behind Patrick Mahomes last season after finishing QB1 in 2020 and 2021. Allen remains capable of putting fantasy teams on his shoulders in any given week with multi-TD spike games. He’s thrown for more than 4,000 yards in three straight seasons and has finished with 35 to 37 TD passes every year during that span. Allen adds immense value with his legs. He’s run for 700+ yards in each of the last two years and has had at least six TD runs in each of his five NFL seasons. Allen is likely to be the first QB off the board in most 2023 fantasy drafts.
Hurts gave us a taste of his fantasy potential in 2021 and then cooked a seven-course meal in 2022, improving his passing numbers across the board, providing enormous rushing value and leading all quarterbacks with 25.6 fantasy points per game. Hurts was a highly efficient passer in his second full season as a starter, completing 66.5% of his throws at 8.0 yards per attempt, with a miniscule 1.3% INT rate. But it’s the running game where Hurts really makes his bones. He ran for 13 touchdowns last year and has 23 TD runs over the last two seasons. Hurts has topped 750 rushing yards in each of the last two seasons, averaging 51.5 rushing yards per game over that span. He plays behind one of the best offensive lines in football and can throw to three terrific targets: A.J. Brown, DeVonta Smith and Dallas Goedert. Hurts belongs on the top QB tier along with Josh Allen and Patrick Mahomes.
Drafters might get a slight discount on Lamar Jackson this year after a second consecutive season in which injuries limited him to 12 games. In 2021, it was bone bruise in his ankle that prematurely ended Jackson’s season. In 2022, it was a sprained PCL in his knee. Jackson has been a lethal running threat throughout his career, averaging 63.4 rushing yards per game over his five NFL seasons. Jackson will be playing for new, pass-friendlier offensive coordinator Todd Monken after the Ravens parted ways with Greg Roman. Even with the uncertainty and the recent injuries, Jackson is still an upper-echelon fantasy quarterback capable of a QB1 finish.
Justin Fields was electric as a runner in 2022. If he can significantly boost his passing numbers in 2023, look out. Fields ran for 1,143 yards and eight touchdowns last season, averaging a league-high 7.1 yards per carry. He ran for 178 yards and a touchdown against the Dolphins in Week 9, breaking the single-game rushing record for a quarterback — then ran for 147 yards and two touchdowns against the Lions the following week. But Fields averaged 149.5 passing yards per game and topped the 200-yard mark only twice in 2022. In his defense, Fields was saddled by a mediocre offensive line and arguably the worst WR group in the league. The Bears have already traded for WR D.J. Moore and figure to bolster their offensive line in the NFL Draft, giving Fields a chance to make the same sort of quantum leap that Jalen Hurts made in 2022.
A mistake-prone turnover machine during his first three NFL seasons, Daniel Jones flourished in Year Four under first-year Giants head coach Brian Daboll, finishing QB9 in fantasy scoring. Jones ran for 708 yards and seven touchdowns in 2022. He averaged only 200.3 passing yards per game and threw 15 TD passes in 15 starts, but Jones didn’t have much pass-catching talent at his disposal and could increase his passing output now that the Giants have added more weaponry. Jones figures to be a low-end QB1 or high-end QB2 in 2023 fantasy drafts.
Anthony Richardson might have the highest ceiling of the three quarterbacks taken in the first round of this year’s NFL Draft. The 6-4, 235-pound Richardson has ideal size, a rocket for his arm and eye-opening running ability — all of which was on full display at this year’s NFL Scouting Combine, where Richardson tested like Superman. But Richardson was a starter for only one of his three seasons at the University of Florida, and after completing only 53.8% of his passes in 2022, there are questions about his accuracy. Richardson landed in a good spot with the Colts, where he’ll work under new head coach Shane Steichen, who helped develop Jalen Hurts in Philadelphia and Justin Herbert in Los Angeles. Richardson can tide over his fantasy managers with rushing production while his passing skills are developing.
Kyler Murray will pose an interesting dilemma for fantasy drafters in 2023. A dangerous dual-threat QB who’s averaged 21.2 fantasy points over 57 NFL starts, Murray tore his ACL on Dec. 12 and may not be ready for the start of the season, so his recovery will have to be monitored closely over the summer. Murray regressed as a passer in 2022, averaging just 6.1 yards per attempt. But Murray finished QB2 in fantasy scoring in 2020, and at his best he’s a difference-making quarterback who can rack up fantasy points with both his arm and his legs.
Will Trey Lance be a starter when the 49ers kick off the 2023 season? It seems likely that he’ll compete with Brock Purdy for the starter’s job (assuming Purdy’s elbow has healed by late summer), and it’s possible 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan will put his thumb on the scale for Purdy after the seventh-round pick from Iowa State helped guide the Niners into the playoffs. The 49ers have added Sam Darnold to the mix as well. Lance is a dangerous runner with ample arm talent, and this will be his age-23 season, so there’s plenty of time for him to make good on the potential that inspired the 49ers to give away multiple first-round draft picks in order to trade up and draft Lance. But the North Dakota State product has thrown just 420 passes since high school and still has a great deal to prove. Lance could be one of the best QB values of 2023 or a complete waste of a draft pick.
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