Fantasy Football Player Predictions: Christian Watson, Alexander Mattison, Khalil Herbert, Zay Flowers (2023)

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. In this series, our analysts took a look at some of the biggest storylines from 2022 and predicted players who could fit that mold in 2023. This means hyped players who busted instead of breaking out, unheralded sleepers who finished in the top tier of their position, rookie breakouts, and more.

• More Fantasy Football Advice
• Snake Draft Pick Strategy: Early | Middle | Late
• Best Ball Draft Primers: QB | RB | WR | TE
• 2023 Fantasy Football Draft Kit

This Year’s Gabe Davis

Christian Watson (WR – GB)

This year’s Gabe Davis: A hyped WR being drafted inside the top 75 overall/top 30 WRs who busts

It’s not that I think Christian Watson is going to be a bust. (I’m above consensus on him in the WR rankings.) It’s that there are two potential paths to disappointment with Watson: (1) Jordan Love proves to be a substandard NFL quarterback, and (2) the gap between Watson and Romeo Doubs/Jayden Reed is smaller than commonly perceived. Watson is a size-speed mutant and fared well in some key metrics as a rookie, but a handful of big plays added jet fuel to his numbers. He has a wide range of outcomes for 2023, and the floor might be lower than Watson enthusiasts care to acknowledge. – Pat Fitzmaurice

This Year’s Chase Edmonds

Alexander Mattison (RB – MIN)

This year’s Chase Edmonds: An unproven RB being drafted inside the top 75 overall/top 30 RBs who busts

Avoid. Avoid. Avoid. Alexander Mattison at all costs this season. Mattison is a classic dead-zone fantasy back. A flimsy bet on perceived volume that could blow up in your face by midseason. Mattison is a back on the decline, which could be passed on the depth chart as the season rolls along. His yards after contact per attempt have dropped in the last four seasons, while his yards per route run has dipped over the last three years. Last season he only managed one run of 15-plus yards with his 74 carries. Mattison’s impending belly flop could cost fantasy managers their seasons. – DBro

This Year’s Rhamondre Stevenson

Khalil Herbert (RB – CHI)

This year’s Rhamondre Stevenson: An unproven RB being drafted outside the top 75 overall/top 30 RBs who finishes as an RB1

Khalil Herbert has played 8 games with the Bears were he has received at least 13 touches. He has averaged 15.1 fantasy points per game (half-PPR) in those contests. Fantasy RB1 numbers. Bears RB1 averaged 16.2 touches per game last season. – Erickson

This Year’s Garrett Wilson

Zay Flowers (WR – BAL)

This year’s Garrett Wilson: A rookie WR outside the top 50 WRs who finishes top 24

First-round rookie Zay Flowers joins a Ravens offense that figures to be less run-heavy this year under new offensive coordinator Todd Monken. The other two primary WRs in Baltimore, Rashod Bateman and Odell Beckham, have had injury issues. Flowers should get opportunities to show off his speed and playmaking ability in Year 1. – Pat Fitzmaurice

If you want to dive deeper into fantasy football, be sure to check out our award-winning slate of Fantasy Football Tools as you navigate your season. From our Start/Sit Assistant – which provides your optimal lineup based on accurate consensus projections – to our Trade Analyzer – which allows you to instantly find out if a trade offer benefits you or your opponent – we’ve got you covered this fantasy football season.