I’ve reached the age where, although not technically yet balding, I leave some strands on the brush with each pass. The testosterone causing this hair loss also throws me into a rage when my favorite fantasy stud gets tackled at the one-yard line.
- More Fantasy Football Advice
- Snake Draft Pick Strategy: Early | Middle | Late
- Expert Consensus Fantasy Football Draft Rankings
- Fantasy Football Mock Draft Simulator
Finding This Year’s Jamaal Williams (2023 Fantasy Football)
2022 was the year of the vulture. No, it’s not on the lunar calendar. The buzzard who took the most steaming pie off the window sill last season was Jamaal Williams in Detroit. He scored 18 touchdowns on the season, a stat that overshadows his very productive 1,000-yard rushing campaign. All but a couple of those scores were from inside the five-yard line, at the expense of Amon-Ra St. Brown and D’Andre Swift.
A prolific gap-style runner, Williams followed one of the best young offensive lines in the NFL to enough paydirt to eclipse the great Barry Sanders’ franchise record.
The question that stems from such a great and unexpected season is, “Who’s next?” Williams is now shrouded in a crowded committee in New Orleans with prolific touchdown producer Alvin Kamara and exciting rookie Kendre Miller.
A repeat of last season seems even more unlikely than it was at this point during the 2022 offseason. Who will catch the perfect windfall of goal line opportunities and favorably efficient circumstances this season? The answer is staring us right in the face.
Finding This Year’s Jamaal Williams
Before I reveal who will be the 2023 version of 2022 Jamaal Williams, there were a couple of guys who came to mind and just didn’t quite make the cut.
Tyler Allgeier was the second RB from BYU to rush for 1,000 yards in a season. He accomplished that feat very shortly after Williams did. Everyone wants to shovel dirt on Allgeier now that the Falcons were able to light their draft capital ablaze to win the services of Bijan Robinson. Allgeier has all the requisite traits to draw ire when he punches in more touchdowns at the goal line instead of the generational rookie.
The other player who I could totally see as an annoyance on the NFL RedZone channel is Antonio Gibson. The closer comp to Williams comes from Brian Robinson, but new offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy loves to get funky at the goal line like his old boss Andy Reid and find mismatches. Gibson is a matchup nightmare who has yet to be properly utilized in Washington.
Some might say Damien Harris’ arrival in Buffalo is noteworthy. I completely disagree. The goal line back in Buffalo is still Josh Allen. Harris serves only as a decimal point plodder between the 20s, while James Cook is expected to seize all of the other high-value work from the backfield. Allen is also not likely to call Harris’ number at the goal line very often, considering he is bigger and better at getting the job done. Harris is a complete avoid in fantasy.
This year’s Jamaal Williams, the man who will cause the most fantasy football-driven belly-aching this season, is D’Onta Foreman. Williams was virtually free at the end of drafts last summer and turned into a waiver-plug darling. The three-headed committee in Chicago has us begging for a uniform pecking order of defined roles.
Rookie Roschon Johnson is the future of the Bears backfield, but the elder Texas Longhorns legend packs more punch in short-yardage situations. Khalil Herbert is an intelligent runner who chewed up a lot of yards in relief of David Montgomery last season, including a stunning RB1 Week that yielded me a wonderful daily fantasy sports (DFS) payout.
Johnson and Herbert are probably set to alternate series in 2023, with the hope that one of them seizes high-value touches instead of Foreman. The scenario playing in my head is Foreman is good enough to earn all the goal line work and short-yardage bruising work to protect Justin Fields from injury while also taking a good-sized sliver of the early-down pie. Those with Herbert and Johnson will be left wanting like those of us who rostered Swift last season.
Although 18 touchdowns are hardly attainable as a best-case scenario, the Bears were among the most run-heavy offenses in the league last season. Should the unit play more efficient football this season, the scoring opportunities will occur more frequently. Foreman will be licking his chops, ready to lower his shoulder pads ahead of his 233-pound frame.
His 2,000-yard season in Austin was a very long time ago, but the scent of the end zone paint is still fresh in Foreman’s memory. He scored 15 times that season…in 11 games. Ponder that while you’re on the clock at the end of your fantasy draft.
More ‘Finding This Year’s’ Series
- Finding This Year’s Evan Engram
- Finding This Year’s Christian Kirk
- Finding This Year’s Josh Jacobs
- Finding This Year’s Dameon Pierce
- Finding This Year’s Dalton Schultz
Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Google Podcasts | Stitcher | SoundCloud | iHeartRadio
