3 Players Experts Draft With Confidence (2023 Fantasy Football)

Preseason is fun, but we’re ready for the good stuff. Another week or so of fantasy drafts, and then we’ll be watching NFL games that count.

As we enter the home stretch of fantasy draft season, FantasyPros analysts Derek Brown, Andrew Erickson and Pat Fitzmaurice continue a series of preseason roundtables by discussing players in whom they’ve gained or lost confidence over the last month, how to handle the Buccaneers’ top fantasy performers, favorite late-round targets and more. Here’s the full article, and below we dive into one of the sections.

Which player have you gained the most confidence in based on the preseason? Who do you feel much more comfortable drafting now than you did a month ago?

Pat Fitzmaurice: Dameon Pierce. I’ve been a fan of his for a while, but it was hard to tell what Houston’s signing of Devin Singletary would mean for Pierce, particularly after Pierce seemed to run out of gas during the second half of his rookie season. Pierce has taken nearly all the snaps with the Texans’ starters in the preseason, making Singletary look like a pure backup rather than a platoon partner. The limitations of the Houston offense might prevent Pierce from being a top-12 RB, but the possibility that he’ll be used as a workhorse makes me feel good about drafting Pierce as a low-end RB2. (I have him ranked RB18.)

Derek Brown: My conviction has never wavered regarding Roschon Johnson. My bet all along has been that Johnson will eventually take over the Chicago backfield. Looking at his preseason production and usage, I remain steadfast in my belief. Johnson has been electric as a ballcarrier, ranking 12th in elusive rating and 13th in yards after contact per attempt (per PFF) while flashing a three-down skill set. Johnson’s ability as a blocker can allow him to carve out a workhorse role in his rookie season. He ranked 14th in pass-blocking grade with the most preseason pass protection reps on the team (per PFF). Johnson will be the lead back in 2023, and it won’t take as long for him to establish himself as many might believe if his exemplary preseason bleeds over into real action with the regular-season lights on.

Andrew Erickson: I was more than ready to adjust my priors on the Travis Etienne/Tank Bigsby situation in the Jacksonville backfield should the preseason usage have called for it, but it simply didn’t. When we finally saw substantial reps from the first-team offense in preseason Week 3, Etienne led with a 65% snap share. He played 100% of snaps on third and fourth down and saw both touches in two short-yardage situations. Bigsby lost a fumble from outside the 5-yard line. On the next drive, Etienne scored from inside the 3-yard line. Coaches are going to give the ball to the one they TRUST in the red zone … and that dude is Travis Etienne. Etienne is a young, explosive running back looking at a 65% snap share in a high-powered offense with a massive TD upside, and you can draft him in Round 4. League. Winner.