The 2023 fantasy football season is almost here. Regardless of your draft strategy, fantasy players want to leave the draft with the guys on their must-have list.
Here are early-round, mid-round, and late-round quarterbacks and tight ends that fantasy players shouldn’t leave the draft without having on their roster.
- More Fantasy Football Advice
- Snake Draft Pick Strategy: Early | Middle | Late
- Draft Targets for Every Round: Early | Middle | Late
- Fitz’s Draft Primers: QB | RB | WR | TE
Must-Have Quarterbacks & Tight Ends (2023 Fantasy Football)
Early-Round Targets
Jalen Hurts (PHI): ADP 22.3 | QB3
Hurts was a popular breakout candidate last year and produced for fantasy players. He was the QB3, averaging 25.2 fantasy points per game. Furthermore, the superstar was the QB1 on a points-per-game basis. Hurts has been a force in the run game since taking over as the full-time starter in 2021. He has averaged 51.5 rushing yards per game and totaled 23 rushing touchdowns over the past two years. Meanwhile, the superstar is coming off a career season in the passing game after the Eagles added A.J. Brown. He had two or more passing touchdowns in 53.3% of the games last season, including three contests with three or more passing scores.
More importantly, Hurts has more potential rushing upside this season with Miles Sanders in Carolina. While D’Andre Swift, Rashaad Penny, and Kenneth Gainwell are a solid running back trio, the Eagles lack a featured running back. Last year, Sanders had 11 rushing touchdowns, finishing eighth in the NFL. Meanwhile, Hurts finished second with 13 rushing touchdowns. Unless one of the three running backs proves to be productive at the goal line, the superstar quarterback could average a rushing touchdown per game this season. After finishing as the QB1 on a points-per-game basis last year, don’t be surprised if Hurts is the top-scoring quarterback in 2023.
Travis Kelce (KC): ADP 5.7 | TE1
There has been debate over whether or not Kelce is worthy of the 1.01 pick and while fantasy players shouldn’t use the first overall pick on the tight end, the superstar is worthy of a top-six selection. The veteran tight end scores like a top-10 wide receiver or running back every year, usually finishing closer to the top five. More importantly, the future Hall of Famer gives fantasy players such an advantage every week at the tight end position. He has been the TE1 for four of the past five years, with the lone exception coming two years ago as the TE2.
Kelce averaged 15.4 half-point PPR fantasy points per game last season, which was an average of four more fantasy points per game than any other tight end. Furthermore, the veteran led all tight ends and wide receivers in yards after the catch last season. More importantly, Kelce led all tight ends in red zone targets (30) and finished second in yards per route run (2.44). The future Hall of Famer is the only tight end fantasy players should draft in the first three rounds.
Mid-Round Targets
Justin Fields (CHI): ADP 45.3 | QB6
Unfortunately, Fields got off to a slow start last year. He averaged only 16.8 passing attempts and 10.4 fantasy points per game over the first four weeks. However, things changed in Week 5 when the second-year quarterback had 208 passing yards and 17 fantasy points. That performance kickstarted his breakout season. From Week 5 through Week 16, Fields was the QB5, averaging 24.1 fantasy points per game. While the quarterback was a fantasy star because of his legs, the Ohio State alum was a better passer than people give him credit for.
Fields was eighth in air yards per attempt (8.9), seventh in red zone completion percentage (62.2%), fourth in red zone accuracy rating (7.4), and 16th in deep ball accuracy rating (5.9) last season. Those numbers should improve even more this year with the addition of DJ Moore. Furthermore, the star quarterback only played three complete games with Darnell Mooney and Chase Claypool last year. He also has arguably the safest floor among quarterbacks because of his elite rushing ability. Fields is my pick to have a Jalen Hurts-like third-year breakout this season.
Darren Waller (NYG): ADP 63.7 | TE6
I’ve gone back and forth with my opinion of Waller this off-season. The veteran was a fantasy superstar in 2020. He was the TE2 that year, averaging 9.1 targets and 14.1 half-point PPR fantasy points per game. Unfortunately, Waller has missed over 40% of his contests the past two seasons because of injuries. Furthermore, his targets per game dropped by 25.3% from 2020 over the past two years. He comes with injury risk, but it’s baked into his ADP.
Fantasy players can land Waller and his overall TE1 upside in the sixth round. Last year, the former superstar led all tight ends in deep targets (13) despite missing nearly half the season. Furthermore, he finished second in yards per reception (13.9), fifth in yards per target (nine), and 11th in yards per route run (1.69) among tight ends. Waller does come with some risk, but he will be the top target guy for Daniel Jones and the duo had a strong connection during the Week 2 preseason matchup. Waller has league-winning upside as the sixth tight end off the board.
Late-Round Targets
Geno Smith (SEA): ADP 115.7 | QB16
There were several surprises in the fantasy football world last year, and Geno Smith was the most significant. While many expected him to lose the starting job, the veteran had a career year. The former West Virginia star was the QB5, averaging 17.9 fantasy points per game. He finished fourth in the NFL in passing touchdowns, only behind Patrick Mahomes, Josh Allen, and Joe Burrow. Yet, Smith has a much lower ADP than those three quarterbacks. More importantly, Seattle did everything possible to help the veteran this offseason. Instead of selecting his replacement, Seattle used a first-round pick on wide receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba.
Smith now has arguably the top trio of wide receivers in the NFL. Last year, the veteran was one of the best deep ball passers in the league. He ranked fifth in deep ball completion percentage (45.5%), third in deep ball accuracy rating (6.6), first in passing touchdowns 20 or more yards downfield (14), and first in big-time throws 20 or more yards downfield by PFF (14). Meanwhile, the Seahawks ranked 15th in pass attempts last year. Yet, many think they will be more pass-happy this season. Fantasy players who miss out on a superstar quarterback should make Smith their top target in the double-digit rounds.
Sam LaPorta (DET): ADP 163.3 | TE17
The rookie tight end’s ADP is on the rise after he has mostly played with the first-team offense during training camp. However, LaPorta is still criminally underrated as the 17th tight end off the board. Amon-Ra St. Brown was the only Lion with over 70 targets last year, raking in 146. Behind the star wide receiver was D’Andre Swift, with 76 targets, and Kalif Raymond, who finished third with 64 targets . More importantly, the Lions did little to improve their wide receiver core this offseason despite Jameson Williams receiving a six-game suspension.
Instead, Detroit used a top-35 pick in the 2023 NFL Draft on LaPorta. The former Iowa tight end had a productive college career despite playing with awful quarterbacks, totaling 153 receptions for 1,786 receiving yards and five touchdowns. The Lions got 12 receiving touchdowns from their tight ends last season, with nine coming from someone other than T.J. Hockenson, and Jared Goff was impressive in the red zone last year. He finished seventh in red zone attempts (88) and 10th in red zone completion percentage (59.1%). LaPorta could quickly become Goff’s go-to target in the red zone.
More Players to Target & Avoid
- Pat Fitzmaurice: (Targets | Avoids) (Premium)
- Andrew Erickson: (Targets | Avoids) (Premium)
- Derek Brown: (Targets | Avoids) (Premium)
- Fantasy Football Sleepers for Every Team (Premium)
- How to Identify Fantasy Football Busts (Premium)
- Erickson’s Guide to Drafting Players on Good Offenses
- Fantasy Football Draft Values for Every Round
- Hoppen’s Final Round Draft Dart Throws
- Predicting First-Round Bust Candidates
- DBro’s Wide Receiver Lottery Tickets
- Erickson’s Running Back Lottery Tickets
- Hoppen’s 4 Players Who Could Become First-Round Picks Next Year
- Players to Target in Each Round (v2 | v3)
- Players to Avoid in Each Round
- Late-Round Draft Targets
- Late-Round QB Targets in Superflex Leagues | More QB Sleepers
- Late-Round RB Targets | More RB Sleepers | July RB Targets
- Late-Round WR Targets
- Late-Round TE Targets
- Deep Dart Throw Draft Targets
- WRs to Target in the RB Dead Zone (v2)| RBs to Avoid in the RB Dead Zone | RBs to Target in RB Dead Zone
- Identifying the Next WR1s | Identifying the Next RB1s
- 2022 Duds That Will Become 2023 Studs
- 4 Kickers To Target at the End of Drafts
- Making the Case for RB1
- Post-Hype Sleepers
- The Worst Fantasy Football Team You Could Draft at ADP
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Mike Fanelli is a featured writer at FantasyPros. For more from Mike, check out his archive and follow him @Mike_NFL2.
