Derek Brown’s Players to Avoid (2023 Fantasy Football)

Break out the sunscreen, a fan, and a tank top. The temperatures have reached scorching levels, which can mean only one thing outside of the fact that I’m safe inside with my spreadsheets, AC, and best ball drafts. Fantasy football season is quickly approaching, and now is the time to start prepping for your leagues. Don’t worry. I’ve been grinding all offseason and have prepared a list of the players I’ll be avoiding like the plague. Here are my players to avoid in 2023 fantasy football. Let’s have a great season.

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• Fantasy Football Draft Strategy

Derek Brown’s Players to Avoid

Quarterbacks

Deshaun Watson (QB – CLE)

Could Watson bounce back in his second season in Cleveland? Sure, it’s possible, but the quarterback position is far too plentiful, with options up and down draft boards that could actualize a similar ceiling. My pessimism about Watson also stems from the fact that he wasn’t just league average last year in his return. He was incredibly putrid. Seeing him operate at such a pedestrian level can be explained away to an extent, but it can’t be unseen. Watson had the 10th-highest turnover-worthy play rate and the fourth-lowest big-time throw rate. Only Matt Ryan, Joe Flacco, and Daniel Jones had lower big-time throw rates last season. Even when Watson operated in a clean pocket, he was an utter mess. Among 42 qualifying quarterbacks, he ranked 33rd in clean pocket passer rating. There are plenty of upside arms to target in the middle and later rounds of fantasy football drafts that it’s not worth chasing Watson’s possible upside and absorbing the sizable risk that he might just not have the magic anymore.