Here are a few of the players I’m targeting in 2023 fantasy football drafts. Upgrade to our premium subscription to view my full list of 2023 must-have draft targets.
- Draft Targets for Every Round: Early | Middle | Late
- Fitz’s Draft Primers: QB | RB | WR | TE
- Fantasy Football Draft Strategy
- 2023 Fantasy Football Draft Kit
Fantasy Football Draft Players to Target
Watson seems like a potential fantasy football quarterback winner if he can recapture a QB1 overall form from his days with the Houston Texans. His return in 2022 was horrible, but it’s excusable based on so much missed time. He has weapons ranging from Amari Cooper, Donovan Peoples-Jones, Elijah Moore, Cedric Tillman, Nick Chubb and David Njoku. Plus, Watson will benefit from an entire offseason to prepare as the Browns’ full-time starter in 2023 under the coaching combination of HC Kevin Stefanski/OC Alex Van Pelt.
That coaching duo helped Baker Mayfield bounce back in his third season to an 11-5 record. And just last season, they put Jacoby Brissett in a position to finish 17th in passing EPA and 12th in PFF passing grade. And let’s not forget the Browns’ top-3 offensive line.
If Watson returns to form, he will not only be a huge win in fantasy, but he will make every Browns player a screaming value. Watson will be 28 years old at the start of the season. Mike Vick came back after essentially three years removed from NFL football and finish as the fantasy QB1…four years after he was the fantasy QB2 overall.
The former Texans QB has been a top-5 fantasy QB every single year he has played at least 15 games. And he is being vastly undersold as a rushing threat. As bad as he was last year, he still posted a solid 175 rushing in 6 games (nearly 30 rushing yards per game). Over 17 games, that extrapolates to nearly 500 rushing yards. That would have ranked 6th among all QBs in 2022.
Among the 7 QBs who rushed for at least 30 yards per game last season – Justin Fields, Lamar Jackson, Jalen Hurts, Daniel Jones, Josh Allen, Marcus Mariota and Kyler Murray – only Murray failed to crack the top 10 in fantasy points per dropback. Five finished inside the top-5 fantasy scoring QBs on a per-dropback basis.
And as bad as Watson was as a thrower in 2022, there’s a glimmer of hope from one particular metric. He showed he could still be a very effective passer throwing at the intermediate level (10-19 yards) which tends to be a sticker statistic year after year. His 68.4% completion rate on those throws ranked second-best in the NFL. His yards per attempt (12.9) also ranked second. Joe Burrow ranked first in both those categories in 2021.
Christian Watson could experience a sophomore slump if Jordan Love can’t deliver as the full-time starter for the Packers. However, I’d remain a buyer of Watson regardless because Watson was absolutely dynamite as a rookie.
His 26% target rate per route run is nothing but impressive, ranking 17th among all WRs with at least 400 snaps. Watson’s 2.47 yards per route run ranked inside the top 10 and tied with superstar Davante Adams.
And in a must-win Week 18 contest vs. the Lions, he was once again the target leader (23% target share), going for 104 receiving yards on a team-high five catches. From Week 10 through Week 18, Watson ranked first in yards per route run (2.78). Over the same span, Watson was the WR9 in both total points and on a per-game basis in PPR.
He displayed an extremely high weekly ceiling, finishing as a top-12 receiver in 31% of his games (14th at the position). Same as Jaylen Waddle and superior to Tee Higgins.
If Watson takes over the downfield and red zone looks that Allen Lazard saw the majority of in 2022, prepare for a massive second-year leap.
He is the clear alpha in the Packers’ passing game, with the current depth chart listed as Watson, Romeo Doubs, Jayden Reed, Dontayvion Wicks, Grant DuBose and Samori Toure.
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
- 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
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