Each year, heading into draft season, we start to settle upon players we love and players we hate, relative to ADP. This article will dive into the former portion, my fantasy football quarterback sleepers. Every year there are players that outperform their ADP. Identifying these players can significantly help you win your leagues. Here are three quarterbacks to target in fantasy football for 2023.
Fantasy Football Quarterback Sleepers for 2023
Before we get into these fantasy football quarterback sleepers, I want to preface this by saying that all these are relative to ADP. These are three guys that go later in drafts than they should and represent excellent values in fantasy football drafts right now. These are all based on Fantasypros PPR ADP data as of this writing.
1. Anthony Richardson, Indianapolis Colts
Times have changed in the NFL but the average fantasy football manager has been slow to catch up. There are more dual-threat quarterbacks in the league than ever before and they’ve always been a cheat code in fantasy football, however, for some reason, fantasy managers still remain skeptical to draft them. The ADP has gotten better but there’s still an edge to be had by drafting the running quarterback that goes latest in your draft.
This year, Anthony Richardson is that guy. People will shy away for various reasons whether it’s because he’s a rookie or because they don’t believe in him as a passer, but ultimately it really does not matter as long as he starts every game and he runs as much as we expect him to. Just last year, Jalen Hurts scored 25.6 ppg and finished as the QB1 overall despite only throwing for 3,701 yards and 22 touchdowns. Likewise, Daniel Jones finished as QB10 with 18.4 ppg despite only 3,205 passing yards and 15 passing touchdowns.
Fantasy points *per game* rank from every QB with 100+ carries in a season since 2000.
This is an Anthony Richardson tweet. pic.twitter.com/Zf18yF2tCT
— Ian Hartitz (@Ihartitz) August 2, 2023
Heading into 2023, Richardson comes into the league as the most athletic quarterback the NFL has ever seen. That may sound like hyperbole, but it’s not. He has the highest athleticism score of any of the 278 quarterbacks on Player Profiler.
Richardson is 6’-4” and 244 pounds and also runs a 4.43 40-yard dash with a 40.5-inch vertical jump. That’s the highest vertical jump ever recorded by a quarterback combined with one of the fastest 40-yard dash times. He’s basically the size of Josh Allen with the speed of Lamar Jackson.
Richardson was selected fourth overall by the Indianapolis Colts and should play right away. His coach is Shane Steichen, the mastermind responsible for building a scheme around fellow dual-threat quarterback Jalen Hurts last year. There’s every reason to believe Steichen will utilize Richardson’s strengths as a rusher to put him in the best positions to succeed. Richardson’s current ADP of 113th overall as the 15th quarterback off the board is simply too low as I have him ranked as my QB10 and am willing to take him inside the top 100 overall.
There is no reason that players like JuJu Smith-Schuster, Brian Robinson Jr., or any kicker or defense should be going ahead of him. Richardson is a great quarterback to target in 2023, especially in four-point passing TD and single-quarterback leagues.
2. Daniel Jones, New York Giants
Daniel Jones finally had his breakout campaign in 2022 in his first season with coach Brian Daboll. Daboll came in as a noted “quarterback whisperer” having helped Josh Allen drastically improve as a passer. This came through with Jones as well, albeit not to the same extent. He set career-highs in passing yards, yards-per-attempt, completion percentage, as well as basically every efficiency metric across the board. Jones also limited his turnovers in a huge way with only five interceptions and six fumbles, both career-bests.
He did all this despite arguably the worst set of pass-catching weapons he’s had in his career. Saquon Barkley and Richie James tied for the team lead in receptions with 57 while Darius Slayton led the team with 724 receiving yards. Jones also set a career-high in rushing with 708 yards and seven touchdowns. Only Justin Fields, Josh Allen, and Jalen Hurts had more rushing yards among quarterbacks. The added production on the ground carried (pun intended) Jones to a QB10 finish in 2022.
Heading into 2023, Jones should only get better. As previously mentioned, he only had 3,205 passing yards and 15 passing touchdowns. Both of those numbers should go up simply due to regression, especially the touchdown number. On top of that, Jones should improve as a player from another full offseason under Brian Daboll. The New York Giants also went out and acquired a big-time target in Darren Waller who should only help Jones’ numbers go up.
He is currently still going as just the 14th quarterback (111th player overall) off the board, despite a top-10 finish last year. This is too low as he’s a borderline top-10 fantasy football quarterback who has more upside than most of the players being drafted in the same range. There is no reason he should be going behind guys like Odell Beckham Jr., Khalil Herbert, or any defense or kicker. Daniel Jones is simply one of the best fantasy football quarterback sleepers in 2023 drafts.
3. Geno Smith, Seattle Seahawks
Heading into 2022, most people were fading the Seattle Seahawks offense as a whole since they were transitioning from Russell Wilson to Geno Smith. Smith had been a bust to this point in his NFL career and a career backup. Boy did that turn out to be one of the biggest plot twists in the league last season.
Smith and the Seahawks turned out to be one of the most pleasant surprises as he enjoyed a wildly successful career resurgence. He set career highs across the board on his way to a QB8 finish. Smith averaged 18.5 ppg in 2022 and his 30 passing touchdowns was the first time he ever had more than 13 in his nine-year career.
Is Geno Smith the most underpriced QB in fantasy?
Was QB7 per game last year and is QB16 on Underdog.
Seahawks added Jaxon Smith-Njigba to Tyler Lockett and DK Metcalf. That provides eruption upside in the passing attack.
350-plus rushing yard guy w/ room for TD variance.
— Dwain McFarland (@dwainmcfarland) May 5, 2023
Heading into 2023, fantasy managers still aren’t fully buying what Smith did last year. It’s somewhat understandable considering his track record but he’s a different player at this point and has shown that considerably last year.
Seattle seems to believe the same thing. Instead of going after a replacement for Smith, they decided to give him another weapon. The Seahawks used their first-round pick on Jaxon Smith-Njigba, who is widely considered the best wide receiver in this class. Right now Smith is being taken as the 16th quarterback, and 114th overall player, off the board. That is way too low considering how good he was last year combined with his setup heading into this 2023. I have Smith as my 11th-ranked quarterback making him one of my favorite quarterback sleepers for 2023.
Main Photo: Kelly Wilkinson – USA Today Sports
