Big Board: Top 100 picks for 2023, from Justin Jefferson to Anthony Richardson (2024)

The​​​​​​​​​​ Big Board takes into​​​​​​​​​ consideration​​​​​​​​​​ past​​​​​​​​​​ returns,​ current​​​​​​​​​ situation/performance​ and​​​​​​​​​ expected​ future gains​​​​​​​​​ in​​​​​​​​​​ determining​​​​​​​​​​ who​ should be included​​​​​​​​​ among​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​ the​​ Top 100 fantasy football players. Essentially, the Big Board is a cheat sheet designed for a GM who is planning to participate in a draft today. Half-point PPR scoring settings are used as the baseline for the Big Board.

Top 50 Player Notes

1. Justin Jefferson WR – MIN

• His cons list is blank: has averaged 108 catches, 1600+ recYds, 8.7 TDs and 0 DNPs in 3 NFL seasons

2. Christian McCaffrey RB – SF

• Solid gold in SF — in 13 starts for 49ers (inc. playoffs), averaged 111.3 total yards, 1.0 TDs, 4.8 receptions, 22.3 PPR PPG

3. Ja’Marr Chase WR – CIN

• In PPR scoring, only OBJ had more fantasy points at WR than Chase through the 1st 29 games of an NFL career

4. Nick Chubb RB – CLE

• The next time he finishes a season under 5.0 YPC will be the 1st time — with Kareem Hunt gone, strong odds for career highs in carries, catches

5. Travis Kelce TE – KC

• Has averaged 101 catches, 1289 recYds, 10 TDs in past 5 seasons — at 33, you assume a decline is coming soon, but fade him at your own risk

6. Tyreek Hill WR – MIA

• Away from Mahomes for 1st time in career, proved his electric game plays anywhere with his 3rd Top 3 WR finish in past 5 seasons

7. Austin Ekeler RB – LAC

• Top 2 RB in half-PPR scoring each of the past 2 seasons – was 3rd among RBs (min. 100 touches) in PPR fantasy PTS per touch — at that rate, you could have shaved 61 touches off last year’s total and he still would have finished RB3

8. Cooper Kupp WR – LAR

• Past 26 games: 220 catches, 2759 recYds, 23 TDs — would be in the Top 3 mix if not for tweaking his hamstring in the preseason, a tough injury to quickly put in the rear-view mirror

9. Stefon Diggs WR – BUF

• Fiery, competitive spirit can leak out his mouth off the field, but it drives him to greatness on the field — 3-yr. avg. in BUF: 113 catches, 1,396 recYds, 10 TDs

10. Tony Pollard RB – DAL

• Finished RB7 in half-PPR in 2022 despite fewer touches than any other RB in the Top 19 — with Zeke gone, touch volume no longer an issue

11. Josh Jacobs RB – LV

• The holdout is over for one of the biggest bell cows in fantasy football — about the only concern now is early-season conditioning, and that’s minor

12. Saquon Barkley RB – NYG

• 16-game season for the first time since his rookie campaign netted Top 6 RB finish, and 2023 could be showcase for potential future employer

Read more:2023fantasyfootball draft kit: Rankings, cheat sheet, player projections, mock drafts and more

13. Bijan Robinson RB – ATL

• Generational, do-it-all RB talent lands with run-oriented system – should see heavy multi-faceted volume from the get-go

14. Davante Adams WR – LV

• Numbers in Las Vegas looked like they did in GB, and there shouldn’t be much of a drop (if any) with QB switch from Carr to Jimmy G.

15. CeeDee Lamb WR – DAL

• Just 24 years old, took the next step in 2022, going from good to great with a Top 3 WR tally in half-PPR formats from Weeks 9-18

16. Derrick Henry RB – TEN

• Still the center of the TEN offensive universe — like Kelce, you wonder when age/mileage will catch up to him, but if that wasn’t a concern, he’d be a Top 5-6 consideration

17. Amon-Ra St. Brown WR – DET

• Went from WR2 production as a rookie to Top 10 in 2nd year – avg. line of 7 catches, 77 recYds, 0.5 TDs in past 22 games

18. A.J. Brown WR – PHI

• NFL’s premier power forward WR delivered career bests in catches (88), recYds (1,496) and TDs (11) in 1st season in Philly

19. Garrett Wilson WR – NYJ

• Hard not to be bullish about his prospects with A-Rod at QB after finishing rookie season as WR19 with Wilson/White/Flacco/Streveler at QB

20. Jaylen Waddle WR – MIA

• Thanks to major increase in YPC (from 9.8 to 18.1), bested his rookie half-PPR numbers despite 29 fewer catches with Tyreek Hill in mix

21. Joe Mixon RB – CIN

• This feels like it’ll be his last hurrah in Cincy, but assuming he doesn’t get suspended (found not guilty on a menacing charge), a 3rd straight RB1 campaign is well within his reach

22. Rhamondre Stevenson RB – NE

• Ezekiel Elliott might steal some goal-line glory, but Stevenson finished as an RB1 in 2022 despite just 6 TDs — I’m banking on another 200+ carries, 50+ receptions

23. Aaron Jones RB – GB

• In the RB Top 12 (half-PPR) 4 straight seasons, averaging 52 catches in that span — 1 of 6 RBs in NFL history with 1000+ carries to average 5.0+ YPC (Gale Sayers, Barry Sanders, Jamaal Charles, Nick Chubb are the others)

24. Jonathan Taylor RB – IND

• Although Miami has been rumored to be making a play for him, Indy still the odds-on fave to remain Taylor’s home for 2023 — either way, the Josh Jacobs signing could be the fallen domino that helps move the Taylor saga to a resolution

25. Patrick Mahomes II QB – KC

• Averaged 4791 passYds, 38 passTD, 300+ rushYds past 5 seasons – J. Herbert only other QB in NFL history to reach all those marks in same season

26. Jalen Hurts QB – PHI

• Would have finished as RB25 on just his rushing numbers alone — more competitive games in 2023 could lead to a bump in passing numbers

27. Josh Allen QB – BUF

• He’s finished Top 2 at QB for 3 straight seasons, and his rushing attempts keep climbing

28. Najee Harris RB – PIT

• Drop from No. 4 RB in 2021 to No. 14 RB in 2022 almost entirely the fault of receiving decline (33 fewer catches, 238 less recYds) — Jaylen Warren likely to stand in the way of Harris rebounding in that department

29. Chris Olave WR – NO

• Was WR25 in fantasy as a rookie, and like former college teammate Garrett Wilson, hard not to be optimistic about the QB upgrade for Year 2

30. DeVonta Smith WR – PHI

• Enjoyed a fantastic finish to 2022, clocking in at WR2 in half-PPR from Weeks 13-18 (behind only teammate A.J. Brown)

31. Amari Cooper WR – CLE

• Extremely safe WR2 bet – in his 8 seasons, has finished inside the WR Top 10 twice (inc. 2022) and only slightly outside Top 25 twice

32. Miles Sanders RB – CAR

• In line for hefty workload, and talk that CAR wants to heavily involve Sanders in the passing game should be music to his manager’s ears

33. Travis Etienne Jr. RB – JAC

• Finished RB17 in half-PPR as he was under-served in TDs (5) and receptions (35) – JAC not likely to increase his 2022 touch total (255), and rookie Tank Bigsby likely to relieve him of goal-line duties

34. Tee Higgins WR – CIN

• Has established a very safe WR2 floor of 70 catches, 1000 yards and 6 TDs, unfortunately the ceiling isn’t much higher with Chase as his receiving mate

35. DK Metcalf WR – SEA

• Career-high 90 catches in 1st season with QB Geno Smith – positive TD regression likely after 3rd-most RZ targets (27) yielded just 28th-most RZ catches (8)

36. Lamar Jackson QB – BAL

• He has No. 1 overall fantasy scorer upside, and BAL intent to boost the passing game, but 10 DNPs in the past 2 seasons has to knock him out of the top QB tier

37. Keenan Allen WR – LAC

• Hammy injury cost him 7 games, but in his age 30 season still showed plenty of juice with a half-PPR PPG mark that bested Jaylen Waddle

38. DeAndre Hopkins WR – TEN

• Finished as WR11 in half-PPR PPG in 9 games after serving 6-game suspension – absolute target magnet, with 10+ targets per game in 5 of past 6 seasons

39. J.K. Dobbins RB – BAL

• Just 8 games in 2022 coming off brutal knee injury, but he closed in exciting fashion, with 7.0 YPC and 100 yards per game in his final 4 contests

40. Rachaad White RB – TB

• Been holding out hope that there would be no whammies with his hold on a 3-down role – free agent signing, trade, etc. – and, well… it’s happening!

41. Ken Walker RB – SEA

• The Zach Charbonnet concern is fair, but it’s getting a bit overblown – Walker is still the clear backfield lead, and he was RB7 after Rashaad Penny went down (Weeks 5-18)

42. Jahmyr Gibbs RB – DET

• Given draft capital expended, DET likely to give him more than D’Andre Swift work – perhaps a crack at some of those vacated 17 Jamaal Williams TDs

43. Dameon Pierce RB – HOU

• Advanced metrics darling in his rookie season – should be the main focus once again for a HOU offense sans proven options at QB, WR

44. Mark Andrews TE – BAL

• Only player to take TE scoring title from Travis Kelce in past 4 seasons has scored 10+ FAN PPG in each of those campaigns and no worse than TE4 in that span

45. Cam Akers RB – LAR

• Slow out of gates in 2022 in return from Achilles injury, but left a great last impression with Top 4 RB returns from Weeks 13-18

46. Alexander Mattison RB – MIN

• Now that Dalvin Cook is out of the picture, he’ll get the shot to replace him, something he’s always done admirably in past limited opportunties

47. George Kittle TE – SF

• When healthy, only Travis Kelce has more proven upside at TE than Kittle (Andrews is on par) – 7 of 11 TDs in 2022 came in final 4 games with Brock Purdy at QB

48. Deebo Samuel WR – SF

• Health, revolving QBs, positional identity crisis were at play in 2022 – for 2023, bet on his desire to write off last season as a bad experience, and head coach Shanahan tweaking things to better deploy his vast talents

49. David Montgomery RB – DET

• DET led all backfields in half-PPR PPG last season by a full point, and had 509 touches — there’s easily room for two Lions backs in the RB Top 25

50. Calvin Ridley WR – JAC

• He was WR15 in 2022, but his ADP at WR has consistently sat outside the WR Top 25, as if last season was a fluke. News flash: it wasn’t.

Read more on 2023 fantasy football:

• 2023 fantasy football draft kit: Rankings, cheat sheet, player projections, mock drafts and more
• Jake Ciely’s 2023 fantasy football rankings, tiers, positional ranks
• 2023 fantasy football cheat sheet generator: Customizable rankings and projections tool

(Matt Krohn-USA TODAY Sports)

Senior Editor Brandon Funston hails from the Pacific Northwest. He's been a leading “face of fantasy sports” for the past two decades, formerly with ESPN and Yahoo. His work was recognized in 2011 with his induction into the Fantasy Sports Writers Hall of Fame. He can be heard throughout the NFL season as a regular host on "The Athletic Fantasy Football Podcast" and SiriusXM’s Fantasy Sports channel. Follow Brandon on Twitter @brandonfunston