2023 Fantasy Quarterback Review

We’ve got quarterback talk on the docket today! We’ll take a look at how the QB1s of 2023 did this season and glance at some of the guys who were in the QB2 range who deserve shoutouts. I can’t cover everyone and everything in this space, but I believe that you’ll get a good idea about how well (or bad!) a quarterback might have fared in 2023.

We have a long offseason ahead and I’ll be here every week with content, starting with positional recaps for 2023. As time passes names that aren’t brought up here right now will surely be brought up later on or on the Discord! So you have no reason to fear, I’m sure we’ll talk about your favorite player at some point 😉 

Let’s dive in!

News and Notes

• The Titans are hiring Cincinnati Bengals OC Brain Callahan as their next head coach.

• Zach Ertz has joined the Detroit Lions as he searches to add another ring to his resume.

The Top-12 Quarterbacks

• 🎖️ Despite getting benched in two of the final three games of the season, Sam Howell led the league in attempts with 612. However, he struggled in yards per attempt and struggled with turnovers at the end of the season. As for his fantasy season, he fell off of a cliff after the Commanders’ bye week. Before their bye, he was a QB1 for six straight weeks, and in nine games total. After the bye? He failed to crack the top 20 in fantasy scoring in any given week. Washington may elect to keep Howell and draft a QB in 2025, but it will be awfully hard to pass up Drake Maye or Jayden Daniels at the 1.02.

• 🐎 Russell Wilson got benched and is likely getting released by Denver. It’s a rebuild two years after the Broncos went all in for the Seattle star. He never had a great game in 2023, he was much better at home than on the road, with a 15:1 TD:INT ratio at home, but a 11:6 ratio on the road. He’ll likely be picked up by someone looking for a bridge quarterback or a veteran presence, but until we know where he goes it’s difficult to assess how he will do for fantasy going forward.

• 🧀 Jordan Love and ⛏️ Brock Purdy both finished as top-6 options at the position. Love was second only to Dak Prescott’s 36 passing touchdowns with 32, and Purdy was right behind him with 31. To be fair to Purdy, he threw 135 fewer passes. Looks like we have our next generation of Green Bay vs. San Fransisco set for the next decade.

• 🏹 Patrick Mahomes had a good year all things considered and is headed to the AFC Championship game against Baltimore. However, finishing as the QB8 was not what fantasy managers were hoping for. In points per game, he was the QB11, QB12 if you include Joe Flacco and his five games. For fantasy purposes, he just didn’t cut it this year.

• 🐬 Tua Tagovailoa was one of the most up-and-down players this season. He was outside of QB1 territory in each of the last five games of 2023, with a grand total of 41% of his games as a top 12 QB. In another 41% of his games, he finished at or BELOW QB20 on a given week! The inconsistency of Tua could scare off drafters next season outside of best ball formats, and it’s crucial to remember what you are likely signing up for.

• 🏴‍☠️ I was not high on Baker Mayfield coming into this year. In the slightest. I was very much on the train that while Mike Evans could be a value, Baker was a shell of his early swagger self. I was wrong, but I’m ok with that. It’s good to see someone revive their career. He needed up passing for the most touchdowns, highest completion percentage, and most yards of his career. He actually had more games above a QB20 finish than Tua did, with only four compared to Tua’s seven.

• 🤠 Dak Prescott did not start off pretty. In fact, it looked like he was a bust. He was the QB21 to start off the first five weeks of the year. He then rattled off four straight top-3 performances and was (barely) the QB1 overall the rest of the way.

• 🦬 Josh Allen and 🦅 Jalen Hurts endured some regression to their passing numbers but get this. They would have been QB17 and 20 (respectively) based on their passing numbers alone. Purely on their rushing stats, they would have finished as the RB33 and RB30. It’s not quite as stellar as Lamar Jackson’s 2019 season, but if you weren’t happy with these two in 2023, just stop playing fantasy football.

• 🐦️ As someone who has Lamar Jackson on a dynasty squad, if you told me Lamar finished as the QB3 I would not have believed you until I looked at the stats myself. Because that’s where he finished. Despite having a relatively stable season, it felt, disappointing, at least to me. The year started off hot, with three top-10 finishes in the first month, but he cooled off mid-season before picking things back up again towards the end with four straight top-10 QB finishes. Injuries didn’t help him, as he dealt with the loss of J.K. Dobbins, Mark Andrews, Odell Beckham, Zay Flowers, and so on throughout the year.

Top 20 QB’s and Honorable Mentions

In this section, I won’t detail everyone, but I figured I’d hit some of the highlights.

• ☀️🐆 Trevor Lawrence didn’t live up to the expectations many had set for him after his year 2 jump. His passing numbers were down across the board, and his interceptions were up. He was also sacked a career-high 35 times, so there is a chance offensive line play had a little something to do with it too. I believe too many jumped on Lawrence’s bad year too quickly and you can potentially get him at a discount in drafts or in dynasty leagues. But while we’re in the AFC South…

• 🐄 CJ Stroud was amazing. He had a league-best 1.0% interception rate and threw 23 touchdowns. He led the league in yards per game, third in yards per attempt, finished as the QB11 overall, and led his team to a divisional round appearance. Stroud wasn’t a wonder in every statistical category, but it’s hard to make a case against him. His future is bright.

• Justin Fields and Justin Herbert dealt with injuries to their teammates, themselves, or both, in 2023. Herbert is the most surefire starter who will bounce back, but Fields has an uncertain future in Chicago. I wouldn’t hesitate to draft either of them, should Fields be on an NFL team as a starter next season. Atlanta maybe? That’d be fun!

• It’s fair to wonder if the Geno Smith experiment is over with Pete Carroll out as head coach. Smith had a wonderful 2022 but if you take a closer look at his season, it wasn’t all that bad. His completion and touchdown percentages fell, but closer to league average than “washed” territory. His attempts fell as well, giving him fewer opportunities to rack up points. His yards per game fell by only ten yards, from 251 to 241. So why such a fall? Seattle ran the fewest plays in the league in 2023, whereas they were 22nd in 2022.

• Don’t forget about injured quarterbacks like Joe Burrow, Kirk Cousins, and Anthony Richardson. Burrow was finally putting things together before his injury and Richardson was about to give CJ Stroud a run for his money for best rookie QB of 2023.

Overall,

That will do it for this edition of Ballfield Banter! Thanks for stopping by and I’ll see you next week with the 2023 running back review!