Quarterbacks to consider fading in 2023 fantasy football drafts

As the fantasy football season inches closer, it’s time to start planning out draft strategies based on the current rankings. Quarterback is one of the toughest positions to choose from, seeing as how it typically generates the most points in lineups. Depending on how a manager views the ADP list, there’s value to be had if a player drops below his projection. Bearing this in mind, here are five quarterbacks that don’t carry much value in 2023.

Deshaun Watson, Cleveland Browns

Watson showed occasional flashes of his Houston Texans self when he finally took the field for Cleveland in Week 13. He served his 11-game suspension, so he has his first full season ahead of him for the first time since 2020. While he started to shake the rust off in his final two games of the Browns’ campaign last year (averaging 20.8 fantasy points in those appearances), projecting him as a top-10 fantasy QB seems like a stretch.

Tua Tagovailoa, Miami Dolphins

Despite missing several games for the Dolphins last season, there was a lot to like about Tagovailoa and how he performed. Heading into the 2022-23 campaign, concerns about his throwing arm caused him to fall quite far in fantasy drafts. He definitely impressed, and showed a lot of promise leading the NFL with a 105.5 passer rating. However, his concussion concerns appear to be the only thing raising a red flag to fantasy managers. He has a QB1 ceiling, but there isn’t much value in reaching for a player that may or may not pan out.

Kenny Pickett, Pittsburgh Steelers

Are we even convinced yet that the Pittsburgh product is the best quarterback on his own depth chart? Not entirely. After finishing 28th amongst fantasy QBs last season, Pickett was left on the waiver wire more often than he was in somebody’s weekly lineup. As a rookie, he took over starting duties in place of Mitch Trubisky by Week 5 for the Steelers, but developed at a glacial rate, and recorded underwhelming fantasy numbers for the rest of the year. Pickett is not a start-worthy option in standard leagues.

Mac Jones, New England Patriots

Jones finished with just one game where he recorded more than 20 fantasy points last season. He’s conservative as a passer, and doesn’t produce anything of significance as a runner. In short, Jones is an afterthought in the fantasy football world, and should continue to be ignored in drafts.

Sam Howell, Washington Commanders

Fantasy managers are inevitably going to be enticed by Howell toward the end of their respective drafts. It’s primarily because head coach Ron Rivera has mentioned that he’s liked what he’s seen out of the second-year QB this offseason, but the Commanders aren’t a team that’s had much recent success at the position. Carson Wentz started off the year, to only wind up being replaced by Taylor Heinicke by mid-October. So it’s not a knock against Howell to say that it would be wise to avoid this constant QB dilemma from the Commanders. Jacoby Brissett also has proven experience as a starter, so there’s no guarantee that Howell gets, or keeps the starting job.