Fantasy Football: Players to avoid in 2023

With the fantasy football season set to begin, there are numerous players to avoid at their current cost or draft capital. While I don’t hate anyone on this list, these are players that I’m avoiding for my fantasy teams this season – and they’re not likely to be League Winners, either.

Anthony Richardson, QB, Indianapolis Colts

As a lifelong Colts fan, this hurts to write. With that said, Anthony Richardson being drafted as the overall QB10 is crazy to me. Yes, he is a physical specimen that we have not seen before. Richardson put up historic numbers at the NFL combine, but that is not what the issue is.

If you watch Richardson’s tape, you can see plenty of potential. You will also see plenty of mistakes. Do I think Anthony Richardson is capable of being an elite QB for fantasy football? Yes. Do I believe that it will be this year? No.

Richardson has a lot to improve on. Over time it can be fixed, but not in his rookie year. Both Dak Prescott and Tua Tagovailoa are being taken after Richardson. Both have elite WRs to work with. The Colts’ WR room is one of the worst in the league, and they won’t push Richardson into QB1 value. The only way he does is if he can score with his legs – but Jonathan Taylor is in the backfield, too. Next year this can be a totally different conversation, but I am out on AR this season.

Travis Etienne, RB, Jacksonville Jaguars

The big story last year was Travis Etienne being healthy and playing with his college quarterback again. There was a lot of hope that Etienne would be a PPR machine in fantasy football, but the exact opposite happened.

Etienne averaged 2.6 targets per game last year. That ranked 34th among all NFL RBs. That’s not a number people wanted to see at the end of the season. The Jaguars added Calvin Ridley and Tank Bigsby this offseason, so there could be less opportunity for Etienne.

The Jaguars offense has so many pass catchers that it will be hard for Etienne to return his RB12 value. They also signed a good backup in D’Ernest Johnson and drafted Tank Bigsby in the third round. Bigsby is a literal tank, and people cannot take him down. There is a good chance that Tank can become the goal line back, which will also hurt Etienne’s value. You can take the chance on drafting Etienne if you believe that his talent will shine through. At RB12, I will pass on him in drafts.

Deebo Samuel, WR, San Francisco 49ers

This is probably the only player I will not roster in any of my fantasy football leagues. Deebo Samuel is being drafted as the WR17. That is way too expensive for me.

Deebo missed four games last season, and ended as the WR40 in PPR formats. In 2021, he was the WR3; I believe that it was something we will never see again from him. He had eight games over 90 receiving yards, and 8 rushing touchdowns. Last season he only had one game over 90 yards, and 3 rushing touchdowns. He simply is not needed in that rushing role anymore.

Have you heard of Christian McCaffrey? If not, he likes to score a lot of touchdowns. That offense has so much firepower that Deebo does not have to be the focal point. Between CMC, George Kittle, and Brandon Aiyuk, you could argue that Deebo is the 4th-best pass catcher in that group. For his price, I would much rather draft Aiyuk. I advise everyone else do the same.