Early Fantasy QB Rankings 2023: Quarterback rankings for standard, PPR leagues
The importance of quarterbacks in fantasy football has waxed and waned over the years, but elite players still serve as game changers. It’s a passing era, as evidenced by the 980-395 collective passing/rushing splits in the last two Super Bowls. With the smoke clearing from the Chiefs’ second title in four years, we decided to create a far-too-early 2023 top 10 fantasy QBs ranking.
It might seem “far too early” given that the 2023 NFL season is set to begin approximately 200 days after the publication of this article, but it’s never too early to start fantasy planning for the following season. The research we’re doing and the mental notes we’re taking now could pay off well in the long run as the fantasy draft season tends to be a whirlwind.
The 2022 season could be a distant memory for us in seven months while it is currently fresh in our minds. So let’s use this freshness to our advantage and determine in what order we would pick the top QBs if our 2023 fantasy football leagues were drafted today.
Early 2023 Fantasy QB Ranking
| rank | player | team |
| 1 | Patrick Mahomes | KC |
| 2 | Josh Allen | BUF |
| 3 | Jalen hurts | PHI |
| 4 | Joe Burrow | cin |
| 5 | Lamar Jackson | BAL |
| 6 | Justin Fields | CH |
| 7 | JustinHerbert | LAK |
| 8th | Dak Prescott | DAL |
| 9 | Kirk cousins | MINIMUM |
| 10 | Trevor Lawrence | JAX |
Probably no surprise to anyone, our top four QBs for 2023 consist of the same top four that led all QBs in fantasy scoring in 2022. They probably just needed a chance to name the four: 2022 MVP and Super Bowl 57 MVP Patrick MahomesNFC Champion and Vice MVP Jalen hurtsBill’s 2022 Preseason Superstar and MVP Favorite Josh Allen (who came third in MVP voting) and 2021 AFC Champion Joe Burrow (4th in MVP voting). Our entire fantasy team had Mahomes and Allen at the top of the rankings, and each analyst had Hurts and Burrow in either third or fourth place.
That’s where it gets interesting. My colleagues selected JustinHerbert Fifth while I had the 2020 Rookie of the Year in seventh place. It’s not that I doubt the QB’s ability – he’s great. I just can’t get over the fact that (a) he just finished 11th in QB fantasy points, (b) extremely injury-prone players Keenan Allen and Mike Williams are his top two wideouts, and (c) Austin Ekeler remains the MVP of the Chargers offense. For these reasons I made my decision Lamar Jackson And Justin Fields before herbs.
L-Jax and Fields are prototypical mobile QBs, possibly the best two not named Michael Vick ever to have done so. We expect Jackson to get paid and the Baltimore Knives to give him some pass catching help to complement the tight end from Mark Andrews and wideout Rashod Batemanthe latter missed most of the 2022 season with a foot injury.
As for Fields, the future of the Bears organization around him is uncertain, but he could line up top six fantasy numbers with Adam Sandler’s Mean Machine around him. The prospective third-year QB modeled his running game after Jackson, and the result was an NFL-leading 7.1 yards per carry and eight ground TDs.
The remaining top 10 was easy save for the hard skipping of Tua Tagovailoa, which my colleagues have listed at the bottom of their ranking. A healthy Tua with Tyreek Hill and Jaylen Waddle is undoubtedly dominant, but multiple concussions this season will have me staying away from him in drafts. I would rather have Dak Prescott, Kirk Cousins, And Trevor Lawrence.
Dac missed five games after breaking bones in his hand in the opener of the 2022 NFL season, but he was a fire threat in the second half of the season. Cousins had arguably his best season as a pro when, with the help of Offensive Player of the Year Justin Jefferson, he led the NFL with eight game-winning comeback drives. T-Law could be the NFL’s next superstar after leading the Jags from worst to first in the AFC South in just one season under Doug Pederson.