Fantasy Football 2023: 5 Players Poised for Bounce-Back NFL Seasons
Last season saw several high-profile NFL talents reestablish themselves as legitimate fantasy football weapons.
Players such as Saquon Barkley and Christian McCaffrey reemerged as top point scorers after some relatively quiet campaigns. While their stock rose sharply, though, some of their colleagues fell off drastically in 2022.
The upcoming season represents a chance for those fading stars to return to glory. Not every veteran who had a bad campaign is a bounce-back candidate, as some have simply lost a step due to age or injury, or they are on a roster where they can't thrive due to the system or lack of support.
Others, meanwhile, look set for a return to prominence for reasons such as improved health, new coaching staff or a trade.
With that in mind, here are five players ready for resurgent seasons who you should be eyeing as value picks in your upcoming fantasy draft.
All fantasy point stats are courtesy of FantasyPros.com using PPR data.
Russell Wilson, QB, Denver Broncos
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Russell Wilson clearly established himself as one of the NFL's best quarterbacks during his decade-long run with the Seattle Seahawks.
During that time, he generated a whopping 37,059 yards and 292 touchdowns against 87 interceptions while completing 65 percent of his passes. He contributed heavily as a rusher—tallying nearly 4,700 yards and scoring 23 times on 846 carries—and made the Pro Bowl in all but one season, consistently rating as one of the top scorers across all of fantasy football.
That changed after the Denver Broncos gave up the farm to get him, and Wilson endured the toughest season of his career in 2022. The disastrous campaign saw him record a meager 3,524 yards and 16 touchdowns against 11 interceptions with a 60.5 percent completion rate. He managed to record just 277 yards and three scores on the ground while taking an absurd 55 sacks, leading the league in that category. Wilson finished the year with 236.8 fantasy points, only the 16th most at his position.
There is hope the 34-year-old to turn things around in 2023, though, as head coach Nathaniel Hackett was canned after his lone campaign in Denver. The Broncos spared no expense in acquiring his replacement, trading away first- and second-round draft picks for Sean Payton.
The former New Orleans Saints head coach brings a winning pedigree and a history of quarterbacks thriving under him to the Mile High City.
Wilson has plenty of offensive talent to work with, even after a rash of injuries struck the club's receiving corps during training camp. Despite injuries to Jerry Jeudy, Tim Patrick, KJ Hamler and Jalen Virgil, the signal-caller will still be able to lean on Courtland Sutton and rookie Marvin Mims Jr. to do most of the heavy lifting while their teammates recover. The protection has been beefed up thanks to the Ben Powers and Mike McGlinchey pickups in free agency, while the return of running back Javonte Williams following a season-ending injury in 2022 will help take the heat off the signal-caller.
The days of Wilson being the top-scoring fantasy quarterback—as he was in 2017—may be over, but there should still be enough left in the tank for him to be a worthwhile starter in most formats.
Expect Payton to get the most out of the aging passer just as he did with Drew Brees during his final years with the Saints.
J.K. Dobbins, RB, Baltimore Ravens
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The Baltimore Ravens spent a second-round pick on J.K. Dobbins in 2020 but haven't exactly gotten the best return on that investment thus far. That should change in 2023 if the running back can stay healthy for the first time since his rookie campaign.
Despite starting just one of the 15 games he was available for in Year 1, the Ohio State product still managed to garner a steady 805 yards and nine touchdowns on an efficient 134 totes.
Dobbins was a popular breakout candidate in fantasy following that impressive first year, but an unfortunate preseason ACL tear would put an end to his sophomore season before it ever got off the ground.
While he was rehabilitated enough to rejoin the lineup in Week 3 of the 2022 campaign, he never looked right and failed to get much going. He mustered just 123 yards and a touchdown on 35 carries before he was shut down to have his knee cleaned up after Week 6.
The procedure did wonders for the 24-year-old, as he was back in action by Week 13 and looked fantastic upon his return. During a four-game stretch between Weeks 14 and 17, he rushed 57 times for 397 yards and a touchdown. He was a positive contributor in the playoffs as well, pitching in 62 yards on 13 carries and adding a score and 43 yards on four receptions.
If the version of Dobbins that shined for Baltimore late in the season is available for this entire year, the rest of the league should watch out. Extrapolating his stats from that four-week stretch across a full 17-game campaign would result in nearly 1,700 yards on 242 carries.
Considering his current ADP of 58, Dobbins could end up being one of the steals of the draft.
Jonathan Taylor, RB, Indianapolis Colts
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Jonathan Taylor may be on the verge of being traded, but regardless of where the running back winds up playing this season, he should find more success than he did during an injury-plagued 2022 campaign.
The Indianapolis Colts have been reticent to give their star tailback the contract extension he covets and appear open to dealing him if they can find a suitor willing to match their asking cost.
If a rival team is willing to give up a first-round pick or an equivalent package, it means it is downright desperate for a runner of Taylor's caliber and extremely likely to lean on him heavily.
Should Taylor remain in Indy and participate, there's little doubt the coaching staff will try to get the most out of the running back before he hits the open market next spring. He could be in line for a career high in touches if he remains, especially with the Colts lacking an experienced franchise quarterback who can run the offense right now.
Taylor has already proved he can thrive with a high-usage rate during a breakout sophomore campaign in 2021, when he amassed an eye-popping 1,811 yards and 18 touchdowns on 332 totes. He also chipped in as a pass-catcher during his rushing crown-winning campaign, recording 40 receptions for 360 yards and two more scores. He finished 2021 with 373.1 fantasy points, almost 30 points ahead of second-place Austin Ekeler and making him one of just three running backs to breech the 300-point mark that year.
Ankle issues brought Taylor back down to earth last season, limiting him to just 11 games. He posted a much more unassuming 861 yards and four touchdowns on 192 carries, generating a total of 146.4 fantasy points in those contests.
While it was a disappointing showing, Taylor has largely been healthy for much of his college and professional career despite taking on heavy workloads at both stops. Still just 24 years old, he should have plenty of tread left on his tires and should again rank as one of the top fantasy point creators at the running back position in 2023.
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Cooper Kupp, WR, Los Angeles Rams
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Cooper Kupp won a rare receiving Triple Crown during a special 2021 season that saw his Los Angeles Rams win the Super Bowl.
The wideout showed instant chemistry with new quarterback Matthew Stafford that year. The battery would ultimately connect on 145 of their 191 targets, creating 1,947 yards and 16 touchdowns.
It appeared more success would be on the way last year before the injury bug bit L.A. hard, resulting in the worst title defense in league history.
Stafford and Kupp were both hobbled and struggled to get much going before they both were shut down for the year. The wideout managed to snare just 75 of his 98 targets for 812 yards and six scores before landing on the IR with an ankle injury from Week 10 onward.
Kupp's fantasy point production fell from a career-high 439.5 in 2021—nearly 100 points more than the next highest-scoring wideout—to 201.4 last year.
Kupp's 2023 comeback was briefly delayed by a hamstring issue suffered early in training camp, an issue that kept him sidelined for nearly a month.
The 30-year-old appears to be in line to start Los Angeles' season opener against the Seattle Seahawks on September 10, however, as he recently returned to practice.
Kupp drew praise from Stafford for his efforts in camp, and the pair seem to be back in sync already. Expect them to post some major fantasy numbers again if they can both stay healthy.
While winning another Triple Crown might be unrealistic, Kupp has been a first-round lock and the No. 7 player drafted on average, according to Fantasy Football Calculator, for good reason. He should live up to that billing and have a bounce-back campaign in 2023.
Michael Thomas, WR, New Orleans Saints
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It's been a long time since Michael Thomas broke receiving records and established himself as one of the very best fantasy football talents.
Four years ago, the New Orleans Saints star started off a memorable campaign in which he would go on to haul in a still-standing record of 149 catches, leading to 1,725 yards and nine touchdowns.
Thomas was far-and-away the top-scoring wideout in fantasy that year—his 374.6 points were almost 100 more than No. 2 Chris Godwin posted—but things quickly went downhill for the wideout.
His follow-up 2020 campaign was chock-full of disappointment. A persistent ankle issue led to him appearing in just seven games. He wasn't great in the contests he did appear in either, as he grabbed a quiet 40 catches for 438 yards and failed to find the end zone for the first time in his career.
The receiver would go on to miss the entire 2021 campaign after a rehab setback and saw action in just three games—posting 16 catches for 171 yards and three scores in them—before being shut down again last year with a toe dislocation.
That unfortunate string of ailments is hopefully behind Thomas now. Teammates have been saying that the 30-year-old looks better than he has in years, with new quarterback Derek Carr stating that the wideout is performing up to his lofty expectations:
"He's still a heck of a football player. I don't know any different. From what I've seen, he looks like Mike Thomas. I keep saying that because that was my expectation when I got here. He plays violently. He's strong in the catch points. He's able to separate. He's a great competitor. So, for me, it's what I expected from Mike Thomas."
While Carr may not be as elite as Drew Brees—the player who helped turn Thomas into a star during his early years in the NFL—was in his prime, he's a capable quarterback who represents a major upgrade over Jameis Winston, Andy Dalton and the other players who have been filtering through the position in New Orleans.
The quarterback said that Thomas was a key part of the reason he chose the Saints in free agency, and those recruiting efforts should pay off with a resurgent campaign for both players.
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