The 2023 fantasy football season is officially in the books, and we’re highlighting the Team of the Year and a few awards including the fantasy MVP.
Team of the Year
QB: Josh Allen, BUF
Thanks to a league leading 44 total touchdowns and 4,830 total yards, Josh Allen was the top fantasy scorer of 2023, averaging 23.1 points per game. While he didn’t have a total blow-up game over the final few weeks, Allen again—as he usually does—produced at the end of the year for fantasy playoff matchups. The 15 rushing touchdowns tied Jalen Hurts for No. 1 among quarterbacks, which we know is good for racking up quick points in lineups.
RB: Christian McCaffrey, SF
Christian McCaffrey played every game until a calf issue kept him out of Week 18 (a matchup the 49ers didn’t go all-out in), and the Week 17 performance (a season-low 11.1 half PPR points) in the fantasy championship might have been disappointing for some. But if you were fortunate enough to have a top-two selection in 2023 drafts and had CMC on your team, playoffs were as close to of a lock as possible.
RB: Kyren Williams, LAR
Despite missing four games in middle of the season due to an ankle injury, Kyren Williams earns a spot on the Fantasy Team of the Year as the engine and touchdown-machine in Sean McVay’s offense. In his return from injury in Week 12, Williams put up a season-high 35.4 fantasy points—and giving him the edge in the RB2 spot over Raheem Mostert was a 29.1-point outing in championship matchups during Week 17 while Mostert was out.
WR: CeeDee Lamb, DAL
The first six weeks were relatively down for CeeDee Lamb, but you could argue there was no better fantasy asset from Week 8 on after the Cowboys returned from their bye week and fed their dynamic receiver the rock. Lamb averaged an astonishing 23.9 fantasy points per game over the final 11 games (besting CMC’s season average of 22.4), and overall, he racked up 135 receptions for 1,749 yards, and 12 touchdowns.
WR: Tyreek Hill, MIA
Missing the first week of the fantasy playoffs in Week 15 might have hurt owners in semifinal matchups, but they otherwise could not complain about the production from Tyreek Hill this season after he led the NFL with 1,799 receiving yards and 13 receiving touchdowns. Hill hit 20+ fantasy points in nine games, so you were getting massive production at least half the time with him in lineups.
TE: Sam LaPorta, DET
Second-round rookie tight end Sam LaPorta landed in an ideal situation with Ben Johnson as his offensive coordinator in Detroit, but no one could have seen him leading his position in fantasy points by over 20 points while posting a 86/889/10 line. LaPorta was strong all year, but he was at his best in the second half—including a three-touchdown performance to begin the fantasy playoffs.
FLEX: Amon-Ra St. Brown, DET
Another typical primetime producer late in seasons, Amon-Ra St. Brown finished as the fantasy WR3 in 2023—and he put up fantasy point totals of 20.7, 22.6, 19.1, and 23.9 over his final four games while helping many people to titles.
D/ST: Cowboys
Dallas and Baltimore tied with the most fantasy points among D/ST units this season (172.0), but the Cowboys get the edge for their insane weekly upside—hitting 35.0, 26.0, and 23.0 in their three best weeks. Also, Defensive Player of the Year candidate DaRon Bland set an NFL record with five pick-sixes.
K: Brandon Aubrey, DAL
Brandon Aubrey didn’t miss a kick all year until one was blocked in Week 18 and then missed another later in the game (but he still had a solid 8.0 fantasy points), and he was a real weapon for both the Cowboys and fantasy owners. Aubrey was 10/10 from 50+ yards, and his 10.5 fantasy points per game easily led kickers.
Value of the Year: Kyren Williams
Raheem Mostert gets an honorable mention here, and you had guys like Rachaad White among mid-round values that struck gold. But if you were able to get Kyren Williams at the end of drafts it was a total home run to basically get a CMC-lite when he was on the field.
Rookie of the Year: Puka Nacua
Puka Nacua went from late-round and waiver-wire darling with Cooper Kupp out to begin the year to the WR4 during his rookie campaign. The fifth-round draft pick of the Rams quickly built exceptional chemistry with quarterback Matthew Stafford, setting rookie records for receptions (105) and receiving yards (1,486).
2023 Fantasy MVP: Christian McCaffrey
CeeDee Lamb deserves more consideration than people might realize for the way he finished the season, but Christian McCaffrey was absurdly on 59% of teams in fantasy championship matchups on ESPN, and 23.5% of teams to win it all on Yahoo had CMC on the roster. McCaffrey was a true cheat code in his first full season with Kyle Shanahan and the 49ers.