The 2023 season is still a few months away. While much will change between now and opening night in September, let’s look at some of the biggest fantasy question.
- Burning Questions for All NFL Teams
- Best Ball Draft Primers: QB | RB | WR | TE
- Dynasty Trade Value Chart
- Dynasty Rookie Primers: QB | RB | WR | TE
Biggest Fantasy Football Question Marks
Here are some of the biggest fantasy football questions around the NFL.
ATL – Will Kyle Pitts be a bust again this season?
When the Falcons used the fourth overall pick in the 2021 NFL Draft on Pitts, he was made the dynasty TE1 by most fantasy analysts. He had an impressive rookie year. Despite having only one receiving touchdown, Pitts was the TE7, averaging 8.4 half-point PPR fantasy points per game.
More importantly, he had over 1,000 receiving yards, making him and Mike Ditka the only two tight ends with over 1,000 receiving yards in their rookie season. Unfortunately, Pitts struggled last year without Matt Ryan.
Atlanta traded away Ryan last offseason and replaced the veteran with Marcus Mariota. Some will argue that the tight end spent too much time blocking instead of running routes. However, Pitts only pass-blocked on 6.3% of his snaps last season. He ranked 13th among tight ends with over 55 targets last year in that category, only half a percent less than George Kittle. Instead, the issue was Mariota’s poor passing.
Pitts had only a 59.3% catchable target rate in 2022, one of the worst in the NFL. Furthermore, Mariota completed only 23.5% of his pass attempts over 20 yards last year. Thankfully, the veteran is now an Eagle and far away from the star tight end.
CAR – Is Miles Sanders an RB1?
The Panthers have seen their backfield drastically change over the past year. After trading away Christian McCaffrey at the deadline, D’Onta Foreman turned into one of the running backs in the NFL. He averaged 19 rushing attempts for 87.7 yards and 13.9 half-point PPR fantasy points per game in his first six games without McCaffrey on the roster. The former Longhorn was the RB10 during that span.
Furthermore, Foreman had five games with over 20 rushing attempts last season. However, he joined the Bears this offseason after the Panthers signed Sanders.
Last year Sanders accounted for 70.4% of Philadelphia’s backfield rushing attempts and 61.1% of their touchdowns. Furthermore, he was the RB13, averaging 12.2 fantasy points per game. The veteran running back had 259 rushing attempts for 1,269 yards and 11 touchdowns, all career highs. However, he had only 20 receptions on 26 targets for 78 receiving yards and zero touchdowns, all career lows.
Meanwhile, Frank Reich took over as the head coach this offseason. Running backs averaged 116.5 targets per season in four full seasons that Reich was the head coach in Indianapolis. Fantasy players should expect Sanders to have a career year on the ground and in the passing game.
NO – Can Juwan Johnson be a top-five tight end?
Over the first two years of his career, Johnson had only 32 targets. Yet the wide receiver turned tight end had four receiving touchdowns in 2021 on only 13 receptions. However, Johnson saw his role on offense increase last season.
The third-year tight end had 43 receptions on 65 targets for 508 receiving yards and seven touchdowns in 2022, all career highs. Furthermore, Johnson finished first on the team in receiving touchdowns, second in receiving yards, and third in receptions and targets.
The emerging star finished 15th in the NFL with seven receiving touchdowns last season. More importantly, Johnson finished third among tight ends, only behind Travis Kelce and George Kittle.
Meanwhile, he could be the No. 2 pass catcher this year behind Chris Olave, as Michael Thomas is arguably the most prone wide receiver in the league. After ending last year as the TE7, Johnson only needs a few extra snaps a game to finish in the top five in 2023.
TB – How much upside does Rachaad White have?
When the Buccaneers released Leonard Fournette earlier this offseason, White became a popular dynasty trade target. Then his fantasy value took off after the team didn’t spend any draft picks on a running back. However, how much upside does the second-year running back have in 2023?
Last year he was the RB38, averaging 6.7 half-point PPR fantasy points per game despite playing under 40% of the snaps. Yet, the rookie had a productive fantasy performance in his lone start last season.
White averaged 4.6 yards per rushing attempt and scored 15.4 fantasy points in that game. Yet, nearly 60% of his fantasy production came in the passing game, as the rookie caught all nine targets for 45 receiving yards.
Meanwhile, he forced a missed tackle on less than 11% of his rushing attempts. Furthermore, White lacks big play ability. He had only 6.2% of his rushing attempts last year go for 10 or more yards. While the second-year running back should have a featured role, his inefficiency limits his upside.
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Mike Fanelli is a featured writer at FantasyPros. For more from Mike, check out his archive and follow him @Mike_NFL2.