Make-or-Break Players: Chase Claypool, Gabriel Davis, Antonio Gibson (2023)

Our analysts have put together fantasy football outlooks for all fantasy-relevant players. You can find them on our player pages and via our Expert Consensus Rankings (ECR). These will be updated throughout the preseason to help you navigate your fantasy football drafts utilizing our bevy of tools, including our FREE draft simulator and cheat sheet creator. We’ll cover players in different groups to help you identify those to target and others to avoid. Let’s take a look at players that are entering make-or-break fantasy football seasons.

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Fantasy Football Players in Make-or-Break Seasons

Here are 2023 fantasy football outlooks for players entering make-or-break seasons.

Antonio Gibson (RB – WAS)

Antonio Gibson‘s production fell off substantially in 2022 as he split work in the Commanders’ backfield with rookie Brian Robinson Jr. In Gibson’s last nine healthy games played – he missed the end of the year with a foot injury that required surgery – he and Robinson operated as fantasy RB3s as the RB34 and RB30 respectively in points per game. AG was still the much more involved receiver with an impressive 14% target share – three catches, four targets and 22 receiving yards per game – but he was out-carried 9.7 rushing attempts per game to 16.7 by Robinson. B-Rob’s status as the starter on early downs entering the season will surely make Gibson – a free agent at the end of 2023 – an enticing late-round running back option based on his pass-catching prowess and RB1 fantasy production his first two years in the league. Keep in mind, that J.D. McKissic is coming off a neck injury with an out in his contract, slating Gibson to reprise the full-blown receiving role for Washington. Gibson’s 80.5 PFF receiving grade ranked third among all RBs in 2022.

Andrew Erickson

Gabriel Davis (WR – BUF)

Davis didn’t live up to the deafening hype last year. He finished as the WR36 in fantasy with an 18.2% target share (43rd). He remains Josh Allen‘s deep threat of choice, ranking 12th in deep targets and sixth in aDOT among wideouts. Davis has proven that he isn’t a high-end target share earner. He was 68th in target per route run rate last year. Davis remains tied to Allen’s cannon of an arm, so spike weeks will come again in 2023. At this point, you’re kidding yourself if you think he will turn into a consistent WR2 type of player. Davis is a WR3/4 that can win you a week when he’s locked in. I’m more inclined to get my Davis exposure than in redraft this year. The addition of Dalton Kincaid and James Cook taking another step forward could make his peaks and valleys more pronounced this season.

Derek Brown

Chase Claypool (WR – CHI)

While consensus is ready to toss in the bag on Chase Claypool, I’m not. So quickly, everyone forgets that Claypool is an uber-athlete. His 90th percentile or higher speed and burst scores can create big plays at the drop of a hat. His rookie season marks of a 25.2% target per route run rate (15th-best) and 0.5 fantasy points per route run (14th-best) were the early signs of big time talent. Has his value dropped further after a down 2022 season? Yep. That’s exactly why his ADP has dipped to the basement where it resides. Claypool showed promise of fulfilling his rookie season promise in three games with the Bears, in which he played at least 63% of the snaps. In that small three-game sample, he saw a 22.1% target share, a 50% end zone target share, 1.77 yards per route run, and a 28% target per route run rate. Claypool is one of the best WR5 upside darts to toss this year.