Players the Experts are Drafting: Jonathan Taylor, Breece Hall, Najee Harris (2023 Fantasy Football)

As you prepare for your fantasy football draft, it’s important to have a sense of rankings and where players are being drafted. Of course, this will change league-to-league, but you can usually get a sense of where a player is likely to go in your draft with a little fantasy football research. To really zero in on a player’s average draft position (ADP), you can use our consensus ADP. This, combined with our Expert Consensus Ranking, will allow you to get a sense of players that are drafted earlier or later in general drafts versus where the experts would recommend you targeting them.

For example, if you have a player with an ADP of No. 12 overall, but our consensus of experts view them as a top-five player, that’s probably someone you want to consider targeting in the back-end of the first round. On the flip side, if a player has an average draft position of No. 5 overall but our experts view the player as outside of the top-10 overall in their rankings, you’re likely better off allowing one of your league mates to make that draft pick.

Now that you’re armed with how to use ADP and our Expert Consensus Rankings, let’s take a look at a few opportunities to capitalize based on current rankings.

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Fantasy Football Players the Experts are Drafting

Jonathan Taylor

ADP: No. 11 overall | RB5
ECR: No. 6 overall | RB4

2023 was a year to forget for the consensus 1.01 in last year’s fantasy football drafts. Jonathan Taylor underperformed as the RB30 in 11 games played averaging 12.6 fantasy points as the RB18 when healthy. JT’s usage was that of a top-8 running back – 8th in expected points per game, 4th in touches per game (20) – but a lack of touchdowns decimated his fantasy stock in the Colts’ anemic offense. After scoring a combined 33 TDs through his 1st two seasons, Taylor scored just four rushing TDs in 2022. From an efficiency standpoint, I’d expect a bounce-back effort from Taylor in 2023. He will be healthier in 2023 and rookie quarterback Anthony Richardson‘s mobility under center should increase JT’s yards per carry. When Taylor first returned from injury (Weeks 10-13 in the 2022 season) he ranked as the RB3 overall. And he should experience some positive TD regression entering the final year of his rookie deal. Although it should be noted that with Richardson under center, Taylor won’t cannibalize all the goal-line carries. However, a mobile quarterback didn’t stop Shane Steichen’s running back Miles Sanders from scoring 13 TDs in 2022. Considering the wide talent gap and proven production from Taylor compared to Sanders, I’d bet Steichen’s new RB1 will reach double-digit scores even if his rookie QB runs in a few himself.

Andrew Erickson

Breece Hall

ADP: No. 28 overall | RB11
ECR: No. 19 overall | RB11

There’s no denying that Breece Hall possesses the talent to be one of the best running backs in the NFL after a stellar rookie season that was unfortunately cut short by a torn ACL. The Jets’ first-year running back was the RB6 in half-PPR points per game in just seven games played (15.4). He averaged 5.8 yards per carry as a rusher and ranked fourth in yards after contact per attempt (4.13) before his season-ending knee injury. Hall also ranked fourth in RB receiving yards while posting an elite 34.4% target rate per route run. The only hesitance with drafting Hall stems from his October ACL injury that can keep guys off the field for nine to 12 months. Although the latest reports suggest that Hall is progressing faster than expected and the team believes he could be ready for training camp. Just do whatever you can to get this guy on your fantasy team.

Andrew Erickson

Najee Harris

ADP: No. 31 overall | RB13
ECR: No. 24 overall | RB13

The Pittsburgh Steelers running back took a slight step backward in his second season, falling to RB14 in points per game after a top-5 fantasy season as a rookie. However, his usage metrics were still very strong across the board. Harris still operated as a pseudo-workhorse ranking 6th in opportunity share (70%) and 8th in total touches through the first 17 weeks of the season. Harris also improved drastically after the team’s bye week operating as the RB7 in points per game over the last 9 weeks of the season. After tallying zero games with 20 carries through the first 8 weeks, Harris totaled 5 games with 20-plus carries during the second half of 2022. Should the Steelers undergo an offensive surge in Kenny Pickett‘s second season with a drastically improved offensive line, Harris could easily get back into the top-tier fantasy RB tier.