The Perfect Fantasy Football Draft from 2023

For many people, the fantasy football draft is the best part of the fantasy football season. After the draft, every manager thinks they’ve drafted a title contender, and every roster has players that will form into breakout stars. Drafting a championship team with those breakout stars requires risk, skill and, of course, a little luck.

That said, let’s see what the perfect fantasy football draft from 2023 would have looked like.

Best Pick in Round 1

Christian McCaffrey, RB, San Francisco 49ers

It goes without saying, but Christian McCaffrey was far and away the most valuable running back this season. While some wide receivers – most notably CeeDee Lamb and Tyreek Hill – had remarkable seasons, CMC’s value relative to his position-mates easily makes him the best first round pick. According to Tyler Loechner’s Fantasy Wins Added metric, McCaffrey was 2.5-times more valuable than every other fantasy running back other than Kyren Williams in 2023.

Best Pick in Round 2

Amon-Ra St. Brown, WR, Detroit Lions

With CeeDee Lamb ineligible for this pick (he was taken at the very end of the first round), we’ll pivot to another wide receiver who demonstrated extreme consistency all season. Amon-Ra St. Brown finished as the WR3 behind only Lamb and Hill and led all receivers in top-12 (63%) and top-24 (88%) finish rate. St. Brown also added some upside with five games of 20-plus points.

Best Pick in Round 3

Travis Etienne, RB, Jacksonville Jaguars

Travis Etienne had his fair share of doubters heading into the 2023 fantasy football season, as many cited rookie Tank Bigsby’s presence as the reason why Etienne would fail to pay off his price. Evidently, Etienne paid dividends, finishing as the RB3 in half-PPR. He excelled in his multi-purpose role, racking up 1,000 yards on the ground and finishing as a top-five running back in receiving yards.

Best Pick in Round 4

Breece Hall, RB, New York Jets

Breece Hall, like Etienne, had his doubters heading into the season. He was coming off a torn ACL, running behind a poor offensive line, and the Jets signed Dalvin Cook in the offseason. Throw in an Aaron Rodgers injury, and Hall was set up for failure, but it didn’t matter. He led all running backs in receiving yards with nearly 600, and he was a true league-winner down the stretch. In the last four games of the fantasy season, he had three top-seven finishes, including a 37-point outburst in the semifinals (Week 16).

Best Pick in Round 5

DJ Moore, WR, Chicago Bears

Round 5 was a bit underwhelming overall, but it did yield the WR6 on the season in DJ Moore. Moore wasn’t quite as consistent as the first four picks of our dream team, but he did have four 20-plus point games, including his 230-yard, three-touchdown explosion in Week 5. It helps, too, that his second-best output came in fantasy football’s championship week.

Best Pick in Round 6

Rachaad White, RB, Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Buccaneers’ running back Rachaad White rarely delivered monster performances, but he was even more rarely burying your team with an unusable game. Aside from McCaffrey, White tied Derrick Henry for the most top-18 finishes among running backs. He only finished outside the top 24 four times, with three of those instances coming in the first six weeks of the season.

Best Pick in Round 7

Mike Evans, WR, Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Ol’ Reliable Mike Evans delivered yet again, finishing with over 1,200 yards and 13 touchdowns and as the WR5 on the season. His four top-five weekly finishes trailed only Lamb and Hill. Evans did struggle down the stretch, but his play for the first two-thirds of the season more than warranted a seventh-round selection.

Best Pick in Round 8

Dak Prescott, QB, Dallas Cowboys

Say what you want about Dak Prescott and the Cowboys, but Prescott was an absolute steal in the eighth round. Unfortunately, some managers couldn’t make it through the first five weeks of the season without cutting him due to a couple absolute duds. Good things come to those who wait though, as Prescott lit the league on fire starting in Week 6, scoring 20-plus points on seven occasions. He finished as the QB3 overall while leading the NFL in passing touchdowns and ranking third in passing yards.

Best Pick in Round 9

Raheem Mostert, RB, Miami Dolphins

Despite being drafted in the ninth round, playing just 15 games and being 31 years old, Raheem Mostert finished as the RB2 in fantasy football. Incredible. He finished in the top five in a third of his games, trailing only McCaffrey (obviously) and immediately rewarded his managers with 79 points in the first three weeks of the season.

Best Pick in Round 10

Kyren Williams, RB, Los Angeles Rams

So, the overall RB2 went in Round 9. There’s no way that could be topped, right? It might’ve been, as Rams’ running back Kyren Williams finished as the RB2 in points per game. Williams finished in the top five in five of his 12 games and actually tied the almighty McCaffrey by finishing in the top 12 in 75% of his games. He got injured and missed a few games in the middle of the season but came back in Week 12 and averaged over 22 points per game for the remainder of the season.

Best Pick in Round 11

Puka Nacua, WR, Los Angeles Rams

Another gem in the late rounds! Puka Nacua set the rookie record for receiving yards and receptions and miraculously finished as the WR4 on the season. He thrived early on with a couple big weeks and delivered his best performance for fantasy managers in Week 16 with 28 points.

Best Pick in Round 12

Sam LaPorta, TE, Detroit Lions

Travis Kelce was dethroned as the overall TE1 by a rookie who went in the 12th round in fantasy drafts. Sam LaPorta had a historic year and had a massive impact on every league’s landscape because of how vastly he outperformed his ADP.

Perfect Fantasy Football Draft Roster

QB – Dak Prescott
RB1 – Christian McCaffrey
RB2 – Kyren Williams
WR1 – Amon-Ra St. Brown
WR 2 – Puka Nacua
FLEX – Raheem Mostert
TE – Sam LaPorta
BENCH – Travis Etienne, Breece Hall, Mike Evans, DJ Moore, Rachaad White