Fantasy Football Awards for 2023 Season: MVP, Top QB, RB, WR, TE and Rookie of the Year

Finalists were named for AP NFL awards on Thursday and it got me thinking about the top fantasy players this season. 

So in the spirit of those awards, let’s hand out some fantasy honors for the season. It would be easy to just look up the top-scoring fantasy players for the season and hand out the honors that way, but there’s no fun in that. I want to reward the players that delivered time and time again this season.

We’ll name a Most Valuable Player, top players at quarterback, running back, wide receiver and tight end and a Rookie of the Year. A mix of standard and PPR scores were used in this article. Let’s dive in!

Most Valuable Player

The top-scoring players from the season were Buffalo Bills’ Josh Allen, Dallas Cowboys’ CeeDee Lamb, San Francisco 49ers’ Christian McCaffrey and Miami Dolphins’ Tyreek Hill. Those four averaged the most points this season and separated themselves pretty well from everyone else. Let’s break down their seasons from a fantasy perspective.

Allen only had three weeks in which he failed to finish inside the top-10 QBs. He led the way in scoring twice and was second three times - he had four other top-five finishes.

At a much deeper position, Lamb was a top-20 receiver in all but four weeks. He was the top finisher once and came in second twice - he had two other top-five finishes and four more times that he finished inside the top 10.

Hill can be compared easily to Lamb. Hill was a top-20 finisher in all but six of his 16 games played. Hill finished first twice and was inside the top five on five occasions. He was inside the top 10 an additional two times.

McCaffrey was inside the top 20 in all but one of his 16 games played. He finished first on two occasions and was second twice. McCaffrey was in the top five four other times, while finishing below 10th just five times total.

Winner: All four of these players enjoyed special seasons, but McCaffrey was the most consistent - avoiding low-scoring outings and putting up several huge performances. He’s my choice for fantasy MVP for the 2023 season. The best part about McCaffrey is that he was a high draft pick and delivered for all the owners that drafted him.

Top Quarterback

Of course, Allen will be part of the Top Quarterback honor, but he had some competition for the honor.

Philadelphia Eagles’ Jalen Hurts, Dallas’ Dak Prescott and Baltimore Ravens’ Lamar Jackson are the other finalists at the position. We already covered Allen, so let’s talk about the other three.

Hurts didn’t have his best year passing, but was a monster on the ground to rival Allen in fantasy points. There were four weeks in which Hurts finished outside the top 10. He never led the position in scoring, but placed second twice. He finished inside the top five on seven other occasions. 

Prescott accomplished almost everything with his arm. He landed outside the top 10 on nine occasions. He was QB1 for two weeks and came in second once. Prescott had four other top-five finishes (taking third each time).

Jackson finished outside the top 10 six times this season over his 16 games played. He was the top finisher twice, while taking second once. Jackson was a top-five finisher on three other occasions. 

Winner: Allen was just a bit better than Hurts (really he just had one less down game) and Allen was clearly more consistent than Prescott or Jackson, so this honor goes to Allen. Like McCaffrey, he lived up to the hype of his high draft status (he was the second QB taken behind Patrick Mahomes).

Top Running Back

McCaffrey already has the MVP honor, and he’d pretty easily take this honor too, but much like the NFL does with these honors, we won’t double up.

Los Angeles Rams’ Kyren Williams, Miami Dolphins’ Raheem Mostert, Jacksonville’s Travis Etienne, New York Jets’ Breece Hall and Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ Rachaad White are the finalists for this honor. Let’s include the same stats we did for McCaffrey when discussing these backs.

Williams only finished outside the top 20 in two of his 12 games played. He had three first- or second-place finishes, two more top-five finishes and four other times he was inside the top 10.

Mostert only had three finishes outside the top 20 across 15 games played. He placed first or second among backs in four separate weeks. He had one more top-five finish, and three other ninth-place finishes.

Etienne was outside the top 20 on eight occasions. He was RB1 once, while having four other top-five finishes. He had one other top-10 finish this season.

Hall finished outside the top 20 in eight different weeks. He was the top finisher twice and had two other top-five finishes. He had four other top-10 finishes on top of that.

White was outside the top 20 on just six occasions. He was the top finisher once and had two fifth-place finishes. White was a top-10 finisher just two other times, taking 10th on both occasions. 

Winner: It’s hard to judge players when they played a different amount of games, but Williams was so dominant in his time on the field that this honor goes to him. He had more top-10 finishes than Mostert in three less games played and that’s the deciding number here.

Top Wide Receiver

There were several strong seasons put together by wide receivers, but this really comes down to Lamb vs. Hill - those two are just so separated from the rest of the field that they deserve to be the only finalists.

We already talked about their numbers in the MVP discussion, so there’s no need to rehash things.

Winner: Lamb takes this honor in a tight finish. He was simply just a bit more consistent than Hill.

Top Tight End

Three tight ends really separated themselves by the end of the season in PPR leagues. Those three guys are Kansas City Chiefs’ Travis Kelce, Minnesota Vikings’ T.J. Hockenson and Detroit Lions’ Sam LaPorta. Jacksonville Jaguars’ Evan Engram and San Francisco’s George Kittle were close to making the cut, but were a ways behind the finalists in average points per week.

Kelce had a down year by his standards, but here he is among the best fantasy players. He was a top-10 finisher at the position in all but five weeks. He placed first or second on four occasions. He had three more top-five finishes. Kelce, who missed two games, had three other top-10 finishes.

Hockenson landed outside the top 10 on five occasions. He was TE1 two times and had four other top-five finishes this season before missing the final two weeks. Hockenson had four other top-10 finishes.

LaPorta was a fantasy star in his first season. He finished outside the top 10 six times. LaPorta was TE1 on three occasions and had five other top-five finishes. The rookie TE landed inside the top 10 three other times.

Winner: While LaPorta was a touch more inconsistent than the other two, he was a top-10 performer most often, so he takes this honor. He should be the first TE off the board in fantasy drafts going into next season.

Rookie of the Year

Since LaPorta already has an honor, he gets taken off this list. Instead, the finalists are Houston Texans’ C.J. Stroud, Detroit’s Jahmyr Gibbs, Atlanta Falcons’ Bijan Robinson and Los Angeles Rams’ Puka Nacua.

Stroud finished outside the top 10 at the position 10 times over his 15 games played. He was QB1 once and had just one other top-five finish.

Gibbs landed outside the top-20 backs on seven occasions. He was the top finisher once and had five other top-three finishes to his name.

Robinson failed to finish inside the top 20 on six occasions. His top finish in a week was third and he did that once. Robinson had one other top-five finish.

Nacua was a top-20 finisher at his position in all but seven games. He finished inside the top five on four occasions and had another finish inside the top 10.

Winner: It was a special rookie class this season. While all of these guys made headlines at times, Nacua was the one most often talked about and his record-setting season helped him take this honor. All four of these finalists will be popular picks early in fantasy drafts next season.