Cole Kmet - TE17, 149.5 (13th Round)

When Justin Fields took the next step to fantasy dominance halfway through last year, just one Bears pass catcher went with him for the ride – Cole Kmet. When Justin Fields was supplementing his rushing production with a dash of passing, the ball was being thrown overwhelmingly to Kmet.

From Week 9 through the end of the year last year, Cole Kmet was the overall TE4 in fantasy points scored, racked up the sixth most targets among TEs that saw 60+% of snaps in that span, and paced all Bears pass catchers – including RBs, WRs, and TEs – in targets with 49… 21 more than the next guy on the list, Chase Claypool! Kmet also scored the 2nd most touchdowns among those TEs in that span, as well.

Fields clearly had a favorite target in Kmet, and even with the addition of D.J. Moore, the looks should continue to come Kmet’s way – his super lucrative 4-year, $50M extension tells me that the Bears plan to feature Kmet in the offense plenty. Similar usage to last year on what figures to be a better offense in 2023 should help Kmet stay on top of most of the fantasy TE landscape and squarely in the TE1 conversation this year.

JuJu Smith-Schuster - WR54, 115.4 (10th Round)

Not a single receiver in New England scares me about the type of target share they could earn against Juju in 2023. Not a single one! None of the Patriots' wide receivers even sniffed Jakobi Meyers’ 21.3% target share in 2022, with the next closest true WR being Devante Parker with just 11%. Jakobi Meyers is gone, but the rest of the receivers are still there! The competition for Juju is going to be minimal, and that means that he’ll be able to produce even in Bill O’Brien’s TE first offense.

Now, there’s nothing spectacular about Juju’s fantasy production as of late – he finished outside of the Top-30 receivers in total points and points per game last year on a Patrick Mahomes-led offense. But that sour taste that he left in people’s mouths last year is currently driving his price WAYYY down in drafts, to the point where he’s going later than Tyler Boyd. If Jakobi Meyers can amass over 90 targets on an offense without an offensive coordinator, I’m willing to bet better days are ahead for Juju and that he can do the same.

I mean, the Patriots also brought Juju in at the exact price point of Jakobi Meyers, which tells me they plan to utilize him plenty in the offense and that they actually anticipate him being MORE productive than Meyers – who was quietly a high-end WR3 in 2022 with the Patriots. I’m not calling my shot on Juju finishing inside the Top-24, but he can be really nice surprise for you on your team as a quality WR3.