Who would you rather have at QB this season: Lamar, or Justin Fields? Faraz weighs in on who has the edge going into 2023!
Lamar Jackson QB4, 34.9 (3-4 Turn)
Lamar Jackson is going to go HAM this year. He's healthy, and he has a new OC. Why is that good? While I think Greg Roman was the perfect first offensive coordinator for Lamar Jackson, he's outgrown him. Bringing in Todd Monken is the perfect thing to happen to Lamar because he can now show his skills in the passing game.
Monken has always been a pass-first guy, but I do think this becomes a more balanced offense rather than a pass-first one. The rushing and designed runs will still be there for Lamar, but we'll see more scrambles because there will be more dropbacks. And now he has weapons, too! Mark Andrews, Zay Flowers, Rashod Bateman, OBJ, Isaiah Likely... that's a damn good supporting cast.
Lamar has never thrown for more than 3200 yards in a season; if he can now supplement a 1000-yard rushing season with 4000 yards passing? We're looking at a fantasy monster. And yes, I do believe he's capable of passing for 4000 yards. If you don't think he's capable, you're stuck in a 4-year-old narrative and haven't been paying attention to what he's capable of.
He's not Justin Fields when it comes to the passing game. Remember he led the league with 36 passing TDs a few seasons ago. Lamar is in for a big year, and he's a big target of mine this season.
Justin Fields - QB5, 49.4 (4-5 Turn)
Fields finished as the QB5 in fantasy points/game last year... can you name his WRs? Darnell Mooney got hurt early in the year, and he didn't have Chase Claypool either. All he had was Cole Kmet... how was he set up for success? He still finished as the QB5.
And now, he has a legit NFL WR1 in DJ Moore, Chase Claypool, and Darnell Mooney are both healthy, and he's going into Year 2 of his system. He only threw for 2242 yards last year, and I do think he has a lot to work on in the passing game - he's not good there yet. But I do think DJ Moore and the weapons he has now will help him get there this season, similar to what the new weapons did for Jalen Hurts.
Is he going to get to Hurts level this year? I'd say probably not, because I do think there's more development needed, but he can be way better than where he was last year, resulting in a monster fantasy season.
Fields averaged 76.2 rushing yards/game, which is absolutely bananas; if he can up his passing game to maybe 3000 yards this season, plus 1000 yards, plus some TDs on the ground, and throw for 20+ TDs, we're looking at another Top-5 season, and potentially even higher.
He has overall fantasy QB1 upside and should be targeted at his ADP.
Edge: Lamar Jackson, with Fields just behind him