-Ed-Mulholland-USA-TODAY-Sports
It is never too early to talk about 2023 fantasy football. But allow us to make things easy for you:
Draft Chiefs TE Travis Kelce first-overall.
The tight-end position was far and away the weakest position in fantasy football this year. Using Yahoo Sports’ half-PPR scoring model, Travis Kelce had 259.3 fantasy points this season. That is nearly 89 points more than the TE2, George Kittle.
Let’s take a look at how that gap compares to other positions.
QB1 (Patrick Mahomes) and QB2 (Josh Allen) – 16.3 point difference
RB1 (Austin Ekeler) and RB2 (Christian McCaffery) – 10.7 point difference
WR1 (Justin Jefferson) and WR2 (Davante Adams) – 15.8 point difference.
Total those numbers and Kelce still had more separation between him and the “second-best” tight-end.
Fantasy football is a game of numbers and a game of health. You already know Kelce can stay on the field considering he’s only missed two regular season games since 2018.
The numbers will tell you Kelce’s 316.3 PPR fantasy points was the second-most by a tight-end ever, only trailing Rob Gronkowski in 2011.
A 33-year-old managing to stay fresh enough to tally 110 receptions, 1,338 yards, and 12 touchdowns. It gets even more impressive when you realize Kelce took 80 percent of the Chiefs’ offensive snaps, his fewest since his “rookie” year in 2014.
The argument for Kelce being the number one overall pick doesn’t need to be a long one. When you have someone who is head and shoulders above everyone at his position, you take the leap of faith.
