2023 Bounce Back Players

D’Andre Swift, RB

Finishing the 2022 season as the RB21 is likely a lot higher than you thought Swift had finished, given how underwhelming and injury riddled the majority of his season in Detroit was. He was buoyed by a few big games, but more often than not, I’d argue you were left disappointed in Swift’s scoring output. This year, behind the perennially dominant Eagles OL, I expect to see Swift return to his RB1 form and take the league by storm. He gets knocked for not being a “between the tackles” type of RB, but I think that’s purely just the way he was used in DET with Jamaal Williams handling that role more than adequately. Now he’s got Rashaad Penny to deal with, but I think he can fend him off and be closer to a 3 down back for the Eagles. The one concern I have is the way the Eagles run their offense with so many mouths to feed in the backfield, including QB Jalen Hurts down on the goal line, but I think they’ve learned their lesson about risking his health and will instead leave it to the RBs a little bit more this year, which should leave some more meat on the bone for Swift to gobble up and turn into fantasy points. (Cory Dows)

Diontae Johnson, WR

Now this one might be easy, or so I thought it would be, but many are still doubting Diontae Johnson this season. Diontae caught 86 balls last season on 147 targets and did not come down with any TDs. With the amount of targets this player had last season, it is unheard of that he did not catch one single TD. Historically, a player like this averages about 6-8 TDs a season. If he even caught 3 TDs last season, he would jump to WR27. Still not great for what you expect out of a player like Johnson, but it shows that last season was a massive outlier. He is being drafted as a back-end WR3 this year and I am taking him all day there as my WR3. I also get everyone is excited for George Pickens to take over, but if you look at it more, Pickens’ targets only went down during the back half of the season, while Diontae’s stayed consistent. They bring back the same OC in Matt Canada and we have seen what he has done with Diontae the past few seasons. This is a massive case of positive regression that we all love to talk about. (Scott Miln)

Russell Wilson, QB

With the terrible, and at times embarrassing, year that Russell Wilson just put up in 2022, you may be shocked to hear that he finished the season as QB16. Now this was surely on the back of a few big games at the end of the season when all was already lost, but hey, all fantasy points were created equal. This season, I think we will see him return to QB1 form, and while I don’t think he projects as a top 5 guy at all, I think he could find himself between 7-9 pretty easily. He’s certainly got the weapons and the coaching around him to make it happen, he just has to get it done on the field. If you’re drafting in a SuperFlex league, I think Russ is a fantastic option to be a high-end SF option and is a guy who will likely fall a bit in drafts due to the year he had in 2022. (Cory Dows)

Brandin Cooks, WR

The season for Cooks in 2022 was a disaster, but this was the case for a lot of Texans players. Cooks was able to put up WR2 numbers his first two seasons with Houston, but with it being a tank/bridge year for the team, it was never going to be great for Cooks. In his 9 seasons, he has finished as a WR2 or better 6 times. The three times he has not reached this mark were his rookie year, his concussion year with the Rams, and last season. We all forget how talented Brandin Cooks is and we should not forget about what he has done for us the majority of his career. He now lands in Dallas with a high-powered offense and Dak Prescott under center. I am no Dak fan, but I can tell you that he makes his WRs fantasy relevant. Take away playoff games for Dak, and he has been one of the better fantasy QBs in the NFL for many years. With Cooks being opposite CeeDee Lamb, it is a recipe for success. This is a team who should be throwing a lot more this season with really only Tony Pollard in the backfield. End of day, I would much rather the WR2 in Dallas than the WR1 in Houston. He should crush his WR41 ADP in 2023. (Scott Miln)