Fantasy Football: 25 QB Statistics from the 2023 Season
For the EIGHTH(!) year in a row, our 25 Statistics series recaps each position with some of the most meaningful and eye-popping statistics of the year. For context, I started writing this series way back in 2016 when Andy, Mike, & Jason still were working out of a spare bedroom, and JayGriz didn’t have a job yet.
My goal is to start by giving the broad scope of QB scoring from a league-wide view, and work through the elite tier of QBs before finding the odd and quirky stats of 2023 that might help reframe and give context to several questionable signal-callers.
We released the Top-10 QB Truth data on Thursday’s podcast if you want a deep dive into their consistency.
Note: All scoring is 4-point standard QB scoring per the Ballers Consistency Charts found at JointheFoot.com.
1. Every year I track the stat of how top-12 performances we saw at the QB position. It’s stayed fairly steady over the last couple of years since collecting this data. But in 2021, we saw a massive jump to nearly 50 QBs hitting that QB1 mark!
| Year |
Top-12 Performances
|
| 2016 | 40 |
| 2017 | 43 |
| 2018 | 41 |
| 2019 | 40 |
| 2020 | 38 |
| 2021 | 49 |
| 2022 | 45 |
| 2023 | 46 |
Just to jog your memory a bit, here are some of those 46 QBs who might’ve slipped your mind including Mitchell Trubisky, Bailey Zappe, Tyson Bagent, and even Carson Wentz in Week 18!
2. NFL QBs had their lowest TD Rate (4.09%) since 2011 despite completing the 2nd most passes in league history.
| Total Completions | Total Attempts | Comp % | Total Passing Yards | Total Passing TDs | TD % | TOTAL INTs | INT % | Total QB Rush Att. | Total QB Rush Yards | Total QB Rush TDs | |
| 2011 | 10454 | 17384 | 60.1% | 125051 | 741 | 4.26% | 505 | 2.90% | 1592 | 6149 | 67 |
| 2012 | 10788 | 17706 | 60.9% | 125333 | 750 | 4.24% | 465 | 2.63% | 1589 | 6657 | 66 |
| 2013 | 10938 | 17847 | 61.3% | 127182 | 792 | 4.44% | 492 | 2.76% | 1622 | 6790 | 55 |
| 2014 | 11186 | 17845 | 62.7% | 128494 | 802 | 4.49% | 449 | 2.52% | 1645 | 6641 | 47 |
| 2015 | 11522 | 18288 | 63.0% | 132568 | 840 | 4.59% | 435 | 2.38% | 1630 | 6569 | 61 |
| 2016 | 11512 | 18263 | 63.0% | 130591 | 779 | 4.27% | 414 | 2.27% | 1521 | 6007 | 65 |
| 2017 | 10846 | 17464 | 62.1% | 122377 | 738 | 4.23% | 425 | 2.43% | 1649 | 7130 | 66 |
| 2018 | 11434 | 17626 | 64.9% | 129644 | 834 | 4.73% | 418 | 2.37% | 1871 | 8090 | 71 |
| 2019 | 11302 | 17806 | 63.5% | 128461 | 791 | 4.44% | 405 | 2.27% | 1825 | 7698 | 80 |
| 2020 | 11730 | 17977 | 65.3% | 129951 | 863 | 4.80% | 394 | 2.19% | 2146 | 9439 | 126 |
| 2021 | 12018 | 18525 | 64.9% | 131,303 | 832 | 4.49% | 433 | 2.34% | 2099 | 9060 | 94 |
| 2022 | 11575 | 18021 | 64.2% | 126,621 | 744 | 4.13% | 410 | 2.28% | 2308 | 10236 | 98 |
| 2023 | 11783 | 18271 | 64.5% | 128,238 | 747 | 4.09% | 429 | 2.35% | 2285 | 9440 | 110 |
3. NFL QBs sported their lowest fantasy points per pass attempt (1.95) since 2011. However, we’ve also seen rush attempts only become more valuable
4. Streaming QBs was important in a year where 67(!) different QBs started an NFL Game. Here is some context for the last couple of years.
- 2018– 55
- 2019– 57
- 2020– 58
- 2021– 63
- 2022– 69
5. Josh Allen finished as the QB1 for the 3rd time in the last four years. However, how he did it in 2023 was a different story. Down the stretch they used him more and more as a runner with new OC Joe Brady averaging 9.7 rush attempts per game from Week 12 on including eight rushing TDs in his final six games.
6. Allen‘s 15 total rushing TDs was tied with Hurts for most ever by a QB in a season breaking Cam Newton’s single-season record of 14 in 2011. Allen somehow sits 2nd all-time in career rushing TDs by a QB in just 94 career games.
7. Despite all of the end-of-season drama with the Eagles, for fantasy purposes, we know Jalen Hurts is a cheat code. 11 of his 15 rushing TDs came from the 1-yard line via the tush push. He already ranks 5th all-time in rushing TDs in just 62 career games.
8. Let’s put Hurts as a runner in perspective: Since becoming the starter at the end of 2020, he’s averaging 10+ fantasy points per game just as a runner. For context, CMC is averaging 11.5 fantasy points per game as a runner in that same span. Over the last two seasons, Hurts has 87 red-zone rushing attempts!
9. Lamar Jackson looks like the newly crowned league MVP as he set career-highs in a number of categories that were seen as “red flags” before the season:
- 🚩”He Can’t Stay Healthy” → Most Starts (16) of his career
- 🚩”He Isn’t Accurate” → Highest Completion % (67%) of career
- 🚩”This is a New OC/System” → Highest Yards per Attempt (8.0) of career
- 🚩”He’s Going to Run Less” → Most QB Scrambles of His Career
10. Mike Wright must’ve given Dak Prescott a pep talk after Week 5
11. Dak showed up in big games with seven top-3 finishes and ranked #1 in PFF’s “Big Time Throws” Metric, a pass with excellent ball location & timing, generally thrown further down the field and/or into a tighter window. He tallied the most passing yards under pressure and the highest completion rate under pressure.
12. Jordan Love was a high-floor option all year long with 11 finishes inside the top 12, the 3rd most among all QBs behind only Allen & Hurts. He was the QB3 from Week 10 on and he finished with the 2nd most passing TDs (32), the 2nd most red-zone pass attempts, and 2nd most air yards.
13. From Weeks 10-15, Brock Purdy dominated averaging 23.3 fantasy points per game and 2.8 passing TDs. He was a top-6 QB in 5 of 6 weeks… and then the Baltimore Game. Purdy entered the game -250 to win MVP and 4 INTs later… it was gone. It was still an insanely historic season from an efficiency standpoint:
15. You might think Purdy was just a product of the weapons around him, a true sum of his parts kind of player. Whether he just had a Nick Foles-ian season or is turning into Kurt Warner, we need to realize how accurate he was. He ranked #1 in Play-Action Completion % and perhaps more impressive, #1 in Deep Ball Completion Rate at 63.8 %. How good is that? It is the highest ever among all qualifying QBs… EVER. As in of all-time, or at least from the data we have since 2008.
Steph Chambers/Getty Images
16. We usually don’t have to wait this long to talk about Patrick Mahomes in this annual statistical series. Welp, KC games didn’t involve many shootouts in 2023 with only five Games hitting the over. The KC Defense ranked 2nd in PPG Allowed and 5th in Yards per Play. Before 2023, the average O/U for Mahomes games since he became the starter: 51.3… 2023? 45.9
17. Was Mahomes helpful for fantasy managers? According to our TRUTH metrics, he was a landmine and over the back half of the year, he was basically hurting teams:
17. It’s not rocket science but Jared Goff has always been better at home and dome games. He’s played 17 games at Ford Field the last two years (so a full season’s worth) totaling 4712 passing yards & 43 Passing TDs! He had 7 top-12 finishes in 2023 and 6-of-7 were indoors.
18. You gotta feel good for Baker Mayfield, right? In a contract year, Baker came through and was a steady (not spectacular) fantasy performer with eight top-12 finishes. It was the most passing TDs of his career (28- surpassed 27 from his rookie year) and he was willing to chuck it deep! Baker tallied the most 20+ Air Yard Attempts in the NFL and 3rd most total air yards.
19. For the first two months of the season, Tua Tagovailoa looked like an MVP candidate with three monster games in the 1st six weeks: @ LAC, DEN, CAR. Miami’s quick-strike offense was evident in Tua leading the NFL in Intermediate Completions (10-19 Yards) and showcasing the quickest “Time to Throw” in the NFL averaging 2.32 Seconds per attempt. His splits of +/- 2.5 seconds were quite a contrast:
20. Time to give some C.J. Stroud love. He’s the 1st Rookie ever to support two top-15 WRs in points per game- Nico Collins (WR6 in ppg) & Tank Dell (WR15). Since 2000, among rookie QBs with 300+ pass attempts, he ranks 1st in Yards per Attempt (8.2).
He was willing to look deep with the 2nd most air yards per pass attempt and the 2nd highest completion (56%) on deep attempts of 20+ air yards.
21. More Stroud! He carved up zone coverage with the 3rd highest passer rating versus zone (104.8) and the 4th most Intermediate Completions (76), the most by a rookie since Jameis Winston in 2015.
22. Bryce Young may have been taken at the 1.01 in the NFL Draft but he turned in one of the worst rookie QB seasons since 2000. Among 44 rookie QBs with 12+ starts, he ranks 43rd in sack rate, 40th in yards per attempt, 44th in yards per completion, and 36th in pass success rate.
23. Sam Howell was your passing attempts king with 612. It was a lot of empty calories on the year and the Commanders seem very clear that they will be taking their newest franchise QB at 2nd overall in the NFL. Among 45 QBs with 600+ pass attempts over the last decade, Howell’s QB Rating ranks 43rd, his sack rate ranks 45th, and his adjusted yards gained per attempt ranks 44th. Oh, and Howell also led the league in pick-sixes with four. Whoops!
24. Bengals backup Jake Browning technically led the NFL in completion rate at 70.4% in his 7 starts. If you only focused on those starts and extrapolated them over a 17-game season, Browning would’ve totaled 4536 passing yards, 27 passing TDs, and another 7 TDs on the ground. From Week 12 on, Browning was the QB4(!) averaging 20 fantasy points per game.
25. Derek Carr might have the most impressive middling resume of any QB in NFL history. Is he great? No way. Is he bad? No. He is straight-up baby bear: not too hot, and not too cold. With his 10th consecutive fantasy finish between QB13 and 20, it’s wild how consistent this guy is. We do need to give Carr some credit as he balled out with a league-leading 12 passing TDs in his final four games.
