Undervalued PPR Targets for 2023 Fantasy Football Drafts - Romeo Doubs, Richie James, Elijah Moore, more

September 3, 2023

Adam Koffler identifies NFL wide receivers that he's targeting in PPR leagues in 2023. These players are undervalued and should be prioritized when playing in PPR fantasy football leagues.

In a previous article, I highlighted WRs to prioritize in PPR leagues. That included some popular names such as Amon-Ra St. Brown and Keenan Allen. This article is going to be a bit different. Here, I'll try to uncover some sleepers and undervalued players for 2023 fantasy football drafts. Who isn't getting the attention they deserve, particularly in PPR formats?

A lot of fantasy content is centered around the players that everyone loves. While I love that content (and produce a bit of it myself), some of my favorite pieces are centered around value. Who is going overlooked, and why will they be valuable for your fantasy team this upcoming season?

Of course, you'll always want to have a solid understanding of your league's specific settings. Full PPR and standard (non-PPR) leagues are completely different when it comes to the players you should be targeting. Here are three undervalued players you should be targeting in your PPR leagues in 2023.

Romeo Doubs, Green Bay Packers

Last season, Green Bay wide receivers were targeted 296 times. Now 150 of those targets are up for grabs, with Allen Lazard and Randall Cobb both in New York with Aaron Rodgers. The Packers drafted wide receiver Jayden Reed in the second round of the NFL Draft this year, but there are still a lot of vacated targets to be gobbled up. Many will say Christian Watson is the WR1 in Green Bay, which may very well be the case, but that doesn't mean Doubs isn't an undervalued PPR target. With his current WR60 ranking, he very much fits that mold.

The connection with Jordan Love was present last training camp and preseason, and the two seem to be picking up right where they left off.

There are multiple reasons why Doubs should be on your radar when drafting this season. For starters, he'll be on the field full-time and will be targeted. Last season, before he got hurt, Doubs was playing 90% of the snaps as a rookie. He saw eight or more targets in three of his first six games. That was all while playing with fellow rookie Watson. Additionally, his 23.8% target rate as a rookie was very promising. That's the same exact target rate Treylon Burks had last season.

Second, the Packers play in the NFC North. That means points will be scored. Last season, Chicago, Minnesota, and Detroit all ranked in the bottom five in points allowed. Defense is almost non-existent in this division, which will help Doubs in 35% of his games. Yes, it'll also help Watson, but with the Packers playing catch-up for most of these games, Doubs should see a lot of short and intermediate targets as the low average depth of target (aDOT) receiver (77th-ranked). Watson, on the other hand, ranked 12th amongst all wideouts in aDOT last season.

Third, it's possible Doubs is actually pretty good. I mean, check out the company he found himself in last season (courtesy of Ryan Heath).

Richie James, Kansas City Chiefs

If you follow me on Twitter (or X, not entirely sure what we're calling it these days), then you know I'm a sucker for Richie James. And that dates back to last season when he "broke out" for the short-handed Giants down the stretch. From Weeks 14-17, James averaged 6.5 receptions for 67.3 yards on eight targets per game. Per PlayerProfiler, his 16% target share and 23.8% target rate last season were both career highs for the 4th-year wideout.

Now James finds himself on the Kansas City Chiefs, a team that attempted the fifth-most passes per game a season ago (37.9). In comparison, the Giants attempted the eighth-fewest passes per game (30.6). Additionally, he goes to a team with a wide-open receiver room. JuJu Smith-Schuster is no longer there, and Kadarius Toney has already undergone minor knee surgery. That leaves Skyy Moore, rookie Rashee Rice, Marquez Valdes-Scantling, Justin Watson, and Justyn Ross. Moore has impressed thus far in camp, but so has James.

Sure, Travis Kelce will continue to be the unquestioned number-one option in the offense, but Patrick Mahomes can support multiple guys. Heck, he can probably support three or four fantasy-relevant pass-catchers. James has a real opportunity to see the field a lot for an uptempo Chiefs offense that wants to throw the football. He's currently ranked WR97 per FantasyPros. If you want a piece of the Chiefs' offense at an extremely low cost, Richie James is your man, especially if you're playing in a full PPR league.

In closing, a connection with Mahomes should never be slept on.

Elijah Moore, Cleveland Browns

As big of a post-hype sleeper as you'll find, Elijah Moore had a morbid sophomore campaign after putting up very solid numbers as a rookie. In 2021 he had eight or more targets in nearly half of his games. Last season, he saw eight or more targets just twice in 16 games for the Jets. As a rookie, Moore posted an 18.6% target share and a 25% target rate, per PlayerProfiler.

But now Moore finds himself in a completely new situation and on a team that wants to feature him.

He'll be in the slot a lot with Amari Cooper and Donovan Peoples-Jones manning the outside, which should lead to a high volume of targets. For as great as Cooper was last season (career-high target share and target rate of 26.1%), he only averaged 3.5 receptions for 61.3 yards with Watson under center. He eclipsed four receptions in just one of the six games they played together.

There's absolutely a world in which Moore out-targets Cooper this season. That's not to say it'll happen, but it's in the range of outcomes. It's a brand new offseason and training camp in which there's not a whole lot of noise around Watson and the Browns.

Moore is currently ranked as WR48, per FantasyPros. Meanwhile, Cooper is ranked WR17 after finishing the 2022 season as WR18 on a per-game basis. After posting career highs in target share and target rate, there isn't much more room for Cooper to grow in Cleveland.

On the flip side, Moore is heading into his third season and showed promise in his rookie season. His target rate of 25% nearly matched that of Cooper's a season ago. Heading into the 2022 season, Moore was ranked around WR24. Take advantage of the discount! And despite his tumultuous 2022 season with the Jets, Moore is still good, as highlighted by Alex Caruso below.

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