Who’s the 2023 Fantasy MVP? | Yahoo Fantasy Football Show
Yahoo Sports fantasy analyst Matt Harmon and Dalton Del Don discuss who this year’s fantasy MVP should be. Hear the full conversation on the “Yahoo Fantasy Football Show” podcast - and subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you listen.
Video Transcript
DALTON DEL DON: Who's the fantasy MVP this year? Kyren Williams, though, he gets my vote given his ADP, given the fact that he's was number four overall fantasy scorer among running backs, but also missed four games. And in the fantasy playoffs, he finished sixth, eighth, and first in the fantasy championship when my guy CMC left injured. So, I mean, I know this is a silly debate, but if my vote would be Kyren Williams for this year's fantasy MVP. Again, an ADP afterthought and just a beast week in and week out. Just a total workhorse. Top four overall while missing four games. And free at draft tables.
MATT HARMON: We do this so quickly with young running backs especially. It's just always like on to the next one. People forget that Kyren Williams was going to run out as the Rams RB2 behind Daryl Henderson ahead of Cam Akers in the 2022 season. But then he got injured on a special teams play. Ankle injury. Was out for a long time. He did come back. And he had a couple moments.
I remember talking about this on Chris Harris's podcast. I'm like, I like a little bit what we're seeing from this guy. But then they draft Zach Evans. And you know how it always is. It's always the new rookie. And remember, Zach Evans, when all these guys went down, he didn't even get a shot to play at all on this team. So again, I'm not saying like, oh, it was easy to see Kyren Williams becoming one of the best players in fantasy. But seeing that he was the clear-cut RB2 behind Cam Akers, there were some bread crumbs there.
DALTON DEL DON: All the Rams beat writers were saying Kyren's the real deal. He's at least at minimum going to play passing downs. And Akers's ECR, his expert consensus rank, just stayed the same the whole time. And he was drafted like-- at the end of last year, he was a total bellcow. And I get it. But if you were really into the weeds and paying attention to the beat writers, the warning signs were saying Kyren is going to be a big part of this offense. Now, no one thought he'd just completely take over. But as you said, this wasn't a complete shock to those paying super close attention to this situation.
MATT HARMON: No team has a higher percentage of their runs, according to Fantasy Points Data, coming on man and gap rush attempts. 54.9%. Kyren Williams back in Notre Dame was a pure man gap scheme runner. And if you blow those holes open, he's a smart guy with good vision and reads things out well. He's going to hit the right hole. He just isn't like that exciting athletically or anything like that. His combine stuff is not impressive. All that to say is that was another way that it was easy to miss Kyren Williams because, like, is he even the best scheme fit for this team? No. Maybe you would say that. But clearly, they've changed their entire offense around him.
DALTON DEL DON: And I'm pretty sure the Rams are first in EPA per play with all four of those guys on the field this season, which is wild and makes him dangerous in the playoffs.