Fantasy Football Breakouts, Busts, and Locks - Kansas City Chiefs 2023 Outlook

Aside from being the reigning Super Bowl champions and potentially the NFL's newest dynasty, the Kansas City Chiefs offense contains a variety of players who figure to have key fantasy football impacts throughout the 2023 NFL season.

When you're looking for reliable fantasy football contributors, your best bet is to identify high-target-volume players on the league's best offense. Enter, the Chiefs.

Let's look at the Chiefs' breakouts, busts, and locks for fantasy football as they embark on a journey to defend their title.

• Quarterback fantasy football rankings
• Running back fantasy football rankings
• Wide receiver fantasy football rankings
• Tight end fantasy football rankings
• Kicker fantasy football rankings
• FLEX fantasy football rankings
• Defense (D/ST) fantasy football rankings
• Superflex fantasy football rankings
• IDP fantasy football rankings
• Dynasty fantasy football rankings

Fantasy Football Breakout: Skyy Moore (WR)

Moore was quite slow to get started as a rookie last season, notching 22 catches for 250 yards while failing to find the end zone. However, now that JuJu Smith-Schuster has departed for New England, the latest gossip out of training camp is that Moore has blossomed into one of Patrick Mahomes' favorite targets. That's great news considering the star quarterback tends to drastically elevate his receivers' production when he throws to them.

Coaches and teammates have raved about Moore this summer, and while it can be dangerous to put so much faith into "coachspeak," there's video evidence to support the claims. Moore has shown off a lethal blend of speed, route running, and reliable hands. If this trend can continue throughout the preseason and into the regular season, Moore could be one of the NFL's most improved players and a potential league winner in fantasy football. I'm buying the hype.

Fantasy Football Bust: Kadarius Toney (WR)

On one end of the spectrum, we have Moore. On the other end of the spectrum is Toney, whose hype peaked earlier in the offseason and has come crashing back down over the last couple of months.

So what happened? The problem with Toney gaining hype is that most of the optimism was rooted in the eye test and recency bias. He's relatively speedy and shifty, and he received a lot of attention towards the end of last season when he was healthy. He was also a high pick in the NFL draft with a low ADP in fantasy drafts, so fantasy managers, understandably, grew excited about the chance to add a former top prospect for cheap.

However, when you take a closer look, there's reason to be pessimistic. Toney is a subpar route runner who doesn't operate down the field. In fact, he finished last season with a minuscule ADOT of 4.0 yards. To succeed in fantasy football, you need to first succeed in "real" football. The Chiefs can afford to check down behind the line of scrimmage here and there, but it's far less productive than hitting a wide-open Travis Kelce over the middle or linking up with Moore after he shakes the defender.

Toney doesn't have the route-running profile to dominate opposing defenses. As a result, he'll struggle to earn snaps and his fantasy production will suffer.

Note: I highly recommend checking out the below thread from David Gautieri with even more data and information on Toney's uninspiring 2023 outlook.

Fantasy Football Lock: Travis Kelce (TE)

The hype around Kelce is always high, and it's been fun to monitor the annual debate regarding where he should be drafted. Over time, the argument has developed from "draft him before the first quarterback" to "draft him with your second-round pick" to "draft him in the first round." This summer, ESPN's Field Yates ventured to a whole new level, pondering whether Kelce might be a worthwhile investment with the 1.01 selection.

That debate is neither here nor there, but the fact of the matter is that these exact conversations are a testament to just how elite Kelce is. We are quite literally reconsidering how we treat the tight end position in fantasy football thanks to his utter dominance. In other words, he's a cheat code ... and he doesn't get hurt, knock on wood!

I'll leave you with this: Kelce has been a top-two tight end in fantasy football for each of the last seven seasons (including TE1 overall five times). He's a lock. Enough said.

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