Week 1 Fantasy Football Quarterback Rankings: Updated rankings highlight where Anthony Richardson falls

Chris Towers walks you through his Week 1 QB rankings

By Chris Towers

Sep 10, 2023 at 9:01 am ET • 2 min read

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Fantasy Football players are excited about what Anthony Richardson can bring to the table as a rookie starter, and I've got him on a few of my rosters, with the hopes he can turn into a must-start Fantasy QB in the long run. But can you really trust him in Week 1?

There are plenty of things to like about Richardson, obviously, starting with elite athleticism – as I wrote last week, Richardson measured in just four pounds lighter than Cam Newton and posted a 4.43 40-yard dash time, compared to Newton's 4.59. It may not be an exaggeration to say he's the most athletic QB in NFL history.

There are also some things to like about the Colts offense, at least from what we saw in the preseason, as the Colts played at a fast pace in the preseason, which should lead to nice volume. That'll be necessary, because Richardson might struggle as a runner, and the absence of Jonathan Taylor could mean they'll struggle to move the ball while Richardson is getting used to the speed of the NFL game.

I think this offense will be a very good one for Richardson and his Fantasy value, but I think it's fair to be skeptical about how good he'll be for Fantasy right away. Sure, the Colts should be willing to use Richardson as a runner early and often, but let's not forget that Justin Fields was pretty bad as a Fantasy option for nearly all of his rookie season, and he didn't even top 50 yards until his fourth game a year ago. This is likely to be a pretty bad offense, and if Richardson isn't an immediate, significant contributor as a runner, he probably won't bring much to the table for Fantasy.

I love the upside, and I expect Richardson to be a useful Fantasy option for much of this season. But I'm ranking him more as a No. 2 QB for Week 1. I'm going to be patient, and I definitely won't drop him even if his debut is a disaster. But I'm trying to keep expectations reasonable for Richardson, who could be facing a very high degree of difficulty from Day 1. Of course, it says a lot about how excited I am about Richardson that he's still QB16 in his NFL debut – C.J. Stroud and Bryce Young are all the way down at QB29 and QB30, respectively.

Do you play in a deeper full-point PPR league? Over at Sportsline, Jacob Gibbs has you covered with full-point PPR position-by-position rankings for Week 1.