Quarterback
Jameis Winston, Browns (Rostered in 15% of Yahoo leagues)
A wintery AFC North matchup with the Steelers was enough to kill the Winston 40-attempt streak at three. Things don’t get any easier with the Broncos on tap next week. The good news is that in three starts against top-10 defenses by EPA per passing playing, Winston has averaged 283 yards, one passing touchdown, and 17.1 fantasy points per game. The Denver matchup takes Winston off the QB1 radar for Week 13, but he remains one of the top streamers.
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Cooper Rush, Cowboys (5%)
After a dreadful first start, Rush has been more than serviceable as a fantasy option. He has 601 yards and three touchdowns over the past two weeks. The Cowboys have cut him loose with a +6% pass rate over expected in those games.
Unlike our previous volume-based king, Rush gets a far more favorable matchup than Winston this week. He takes on a Giants defense that ranks 26th in dropback EPA and has allowed the 10th-most fantasy points to quarterbacks.
Drake Maye, Patriots (19%)
Pending Monday Night Football, Maye has finished as a top-16 quarterback in every game he has finished. He has at least one touchdown in all seven starts and is adding 39 yards per week on the ground. Maye gets a Colts defense on Sunday that ranks below average in EPA per dropback and is conceding the 13th-most fantasy points to quarterbacks.
Others receiving votes: Will Levis and Russell Wilson
Running Back
Jeremy McNichols, Commanders (1%)
Austin Ekeler suffered a concussion late in the Commanders’ loss to the Cowboys and is in the league’s concussion protocol. Brian Robinson suffered a seemingly severe ankle injury early in the game and immediately left for the locker room. He reportedly got an X-ray, the results were negative, and he then returned after having his ankle taped. Robinson had three carries on the next drive but did not see the field after halftime. There are several moving parts here, but any one of them could result in an uptick in snaps for Jeremy McNichols. If both backs miss Week 13, McNichols will push for an RB2 ranking. If you’re desperate at running back, this is the spot to unload some FAAB. Chris Rodriguez should also be rostered in deeper leagues as the Commanders’ potential No. 2 back.
Ameer Abdullah, Raiders (25%)
Alexander Mattison and Zamir White both missed Week 12 and their statuses for Week 13 are up in the air. Abdullah played on 89 percent of the Raiders’ snaps last week and saw 57 percent of the carries. He also earned a 15 percent target share. Abdullah turned his 13 touches into 65 yards and a receiving touchdown. The Raiders are massive underdogs to the Chiefs this week, but Abdullah’s role in his first start was bordering on elite. He has sneaky RB2 value for Week 13.
Roschon Johnson, Bears (28%)
Johnson’s touch total regressed from 11 last week to three on Sunday. He would not normally crack the top running back adds on that small of a role. However, Johnson has fully supplanted D’Andre Swift at the goal line. He has two goal line scores over the past two weeks on four goal line attempts. Swift has one such carry. Johnson has also played during the two-minute drill during that stretch. He will be a touchdown-or-bust RB4 for Week 13.
Jaylen Wright, Dolphins (6%)
Wright has taken over the RB2 duties from Raheem Mostert. He has 17 carries in his past three games compared to Mostert’s five. Wright logged seven carries and one target in Week 12. Mostert had two carries and a target but was on the field for 40 percent of the available routes. Wright is flirting with standalone value and appears to have the inside track to an elite role if anything happens to De’Von Achane.
Gus Edwards, Chargers (42%)
J.K. Dobbins is expected to miss some time with a knee issue, putting Edwards in line to start. Edwards has been the only backup to see any meaningful work with Dobbins active and should see plenty of touches in his absence, though I suspect Kimani Vidal will make his triumphant return to the lineup as well. Edwards is a plodder with near league-bottom efficiency metrics across the board and will top out at RB3 numbers.
Others receiving votes: Tyler Allgeier, Emmanuel Wilson, and Antonio Gibson
Wide Receiver
Devaughn Vele, Broncos (5%)
Vele is starting to pull away as the Broncos’ No. 2 receiver. His route rate of 69 percent in Week 12 was underwhelming but he still finished second on the team in target share at 25 percent. The rookie caught six passes for 80 yards. He has two WR2 finishes and a WR3 outing in his past three appearances. Vele is averaging 10.6 fantasy points per game when he runs a route on at least 60 percent of Bo Nix’s dropbacks.
Demario Douglas, Patriots (31%)
Douglas is holding strong as the Patriots’ top receiver. He is being targeted on 20 percent of his routes and is averaging 1.5 yards per route run, both of which easily lead the struggling receiving room. He has a 20 percent target share and is averaging 10.4 PPR points per game over his past four contests.
David Moore, Panthers (0%)
Moore has been in the NFL since 2017 and had never seen more than eight targets or caught more than four passes in a game…until Sunday. The veteran wideout ran nearly every route for the Panthers and earned 10 targets, good for a 32 percent target share. He caught six balls for 81 yards and a score. Jalen Coker was a late scratch, paving the way for a full-time role for Moore. It’s fair to say this is not Carolina’s ideal receiver setup. Coker will play over Moore when healthy and Adam Thielen’s role should grow in the coming weeks. Still, Moore is worth an add in deep leagues.
Nick Westbrook-Ikhine, Titans (12%)
As much as I would like to, NWI’s touchdown production can’t be ignored any longer. His six receiving touchdowns are the fourth-most in the NFL.
Will Levis to Nick Westbrook-Ikhine for the 38-yard TD!
— NFL (@NFL) November 24, 2024
📺: #TENvsHOU on CBS/Paramount+
📱: https://t.co/waVpO909ge pic.twitter.com/ZXPwZJ7O2d
Sans DeAndre Hopkins, NWI has run a route on 94 percent of the Titans’ dropbacks and has a 17 percent target share. He is averaging 13.3 fantasy points per game since Hopkins was traded.
Alec Pierce, Colts (21%)
Josh Downs appears to be out for Week 13 with a shoulder injury. Michael Pittman left Sunday’s game with a shoulder injury of his own but returned without much time missed. Pierce has played three games without one of Downs or Pittman this season. He has 12 receptions for 262 yards and three touchdowns in those contests, good for 18.7 fantasy points per game.
Others receiving votes; Calvin Austin, Tre Tucker, and Noah Brown
Tight End
Noah Gray, Chiefs (4%)
Gray’s role in terms of his route share hasn’t changed during his two-week breakout. He ran a route on 61 percent of Patrick Mahomes’ dropbacks during that stretch compared to 55 percent in the previous month. The bigger shift has been an uptick in targets. Gray has nine looks over the past two weeks and an 8/89/4 receiving line. Those are career-highs in catches and targets during a two-game stretch for the veteran tight end. Gray is still a low-volume TE2, but his proximity to the greatest quarterback on the planet makes spike weeks easier to come by.
Luke Schoonmaker, Cowboys (11%)
Schoonmaker’s route rate only hit 59 percent in his first game with Jake Ferguson out, but he cashed in with three receptions for 55 yards and a touchdown. He has nine grabs for 111 yards over the past two weeks, the bulk of which Ferguson has missed. The Cowboys’ passing volume is high enough to keep Schoonmaker on the streaming radar if Ferguson is sidelined for a second week.
Theo Johnson, Giants (2%)
Johnson has a 21 percent target share and a 23 percent air yard share over his past three games. He has three top-20 finishes and a TE1 performance. If he played on a better offense, his role would be enough for a weekly TE1 rank. Tommy DeVito isn’t getting the Giants in scoring position often but does love a good check-down, keeping Johnson near the top of the TE2 ranks going forward.
Hunter Henry and Zach Ertz
ONE MORE WEEK! Longtime readers of this article will know these two tight ends have been mainstays of this article for at least a month. They remain the two high-scoring tight ends available in at least half of all Yahoo leagues. Both are two points shy of the 50 percent roster rate cutoff I use for this article, so this appears to be your last chance at locking in a middle-of-the-road TE1 for the playoff push.
Others receiving votes: Austin Hooper and Cade Stover
