Who To Start And Sit In Week 13 Of Fantasy Football

This could be the last week of your regular season and if not you likely have only one more week after this one. Crunch time is here as you try to make the late season push. Thursday’s Thanksgiving Day games should be full of fantasy excitement as name players who fill fantasy lineups exist on all six teams. Hopefully the end product is as good as we expect.

Below is a list of guys I’m focused on for one reason or another this week. They’re especially important in daily fantasy sports (DFS) leagues like DraftKings. If you’re curious about guys you don’t see listed here, you can always find me on Twitter (@MrT_BroBible) to ask questions, but remember to mention league specifics like PPR.

You Know Who You Should Start?

Alex Smith (QB – Kansas City)

The pickings are slim for alternative quarterbacks this week and anyone can tell you to start Ryan Tannehill against the Jets, who have allowed the most points to fantasy quarterbacks, so I’m taking a different approach. Look for Smith to get some things done against the fifth most porous defense for fantasy QBs. He may not throw touchdowns to his receivers, but Kansas City will need to score to win, so Smith will use his legs and his arms to do whatever it takes.

Tre Mason (RB – St. Louis)
Mason wasn’t great last week when finally facing an easier run defense, but he was good enough to amass 88 total yards. He should produce at that level or better this week against a team allowing 20.8 points per game to fantasy running backs. Mason has clearly seized the reins in the Rams’ running game, so those are his points to earn.

Denard Robinson (RB – Jacksonville)
Last week was a disappointing week for Robinson owners, but he should bounce back against the third worst defense against fantasy RBs. Jaguars’ coach Gus Bradley called out his quarterback this week saying that he’d have to play better. The best way to get him to play better is to rely even more heavily on the running game.

Keenan Allen (WR – San Diego)
San Diego will likely have to score to keep pace with Baltimore in this one and the Ravens lost its best corner Jimmy Smith for the season a couple of weeks ago. Allen had a resurgence last week, getting in the end zone for only the second time this season and should be Philip Rivers’ favorite target again on Sunday.

Desean Jackson (WR – Washington)
Jackson did his best when Robert Griffin III wasn’t quarterbacking Washington. Last time Colt McCoy was involved, Jackson went off for 136 yards and should have the opportunity to put up similar numbers with Washington likely trailing big to Indianapolis most of the game.

Travis Kelce (TE – Kansas City)
The tight end position is a problem around fantasy leagues right now as there doesn’t seem to be much depth. We’re taking a shot with Kelce this week for the same reason we like Alex Smith, plus he did some work against the Broncos in Week 2, a common theme for tight ends against Denver this year.

You Know Who You Should Sit?

Colin Kaepernick (QB – San Francisco)
The Seahawks defense isn’t what it used to be, but they’re still holding fantasy QBs to 12.5 points per game and Kaepernick clearly isn’t that good. He’s scored more than 13 points just once since Week 4, showing the lack of explosivity you need at crunch time.

Isiah Crowell (RB – Cleveland)
Last week was a great situation for Crowell as he came home to Georgia and took on a terrible Falcons’ run defense. This week he heads up to cold Buffalo and goes against one of the best run defenses in the league. Given that the Browns still split carries between him and Terrance West, don’t look for a repeat performance.

Trent Richardson (RB – Indianapolis)
I got a lot of Trent Richardson questions last week and I tried to urge readers not to buy in now that Ahmad Bradshaw was hurt. Indianapolis clearly doesn’t trust him completely because they gave Boom Herron a lot of run. (It wasn’t just Richardson feeling under the weather.) Richardson saved his fantasy day with a touchdown, but might not this week against one of the best run defenses in the league. The Redskins have only given up five rushing touchdowns all year and three of them were in one game.

Vincent Jackson (WR – Tampa Bay)
As bad as the Bengals’ defense has looked this year, you probably don’t realize they’re the second best defense at limiting fantasy wide receivers. Jackson has taken a back seat to Mike Evans most of the time in recent weeks, which compounds the situation this weekend poorly for him.

Andre Johnson (WR – Houston)
Part of Johnson’s downfall this year has been the quarterback play, but his age is also a factor as well. Johnson can’t compensate for bad quarterback play like he used to, thus coming up short of making some highlight reel catches. He’s only found the end zone once this year and seemed to become the second receiving option last time Ryan Fitzpatrick was at the helm.

Heath Miller (TE – Pittsburgh)
Miller has been up and down this year, but the biggest issue for me is his lack of touchdowns. He’s grabbed only two on the season as Ben seems to like going for his wide receivers in the red zone. New Orleans has only given up three touchdowns to tight ends this year and two were in one game, so don’t expect Miller to break out for you this weekend.