What's up RotoBallers. Week 12 is complete and we hope you managed to secure the win! To celebrate, today we are bringing you our Week 13 fantasy football rankings to help prepare you for your Week 10 matchups.
Below you will find both PPR rankings and standard league rankings for Week 13, brought to you by Zach Wilkens (@LopsidedTrades) and Edward Gorelik (@EdwardGorelik). Lead fantasy football columnist Edward Gorelik also highlights some rankings analysis for Week 13, broken out by position, and draws some matchup conclusions. He tells you who he likes, who he doesn't, and most importantly who he thinks you should be starting in Week 13.
You can also check out our 2015 fantasy football ranking dashboard, for more in depth rankings analysis on all positions including rookies and dynasty leagues.
Rankings are subject to change leading up to the games, but the analysis written might not.
Week 13 Fantasy Football Rankings - All Positions
powered by FantasyPros
Week 13 Quarterback (QB) Rankings Analysis
By Edward Gorelik (@Edward Gorelik)
I don't think anyone really needs to be told that Aaron Rodgers' weak performance against the Bears isn't the norm, and he should be expected to bounce back right? Well, if you did now you've been told.
I know Blake Bortles didn't have a great game against the Titans the first time around, but I want to believe he'll be better this time around. The Titans pass defense (which at one point was ranked within the top eight in DVOA) has given up the 4th most fantasy points over the last four weeks, and has dropped in DVOA all the way into the average zone (14th). Bortles and company should be able to win the way they should've won the first time around: by putting up a lot of points.
Speaking of guys scoring against the Titans, Derek Carr is coming off a three touchdown game, and now gets to play at home against Kansas City who's been having their QB-against numbers inflated by playing weak competition. They trounced a heavily understaffed Chargers team, played Peyton Manning in the game that got him benched, played the Landry Jones Steelers instead of the Ben Roethlisberger one. And there's some still more weak games on this schedule.
However, despite the weak QB chain, they've given up the second most points to WRs. That speaks clearly to me - they have terrible coverage, and have gotten very lucky. I'd assume Carr, who has two great weapons in Michael Crabtree and Amari Cooper, to be amongst the top QB performers this week.
Alex Smith learned how to pass down the field during his game against Buffalo, and although that's probably not going to continue into his next game, maybe he's finally realized that Jeremy Maclin and Travis Kelce need to be targeted deep. I want to hope, but regardless he's presented a high floor all year long and faces an easy Raiders defense that's given up tons of QB points this year.
Week 13 Running Back (RB) Rankings Analysis
By Edward Gorelik (@Edward Gorelik)
With the two most talented running backs remaining in the NFL facing some difficult matchups, the top spot (at time of writing) is going to belong to DeAngelo Williams. With Roethlisberger injured, there's a chance this game falls more heavily on Williams' shoulders as they try to protect their QB in what should be an easy game. The Colts have given up the 9th most fantasy points to running backs on the season.
Playing at home against the Texans sounds pretty good for LeSean McCoy. The Texans have been a stouter run defense in the last few weeks, but overall have been among the bottom half of the league (20th in DVOA and 14th in fantasy points allowed).
McCoy at home averages 5.1 yards per carry (compared to 4.0 when away), but is still having trouble finding touchdowns especially with Karlos Williams around. In fact, he's pretty much only gaining touchdowns on long runs. McCoy feels like a solid bet for a low RB1 week against the Texans.
The injury to Rob Gronkowski is going to make a lot of people go after Chandler, but the reality is that the Patriots will likely use their other players far more than Chandler - just like they did when Gronk went down in 2013. As such, expect a lot more of LeGarrette Blount and one of James White or Brandon Bolden in his absence.
Buck Allen put up a good game against the Browns, sorta. Well, in my opinion not really. With only 12 carries, as he split the work with Terrance West, Buck looked exactly like many analysts thought he would - like one that shouldn't play three downs. Terrance West split time with Buck and looked far more productive on the ground. It's debatable whether or not Allen was even productive through the air, or whether the Browns defense was just that bad.
In case you missed it, four Browns defenders whiffed on Buck on his touchdown catch, and at no point did it seem like he did anything to make them miss. Usually that means the work was effortless, but in this case it was really the Browns putting in effort to be bad. I don't expect the same of Allen against Miami, who's just marginally better than the Browns.
Week 13 Wide Receiver (WR) Rankings Analysis
By Edward Gorelik (@Edward Gorelik)
Odell Beckham Jr. sees the Jets this week, who may be without Darrelle Revis for the second week in a row. It's debatable whether or not that really changes Beckham's outlook. Revis has been getting burned all year by the new crop of young NFL talent, even when the numbers don't show it (like against Amari Cooper and Sammy Watkins). Beckham should still be a WR1 regardless of Revis' status.
The Rams matchup has been a death sentence for many fantasy wide receivers this year, but the last time Larry Fitzgerald faced them he seemed to do just fine with 7 catches for 99 yards. On top of that, Fitzgerald on the road has 17 more catches, 100 more yards, and three more touchdowns on the season than in home games. I'd expect Fitzgerald to put on another WR1 week.
The New England game showed a struggling Demaryius Thomas get woefully outplayed by a flourishing Emmanuel Sanders, who had great chemistry with Brock Osweiler all game. In fact, Sanders mentioned that he and Osweiler had been practicing often even before Peyton's injury took him out of the lineup. At this point, Sanders is ranked over Thomas until DT can show that he's able to play with Brock at helm.
Sammy Watkins' big game against the Chiefs really should've been expected - like I mentioned in Carr's blurb, they're awful against wide receivers and have been even before the Buffalo game. This time around Watkins is going to see Houston who's been far, far better at covering receivers.
Houston has even allowed the lowest amount of points over the last four weeks to the position. This is a week I might bench Watkins, with the expectation that Buffalo runs for a large majority of this game.
Week 13 Tight End (TE) Rankings Analysis
By Edward Gorelik (@Edward Gorelik)
A lot of people are going to be starting Scott Chandler this week in place of Rob Gronkowski, but I'm sticking with the idea that Chandler isn't a good enough player for the Patriots to try and feature. He'll become very touchdown dependent against the 2nd best fantasy defense against tight ends in the league, who's also allowed the 2nd least touchdowns to the position. Chandler still sits at the low end of the TE1 range.
If Austin Seferian-Jenkins misses another game, it's about time we started looking at Cameron Brate as a real option. In the last six games, Brate has three touchdowns and has begun showing a knack for great catches. The coaches finally realized that they should be playing him over the aging Brandon Myers, and had him in for nearly all the snaps in last weeks game (compared to just under 50% in previous weeks).
If he gets the start again, he's playing against one of the weakest TE defenses in the league. The Falcons allow an average of 65 yards per game, and a touchdown every other week to the position. If ASJ does play, then this blurb applies to him too.
As expected, Crockett Gillmore just couldn't get any points in a Matt Schaub offense playing against a top tight end defense. This time around, he'll see an easier challenge as the Dolphins are just about average against the position - but his upside still remains questionable. A game as bad as last week's shouldn't be the norm, but the big games that preceded it are likely outliers against some very bad competition.
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Check out all of RotoBaller's fantasy football rankings. Staff rankings are updated regularly for all positions and include standard formats, PPR scoring, tiered rankings and dynasty leagues.