Week 13 Fantasy Football Sneaky Starts & Sleepers

Nov 30, 2022

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Najee Harris has some sort of a core injury and could miss time. Michael Carter has an ankle injury (high-ankle?) and might be out for a few weeks. Damien Harris (thigh) is hurt again. Josh Jacobs (calf) is dinged up. Allen Robinson (foot) and Darnell Mooney (ankle) are done for the year. Elijah Mitchell (MCL) is done for the regular season while Christian McCaffrey is dealing with “knee irritation.”

All but the luckiest fantasy owners at some point need to find the proverbial diamond in the rough—a waiver wire or bench player capable of putting up some points in a pinch. This weekly feature is dedicated to that part of fantasy football. It's not pretty, but it's part of the game.

Below is a list of players who are ranked higher than usual due to injuries, depth chart changes, or favorable matchups. As the bye weeks hit, it’s important to be able to find players who can produce.

I’ll put the matchup along with our signature strength-of-schedule metric, adjusted fantasy points allowed (aFPA), in parenthesis. The higher the number, the better the matchup.

Quarterbacks

Trevor Lawrence, Jaguars (@ DET, 32)

Lawrence is the QB11 on the season and has the No. 12 per game average, tied with Daniel Jones. He still feels untrustworthy, but he has cleared 16.7 fantasy points in four of his last five games and has the matchup of all matchups this week against the Lions, who are allowing 23.8 fantasy points per game to the position this season. This game has the second-highest total on the slate this week.

Deshaun Watson, Browns (@ HOU, 2)

There’s definitely some risk starting Watson out of the gate, but some managers may not have an option. He threw for an average of 301 yards and 2.1 touchdowns per game in 2020 and has averaged at least 257/1.6 in the last three seasons. The Texans have been weirdly stingy against the pass this season, yielding just 10 passing touchdowns yet giving up the sixth-most yards per attempt (7.6).