Welcome to Week 13! Some fantasy leagues are just starting their playoff schedules. This is the prime time where all the advice is needed. Hopefully you have followed the Roto Street Journal all season and are in a great position to crush your competition this week. Fantasy titles aren’t won at the draft, it’s weeks of grinding. After all, how do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time. Enough with the cliches, let’s get it!
Alshon Jeffrey
With the addition of Golden Tate and the recent struggles of the Eagles as a whole, Jeffrey is a bit of a risky play. However, he has a mouthwatering matchup this week against Redskins corner Danny Johnson. Jeffrey is a physical receiver that excels at contested catches. Jeffrey owns a 6″ height advantage over Johnson and is every bit as fast as Johnson. On the season, Jeffrey commands a target share of 21% per routes run. Out of those targets he is catching 65% of them with a respectable 1.51 yards per route run (YRR). With Washington and Philadelphia battling to stay in the race in the NFC East, Carson Wentz has every reason to sling the rock.
To say that Johnson has struggled this season is being kind. Johnson may have only been on the field for 37 routes this season, he is still allowing receivers to convert 4.24 yards per route cover (Y/RC). This has likely been overblown some by Amari Cooper scoring two long touchdowns in Washingtons last game on Thanksgiving. Still, this remains a very exploitable matchup for Jeffrey, who has matchup winning upside this week.
Brandin Cooks
Each week, Cooks almost feels like a no-brainer, especially in this high octane Rams offense. Cooks has a legitimate chance to be the number one scoring wide receiver this week. He will likely be facing Mike Ford and the soft Lions secondary. Cooks has been a monster, catching 73% of his targets and converting those catches into 2.43 Y/RR. On the season, Cooks has run 397 routes so far this season and is scoring 0.44 fantasy points per route (F/R) this season. Long story short, Cooks has a safe floor every week and offers explosive, multiple touchdown upside.
Ford on the other end, has only been on the field for 23 routes. Sean McVay has an extremely high football IQ and will look to test Ford early and often. Of Ford’s 23 routes he has been tested eight times. All eight of those targets have been converted for 7.26 Y/RC. Now I don’t realistically expect that number to stand, but I do see a receiver as fast and talented as Cooks taking it to the inexperienced Ford. Start Cooks without hesitation.
Curtis Samuel
Samuel is a bit of a bold call for me this week. This week, Samuel is going against all of the fantasy goodness that is the Buccaneers secondary. Samuel will be spending most of his time dueling with Javien Elliott. Samuel isn’t on the field for many routes. He is more of a gadget style receiver. Samuel is still an athletic freak that can take the top off of any defense.
Samuel has run 78 routes this season. The good news is he typically commands attention when on the field, being targeted 29% of the time. When Samuel has the ball in his hands he rips off 2.29 Y/RR and a whopping 0.68 F/R. If Samuel commands a similar workload as he is used to, then he makes an excellent, sneaky flex play for those a little thin on depth.
