Assembling a DFS lineup each week helps keep that draft-day feeling alive. Consult our FanDuel tournament lineup for Week 13 for ideas on who to start during the main slate on Sunday. Follow Justin on Twitter @justinsablich and @5thDownFantasy.
Hi 5thDowners, your fearless leader is here to take you till the end of the season in terms of suggesting a FanDuel lineup for Sunday’s main slate. I’d like to thank Ryan Durante for all his excellent work this season! Hopefully we’ll get his fantasy football insight back at some point in the future. For now, you’re stuck with a Sablich, though I’ll be borrowing some of our team’s excellent analysis from this past week to strengthen some of my own points. Let’s do this.
Projected ownership percentage courtesy of FantasyPros.com.
QB — Kirk Cousins — $7,600 (Proj. Own: 7.2%)
I didn’t say this was the safest FanDuel lineup for Week 13. Kirk Cousins is a polarizing start this week here on 5thDownFantasy.com, as you’ll see him in the sit column here and as one of the top FanDuel value picks here. Both of my colleagues make good arguments, but I’m hoping that Joshua is right this week. I was leaning toward a Jameis Winston/Mike Evans stack all week, but decided to take a less traveled route and bank on a big offensive performance from the Vikings in a must-win game at Foxboro. Cousins leads the NFL in passing attempts, and all that throwing led to some big numbers in Week 12: 342 yards, 3 touchdowns and 27.4 FD points. In Week 13 he’s up against the Patriots’ 25th ranked pass defense.
RB — Philip Lindsay — $7,000 (Proj. Own: 12.2%)
With five touchdowns over his last five games, Phillip Lindsay is turning into a trustworthy fantasy back in Denver, and has clearly taken full command of the Broncos backfield. In FanDuel, Lindsay has at least 16 points in four of the last five, with nearly 25 points against a touch Chargers defense in Week 11. You have to like his chances against the Bengals, a “defense that seems to be in shambles, and, with a backup quarterback starting for Cincinnati, the Broncos have a good chance to get ahead early and feed Lindsay the ball,” writes Paul Patterson in this week’s Start or Sit column.
RB — Tarik Cohen — $6,100 (Proj. Own: 2.2%)
Everyone and their pet poodle is playing Spencer Ware this week, for obvious reasons. His projected ownership is nearly 90 percent, according to Fantasy Pros. But he’s far from a sure thing, as we don’t have any examples to look back on of what Ware produced without Kareem Hunt as the starter, since Hunt has started every game of his NFL career. Ware is clearly the starter, but if the Chiefs take a big, early lead over Oakland, as is expected, why run Ware into the ground if he’s your main back the rest of the season? He’s not that far removed from a major knee injury, after all.
Anyway, this is supposed to be about Tarik Cohen, right? Oh yeah, Cohen, he’s pretty solid. He has 16 receptions over his last three games and plays the Giants, who are tied with the Texans in allowing the most receiving touchdowns to opposing backs this season (5). He’s also only expected to be owned in 2.2% of contests, and the Giants have enough offensive firepower that this game should remain competitive enough to warrant Cohen’s usage.
WR — Adam Thielen — $8,100 (Proj. Own: 22.7%)
I’m stacking Adam Thielen with Cousins in the hope that Week 12 was a sign of more to come, as Thielen tallied 8 receptions for 125 yards and a touchdown. His receiving buddy, Stefon Diggs, is expected to play, and this is actually a good thing for Thielen, as Diggs will take attention away from the middle of the field, where Thielen does his business.
WR — Corey Davis — $5,900 (Proj. Own: 7.8%)
He’s been frustrating from a fantasy perspective most of this season, but of late is showing some promise, with two touchdowns and two 95-plus yard performances over his last three games.
WR — Kenny Golladay $7,300 — (Proj. Own: 18.3%)
I was going back and forth here between Emmanuel Sanders and Kenny Golladay. There’s a case to be made that the Bengals defense is so bad that there’s enough points to go around for both Lindsay and Sanders. But there’s a stronger case to be made that without Andy Dalton, the Bengals won’t even keep this one close, which should lead to Denver leaning on the run game, which could leave Sanders without many opportunities. I feel safer going with Golladay, who is the only offensive show left in town with Golden Tate long gone, Marvin Jones on IR and Kerryon Johnson out this week.
TE — Travis Kelce — $7,800 (Proj. Own: 21.8%)
I had to get someone from the Chiefs in here, and why not the best tight end in the game? Cameron Brate and Eric Ebron are value options, but will be highly owned. Kelce is always owned by a good chunk of folks, but I’d rather take his upside against the dreadful Raiders defense and hope he cleans up in the end zone instead of Tyreek Hill.
FLEX — LeSean McCoy — $5,700 — (Proj. Own: 1.2%)
Durability is always a concern for LeSean McCoy at this point in his career, but he’s logged 43 carries over the last two games, including a big 2-TD performance in Week 11 against the Jets. This week he gets the porous Jets run defense.
DEF — Kansas City (KC) — $4,400 (Proj. Own: 12.7%)
I will close with a snippet from Mike Kremer’s streaming defenses column on why the Chiefs are an attractive option in Week 13:
“Over the past four games, the Chiefs have sacked opposing quarterbacks five times, three separate times. The Raiders are allowing almost five sacks per game over the same time span. The defense is also averaging close to two turnovers per game. If the statistics hold true, that is nine bonus points the defense will pick up. Match that with the low scoring potential of the Oakland Raiders, as well as pressure to keep up with the man, the myth, the legend, Patrick Mahomes, and you are looking at a great streaming option.”
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