Are you in? Are you out? Do you have to grind one more week to make it in? I'm here to help you make that final push. We have to dodge the inevitable postponements and QB rooms being held out of playing. I heard that they are already planning on having three Monday night games. This year is so fun. It's almost over though! The final two teams are on a bye and that is Tampa and Carolina so adjust accordingly. Here are my rankings for week 13.
In a casual conversation with my future mother-in-law this past week, she adamantly described Derrick Henry as "sexy." Now, I'm no expert on the perceived attractiveness of 6-foot-3, 250-pound behemoth running backs, but I do know one thing: there's only one. There's only one Derrick Henry, and as he approaches a fantasy playoff schedule as easy as hiding a piece of Thanksgiving stuffing in Matt Patricia's beard at the end of No-Shave November, we're likely to see history repeat itself yet again. Remember, Henry averaged 24.2 half-PPR points in his final five games of 2019, which was only slightly better than the 23.1 points he averaged across the final five games of 2018. Historically, Henry is stretch-run hero -- a fantasy playoff superman in a class all his own. Even if Henry hadn't erupted for 37.5 half-PPR points in Week 12, he would likely enter the Week 13 rankings as the RB1 overall, as an upcoming matchup with the Browns is the only thing that stands between him and a remaining schedule against the Jaguars, Lions, Packers and Texans. No matter how your league is structured, those matchups scream league-winning upside, and there's no doubt in my mind Henry will again have a high ownership percentage on championship rosters. But, since Henry did pop off in Week 12, let's unpack it: 27 carries, 178 yards, three rushing touchdowns; two receptions (four targets), seven yards. All three of Henry's rushing touchdowns came in first half, as he legitimately provided three healthy weeks of fantasy value in a single half. Now I understand the "sexy" part.
While Henry is up to RB1 this week, there's a lot of other movement on the top-60 list and, as always, an overwhelming amount of injury updates to digest. So, before we get to the rankings, let's take a quick trip around the league.
The week 13 waiver wire continues the streak of slim pickings for late season help. It's surprising that there has been so few notable adds for the playoff push. Most difference makers are already rostered and no major injuries opened up new featured starters.
I group the adds by position and then within the position, rank them in order of preference. The sherpa will only advise players who are rostered in less than 50% of ESPN leagues.
If you're familiar with the backstory of Donkey Kong then you know that Mario is the villain of the series. Mario's an abusive owner in the game and tries to keep Donkey Kong caged up. I always knew there was something off about that Mario dude. On Monday night, Darius Slay was cast in the role of Mario, attempting to lockdown D.K. Metcalf. But the beast could not be contained, going off for 10 catches and 177 yards as he demolished Philly. D.K. didn't find the end zone, but could easily have finished with three scores if it weren't for a misfire from Russ, a tackle at the one yard line and a drop. Anyway, here's what else I saw yesterday in fantasy football: