With Week 13 of the NFL regular season kicking off on Thursday night, it is a good time to start looking at your fantasy football lineup. In Week 12, we saw wide receivers Jaylen Waddle, Tee Higgins, and Hunter Renfrow all have great performances. But we also saw some under-the-radar guys make some plays and put themselves in the convo to be either starting or picked up off the waiver wire.
Below we’ll be taking a look at a couple of wide receivers that you should start in Week 13 and others that you might want to stay from.
Wide receiver starts
Brandin Cooks, Houston Texans vs. Indianapolis Colts
This season, Cooks has been the Texans’ best offensive player, outside of Tyrod Taylor and has been a must-start in fantasy football. Last week against the New York Jets, the veteran wide receiver recorded three receptions (five targets) for 45 yards and a touchdown. It was his first touchdown since Week 8 against the Los Angeles Rams. Cooks has now scored at least 10 fantasy points or more in three out of his last five games.
He will now get prepared to face the Colts on Sunday for the second time this season. In Week 6, Cooks had nine receptions (13 targets) for 89 yards and scored 17.9 fantasy points. Furthermore, the Colts’ defense has allowed a league-high 17 touchdowns to wide receivers this season.
Darnell Mooney, Chicago Bears vs. Arizona Cardinals
The second-year wide receiver has emerged one of the Bears’ most explosive playmakers over the last few weeks. In last week’s game against the Detroit Lions, Mooney racked up five receptions (eight targets) for 123 yards (17.5 fantasy points). It was the second straight week that the former Tulane receiver had 100 receiving yards.
Heading into last week’s Thanksgiving contest, Mooney was coming off of a solid Week 11 performance against the Ravens, where he had five receptions (16 targets) for 121 yards and a touchdown (23.1 fantasy points). Mooney has a favorable matchup in Week 13 against the Cardinals, who are allowing 21.5 fantasy points per game to wide receivers.
Wide receiver sits
Marvin Jones, Jacksonville Jaguars vs. Los Angeles Rams
Jones is the Jaguars’ No. 1 wide receiver and has been a quality playmaker for rookie QB Trevor Lawrence this season. The veteran wideout has received a consistent amount of targets over the last few weeks, but has not scored a touchdown. Last week against the Atlanta Falcons, Jones had four receptions (seven targets) for 43 yards (8.3 fantasy points).
Jacksonville has a tough matchup this week against the Los Angeles Rams, who are looking to get back into the win column after losing two straight games. Los Angeles’ defense has only given up seven touchdowns to wide receivers and 158 receptions (third-most in the NFL).
Courtland Sutton, Denver Broncos vs. Kansas City Chiefs
Despite signing a contract extension recently, it appears as if the Broncos’ top-two wide receivers at the moment are Jerry Jeudy and Tim Patrick. Sutton only has nine receptions in his last four games and averaging 4.6 fantasy points per game.
That being said, he could easily have a breakout game against the Chiefs, who have not looked the strongest on defense. However, Kansas City has only allowed 21.5 fantasy points per game to wide receivers this season.