Ten Things We Learned in Week 13 (Fantasy Football)
A week away from the start of the fantasy playoffs, and here we are, with new and unexpected outcomes popping up after a weekend of professional football. We’re still gathering information, learning and processing what we see on Sundays, and applying it for our fantasy championship runs.
It’s been about three months since we finished our fantasy football drafts, trades have come and gone, injuries have dampened our hopes, and all the while, unforeseen players have swooped in and helped our teams when we needed them most. It’s been a crazy 2025 campaign, and it’s about to get even wilder with the postseason on the horizon.
Here is what we learned in Week 13 of the 2025 NFL season:
Bucky Balls in Return
Bucky Irving returned to the field after missing the last seven games and went right back to seeing the majority of the work in the Tampa Bay backfield. Irving handled 17 out of 21 RB rushing attempts, gaining 61 yards and a TD on the ground. He also caught both of his targets for 20 yards. Irving only played about 50% of the offensive snaps, however, which was to be expected in his first game back after such a long absence. His overall snap percentage should continue to rise, and as he gets more and more acclimated, his target numbers should go up as well. Managers who stood firm with Irving are going to get rewarded, not just because Irving is an exceptional back, but also Tampa Bay’s remaining schedule is a dream for RBs.
Rico & Chuba Heading Toward Split?
Until last week, Rico Dowdle had completely taken over the Carolina backfield, garnering more than 70% of the RB snaps from Weeks 9 to 11. Over the last two weeks, the opportunities have been pretty much split between Dowdle and Chuba Hubbard, with the latter outsnapping Dowdle in Week 13 for the first time since Week 8. It makes sense that Hubbard was used more this past week against the Rams, a tough run defense that is more susceptible to pass-catching RBs than ground-and-pound runners. But Hubbard looked like the better back overall, averaging 4.9 yards per carry to Dowdle’s 3.2 yards per carry. It was Hubbard’s best game of the season by far, and he looked more like the RB we fell in love with as a fantasy community last year. The Panthers head to the bye this week, but pay close attention to this RB room. A split for the rest of the season would put Dowdle and Hubbard both into the RB3/flex category, instead of Dowdle being a league-winning type of player we thought he could be just a couple of weeks ago.
Despite Two Scores, RJ Harvey Underperforms
It feels odd to say that I was slightly disappointed with RJ Harvey‘s RB4 performance this week. He put up 19.7 fantasy points, had two rushing TDs, and yet I can’t shake the feeling that he didn’t have an overall great game. When you look at the numbers, his 2.7 yards per carry average was below par (he had 35 yards on 13 rushing attempts). He caught three targets, but Tyler Badie out-targeted him five to four, and Jaleel McLaughlin looked like the better runner (six carries for 24 yards). It’s been a kind of peculiar season for Harvey, who has had good games but on very limited opportunities, or, in Week 13’s case, thanks to two scores. I was hoping for a conclusive performance coming out of the bye that showed Harvey could be a reliable borderline RB1 the rest of the season. Harvey’s TD upside remains, but his floor feels a lot lower.
Gunnar Gets Going
Cameron Ward has had a hodgepodge of receivers to throw to this season, and aside from a handful of decent outings from rookie WRs Elic Ayomanor and Chimere Dike, there has been hardly any fantasy production coming out of Tennessee. Still, even in the most dismal situations, fantasy treasure can be found. Enter rookie TE Gunnar Helm, who has led the Titans in targets the last two weeks. It hasn’t amounted to much, but back-to-back seven-target games for a TE is something worth monitoring. By no means is Helm a must-add (he’s probably worth a roster spot in dynasty formats), but his usage is something to pay attention to down the stretch for TE-needy teams.
SF’s Favorable WR Schedule
Ricky Pearsall has been back for three weeks, and this past Sunday was his best game – two catches for 14 yards. On the other hand, Jauan Jennings has had a minimum of a 20% target share in six of his last seven games and has scored a TD in four of his last five games. He has four top-24 WR finishes in that timeframe in half-PPR formats. The 49ers go on a bye this week, but then get a favorable schedule for WRs heading into the fantasy playoffs, starting with Tennessee. At this point, it’s tough to roster both the SF WRs plus George Kittle, and Jennings seems like the preferred WR. I wouldn’t rule out Pearsall coming back on the scene in Week 15, though it’s tough to keep him on board this late in the year.
What to Make of Lamar
Lamar Jackson scored a total of 82.6 fantasy points (four-point throwing TD format) in his first three games of the season. Since then, he has scored a total of 71.3 fantasy points in six games. His last three contests: 4.7, 7.2, and 6.5 fantasy points. He only had three games with fewer than 10 fantasy points (when he threw more than 20 times) in his entire career before this current three-game stretch. Last year’s QB1 by a mile is currently outside the top-20 QBs in fantasy. There is no way this can continue, right? I think things will get better in the coming weeks. Unfortunately, many Jackson managers won’t get to reap the benefits of his good games because most of them probably won’t make the playoffs if they keep him as their starting QB.
Vele Vaults to the Top in NO
With Brandin Cooks and Rashid Shaheed out of town, Devaughn Vele has been the most targeted WR in New Orleans not named Chris Olave, and he has played more snaps than Olave over the past two weeks. Vele is coming off an eight-target game where he secured all eight for 93 yards and a TD. Vele has been a non-factor for fantasy most of the season, but the backup QB narrative comes into play with Tyler Shough now running the show. Vele seems to have an established rapport with Shough, and with a nice schedule for WRs coming up, he could be in play as a spot start.
Meyers – Lawrence Connection Heating up
Before the change of scenery, Jakobi Meyers was the WR54 on the season. After being traded to Jacksonville after Week 10, Meyers has put up a combined 40.2 points in three games, making him the WR12 in that three-game sample size. Two of those games were without Brian Thomas Jr., but it’s not like BTJ was lighting up the scoreboard before Meyers arrived in town. Consequently, Trevor Lawrence is playing better as of late and is the QB7 in that same time frame. And the Jaguars are winning games! This feels like a recipe for success for Meyers in the fantasy playoffs, and perhaps even makes Lawrence a streaming option.
Trade to NY Opens Benefits Mitchell
It was just two years ago when Adonai Mitchell was drafted by the Colts in the second round to make an immediate impact. He’s done the opposite, which led to his trade to the Jets a few weeks ago. Since his arrival in New York, AD has amassed 25 targets in three games, turning those into 11 catches for 154 yards and a TD. Catching less than 50% of your targets isn’t ideal, but getting that many targets can’t be ignored. What does Andy always say? Something like, “Not all targets are good targets.” That’s certainly the case here, but it’s still 25 targets in three games. He’s worth a speculative add at the very least and could help in a tough spot come playoff time.
Joe Cool Looks Chill in Return
I didn’t think we would see Joe Burrow play football again this season. But Burrow, who had been out since Week 3, didn’t miss a beat 10 weeks later. He threw the ball 46 times, completing 24 passes for 261 yards and two TDs. They handily beat a Baltimore team that had won five games in a row, and the Bengals were without Tee Higgins to top it off. Back when the Ravens were 1-5, and the Steelers were way ahead in the AFC North, I knew things could change quickly. Now with Burrow back and a little momentum, it’s not out of the picture that even at 4-8 the Bengals can vie for the division with just five games left. They will need a lot of help, of course, but it’s not dissimilar to last year when the Bengals made a late run, and Burrow, Higgins, and Ja’Marr Chase went on a scoring frenzy. Buckle up because the Bengals are primed to put up a ton of points come the fantasy postseason.