Fantasy Football: Week 13 Picks

Week 13 means it's your last chance to make the playoffs in your fantasy leagues. Are you in or out?

While some fantasy owners have locked up their top seeds, even more are looking for one last push for at least the quarterfinals.

There are plenty of juicy match ups this week, especially when the Carolina Panthers take on the lowly New Orleans Saints defense. So, if you own any Panther ranked higher than the water boy, play them.

Another offensive explosion waiting to happen is the Steelers/ Colts game. Both teams don't have the best defenses, and surprisingly, Indianapolis' pass defense is ranked higher than Pittsburgh's. The difference in this game will be running back DeAngelo Williams, so don't leave him on the bench for anyone.

Now, on to more specifics.

The Good

Julius Thomas, TE, Jacksonville - The Jags and Titans played just two weeks ago, so there's already a good idea of how this game will go. With Rob Gronkowski out for at least this week, fantasy owners are looking for a quick replacement. Thomas is a cheap replacement on Draftkings at a measly $4,000 and he might just be available on the waiver wire. Jags wide receiver Allen Hurns is out from last week's scary neck injury, so Black Bortles will need to throw a few more targets at his former Pro Bowl tight end to make up for the loss.

Alshon Jeffery, WR, Chicago - The Bears will get another of this week's favorable match ups against one of the worst teams in the league, the San Francisco 49ers. The 49ers are bad against the run and bad against the pass, which makes Jake Cutler a happy man. Jeffery should torch this team, but beware of starting...

The Bad

Matt Forte, RB, Chicago - I know, I know. "But I thought you said the 49ers are a bad run defense?" That's right, I said it. But, guess what? Matt Forte is almost at that 30 year-old wall running backs in the NFL hit, and hit hard. Forte didn't have a strong showing in his return from injury last week against Green Bay, and couldn't get things going in the passing game.

It looks like the Bears will continue splitting time in the backfield between Forte and Jeremy Langford, but I could see the carries start to shift to the younger, faster Langford. He put up similar numbers as Forte last week, but looked quicker.

The Risk

Ryan Fitzpatrick, QB, New York Jets- It's New York vs. New York. I always wonder who the crowd cheers for in this game with it being both team's home field.

Anyway, the Giants are TERRIBLE on defense. Fitz-P has plenty of weapons at his disposal to keep the G-men off balance. However, the Jets quarterback isn't very consistent, and will probably throw and interception or two.

I also expect Mini-Beast Mode, Chris Ivory, to have a good game, even though some "experts" have said he's lost a step since his great start to the season.