Welcome to Week 13 of the fantasy football season. Monday gave us yet another look at the league’s leading rusher, as the Ravens Derrick henry went for 140 yards, raising his total to 1,325 yards. He amazingly didn’t score a touchdown, but has 13 rushing and two receiving to lead the league with 15 through 12 games. But, he’s still second to Saquon Barkley, who had an absolute monster outing last week against the Rams. And when you have two rushing touchdowns from near your own 30-yard line, that qualifies as a monster outing. Neither of these backs are surprise studs this year and really, there are no real surprises in the top ten fantasy running backs this season, as the wheat has separated from the chaff.
But, each week there are surprises, and last week we continued to see the rise of the Buccaneers Bucky Irving. The fact that he’s named Bucky and is on the Buccaneers is maybe too cute, but I like it and I really like how well he’s played. Tampa Bay has a three-headed running back monster on their hands, but Irving continues to win the most touches. Week 12 against the Giants was his best fantasy game of the season, as he totaled 16 touches for 151 yards and a touchdown. And for us PPRers, he had six receptions for 64 yards, which had been the domain of Rachaad White. And this week he faces the Panthers!
Week 13 running back bye weeks
None, but six next week, so be vigilant
Week 13 running back injuries
JK Dobbins, Chargers
Dobbins was forced from Week 12’s Monday Night Football matchup with the Ravens and was unable to return. He is dealing with a knee injury, but we don’t know the severity yet. At this point we should prepare for him to miss this week’s matchup with the Falcons. If he does, Gus Edwards would likely take the lead.
David Montgomery, Lions
Montgomery was forced from the Lions Week 12 game against the Colts due to a shoulder injury. The Lions, as they always do, are playing Thursday on Thanksgiving, which makes for a short turnaround. Montgomery was on the sideline with his helmet after returning from the locker room when the Lions had a big lead on the Colts late. That is somewhat encouraging, but just conjecture at this point. We’ll see if he can practice and his final injury status, which we’ll get on Wednesday.
Brian Robinson, Commanders
Robinson injured his ankle in Week 12 against the Cowboys. He returned to the game, but either tweaked it again or just wasn’t able to play through the pain and left again and didn’t return. His status remains up in the air for this week’s game against the Titans.
Austin Ekeler, Commanders
The Commanders other back, Ekeler, also was forced from the game, but due to a brain injury instead of ankle. Jeremy McNichols would see the biggest bump in usage if one or both end up missing. Unfortunately he would get a tough matchup with the Titans.
Isiah Pacheco, Chiefs
Pacheco appears ready to return from I.R. when they take on the Raiders on Black Friday. How much he plays in comparison to Kareem Hunt is a question, but it does sound like he’s ready to take on a significant role if needed.
Tyjae Spears, Titans
Spears missed Week 12 with a concussion. That helped Tony Pollard see a big workload, but if Spears returns this week against the Commanders, Pollard would likely lose a few touches to him.
Alexander Mattison, Zamir White, Raiders
Both Mattison and White missed last week due to injuries, which helped Ameer Abdullah see the bulk of the work. They face the Chiefs on Friday night, so it’s a short week for the backs to get healthy. The Chiefs are a tough matchup, so I’m not too excited for whoever comes out as the starter.
Tank Bigsby, Jaguars
Bigsby is nursing an ankle injury that should be better off the bye week. We’ll see if he has a chance to play against the Texans this week or if Travis Etienne will get the bulk of the work.
Week 13 running back sleepers
Bucky Irving, Buccaneers at Panthers
Irving is still part of a running back room that has three viable backs, but he has pushed ahead of both Rachaad White and Sean Tucker. His usage isn’t likely to be huge, but last week he was very much of the receiving game, catching six passes while White caught just one. And while White still saw 12 rushing attempts, the same number as Irving, he averaged just 3.1 yards per carry to Irving’s 7.3 yards per carry. Now, he gets the Panthers run defense, which ranks dead last in fantasy points allowed to opponents.
Rico Dowdle, Cowboys vs. Giants
Dowdle went for 98 total yards on 22 touches against the Commanders in their upset win last week. He didn’t find the end zone, but was still startle in fantasy as a flex play at least. This week he gets a better matchup and this time at home against a team that likely won’t score a ton of points. Tommy DeVito should get the start again this week, giving both teams bad quarterbacks and a need to run the ball to limit pressure and turnovers.
