Can you trust the Rams' WRs in Week 13? 🐏

I am once again asking for Devon Achane to simply start this weekend and maybe not get hurt in the first quarter. Or at all. The rest of the season.

What’s in store:

• The Cardinals’ pass catchers are stuck in the nest. Marquise Brown, Michael Wilson, and Trey McBride are all dealing with injuries.

• Dalton Schultz hasn’t practiced yet this week 😲. The timing couldn’t be worse in what would be a great matchup for him.

• To trust or not to trust? Rams wide receivers. Who would have thought we’d be having this conversation after the way the season started for the Rams’ offense?

• Joe Flacco to the rescue? We can make no guarantees, but history says that Amari Cooper could be heavily targeted this weekend.

• Trio of Cardinals pass catchers miss practice Thursday: WR Michael Wilson, WR Marquise Brown, and TE Trey McBride

  • Not exactly what you want to hear as a Kyler Murray manager, but he’s been making do by targeting the Greg Dortches and the Rondale Moores of the world these past few weeks even with Marquise Brown and Trey McBride in the lineup. Brown, who’s dealing with a heel injury, was ultimately able to suit up last week after being heavily questionable going into the game, so there’s a chance that him missing practice this week is just more time off as he works his way back to 100% in real time. Meanwhile, Michael Wilson has been out since Week 11 and has yet to practice with his shoulder injury, and Trey McBride was a new addition to the injury report on Wednesday. He didn’t practice on Thursday and will likely need to get at least a limited session in today to have a chance to suit up this Sunday. it would be a tough break for McBride and his fantasy managers, as <cBride has been the overall TE3 in points since Week 8 when the since-released Zach Ertz was placed on short-term IR.

• Texans TE Dalton Schultz misses second-straight practice Thursday with hamstring injury

  • Schultz inexplicably played less than 50% of the team’s snaps last Sunday against the Jaguars, and now enters Friday having yet to practice this week. The matchup against the Broncos is an excellent one – they’re allowing the most fantasy points to tight ends this season so far – so Schultz missing Houston’s Week 13 tilt would be pretty disappointing. Schultz has seen his target totals by game fall in three consecutive weeks since having his best game of the season in Week 9 against Tampa Bay, and unless he’s able to get in at least a limited practice today, fantasy managers should start preparations for finding a replacement for him this week. It’s worth noting that TE Brevin Jordan made his return to the lineup last week, which is something that could have contributed to the decrease in snaps for Schultz – but with Noah Brown also potentially returning from injury this week, the target distribution may be too wide for Schultz to be a reliable start this week even if he does go.

• Packers rookie WR Jayden Reed has yet to practice this week with chest injury, status for Sunday night currently in question

  • The former Michigan State wide receiver has come on over the past few weeks in the Packers’ offense running out of the slot with three straight games of 15+ PPR points. There’s still time for him to log at least a limited practice today and have a shot at suiting up against the Chiefs, but there seems to be a legitimate chance that Reed misses this week or is limited in some capacity. Christian Watson has started to emerge from a slump over the past two weeks, as well, posting his first 20-point fantasy performance of the season on Thanksgiving. If Reed would miss, both Watson and fellow WR Romeo Doubs would get slight boosts against Kansas City. However, the matchup is less than ideal, as the Chiefs have done a good job of keeping receivers under control this season thanks to La’Jarius Sneed and Trent McDuffie. Even if Reed ends up playing this weekend, his fantasy ceiling could be limited given the matchup.

• Cooper Kupp got a full practice in on Wednesday. What does that tell me? That he’s startable. I know he’s hard to trust, and it’s a very tough matchup against the Browns, but don’t look too deep into the barrel… I did move him down to the WR19 on the week, and for context, I have Puka at WR18. I’m starting Tank Dell over them obviously, Devonta Smith, Deebo Samuel, Calvin Ridley, Nico Collins, Adam Thielen, and Christian Kirk - that’s really it. I totally understand if you want to bench both, or at least bench Kupp (you do you) - it all comes down to trust factor, and if you don’t have the trust, don’t put them in your lineup.

• Just keep in mind that things can change fast - the game plan was based on the run this past week against Arizona, and according to Jourdain Rodrigue, the fact that the TEs were so involved had to do with disguising the run game. On that 2nd TD to Higbee, Puka was an option too on his slant. He was open and could’ve easily been targeted on that one… I do trust Puka a little more than Kupp, but there’s no doubt that this is a very tough situation and tough decision to make. But I think I’m ok with them in my lineup this week against the Browns.

• Are trusting Adam Thielen? A lot of trust issues this week for a few WRs… he’s finished in the Top-24 only twice in the last 5 weeks, which is obviously not great. I can see where the trust issues are coming from, but he had 10 and 11 targets each against Chicago and Dallas before Tennessee last week, and this week he has a good matchup against a Bucs defense giving up the 3rd most fantasy points to slot WRs over the last 8 weeks. I can see this being a pretty good game for Thielen. They’re shaking things up in Carolina, but I think they keep things simple for Bryce Young this week against a beatable secondary.

• We have to highlight the 49ers WRs as well - just a great matchup here. The only team that has given up more fantasy points to WRs than the Commanders are the Eagles. So Brandon Aiyuk is a must start for me, and Deebo Samuel is my WR13 on the week. You can’t really have these guys on the bench… I know Deebo is on the cusp because he’s up and down, but this is the type of matchup you don’t really want to miss out on because of the upside.

  • It probably won’t be all of them producing (Aiyuk, Deebo, and Kittle), but you gotta take that shot on all of them… Kittle also has a great matchup, as well. Just this game in general is likely to be a competitive one - 47.5 game total, 49ers favored by 3 despite them being on the road… just target players in this game. The only guy in this game who gets a downgrade because of a tough matchup is D’Andre Swift. Outside of that, just start everyone.

• By the way, I really like Diontae Johnson this week… but I like him every week I guess. He had that TD last week that should’ve been ruled a TD, and it should’ve been challenged by Mike Tomlin… and now I’m just sounding butthurt, but whatever. He has a great matchup on that right side where he runs most of his routes from - the Cardinals have given up the 2nd most fantasy points to that right side over the last 8 weeks and over the last 4 weeks, so he’s set up nicely in this one. The Steelers just put up 400 yards of offense for the first time in 58 games, so we’ll see if they can build some offensive momentum after that one. I have Dionate as a solid WR2 this week.

After two straight nauseating fantasy performances over the past two weeks featuring just six catches for 50 yards combined, Browns WR Amari Cooper needs a hero. His 11 PPR fantasy points from Weeks 11 and 12 are his fewest total points in back-to-back performances in his time in Cleveland, and with rookie QB Dorian Thompson-Robinson slated to miss Week 13 with a concussion, the immediate future for Amari Cooper was looking as bleak as could be. That is, until the Browns got Joe Flacco on a plane and made him their backup quarterback. 🐶

What does a 38-year old veteran backup quarterback off the couch have to offer to Amari Cooper this week in fantasy football? We’re glad you asked. Flacco may have overtaken the throne for the least mobile quarterback in the league when Ben Roethlisberger retired, but in his four starts last year with the Jets, Flacco did something that should have fantasy managers at the very least perking their ears up a bit for another one of our favorite fantasy wide receivers.

In four games with Flacco at quarterback (Weeks 1-3 & Week 18), the Jets’ No. 1 wide receiver Garrett Wilson racked up 50 total targets (12.5 on average per game). He didn’t have a game under 8 targets and scored at least 12 PPR fantasy points in three out of those four games. Flacco is a true statue at quarterback, and that means he’s going to get the ball out early – and often to his first read. Cooper leads the Browns in 1st-read targets at 27.4%, and could be due for a bounce back week by virtue of increased volume against the Rams.