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<div>Fantasy Football Week 13 Rankings: Each Positions' Flex and PPR Projections</div>

Fantasy Football
December 5, 2015

Fantasy football owners who approached the Week 13 flex decision with Green Bay Packers tight end Richard Rodgers got a Hail Mary for the ages, 20 points and likely a win before the main slate begins.

It’s the latest example of what a brave, matchup-based and gut-feeling decision in the flex spot can do for owners.

For those who ignored Rodgers (he’s owned in just 48 percent of leagues), there’s plenty of time and chances to strike gold in a similar fashion along the rest of the Week 13 action.

Below, let’s take a look at flex rankings by position based on scoring in points-per-reception formats.

 

Running Backs

It’s the time of season where running backs become more and more difficult to figure out as injuries and simple wear and tear help form committees with most teams.

Look at the Chicago Bears and Matt Forte. The veteran returned from injury in Week 12 after Jeremy Langford played well in his place and received 15 carries and caught one pass while Langford stole 12 carries.

With any luck, Forte looks healthier this week and eats a bigger piece of the pie as a result against a weak San Francisco 49ers team. The 49ers have coughed up 119 or more rushing yards to opposing backfields five times this year.

It’s the perfect situation for the veteran, so expect him to land near the top of the leaderboard.

Ditto for Arizona Cardinals lead back David Johnson, who earned the title this week with Chris Johnson and Andre Ellington hobbled. Coach Bruce Arians confirmed as much, according to Alex Marvez of FoxSports.com:

Most running backs in Arizona’s scheme do quite well. Johnson will see lead-back carries and already has six games with two or more catches. He’ll be on the field more than ever now, so those numbers should go up. 

It’s a great week for Johnson to take over. He gets the St. Louis Rams, a defense that has absolutely collapsed in recent weeks against backs, allowing the last four backfields encountered to rush for at least 96 yards.

 

Wide Receivers

It might be now or never for New England Patriots wideout Brandon LaFell.

With so many injuries in New England, it seemed LaFell would step in and act as a key flex contributor the rest of the way. Instead, his high point since Week 7 was five catches for 102 yards in Week 9.

Rob Gronkowski just suffered an injury, so LaFell might be in line for a major workload. It happens to come against the tanking Philadelphia Eagles, too, a team allowing the most points to wideouts on average in standard formats—so imagine the bloodletting in PPR formats.

Philadelphia has allowed 13 or more catches to wide receivers in four straight games and 11 touchdowns, so owners have to ride LaFell no matter what.

Don’t count out Dez Bryant of the Dallas Cowboys just yet, either. 

Bryant suffered last week when Tony Romo went down with an injury, catching just two passes. But he caught four or more in three consecutive games before that with Matt Cassel leading the charge.

In other words, Bryant can produce well with the backup under center, it just alters his ceiling. It helps he gets to go against Washington this weekend, a defense that has let up 13 or more catches to wideouts four times over its last six games.

Bryant has a nice floor despite the iffy quarterback situation, meaning he could sneak way up the leaderboard.

 

Tight Ends

Rodgers might be out of the picture, but there’s plenty to like across the board at tight end this weekend.

Keep in mind Scott Chandler with Gronk sidelined. The veteran went in last week and caught five passes for 58 yards and a score after Gronk had already caught six passes for 88 yards and a score of his own.

Tom Brady loves his tight ends, so Chandler posting massive production against an Eagles defense that has been stingy against the position wouldn’t be so surprising.

As far as another borderline sleeper goes, consider Coby Fleener of the Indianapolis Colts.

Fleener has remained pretty steady no matter who lines up under center this year, having caught at least three passes in four consecutive games and eight times on the season. 

Such a floor doesn’t sound like much, but the ceiling varies based on matchup. It’s a doozy this week for Fleener against the Pittsburgh Steelers, a team that has allowed five or more catches to seven sets of tight ends this year, with four of the last five encountered going for at least 60 yards. 

 

All scoring info courtesy of ESPN standard leagues, as is points-against info and ownership stats as of December 4.

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