On Tuesday we heard the surprising news that Jonathan Taylor has a significant thumb injury and will have surgery. The hope is that he will only miss the next two to three weeks. This is a massive development as Taylor has been a top-10 running back on a per-game basis over the last month and the Fantasy playoffs are rapidly approaching. It's also a huge springboard for Zack Moss, who should once again be one of the most valuable running backs in Fantasy Football.
Moss played four games without Taylor earlier in the year and was the No. 4 running back in Fantasy, averaging more than 20 PPR Fantasy points per game. That includes a 195-yard, two touchdown performance against the Tennessee Titans, his Week 13 opponent.
I have Moss ranked and projected as my No. 2 running back this week, behind only Christian Mccaffrey. While Dave Richard and Jamey Eisenberg aren't quite as enthused, they both have Moss top 15 as well. The bottom line is that while we lost a must-start back in Taylor, we gained one in Moss.
Wilson is a good stash just because of the injury history of Raheem Mostert and De'Von Achane. If Achane misses Week 13 against Washington then Wilson would also be a good flex play. Wilson played a season-high 33% of the snaps in Week 12 and turned 14 touches into 73 yards and 10.3 PPR Fantasy points.
While Kyren Williams looked all the way back, there should be enough running back touches in Week 13 for Freeman to be a solid flex even with Williams leading the backfield. He has 150 rushing yards in 30 carries in his last two games combined and the anemic Browns offense should put the Rams into a run-heavy game script again. As good as the Browns defense has been this year, they have allowed 4.47 yards per carry to opposing running backs, the seventh-highest mark in the league.
Mitchell is fully healthy and back in his RB2 position in San Francisco. If something happens to McCaffrey during the Fantasy playoffs, Mitchell will be a league winner. He's exactly the type of player first and second place teams should be stashing.
Despite an awful rushing average, Hall sees enough work in the passing game to provide a double-digit floor. What we haven't seen in a while is his upside, which is always just one play away.
I expect the pendulum will swing back towards Najee Harris this week in terms of everyone else's preference. This is a great matchup that both backs could take advantage of so I prefer the one with more pass-catching and big-play upside, especially if he'll have a lower roster rate.
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Heath's Projections
My full set of Week 13 Fantasy Football projections for every position are now available on SportsLine. Find out which of my favorite plays are projected to score higher than consensus rankings and which don't live up to their draft hype, at least in Week 13. Projected stats for all starting quarterbacks are available, so be sure to check out the full set of projections at SportsLine.
