In addition to writing articles and appearing on podcasts, our internal analysts at FantasyPros also toss ideas back and forth in Slack throughout the week. Since these conversations would also be useful to fantasy managers, we decided to organize some of them and make them available to everyone.

Here is what Matthew Freedman, Pat Fitzmaurice, Derek Brown, Andrew Erickson and Joe Pisapia had to say in Slack this week as everyone prepared for Week 13 of the fantasy football season.

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Fantasy Football Week 13 Preview

Q1. What was your biggest takeaway or what surprised you the most from Week 12?

Derek Brown: Not something new but that any remaining flickers of hope of seeing the Buccaneers offense firing on all cylinders this season are extinguished for me. This offense has looked “off” all season. Evans flubbing deep passes. Godwin not producing much after the catch. The offensive line’s issues. Godwin’s good game will encourage many but all of the cracks in the pavement outside of that are still present.

Pat Fitzmaurice: Week 12 of the 2022 fantasy season will forever be remembered as the Josh Jacobs week. It’s funny that so much of the Josh Jacobs fantasy analysis since he came into the league has been about his perceived shortcomings. He didn’t catch enough passes, or he wasn’t efficient enough as a runner. The dude is averaging 134.9 yards from scrimmage per game. Congratulations to everyone who drafted him this year, whether you were a true believer or merely an opportunist. Jacobs has turned into an absolute monster, and he’s going to be one of the most talked-about players of the offseason since he’s going to be a free agent.

Less inspiring but also noteworthy: The Broncos gave up three players, two first-round draft picks and two second-round picks for Russell Wilson, then signed him to a five-year contract extension worth nearly $50 million. Russ got outplayed by Sam Darnold yesterday. Yikes.

Derek Brown: I was not a Jacobs fan or stan. I’ll be the first to admit that.

Joe Pisapia: Zach Wilson is done as QB of the Jets, and Mike White will be dating Pete Davidson by week’s end.

Mike Maher: We might need to add Ryan and Ethan to this chat just so we can clip that one for social.

Andrew Erickson: Very surprised to how big the impact of Mike White coming in for the Jets would be. I think we all knew it would be an upgrade, but to what extent remained to be seen.

22-28 for 315 yards and 3 TDs. 11.3 yards per attempt. 79% completion rate. 131.1 passer rating from a clean pocket…later.

EVERYBODY ON THE JETS IS FREE.

Garrett Wilson, Elijah Moore, Ty Johnson.

WHERE’S THE BEEF?

And the fantasy goodness figures to keep coming.Jets schedule features Minnesota, Buffalo, Detroit, Jacksonville and Seattle.

Q2. With Elijah Mitchell out for the foreseeable future and Christian McCaffrey dealing with a knee issue, are you adding anyone from the San Francisco backfield? Do you think one of Tyrion Davis-Price, Jordan Mason, or Tevin Coleman becomes the clear handcuff to CMC?

Joe Pisapia: With playoffs on their mind, I can’t see anyone but CMC getting significant touches in this backfield. If anyone, the veteran Tevin Coleman makes sense but it’s time for CMC to live up to the trade. It’s Week 13 already, no more “management” of his touches.

Pat Fitzmaurice: Even though Mitchell’s role as a complement to McCaffrey gave him fantasy value, I’m not especially interested in adding any of these guys, for these three reasons: (1) none of them are on Mitchell’s level; (2) it’s not clear which of the three is going to be the preferred guy (though I tend to think it will be Davis-Price); and (3) it’s possible Kyle Shanahan’s solution is to line up Deebo Samuel in the backfield more often.

Andrew Erickson: I’ll add Tyrion Davis-Price. Saw a lot of work back in Week 2 before his injury. Got drafted with the idea that his bigger body could hold up and dish out punishment as the season progresses. And the reason I believe he has been inactive is he doesn’t play on special teams, like Jordan Mason. Ride-or-die with TDP.

Q3. What are you expecting from Deshaun Watson in his return this week? Are you starting him? Where are you ranking him?

Derek Brown: Low-end QB1 in my ranks. CLE doesn’t need much from the passing attack to win this game. They can easily lean on their rushing attack. I would be starting Chef Geno and Trevor Lawrence over Watson in all formats.

Pat Fitzmaurice: I have him ranked QB11. The Texans *seem* like a soft matchup, but they’ve allowed the third-fewest fantasy points to QBs this year. Watson looked rusty in the preseason and undoubtedly still has some rust to chip away. And as good as the Browns’ running game is, it makes for them to let RBs Nick Chubb and Kareem Hunt go to work on Houston’s league-worst run defense. That said, the pool of good fantasy quarterbacks is shallow, so a dual-threat QB like Watson who can earn fantasy points with both his arm and his legs has some appeal.

Andrew Erickson: I don’t think I ever ranked Jacoby Brissett as a top-15 QB at any point this season. So to immediately throw Deshaun Watson into the fantasy QB1 conversation after a long layoff in a matchup that calls for a Nick Chubb 200-yard rushing game seems aggressive. I get he is a superior talent to Brissett. But he hasn’t played a real football game since Jan 3, 2021. So I am pumping the brakes.

News, Notes and Final Thoughts for Week 13

Andrew Erickson: Jets core special teamer Jeff Smith was inactive in Week 12…which probably triggered the Zonovan Knight (who plays specials teams) over James Robinson. Think if Carter is out J-Rob would be first up on the depth chart.

Matthew Freedman: But that doesn’t explain why Zonovan would play ahead of Ty Johnson or why Johnson would be ahead of Robinson.

I assume that Robinson will be active this week, but I’m skeptical that he’ll dominate the backfield as much as Michael Carter would have.

Andrew Erickson: Ty Johnson also plays special teams hence why he was active over JRob. And the team already knows what Ty Johnson is as an early down back (not one) so they ran with Zonovan. Johnson still ran more routes.

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