2023 Fantasy Football Week 13 Hot Takes: Chuba Hubbard is the Guy You Want in Carolina
Week 12 was easy. Holiday weekend, no bye weeks, all fun and games. This week though? Back in the trenches. With bye weeks and injuries, NFL teams and fantasy gamers alike are scratching and clawing for those last playoff spots. And the NFL landscape around us is continuously evolving. Let’s take a look at the action from Week 13 and pinpoint some key takeaways!
Week 13 Hot Takes
Super Bowl Hangovers?
It’s easy to look at the Eagles and Chiefs in general and say “those teams are great”. But this week the Eagles had a big test - and failed it spectacularly. It’s just one game of course but it comes against their biggest hurdle in the NFC in the San Francisco 49ers. The oddsmakers felt the 49ers could win making them three-point favorites even on the road going into Philadelphia but it wasn’t even that close with the 49ers winning by 23 points in a 42-19 blowout win. If the Eagles can’t figure out how to beat them, they’ll have to hope someone else does them a favor.
Even scarier though is how the week panned out for the defending champions. Losing to tougher teams like the Lions or Eagles isn’t a big deal. Even the Broncos loss can be chalked up as a division matchup. But losing to a 5-6 Packers team with a first-year QB? That is concerning. Especially when it’s not even a shoot out and you can’t find your way to 20 points. For the first time in a year, Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce look human. And they’ve got some work to do to fend off the Dolphins, Ravens, and Jaguars for that top playoff seed.
Carolina Panthers - Out with the Old, In with the New
The Carolina Panthers thought they were going to compete THIS season. No doubt about it. You don’t trade your first pick and sign guys like Adam Thielen, Hayden Hurst, and Miles Sanders otherwise. I mean, Thielen is 33, Hurst is 30, and, as far as running backs go, Miles Sanders is no spring chicken either. The Panthers, of course, are not competing so they fired virtually the entire coaching staff. And we might be learning who were favorites of the previous regime vs. the new one.
Free agent acquisition DJ Chark split snaps with young guys like Mike Strachan and Ihmir Smith-Marshette. Rookie draft pick Jonathan Mingo got ten targets to six for Adam Thielen. And former assistant head coach Duce Staley’s long-time pal Miles Sanders played half the snaps of Chuba Hubbard. With a 1-11 record, we could see this team hold “live tryouts” the rest of the way to see who is going to be part of the organization moving forward or not.
Texans Win But At What Cost?
The Texans were able to hold off the Denver Broncos and improve to 7-5 where they would squarely be in the mix for a playoff spot. But they didn’t walk away unscathed. Quarterback C.J. Stroud took a shot to the head on a QB sneak on 3rd and 1 and had to leave the game to get checked for a concussion. He returned but this is reportedly the second time this has happened.
Star wide receiver Tank Dell wasn’t so fortunate. He was dealing with a calf injury all week before being activated but that’s not what got him here - he actually suffered a fractured fibula on a goal line touchdown for Dameon Pierce. I’m sure there will be some debate as to why a 5’10” 165 wide receiver was in the pile blocking for a goal line plunge but one thing we all know for sure is this: his breakout season is over.
Tight End Fill-ins Disappoint
One week. That’s all a lot of folks needed. T.J. Hockenson, Dalton Kincaid, Cole Kmet, and Isaiah Likely were all on bye. Dallas Goedert, Darren Waller, Mark Andrews, Dalton Schultz, Hayden Hurst, and Greg Dulcich were all injured. Yet popular bye week fill-ins Cade Otton, Logan Thomas, and Juwan Johnson all went out and caught zero passes. Zero. Between the three of them, they have played a combined 29 games this season. Each of them at least caught one pass in those games. None of them did this week. When fantasy gamers needed them most. Classic. Logan Thomas was able to scrounge up a two-point conversion to a least give you something but it’s still crazy to me that these guys couldn’t manage a regulation reception.
Mike Evans: Hall of Famer
We need some positivity in this post. And this is no “hot take” by any means. But Mike Evans is a Pro Football Hall of Famer. Even if he were to retire right this very moment. Coming into this season, Evans had nine straight seasons with 1,000+ yards to start his career. Coming into this week, he needed 150 yards to officially cross that threshold again. He got 162. That’s 10 straight seasons of 1,000 yards to start his career.
To me, that’s a Hall of Fame career no matter what happens next. He has more touchdowns and just as many yards and catches as Calvin Johnson, who retired after nine seasons and was enshrined in The Hall in 2021. Evans has the stats and accolades and even has the coveted Super Bowl ring that Megatron never came close to. This guy at this stage is a lock. Congratulations on the milestone, Mike!
Player News
Dak Prescott said George Pickens is “more than a 50-50 catcher.”
Prescott in a Wednesday morning radio interview was effusive in his praise of Pickens, who was traded last week from the Steelers to Dallas in exchange for draft compensation. “You put the ball anywhere in his vicinity, very strong hands,” Prescott said of Pickens. “He’s more than a 50-50 catcher. ... I’m excited for him. I know that we need some help at that position.” Pickens, 24, who has 2,841 receiving yards and 12 touchdowns over three NFL seasons, is widely expected to see more single coverage in Dallas than he did as the unquestioned No. 1 wideout in Pittsburgh. Opposing coverage units won’t be able to shade safeties toward his side of the field with CeeDee Lamb threatening the middle of the field. Pickens shapes up as a volatile WR2/3 in 2025.
The Lions will play the Vikings on Christmas Day.
The Week 17 matchup between longtime NFC North rivals will be available exclusively on Netflix. Coming off a devastating Divisional Round loss to Washington last January, the Lions will be prominently featured by the league in 2025. Jared Goff and the Lions beat Minnesota twice during the 2024 regular season: A 31-29 Week 7 victory in Minnesota and a 31-9 Week 18 drubbing in Detroit. Goff combined to throw for 511 yards, three touchdowns, and no interceptions in those games. Justin Jefferson, meanwhile, was limited to ten catches for 131 yards and a touchdown in the Vikings’ 2024 games against Detroit.
The Eagles will face the Chiefs in Week 2.
The NFL’s trickle of 2025 schedule news includes a Super Bowl rematch in Kansas City, where Patrick Mahomes and company will look for a little revenge after getting bulldozed by the Eagles in Super Bowl LIX, 40-22. Philadelphia’s elite defense held Mahomes to a mere 226 yards on 32 pass attempts, with much of that production coming in fourth quarter garbage time. Jalen Hurts threw of two scores and ran in another as Saquon Barkley was held in check to the tune of 57 scoreless yards on 23 carries. If the Chiefs are to get back at the Eagles in Week 2, they’ll have to do a far better job of protecting Mahomes.
The Athletic’s Mike DeFabo believes RB Kaleb Johnson is a “schematic fit” for the Steelers offense.
Johnson, a third-round draft pick who last month was listed as a co-starter alongside Jaylen Warren on the Pittsburgh depth chart, was a hyper-productive back in Iowa’s zone-based rushing scheme, a system used frequently in Arthur Smith’s run-first offense. Only three college running backs in 2024 logged more zone rushes than Johnson. Johnson’s goals in offseason practices, according to DeFabo, “are to learn the playbook and earn the coaching staff’s trust with the hope of becoming an ‘every-down back’ sooner rather than later.” That might require Johnson to improve his pass blocking. The rookie said he’s worked on that with Warren — one of the best blocking backs in the NFL — in recent days.
The Chiefs will play the Cowboys on Thanksgiving Day.
The Week 13 matchup will bring Patrick Mahomes and the AFC champion Chiefs to Dallas for the day’s late afternoon game. It could be a shootout if key players on both sides are healthy. Dak Prescott heads into the season with George Pickens as a legit WR2 behind CeeDee Lamb, and Mahomes — who has talked this offseason about more explosive plays for the KC offense — will have Xavier Worthy, Travis Kelce, Rashee Rice, and Hollywood Brown at his disposal. Mahomes has faced Dallas once in his NFL career, a Week 11 win in 2021 in which he threw for 260 scoreless yards. The hope for both the league and fantasy managers is that the Cowboys are still in postseason contention by the end of November.
Free agent Gabe Davis will visit the New York Giants.
Cut by the Jaguars after one season last week, Davis visited the 49ers on Monday. New York would be a reunion of sorts, as he played for Giants coach Brian Daboll in Buffalo. The G-Men already have several wideouts capable of stretching the field, but 26-year-old Davis could still be a decent role player in a strong offense. The problem, of course, is that the Giants profile as anything but, but rookie QB Jaxson Dart is comfortable throwing down the field.