With a crazy and hectic week in the NFL come and gone comes a big push in the playoffs for most fantasy owners. Even if your fantasy league is still in the playoffs, some of our sports reporters still took a deep dive into some of fantasy football’s best and worst this week. Here is week 13 in fantasy football.

Best Overall Players:

Adam: Davante Adams GB WR

Oh my, what a week from Davante Adams. Against a beat-up Eagles defense, Adams hauled in 10 catches for 121 receiving yards and two touchdowns on top of it. With the Packers making a playoff push in the final four games of the year, expect Adams to produce for your championship run in fantasy.

Mac: Darren Waller OAK TE

The tight end position has taken a drastic step back this year. Even though veterans Jason Witten and Rob Gronkowski have come out of retirement for one-year stints, tight ends have been nonexistent in offenses around the league. However, Darren Waller has proved that a big man can catch passes too and be a star in an offense. A big game against the Jets has helped him gain the number two ranking out of all the tight ends in the league. A 45-point performance also helped the Raiders get one win closer to playoff contention. Waller and Carr connected on 13 passes for 200 yards and two touchdowns. Thankfully, the Raiders did not lose this game to the winless Jets, and they should be thanking Waller as they likely would have lost if he did not play in the game. 

Louis: Derek Carr LV QB

Ever since the Sunday night loss to the Chiefs, the Raiders have seemed to have lost their groove. Carr had one of the worst performances of his career in an ugly 43-6 loss to the Falcons last week and just squeezed past the Jets this week. Carr was one of the bright spots in their last win against the Jets despite the close result, throwing the game-winning touchdown with five seconds left. Carr also had 381 yards and three touchdowns for a 31.74 point fantasy performance. Next week is a must-win for the Raiders if they want to make the playoffs, but the way they are looking the past two weeks, I wouldn’t bet on a win.

Underrated Players of the Week:

Adam: Seattle D/ST 

Even though the Seahawks played the Giants this week, they still had a great performance. In a 17-12 loss, the Seattle defense had an interception, a blocked field goal, and a safety, capping off at 11 fantasy points. If Seattle can keep up a streak of good performances until the end of the year, they could be the silent killer for opposing fantasy squads.

Mac: David Montgomery CHI RB

David Montgomery is the spark that the struggling Bears offense needed. After missing week 10 due to an injury and having a bye week 11, Montgomery has been on a rampage the last two weeks. After having a 25.3 point performance against the Packers in week 12, Montgomery upped his performance by scoring 27.1 points this week against the Lions. In a losing effort, Montgomery ran 17 times for 72 yards and two touchdowns. David also caught four passes out of the backfield picking up 39 yards. His next three games come against weaker defenses with matchups against the Texans, Vikings, and Jaguars. The final game of the regular season for the Bears is a match-up with the Packers. The first three games could all be wins, which would put the Bears in a must-win match-up with the Packers, so they will need to rely on Montgomery in all of these games so they can get into that spot. 

Louis: James Robinson RB JAX

It seems like James Robinson has been written about almost every week, and rightfully so. He has been the biggest surprise of the season, and he hasn’t slowed down at all. He rushed for 78 yards and one touchdown with 30 yards receiving through the air. Robinson had another great fantasy performance as well with 22.8 points. Robinson is the only real threat to opposing defenses on the Jaguars’ offense, so expect him to keep putting up great numbers as the Jaguars will try to get him involved as much as possible.

Boom of the Week:

Adam: Josh Allen BUF QB

Wow-what a season Josh Allen is having! With the Bills being at the top of the AFC East, Allen has been performing lights out these past couple of weeks. In the Bills’ Monday night matchup with the San Francisco 49ers, Allen passed for 375 yards and four touchdowns as well as six rushes for 11 rushing yards. If Allen can keep up the big numbers all the way down to the wire, I believe he can be a huge force for fantasy owners trying to make a playoff push.

Mac: Baker Mayfield CLE QB

Mayfield Mania has finally had the breakout game that people need to talk about. In a match-up that has major playoff implications, Mayfield led the Browns past the Titans in a 41-35 shootout. Mayfield completed 25 out of his 33 passes for 334 yards, which is a season-high, while also throwing for four touchdowns. Mayfield’s performance was enough to gain fantasy owners 29.5 points, which is his second-highest total on the season. The Browns are now 9-3 on the season, so watch out for Mayfield and the Browns as they continue to try to climb the ladder and get a higher playoff seed. 

Louis: Mike Gesicki MIA TE

Tight ends are being utilized less and less each season in the passing game, and it is rare to have a TE score over 20 points in fantasy nowadays. However, Mike Gesicki was one of the lone tight ends to have over 20 points this week. He accounted for 88 yards receiving and a touchdown to score 23.8 fantasy points. Gesicki has been a very up and down player this year, only scoring above 15 fantasy points twice. Don’t expect many more performances like this one from Gesicki.

Bust of the Week:

Adam: Antonio Gibson WSH RB

This game was just a game that Antonio Gibson wanted to forget. The Washington running back has been carrying Washington’s offense all year, but it was the passing game that made this game an almost runaway for Washington. In handing the Steelers their first loss of the year, Gibson only had two carries for 14 yards and no touchdowns, and he didn’t catch a single ball that was thrown his way. As Gibson is now out with a knee injury, expect him to produce much less than he has throughout the season so far.

Mac: Derrick Henry TEN RB

 There are two sides to every story. The Browns-Titans game was an offensive game, but this year’s rushing king did not perform as well as he has throughout the year. Henry ran for 60 yards on 15 carries and caught one pass for 9 yards. Henry was taxed two points after he fumbled the ball and lost it to the Browns. Henry was awarded only 5.9 points for his performance, which brings his season average down to 18.9 points. 

Louis: Justin Herbert LAC QB

For the first time in his short NFL career, Justin Herbert was finally rattled. Herbert had only 209 yards and two interceptions in a game where the Chargers looked like a high school team. The Chargers played from behind right from the start, and that forced Herbert to have to throw 53 times. Herbert ended up with just 4.36 fantasy points on the day, which was the lowest score for starting QBs on Sunday. 

Players to Start:

Adam: Myles Gaskin MIA RB

With Miami Dolphins running back Myles Gaskin finally coming off of injury, fantasy owners were able to put in the running back that they have been keeping on their bench for the past couple of weeks. Gaskin recorded 21 carries for 90 yards and no touchdowns but made up for it with two catches for 51 receiving yards against the Bengals. If Gaskin can get the ball rolling again, expect him to keep producing for fantasy owners in a tight playoff game.

Mac: David Montgomery CHI RB

Read the Underrated section for details. 

Louis: D’Andre Swift DET RB

Swift has been out for the past three weeks as he has battled a concussion and a non-COVID related illness, but he is expected to return against the Packers in week 14. He may be a bit rusty right out of the gate, but he should end up having quite the day against Green Bay. The Packers have the second-worst run defense in the NFL and now that the Lions fired Patricia, interim head coach Darrell Bevell just might actually give Swift more carries like he deserves.

Players to Bench:

Adam: Giovani Bernard CIN RB

With Joe Mixon finally coming back from injury, I think it’s about time to put our favorite underrated running back to rest. Bernard performed well when Mixon was hurt, including two back to back 20+ point performances in weeks 7 and 8, but it has just been a downward slope ever since. Bernard has not surpassed the 10 point mark in each of his last four games, and with Mixon coming back, it won’t help his case. Bernard will now likely be a free agent in most fantasy leagues.

Mac: Todd Gurley II ATL RB

I truly hate having to write Todd Gurley’s name under this category. Gurley is one of my favorite players in the league, but his career has been tampered with because the Rams decided to let him push through a major knee injury, which has made Gurley never the same after signing a 60 million dollar extension. Gurley’s one-year stint with Falcons looked hopeful early, but his production in the last two weeks has dropped drastically. His last two performances have only earned him a combined 6.9 points. If I was a fantasy owner trying to win a playoff matchup, I would not start Gurley as his inconsistencies present worries.

Louis: Kyler Murray ARI QB

In the past two weeks, Kyler Murray has had his struggles, and it was against top-tier defenses both times. That is the same case this Sunday when the Cardinals go on the road to face a very underrated Giants team with a great defense. He has only averaged 12.16 fantasy points per game in these last two weeks, which isn’t terrible, but it certainly is not a good performance by any means. Bench Kyler Murray if he’s on your team this week.