NFL

Fantasy Football FAB Report: Week 13

Oh, how time flies! It's hard to believe, but there's just one week left to the fantasy football regular season. However, roster turnover doesn't stop, so neither will this report.

Free agent budget waivers (FAB) are, without a doubt, the way to go. While some leagues are still sticking to the ancient ways of rolling list waivers (yuck) or waiver priority determined by the reverse order of standings (barf), many of the savvy ones are moving over to budgets. It makes sense -- why not give every manager an equal shot at every player? Do you really want to reward people for sucking at fantasy? Okay...rant over.

Every Tuesday evening, I (along with most managers in leagues with FAB waivers) spend countless hours trying to figure out how much to offer for the week's top available players -- which so happens to be exactly what this piece will cover.

Instead of telling you that you should be adding Alvin Kamara or Patrick Mahomes, this piece will focus strictly on players who are rostered in fewer than 50% of Yahoo leagues.

Let's get to this week's top players and how much of my budget I'd be willing to offer to acquire them.

(The suggested offers are for 12-team, half-PPR leagues.)

Quarterback

Depending on your scoring and roster formats, how much you should spend at quarterback varies from league to league. If you're in a traditional, four-point-per-touchdown, one-quarterback league, there is rarely an occurrence where you should be spending a big chunk of your budget on the position. However, if you're in a Superflex or straight-up two-quarterback league, that story changes entirely. With that in mind, let's look at this week's top streaming options.

When I refer to quarterbacks points, I'm utilizing Yahoo scoring.

If anyone told you there were a ton of streaming options available at quarterback for Week 13, they'd be lying.

Kirk Cousins (40% rostered) - Cousins is the week's top streamer, though you won't want to start him after this week. In Week 13, the Minnesota Vikings have a date with the Jacksonville Jaguars, the team that's allowed the third-most fantasy points to opposing signal-callers. Jacksonville is tied for the third-worst mark in Adjusted Defensive Passing Net Expected Points (NEP) per play. Ten out of the 11 passers to go up against the Jags have scored at least 16.1 fantasy points, and 6 of them managed at least 24.2. After a slow start to his season, Cousins has posted 18.6 or more fantasy points in four straight, including 23.0 and 24.2 in his last two.

Suggested offer: 3-4%

Ryan Fitzpatrick (20% rostered) - While it shouldn't be the case, this all depends on the status of Tua Tagovailoa. However, assuming the Miami Dolphins play it safe with their young quarterback, Fitzmagic would be a top streamer for the upcoming week. Fitz has recorded at least 19.3 fantasy points in six of his seven starts this season, including 22.3 or more four times. He'll also have a decent matchup against a Cincinnati Bengals team that ranks seventh-worst in adjusted pass defense and that has ceded at least 18.3 fantasy points to six different quarterbacks this season.

Suggested offer: 2-3%

Running Back

Unlike quarterback, running back is a premier position in almost every format. For that reason, this is a position you'll want to be generous with. Of course, some backs have more value in PPR (point-per-reception) leagues than they do in standard, so be sure to keep that in mind.

The running back market is pretty scarce this week, though there are a couple of players worth keeping in mind.

Devontae Booker (10% rostered) - Those in need of a fill-in for Week 13 could find that in Booker. Josh Jacobs suffered an ankle sprain in Sunday's loss, cutting his day short for the Las Vegas Raiders. If Jacobs were to miss time -- there are no concrete reports at the moment -- Booker would stand to benefit. Against the Denver Broncos in Week 10, Booker totaled 83 yards and 2 scores -- it was the only game in which he'd seen double-digit touches. The New York Jets actually ranks 7th-best in adjusted run defense, though they have yielded the 10th-most fantasy points to opposing backfields.

Suggested offer: 8-12%

Cam Akers (30% rostered) - The thought of spending a significant portion of your available budget on a Los Angeles Rams running back can be frightening, but at this point in the season, there isn't much of a point in saving cap. Rams head coach Sean McVay has deployed a full running back-by-committee this season, splitting snaps and touches between Darrell Henderson, Malcolm Brown, and Akers. Akers hasn't seen a snap share higher than 27% or more than 10 touches in any game since Week 1, so there's absolutely no need to spend a huge chunk of the remainder of your budget here. That said, Akers did amass 84 yards and a tuddy on 9 touches in Week 12, so there's always the possibility that he gets more playing time moving forward.

Suggested offer: 7-8%

Wide Receiver

While it may vary based on scoring (standard versus PPR), wideouts are generally valued at similar rates in most formats. However, leagues that require you to start at least three wideouts could see inflated offers at the position.

There are a number of wideouts who should have flex-worthy value the rest of the way.

Keke Coutee (2% rostered) - Coutee is a player who's in a position to see a huge bump in targets. Starting slot receiver Randall Cobb was placed on injured reserve last week with a toe injury, and Kenny Stills was released on Friday, but the real big hit came when it was announced that Will Fuller was suspended for the rest of the season for a PED violation. For those keeping track at home, that's more than 13 targets per game opening up. The last time Coutee had a sizable workload was in 2018, when he averaged 15.8 half-PPR points in the four games he saw seven or more targets. Don't be afraid to dust off your wallet a bit here, especially in PPR formats.

Suggested offer: 12-17%

Allen Lazard (39% rostered) - This is probably the fourth week in a row that I've had Lazard in this column, but as long as he remains available, I'll keep inserting his name. Lazard racked up six targets against the Chicago Bears on Sunday night before getting the wind knocked out of him, and he managed 23 yards and a score on those looks. It was the third time this season Lazard had seen at least five looks -- that's extremely valuable on the team averaging the most points per game in the league. Among the 113 wideouts with at least 25 targets this season, no one is posting a higher Reception NEP per target than Lazard.

Suggested offer: 10-15%

Other options: Nelson Agholor (43% rostered) has now seen 9 and 6 targets over his last two games and earned snap shares of 60% and higher in nine in a row. Agholor managed 7.9 half-PPR points in the blowout and had recorded at least 12.5 in five of his previous seven. An offer of 5-7% would make sense here. ... Breshad Perriman (12% rostered) saw a healthy 8 targets in Sam Darnold's return from injury. Perriman totaled 9.9 half-PPR points in that one, his fourth game with at least 8.2 in his last five games. Trusting anyone on the Jets is extremely risky, but Perriman is at least worth flex consideration. I wouldn't offer more than 4-6% here.

Tight End

Trey Burton (19% rostered) - Burton has now seen at least five looks in five of his eight games this season, and he's amassed 8.6-plus fantasy points four times. His snap shared has been under 45% in three of his last four outings, but as long as he's running routes and seeing targets, he's a fantasy option -- especially at a tight end position that's a complete crapshoot in 2020.

Suggested offer: 7-10%