Fantasy Football NFL Week 13 Target Report: Still time for guys like Jayden Higgins or Luther Burden to Break Out?

Believe it or not, there are STILL players emerging as new viable fantasy options. Going into Week 13! Now, a lot of our focus is going to be on locking down our lineups for fantasy football playoffs. But we don’t want to miss out on any of the late breakouts either, right? What if there’s an Amon-Ra St. Brown, a Hunter Renfrow, or an Isaiah Likely floating around out there that only pops off in the late season?

That’s why we are here to cut through as much noise as possible. We’ll focus on the important factors to identify who you can trust, who is worth holding, and who it’s time to drop. So, without further ado, let’s dig into this week’s target report!

2025 Fantasy Football NFL Week 13 Target Report Preview

Why do we do the target report? Well, we have a pretty good indication historically of how many fantasy-relevant pass-catchers can come from each team. The short and sweet is that the vast majority of teams will have one, maybe two fantasy-relevant pass-catchers. And there will almost certainly be more teams with zero than there are with three. Most meaningful fantasy players get at least 100 targets - here is a look at how players on each team over the last decade have hit that milestone. 

In the chart below, what we will do is attempt to take each team, and project A. the target pecking order and B. what target range the players will likely fall into. At the bottom, we’ll include some notes as far as what went into the rankings and color-coded chart. So let’s dive in!

Fantasy Football Target Chart 2025 NFL Week 13 

Fantasy Football Week 13 Target Report Advice & Takeaways

If a team has a ** next to them, it means they moved to a new section. If a team has a note, it means there is something we should monitor or some sort of change. If there are no notes, we can assume it is business as usual. After the first week of football, there are a lot of notes!

Clear Top Two

Arizona Cardinals

• Trey McBride
• Marvin Harrison Jr*
  • As we said last week, Michael Wilson is a start for as long as MHJ is out - and possibly after as well with Jacoby Brissett’s brand of football. 

Cincinnati Bengals

• Ja'Marr Chase
• Tee Higgins
  • Mike Gesicki returned to lead the TEs in routes run. He ran 26 while Tanner Hudson ran 13, Drew Sample ran 10, and Noah Fant ran 7. Hard to trust anyone when Chase is back next week.

Denver Broncos

• Courtland Sutton
• Troy Franklin
  • Week 12 Bye

Jacksonville Jaguars

• Brian Thomas Jr*
• Jakobi Meyers
  • Parker Washington is on the streaming radar until BTJ gets back. Brenton Strange is basically what Cade Otton was last year for Liam Coen - if a WR is hurt, he has upside, otherwise a matchup-based stream. 

Kansas City Chiefs

• Rashee Rice
• Travis Kelce
  • Xavier Worthy continues to underperform, which puts him on the fringe start/sit radar. Rashee Rice is a must-start, and the TE eligibility for Kelce in this landscape makes him a lineup lock as well. 

New Orleans Saints

• Chris Olave
• Juwan Johnson
  • Juwan Johnson hurt his knee against Buffalo and had three down games dealing with that. In every other game, he’s had double-digit PPR points. He’s quietly been one of the more reliable options at tight end. 

Los Angeles Rams

• Puka Nacua
• Davante Adams

High Consolidation

Atlanta Falcons

• Drake London*
• Darnell Mooney
• Kyle Pitts
• Bijan Robinson
  • With Drake London out, Kyle Pitts led in routes with 28, followed by Darnell Mooney with 26. Surprisingly, KhaDarel Hodge did not play much, and David Sills was next with 19, Dylan Drummon ran 11 routes. The Falcons heavily featured multiple tight end sets while running 28 times here. 

Dallas Cowboys

• CeeDee Lamb
• George Pickens
• Jake Ferguson
  • Lamb and Pickens are obviously must-start and, with the game scripts the Cowboys are generally in, Ferguson, with his TE eligibility, is a solid start most weeks as well, despite being third fiddle. 

Los Angeles Chargers

• Ladd McConkey
• Oronde Gadsden
• Quentin Johnston
• Keenan Allen
  • Week 12 Bye

Indianapolis Colts

• Michael Pittman
• Tyler Warren
• Alec Pierce
  • Tyler Warren is a must-start. Michael Pittman and Alec Pierce operate on the outside, though this week and next week vs. Texans are tough matchups. Josh Downs only ran 14 routes, making him hard to trust. 

Miami Dolphins

• Jaylen Waddle
• De’von Achane
• Darren Waller*
  • Week 12 Bye

Philadelphia Eagles

• AJ Brown
• DeVonta Smith
• Dallas Goedert
• Saquon Barkley
  • We have warned about Dallas Goedert as he does not have the man-to-man success or endzone targets typically needed for sustained touchdown production. If he’s your starter, put an upside play on the bench. 

San Francisco 49ers

• Christian McCaffrey
• Jauan Jennings
• George Kittle
• Ricky Pearsall
  • We know the deal now - it’s these four guys as the primary targets. Even if Brandon Aiyuk were to somehow make it back, he’d likely be a part-time player as he gets ramped up. And we can’t trust that. 

Washington Commanders

• Terry McLaurin*
• Deebo Samuel
• Zach Ertz
  • Week 12 Bye

One Stud, Then Uncertainty

Baltimore Ravens

• Zay Flowers
  • DeAndre Hopkins and Mark Andrews are running more routes with Rashod Bateman out, but they haven’t been trustworthy. Game scripts like this don’t call for much in terms of pass game heroics.

Carolina Panthers

• Tetairoa McMillan 
  • Jalen Coker has seemingly overtaken Xavier Legette in two wide receiver sets, making Legette super droppable (if he wasn’t already). Unfortunately, there isn’t enough volume to really trust Coker. Ja’Tavion Sanders and Tommy Tremble rotate as well, making them useless for us as well.

Detroit Lions

• Amon-Ra St. Brown
  • Just when we think we can trust Jameson Williams, he goes out and scores zero points. This is his second zero-point game with multiple big games in between. He remains a high-risk, high-reward option, but the highs are often worth the risk. Brock Wright is a DFS dart throw at best.

Houston Texans

• Nico Collins 
  • We have been begging folks to stash Jayden Higgins. Now you need to go out and drop the FAAB hammer on him if you actually want him. He led the team in targets this week and will hopefully operate ahead of Dalton Schultz after Nico Collins moving forward. 

Las Vegas Raiders

• Brock Bowers
  • Tre Tucker is clearly the top WR here, which means he should be rostered in most leagues. Tyler Lockett plays over the rookies, so he’s the deep league spot start if you need it. It would be nice if the rookies could play some down the stretch to see what they have rather than the veteran. Worth noting that Michael Mayer left with an ankle injury. 

Minnesota Vikings

• Justin Jefferson
  • We know exactly who the main characters are here. The question is whether or not JJ McCarthy can get them the ball. So far, the answer has been no. 

New England Patriots

• Stefon Diggs
  • Hunter Henry had the single best matchup a TE can have vs. CIN - he will continue to be a matchup-based play. With Kayshon Boutte back, he and Mack Hollins both played full snap shares on the outside, with Diggs playing a part-time share. Diggs is still the primary target when in the game.

New York Giants

• Wan’Dale Robinson
  • Wan’Dale Robinson continues to be a target hog with Malik Nabers done for the year. He’s locked in, especially in PPR. Neither Darius Slayton nor Isaiah Hodgins played a full snap share, though Slayton remains the better bet. Theo Johnson is a decent spot start, especially when Dart is back. 

New York Jets

• Garrett Wilson*
  • With it being unlikely that Garrett Wilson comes back to make a meaningful fantasy impact, we have to consider the alternatives. This week, John Metchie and Adonai Mitchell were rolled out as the two starting WRs, with Metchie being the most productive. In deeper leagues, he’s worth a look on waivers. 

Pittsburgh Steelers

• DK Metcalf
  • In annoying fashion, Calvin Austin was benched last week for Roman Wilson, but this week, he went right back into his WR2 role. No reports as far as I know for some kind of discipline, but maybe Austin got the work because Rudolph started? Either way, we cannot trust anyone other than Metcalf. 

Seattle Seahawks

• Jaxon Smith-Njigba
  • JSC has a legit argument for MVP of the league right now - but we know we are starting him. Kupp continues to operate ahead of Shaheed, which has not really given us anything we can use. After an 82% route participation, AJ Barner reverted to 61% this week, which also keeps him mostly on the spot start radar. 

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

• Emeka Egbuka
  • Chris Godwin returned but played a limited role primarily out of the slot. Expect a shit towards more Godwin, less Tez Johnson as we proceed. Mike Evans is expected back for the stretch, but might not be the fantasy season. If the Baker Mayfield injury is serious, it’s obviously bad news for everyone. 

Wide Open

Buffalo Bills

• Khalil Shakir
• Dalton Kincaid*
• Gabe Davis
• Dawson Knox
  • It sounds like Keon Coleman is on the outside looking in at this point. But that hasn’t made guys like Gabe Davis or Joshua Palmer trustworthy. It seems crazy, but basically, you can start Khalil Shakir, and that’s about it. When Dalton Kincaid gets back, that will make two guys. But even he doesn’t play a big snap share.

Chicago Bears

• Rome Odunze
• DJ Moore
• Luther Burden
• Colston Loveland
  • The Bears started this year with Rome Odunze and DJ Moore playing full snap shares, other guys rotating. Lately, things have smoothed out a bit with them rotating as well. Of 38 routes, Odunze ran 31, Moore ran 29, Loveland ran 26, and Burden ran 23. Olamide Zaccheaus and Cole Kmet can be left on the wire, but the others should be rostered. 

Cleveland Browns

• Jerry Jeudy
• Cedric Tillman
• Harold Fannin
  • Rare positive gamescript saw only 21 drop packs. Jeudy ran 19 routes, Fannin 17, Tillman 15, Njoku only 9. We need a bigger sample size of Shedeur, but he clearly leaned on Fannin here. 

Green Bay Packers

• Christian Watson
• Romeo Doubs
• Matthew Golden*
• Jayden Reed*
  • Christian Watson and Romeo Doubs remain the top two WRs for the Packers. Dontayvion Wicks picked up more snaps with Matthew Golden out. At tight end, they leaned into blocking with John FitzPatrick playing a ton of snaps. Of the 25 possible routes, FitzPatrick ran 12, Luke Musgrave ran 9, and Josh Whyle ran 6. Musgrave led with 2 targets, but the usage just isn’t there. 

Tennessee Titans

• Elic Ayomanor*
• Chimere Dike
• Van Jefferson
• Chig Okonkwo
• Gunnar Helm
  • With Ayomanor out, Van Jefferson and Chimere Dike played massive snap shares with James Proche as a distant WR3. Xavier Restrepo got five targets but only ran 14 of 51 routes. Would like to see him play a little more, given his chemistry with Cam Ward.