Fantasy football 2023: Three players to buy low, three to sell high in Week 13

Only Dak Prescott and Tua Tagovailoa have more games with 3-plus passing touchdowns than Purdy (3) in 2023. He’s been a great fantasy asset, and he has a very favorable upcoming schedule. Purdy will face the Eagles, Cardinals and Commanders in three of the final five games of the fantasy season. The Eagles and Commanders are giving up by far the most fantasy points among all teams to quarterbacks, while the Cardinals have allowed the fourth-most pass touchdowns in 2023. In fact, the Eagles, Commanders and Cardinals are three of the four teams that have allowed more than 20 passing touchdowns this season. The other two games on Purdy’s schedule (vs. Seahawks, vs. Ravens) will be played at home, where he has averaged over 22 fantasy points per game this year. Purdy is about to win many fantasy managers championships in the weeks ahead. 

Warren is averaging a league-high 5.8 yards per rush in 2023 (min. 75 attempts). Since Week 9, no player has more carries of 10-plus yards than Warren (13), who has been electric in his second NFL season. He is probably never going to have a huge workload with Najee Harris getting his share of snaps, but Warren doesn’t need a lot of touches to put up points. He’s one of just five RBs averaging more than one fantasy point per touch this season, joining Christian McCaffrey, Jahmyr Gibbs, Raheem Mostert and Kyren Williams (min. 75 carries). 

The Cardinals, Colts, Bengals and Seahawks are among the opponents he’ll face in the weeks ahead. The Cardinals and Colts are giving up the second- and seventh-most fantasy points to RBs this season. The Bengals have allowed the second-most yards per carry, and the Seahawks have allowed the fourth-most rushing touchdowns. Warren’s breakout might have only just begun. 

You should be able to trade for Downs at a super low price right now, as he’s been held to less than 10 fantasy points in each of his last three games. Prior to suffering a knee injury in Week 9, he was turning into an asset in fantasy football, scoring at least 13 points in four straight games in Weeks 5-8. However, his snaps were severely limited in Weeks 9 and 10, prior to the Colts’ Week 11 bye. It was a fantastic sign that Downs’ snap count returned to normal in Week 12, and he saw a career-high 13 targets in the game. Looking ahead, he has juicy matchups with the Titans, Bengals and Steelers over the next three weeks. The Titans are allowing the sixth-most fantasy points per game to the wide receiver position, while the Bengals and Steelers are allowing the most and fourth-most yards per reception to WRs this season. Downs is in line to have a massive finish to his rookie campaign.

Barkley has scored fewer than eight fantasy points in two of the last three weeks, with a monster 30-point game between the two quiet outings. If you take away his two big games this season (Week 2 and Week 11), he has averaged just 12.2 fantasy points in 2023. The Giants have a bye this week and I don’t like how the upcoming schedule shakes out for Barkley, with the Saints, Eagles and Rams among the remaining opponents. The Eagles have allowed the fewest fantasy points per game to RBs, while the Saints are also a top-10 defense against fantasy RBs, and the Rams have allowed by far the fewest receiving yards to RBs this season. 

After a disappointing first two months of the 2023 season, Lawrence has stepped up his fantasy production over the last two weeks. In fact, he’s scored the second-most fantasy points among QBs over the last two weeks. His three rushing touchdowns in those two games certainly helped (he had zero rushing TDs in Weeks 1-10). Lawrence has still not had a game this season with 3-plus passing touchdowns and he’s had one or zero passing touchdowns in 8 of 11 games this season.

Ridley has been riding the high wave with Lawrence over the last two weeks. Jacksonville’s WR1 has had a rollercoaster of a fantasy season. He has finished as a top-10 fantasy WR three times, but he has finished as the WR50 or worse in five other weeks this year. Yikes. That type of inconsistency is extremely scary as we get closer to the fantasy playoffs. 

Lawrence and Ridley might put up another solid performance together in Week 13 against the Bengals, but their matchups are about to take a turn for the worse. They will face the Browns, Ravens and Panthers in three of the final four weeks of the fantasy season. All three of those defenses rank among the top six in fantasy points allowed to the QB and WR positions this season, with the Ravens and Browns currently positioned as the top two pass defenses in the NFL.