- Start Patrick Mahomes: After a subpar fantasy outing, he should bounce back big time in an expected high-scoring affair on Thanksgiving against the Dallas Cowboys, who have bled fantasy points to opposing offenses all season long.
- Sit Brock Purdy: He has had multiple interceptions in three of his four games played this season and has yet to hit 20 fantasy points in a game.
- Unlock your edge with PFF+: Access Premium Stats, dominate fantasy with in-season tools and projections and make smarter bets with the new PFF Player Prop Tool.
Estimated Reading Time: 6minutes
Are you struggling to set your Week 13 fantasy lineups? Maybe I can help… Below you can find my top fire (boom) and ice (bust) players at each position for Week 13. I also include my sleeper of the week at each position in case you are in a deeper league or in need of a replacement for an ice player.
Don’t miss my Fire and Ice chart at the bottom of this page. There, I have listed out all of my fire, good, sleeper and ice plays for Week 13 of the 2025 fantasy football season.
Quarterbacks
Fire QB Start of the Week: Patrick Mahomes (at DAL)
It has been a rough few weeks for Patrick Mahomes, scoring just one total touchdown over that span in three tough matchups at the Buffalo Bills, at the Denver Broncos and against the Indianapolis Colts‘ new and improved secondary. Mahomes should bounce back big time in an expected high-scoring affair on Thanksgiving against the Dallas Cowboys, who have bled fantasy points to opposing offenses all season long. The Cowboys have allowed over three more fantasy points per game to quarterbacks than any other team in 2025.
Sleeper QB of the Week: Bo Nix (at WAS)
Before the Denver Broncos‘ Week 12 bye, Bo Nix had put up back-to-back poor performances with just one touchdown and two interceptions over the two games. After a week off to regroup, there is hope he can get back on track in a juicy matchup against the Washington Commanders this Sunday night. The Commanders have let Dak Prescott, Patrick Mahomes, Sam Darnold and Jared Goff each score 23-plus fantasy points against them in four of their last five games played.
Ice QB Start of the Week: Brock Purdy (at CLE)
Brock Purdy had an atrocious game this past Monday night against the Carolina Panthers with just 193 passing yards, one touchdown and three interceptions. Purdy has had multiple interceptions in three of his four games played this season and has yet to hit 20 fantasy points in a game. It won’t get any easier in Week 13 when the San Francisco 49ers travel to Cleveland.
The Cleveland Browns have allowed a league-low 8.0 fantasy points per game to opposing quarterbacks when playing at home in 2025. In five home games this season, the Browns have allowed just three passing touchdowns and have six interceptions. The last time that Purdy played in Cleveland, he put up just 7.7 fantasy points.
Running Backs
Fire RB Start of the Week: Omarion Hampton (vs. LV)
Los Angeles Chargers rookie running back Omarion Hampton was catching fire with back-to-back 25-plus point games in Weeks 3 and 4 before suffering an ankle injury in Week 5 that has kept him sidelined ever since. It has been nearly two months, but Hampton is finally back at practice and seems to be trending toward playing in Week 13. The Chargers desperately need his help on offense to take pressure off their passing game. This is a solid matchup for Hampton to make his return, as the Las Vegas Raiders have allowed the fourth-most rushing touchdowns to running backs in 2025.
Sleeper RB of the Week: Kenneth Gainwell (vs. BUF)
Kenneth Gainwell has had back-to-back games with over 100 scrimmage yards and 18+ fantasy points, with 105 yards and 29.5 points in Week 11 and 122 yards and 18.2 points in Week 12. He has now played on over 50% of the Steelers‘ offensive snaps in three straight games and has been heavily targeted as of late. Christian McCaffrey (81), De’Von Achane (54), Bijan Robinson (54) and Jahmyr Gibbs (48) are the only running backs with more receptions than Gainwell (42) this season.
The Buffalo Bills have allowed the third most rushing yards per game (148.9), second-most yards per carry (5.3) and the most rushing touchdowns per game (1.6) in the NFL this season. No team has earned a worse tackling grade than the Bills’ 30.3 grade in 2025.
Ice RB Start of the Week: D’Andre Swift (at PHI)
Last week, D’Andre Swift was put in the dog house after losing a fumble. He ended the game with season-lows 29 snaps, eight carries, 15 rush yards and 1.9 fantasy points. Swift has now had back-to-back games with nine or fewer fantasy points, while Kyle Monangai continues to snipe snaps, carries and touchdowns away from him. Monangai has a rushing touchdown in three straight games, while Swift hasn’t found the end zone since Week 8.
Wide Receivers
Fire WR Start of the Week: Stefon Diggs (vs NYG)
With Hunter Henry dominating the Cincinnati Bengals over the middle, Stefon Diggs was targeted only three times in Week 12. However, Diggs should go back to his usual target share in Week 13 in a nice matchup against the New York Giants. Diggs scored double-digit fantasy points in five straight games from Weeks 7-11, and the Giants have allowed the sixth-most fantasy points per game to the wide receiver position this season. Over the last three weeks, Amon-Ra St. Brown (29.9), Christian Watson (20.6) and Rome Odunze (20.6) each had big performances in their matchup against the Giants.
Sleeper WR Start of the Week: Troy Franklin (at WAS)
Troy Franklin has seen at least eight targets in five straight games, while scoring 12-plus fantasy points in four of those five weeks. It seems Franklin has taken over as Bo Nix’s favorite target — he has 11 more targets and three more touchdowns than Courtland Sutton since Week 7.
On the season, the Washington Commanders are the third most favorable matchup for fantasy wide receivers. In their last five games, they have allowed five different wide receivers to hit 20+ fantasy points against them. No team has allowed more yards per reception to wide receivers than Washington in 2025.
Ice WR Starts of the Week: Deebo Samuel (vs. DEN)
After three straight bad fantasy performances, Deebo Samuel came back to life over the Commanders’ last two games. However, Samuel has had 45-plus receiving yards in just one game since Week 6 and is dependent on touchdowns for his fantasy upside. The Denver Broncos have allowed only two receiving touchdowns to wide receivers all season long — they are the only team that has allowed fewer than six. On top of that, the Broncos have allowed a league-low 10.7 yards per reception to WRs in 2025.
Tight Ends
Fire TE Start of the Week: Mark Andrews (vs. CIN)
Mark Andrews has had fewer than 35 receiving yards in eight straight games and has been extremely touchdown dependent, but that doesn’t matter when your fantasy tight end gets to face the Cincinnati Bengals. There have been 11 games this season in which a tight end has hit 100-plus receiving yards and one-plus touchdown in 2025. Three of those 11 performances came against the Bengals, including Hunter Henry, who had a season-high 115 receiving yards in Week 12. The Bengals have allowed five more fantasy points per game and six more receiving touchdowns to the tight end position than any other team in 2025
Sleeper TEs of the Week: Juwan Johnson (at MIA)
Juwan Johnson has the second most targets, receptions and receiving touchdowns on the New Orleans Saints this season behind only Chris Olave in each metric. It has been five straight weeks that Johnson has hit double-digit fantasy points and he gets a nice matchup this weekend against the Miami Dolphins, who have allowed the fourth-most fantasy points per game to tight ends in 2025.
Also, with Alvin Kamara expected to be sidelined this week, the Saints‘ other “tight end,” Taysom Hill, is a deep sleeper as he could lead the team in rushing attempts against the weak Dolphins run defense.
Ice TE Start of the Week: Colston Loveland (at PHI)
Colston Loveland has started to break out over the last month, but he has still only seen more than five targets in just one game this season. If Loveland is not playing in a favorable matchup, it will be hard to trust him to be hyper-efficient with his limited target share. Unfortunately, this week’s matchup is a super tough one for Loveland. The Philadelphia Eagles are the third stingiest defense against fantasy tight ends this year, allowing just 8.3 points per game to the position.
Fire and Ice Fantasy Football Plays
Here, I categorize every relevant fantasy player into five different buckets: (1) fire starts (best starts of the week); (2) thumbs up (good starts); (3) Risky players with upside (sleepers); (4) Ice starts (predicting bad performance from good player); (5) Stop (must sits).
Note: If a player/defense is not listed, I am not considering starting them in Week 13.
Fire 🔥
Thumbs Up 👍
- RB: TreVeyon Henderson, Chase Brown, Kyren Williams, Travis Etienne, Ashton Jeanty, Quinshon Judkins, Jaylen Warren, Breece Hall, Bucky Irving, Trey Benson (if they play)
- TE: George Kittle, Brock Bowers, Tyler Warren, Oronde Gadsden, Dalton Schultz, Theo Johnson, Juwan Johnson, Jake Ferguson, Dalton Kincaid (if he plays)
- DEF: Patriots, Falcons, Eagles, Browns
Upside 📈
- QB: Baker Mayfield (if he plays), Jared Goff, Bo Nix, Trevor Lawrence, Tua Tagovailoa, Shedeur Sanders
Ice 🥶
- DEF: Buccaneers, Lions, Packers, Steelers, Vikings
