Week 13 Rankings (2017): Top 50 Wide Receivers

by Will Overton

It’s Week 13, and for many fantasy football players this is the last week before playoffs start up. In other words this is crunch time and there is no room for error. Let’s take a look at the breakdown of Top 50 wide outs for this week and try to help bring some clarity to the field:

1. Antonio Brown – Pittsburgh Steelers @ Cincinnati
2. Julio Jones – Atlanta Falcons vs. Minnesota
3. Mike Evans – Tampa Bay Buccaneers @ Green Bay
4. Keenan Allen – Los Angeles Chargers vs. Cleveland
5. Brandin Cooks – New England Patriots @ Buffalo
6. Adam Thielen – Minnesota Vikings @ Atlanta
7. A.J. Green – Cincinnati Bengals vs. Pittsburgh
8. DeAndre Hopkins – Houston Texans @ Tennessee
9. Doug Baldwin – Seattle Seahawks vs. Philadelphia
10. Jarvis Landry – Miami Dolphins vs. Denver
11. Michael Thomas – New Orleans Saints vs. Carolina
12. Devin Funchess – Carolina Panthers @ New Orleans
13. Stefon Diggs – Minnesota Vikings @ Atlanta
14. DaVante Adams – Green Bay Packers vs. Tampa Bay
15. Robby Anderson – New York Jets vs. Kansas City
16. Tyreek Hill – Kansas City Chiefs @ NY Jets
17. Alshon Jeffrey – Philadelphia Eagles @ Seattle
18. Jamison Crowder – Washington Redskins @ Dallas
19. Demaryius Thomas – Denver Broncos @ Miami
20. Golden Tate – Detroit Lions @ Baltimore
21. Larry Fitzgerald – Arizona Cardinals vs. LA Rams
22. Dez Bryant – Dallas Cowboys vs. Washington
23. Rishard Matthews – Tennessee Titans vs. Houston
24. JuJu Smith-Schuster – Pittsburgh Steelers @ Cincinnati
25. Marvin Jones – Detroit Lions @ Baltimore
26. Cooper Kupp – Los Angeles Rams @ Arizona
27. Sterling Shepherd – New York Giants @ Oakland
28. Emmanuel Sanders – Denver Broncos @ Miami
29. T.Y. Hilton – Indianapolis Colts @ Jacksonville
30. DeSean Jackson – Tampa Bay Buccaneers @ Green Bay
31. Mohamed Sanu – Atlanta Falcons vs. Minnesota
32. Corey Coleman – Cleveland Browns @ LA Chargers
33. Josh Doctson – Washington Redskins @ Dallas
34. Mike Wallace – Baltimore Ravens vs. Detroit
35. DaVante Parker – Miami Dolphins vs. Denver
36. Marquise Lee – Jacksonville Jaguars vs. Indianapolis
37. Jeremy Maclin – Baltimore Ravens vs. Detroit
38. Ted Ginn Jr – New Orleans Saints vs. Carolina
39. Marquise Goodwin – San Francisco 49ers @ Chicago
40. Dede Westbrook – Jacksonville Jaguars vs. Indianapolis
41. Paul Richardson – Seattle Seahawks vs. Philadelphia
42. Josh Gordon – Cleveland Browns @ LA Chargers
43. Sammy Watkins – Los Angeles Rams @ Arizona
44. Corey Davis – Tennessee Titans vs. Houston
45. Zay Jones – Buffalo Bills vs. New England
46. Kenny Stills – Miami Dolphins vs. Denver
47. Jermaine Kearse – New York Jets vs. Kansas City
48. Dontrelle Inman – Chicago Bears vs. San Francisco
49. Nelson Agholor – Philadelphia Eagles @ Seattle
50. Tyrell Williams – Los Angeles Chargers vs. Cleveland

Thoughts:

• Is there anyone outside of Antonio Brown who has been as consistently solid as Adam Thielen this season? Somehow he gets open all the time and is racking up the stats. Thielen has 89 yards or better in five of his last six games and has at least five catches in every game of the season. The only flaw had been his inability to find the end zone, but he scored in three straight weeks before breaking the streak in Week 12. Thielen is so consistently great right now you can’t not have him in the Top 10.
• Robby Anderson used to be an all or nothing guy who you felt like you were gambling by using every week. He’s come a long way from that and has now scored 6 TD in his last five games. Anderson still doesn’t rack up the catches, but he is racking up the yards and he’s averaging 17.4 YPC so far this season. Week 12 was his biggest game, as he had 10 targets and 146 yards. Josh McCown is only getting more comfortable with Anderson and we could be seeing a star emerge.
• It took him a while to get things rolling this season, but Jamison Crowder is finally starting to look like the Top 20 WR that some were pegging him to be before the season. For the last four weeks he has averaged 6.8 catches on 10.5 targets and 103 yards. Crowder also finally found the end zone last week against the New York Giants, whose secondary isn’t as bad as some suspect. He is finally healthy and on the same page with Kirk Cousins and the stats are matching up. You can’t keep Crowder out of your lineup.
• With Robert Woods out we knew someone would step up for the Rams, but it was both Cooper Kupp and Sammy Watkins last week. Kupp had the eight catches on 11 targets while Watkins had the TD. You’ll see a noticeable difference between the two this week though. I think Kupp is the more consistent player while Watkins will be TD dependent. This week the Rams also the Cardinals, which means Patrick Peterson who will almost certainly be locked onto Watkins. Meanwhile, every other receiver who isn’t covered by Peterson this season is tearing the Cardinals up and that means good things for Kupp.
• In two games since returning from injury Corey Coleman has been the favored target of Deshone Kizer in Cleveland. Coleman has been targeted 18 times in the last two games, and while he has only caught nine of those passes the targets are a good sign. You do have to wonder how the return of Josh Gordon will impact things as Hue Jackson has already made it clear he wants Gordon involved. Both plays are upside plays with risk.
• The Detroit Lions have been giving up plenty of points to opposing QB’s and WR’s lately. It’s hard to imagine the Baltimore Ravens passing attack blowing up, but they should at least be better this week. Typically I have Jeremy Maclin higher in my rankings, but Maclin is probably drawing coverage from Darius Slay and that makes Mike Wallace the better play. Wallace has also been the guy getting into the end zone, with two scores in his last three games.