Week 13 DFS Picks: Core Players and Best Plays

Every week, I will go through the players I am targeting to play in DFS for all games, tournaments, and game stacks.

The idea is that this will paint a clearer picture of framing lineups.

Week 13 DFS Picks
Core Plays
Tournament Picks
Team & Game Stacks

Our core players are the ones we will have the most exposure to at their respective positions.

They can be played in cash games and tournaments.

I will analyze the player selections and game writeups, but please refer to the Week 13 Worksheet for a detailed breakdown of the players and games.

I am pointing this out in a bullet point because I do not know how many gamers outright skip this intro and just read the plays. With the Thanksgiving slate and Black Friday taking away so many players, this is, subjectively, the worst DFS slate of the season. I am severely reducing my level of play this week.

Quarterback

Matthew Stafford ($8,000/$7,000)

This slate is thin, but we can still play the front-runner for MVP.

Stafford has now thrown 25 touchdown passes to 0 interceptions over his past eight games.

Stafford leads the league in passing points per attempt (0.614).

There may be some blowout concerns here, but we have seen Stafford deliver QB1 scoring weeks in blowouts against the Bucs (22.9 points), Saints (26.8 points), and Jaguars (27.4 points).

While the Rams are throwing, they should slice through this Carolina defense, which will be missing Tre’von Moehrig (suspension) and Jaycee Horn (concussion).

The Panthers are last in pressure rate (28.7%) and 30th in sack rate (4.1%).

They are a static Cover 3 team at 45.3% (third).

Stafford has seen Cover 3 on 34% of his dropbacks (10th), completing 73.8% of his passes (5th) for 8.5 Y/A (10th) against those looks.

Trevor Lawrence ($7,200/$5,400)

It is not always pretty, but Lawrence has been steadily scoring viable fantasy points.

Since Week 5, Lawrence is the QB9 in points per game (19.9).

The Titans are 26th in passing points allowed per attempt (0.488), allowing a 69.9% completion rate (31st), 7.8 yards per pass attempt (29th), and a 5.1% touchdown rate (20th).