Week 13 Fantasy Football Stars Who Will Struggle: Joe Burrow, James Conner, Terry McLaurin and Mark Andrews

Last week’s attempt at identifying fantasy stars who would struggle was a lot of errant shots without many hits:

• Jordan Love and the Packers beat up on the 49ers, but Love had a modest game, with 163 yards and two touchdowns.
• J.K. Dobbins played well until leaving with an injury, racking up 59 total yards on nine touches against Baltimore.
• Puka Nacua and Cooper Kupp showed again that they can both succeed at the same time: Nacua had nine receptions for 117 yards, and Kupp had eight for 60 and a touchdown.
• Mark Andrews caught five passes for 44 yards and a touchdown against the formerly stout Chargers.

Didn’t sink too many battleships there. That’s not going to deter me, though, so let’s do it again and look at one weekly fantasy starter at each offensive position who will struggle to excel in Week 13.

I used stats from NFL.com and our FantasySP defensive fantasy rankings to help determine the toughest matchups. I will reference those numbers often, and they are correct before Thursday’s games.

Quarterback

Joe Burrow, Cincinnati Bengals vs. Pittsburgh Steelers

Cincinnati’s losing ways have masked the fact that Burrow has been dealing: 275 yards per game, 67% completion on 7.5 yards per attempt, and 27 touchdowns to just four interceptions. Burrow is fantasy QB3 and just had his bye.

If anyone can stop the red-hot Burrow, it’s his division rivals who have one of the best defenses in the league. This is something of the irresistible force meeting the immovable object, and one team likely must budge.

The Steelers are right at average in yards per pass attempt allowed, but they have given up the fewest fantasy points per game to quarterbacks. Pittsburgh is tied for the third-least touchdown passes allowed and tied for fifth in most interceptions.

Burrow is a guy most owners aren’t benching, and it makes sense given his play in 2024. The matchup is against him, though, so it’s worth seeing what options you have. Most likely, Burrow will end up somewhere between QB10 and QB20; he’s not going to tank.

Running Back

James Conner, Arizona Cardinals @ Minnesota Vikings

Conner is doing his thing this season, and not all in a good way. The raw numbers are fine, as his 705 rushing yards are 16th in the league, but he’s doing it at a pedestrian 4.2 yards per carry (in line with his career number of 4.3).

Last season was an outlier: Conner averaged 5.0 yards per carry after never previously topping 4.5. He hadn’t been over 4.3 since 2018. As he has fallen back to earth, Conner is more of a mediocre player, though he’s racking up fantasy points. Conner is a top-20 back in both standard and PPR.

The Vikings are one of the toughest running back matchups by both volume and efficiency. They have allowed the second-least yards per rush attempt and third-fewest fantasy points per game to running backs.

Minnesota has been vulnerable through the air, so this might turn into a Kyler Murray game, both passing and running the ball. Conner will be involved in the passing game. He has caught five passes in each of the past two games, racking up 121 total yards.

Conner will probably have an OK day, but it’s unlikely to be one of his better weeks. While most owners aren’t benching him, Conner has a decent chance to finish outside the top 20 running backs with this matchup.

Wide Receiver

Terry McLaurin, Washington Commanders vs. Tennessee Titans

The Commanders have regressed a little after their hot start, dropping three straight games to two good teams (and the Cowboys). Washington has a good chance to win this game based on the skill level of the two squads, but the offense might find it tough to regularly move the ball.

The Titans have allowed the third-least yards per pass attempt and the third-least fantasy points per game to wide receivers. A few top guys have been able to find space recently (Nico Collins last week with 92 yards and a touchdown, for instance), something in McLaurin’s favor.

The star receiver ended up with good numbers in Week 12: five catches, 102 yards, and a touchdown. That comes with a major asterisk, as his last catch was an 86-yard TD on a busted coverage to give the team a chance to tie the game. He otherwise had 16 yards on four catches, weak production against the vulnerable Cowboys.

McLaurin had just one catch for 10 yards in a really tough matchup with the Eagles in Week 11; that’s two mostly quiet games in a row. While Jayden Daniels is dynamic, he’s expected to go through rookie struggles. The toughest matchups bring on most of those struggles.

With McLaurin not necessarily on a heater and the matchup about as tough as could be, McLaurin is a player to consider benching this week.

Tight End

Mark Andrews, Baltimore Ravens vs. Philadelphia Eagles

Let’s go back to the well with Andrews. Even though he was good last week, he has maybe the toughest tight end matchup in Week 13. The Eagles have allowed the least yards per pass attempt and the third-fewest fantasy points per game to tight ends. Philly has found their defense after an off year in 2023.

As I mentioned above, Andrews succeeded against the tough Chargers (Isaiah Likely didn’t catch a pass, so that’s something, right?). Andrews has been OK, averaging about three catches and 35 yards per game. He has helped his fantasy score by catching six touchdowns, but Andrews hasn’t been a fantasy star all the time.

Andrews will be a must-start for some owners because of his name recognition. He’s a top-10 tight end in both standard and PPR leagues; the numbers back up his place in your lineup. Things might not be quite as rosy if he stops catching touchdowns, so Andrews is someone to be skeptical of in the toughest matchups.