Week 13 Thursday Fantasy Football Takeaways: Sam LaPorta, Rico Dowdle, Jordan Love, Jonnu Smith, Keenan Allen and More

We were treated to a trio of Thanksgiving NFL regular season games this season. 

In the first game, Detroit toppled Chicago 23-20. Dallas held on late for a 27-20 victory over the New York Giants in the second game. Green Bay handled Miami in the nightcap, winning 30-17.

Let’s take a look at some fantasy football takeaways from the day.

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LaPorta Gets Going a Bit

Detroit’s Sam LaPorta has been one of the biggest fantasy disappointments this season. He had another down day, with three catches for six yards across six targets, but he scored twice to deliver a big fantasy score.

LaPorta has only scored in double figures as a fantasy performer four times this season, and in each one of those games, he’s scored. He’s topped 50 yards three times, while finishing under 70 yards in every game.

The Detroit tight end has been providing a few fantasy points every week, but he hasn’t been a very good standard league starting option most weeks. He’s got more tough matchups coming too, so I wouldn’t expect LaPorta to really improve his fantasy stock much.

Week 13 was a nice gift for fantasy owners, but he’s still not a very safe fantasy option in standard leagues. He’ll start out of necessity for some and because of the weak fantasy TE position for others, but I don’t see him delivering many top-end fantasy scores at the position.

Allen Scores Twice for Bears

Like I expected, Chicago had to throw a bunch to try to keep up with Detroit, and it helped several pass catchers rack up a good amount of targets.

Keenan Allen stood out, catching five of his eight targets for 73 yards and two touchdowns. Excluding the scores, many fantasy owners would have been happy with Allen’s fantasy outing, but the scores were a great bonus.

Allen has at least eight targets in three straight games, and six or more for the past six games. He hadn’t topped 45 yards in a game this season, but has 86 and 73 yards the past two weeks on 14 catches and 23 targets.

I’d say I don’t expect the Bears to have to keep passing this much, but they might need to just to hang around in games now. Allen has been involved enough over the past several weeks to roster in standard leagues and play in favorable matchups.

With a very favorable schedule ahead, Allen is going to likely be on the right side of the start/sit line moving forward.

Dowdle Leads Cowboys

Rico Dowdle was the top-scoring Dallas fantasy player on Thursday. He rushed for 112 yards and a touchdowns on 22 carries, while adding 11 receiving yards on three catches and targets.

Dowdle was the clear backfield leader. Ezekiel Elliott was the only other true running back that got a carry. Dowdle played 53 of the team’s 76 offensive snaps, while Elliott only played nine.

It was Dowdle’s second straight game scoring in double figures as a fantasy player, and third time in the past five weeks. The matchup was right for Dowdle to go off Thursday and he delivered. He’s got more favorable matchups coming, so he needs to be owned in all leagues and started in more moving forward.

Johnson Trending Up for Giants

Not much has gone right for the Giants this season, but they do look to have their future tight end locked in with rookie Theo Johnson.

The rookie had 54 yards on five catches and targets in week 13. It set a new season-high in yards for Johnson.

Johnson has at least 35 yards and three catches in five straight games now. The Giants’ quarterback situation isn’t set, but with really only Malik Nabers as an established and consistent part of the offense, Johnson should have more than enough opportunities to shine the rest of the season.

The good thing is that Johnson has more favorable matchups coming, so you won’t have to worry often about him facing tougher defenses. He’s likely not going to lead fantasy tight ends in points scored, but at a weak position, getting a few catches and 35 or more yards a week is better than nothing.

Johnson is still owned in only 6% of leagues, and he’ll be part of my tight end waiver wire story going into week 14. At the very least, Johnson needs to be rostered and starting in some deeper leagues, but I think he’ll also be a standard league option in some favorable matchups moving forward.

Love Mistake-Free Again

Jordan Love has been a good fantasy option, especially when he’s been healthy. One of his biggest negatives though was turnovers, whether that be interceptions or fumbles.

The Packers had their bye in week 10, and in the three games since, Love has 698 passing yards, five passing touchdowns and no interceptions. He’s added 20 rushing yards and a score on five carries, while not losing, or even having, a fumble.

On Thursday against a pretty good Dolphins’ defense, Love was 21-of-28 passing for 274 yards, two touchdowns and no picks. He’s got some tougher matchups coming too, but he’s shown he can still deliver good fantasy results in those games.

I wouldn’t say Love is a must-start fantasy player right now, but he feels like a safe starting option most weeks, and one who is capable of delivering top-10 results among QBs every week from here on out.

Smith Continues Hot Streak

Jonnu Smith has been on a tear lately, and he honestly deserves more recognition as a fantasy player. 

He went for 113 yards on 10 catches and 11 targets on Thursday. It was his third straight game with over 85 receiving yards, and he’s gotten eight or more targets in those contests. Smith had six catches in week 11, and nine more in week 12.

Miami has Tyreek Hill and Jaylen Waddle of course, but Smith has proven he can deliver week after week in the Dolphins’ offense. His schedule ahead is not favorable, but at this point, I do not care. Smith needs to be in every starting lineup until he cools off.

IDP Standouts

Chicago’s Kevin Byard had 10 tackles and a pass defensed on Thursday. It was the third time in four weeks that he had over 10 tackles, and he had nine in the other game. Byard is an underrated IDP who needs to be owned and started in more leagues.

Detroit’s DJ Reader had two sacks among his four tackles. He registered just his second and third sacks of the season, and has just 18 tackles overall, so I wouldn’t overreact too much to his performance. He’s worth a roster spot in deeper IDP leagues, but isn’t a very safe play with a low floor.

New York’s Tyler Nubin had 12 combined tackles. It was his third straight game with 12 tackles, which is more than enough proof to give Nubin starts in IDP leagues.

Dallas’ Eric Kendricks had 10 tackles and a forced fumble on Thursday. He has at least eight tackles in every game this season. With a handful of splash plays mixed in, Kendricks is a good, and underrated, IDP option.

Cowboys’ DeMarvion Overshown had nine tackles, a fumble recovery and a pick-six. It was another breakout fantasy performance for Overshown, who has delivered a handful over the course of the season. He needs to be added and played in more IDP leagues.

Green Bay’s Quay Walker had 10 tackles and a sack on Thursday. He has seven or more tackles in four straight games now. Walker is trending up, and is a good weekly IDP option with all those tackles.

Packers’ Isaiah McDuffie had 10 tackles, a pass defensed and a forced fumble this week. He’s not a regular starter for the Pack, but took advantage of his opportunity and had a big game. McDuffie would be worth streaming if Edgerrin Cooper is inactive again next week.

Miami’s Tyrel Dodson had 10 tackles on Thursday. It was his third time with double-digit tackles this season. Tacking on a few splash plays here and there, Dodson is a pretty good weekly starting option in IDP leagues.