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Justin's fantasy football start 'em, sit 'em picks for Week 13 of 2025. He looks at surprising performances from Chimere Dike, John Metchie III, Brenton Strange, Emanuel Wilson, Cam Ward.
Welcome back to Fact or Fiction, our weekly look around the league at some of the surprising performances from the previous week. Last week, I highlighted a guy whom I honestly couldn't pick out of a lineup: Bills wide receiver Tyrell Shavers. I was pretty low on him despite his four-catch, 90-yard, one-touchdown performance against the Buccaneers.
It appears I was right to be hesitant with Shavers, as the second-year receiver wasn't even targeted against the Texans. Now, the Bills have signed Brandin Cooks, clouding Shavers' path to production even more. Sometimes I get things right!
Let's take a look at the Week 12 performances from Cameron Ward, Emanuel Wilson, Chimere Dike, John Metchie III, and Brenton Strange. Were these showings the start of something big or simply a Shavers-esque one-off?
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Cameron Ward, QB, Tennessee Titans
Week 12 stats: 28-for-42 for 256 yards and one touchdown, six carries for 37 yards and one touchdown -- overall QB4
Did we finally see Ward's breakout performance? The No. 1 overall pick threw for 256 yards and a touchdown while also adding the first rushing score of his career in a competitive loss to the Seahawks on Sunday. That marked the third game in a row that the Titans lost by one score.
sheesh Cam Ward ‼️
SEAvsTEN on FOX/FOX Onehttps://t.co/HkKw7uXVnt pic.twitter.com/z6iYLTBhsC
— NFL (@NFL) November 23, 2025
Ward's rookie campaign has been a disaster in a lot of ways. His head coach was fired midseason. His best wide receiver, Calvin Ridley, has missed four games. His offensive line has struggled to protect him, leading to a league-high 45 sacks.
Sure, some of these issues rest on Ward's shoulders. He's completing under 60 percent of his passes. He's holding the ball too long. Per Pro Football Reference, he has 70 bad throws, the third-most in the NFL.
There have been flashes that suggest Ward is a better quarterback than he's shown, but those will remain flashes until the team addresses its many offensive needs this offseason. Fantasy managers don't need to get too excited about this game in redraft formats, but I remain convinced that when everything is fixed around him, Ward's going to be a borderline top-10 NFL quarterback.
Verdict: Fiction, but I remain relatively high on Ward in dynasty
Emanuel Wilson, RB, Green Bay Packers
Week 12 stats: 28 carries for 107 yards and two touchdowns, two catches for 18 yards -- overall RB2
With Josh Jacobs a late scratch in Week 12, the Packers turned to Wilson as the lead back. They were rewarded with a strong performance as he carried the ball 28 times for 107 yards and a pair of touchdowns.
It was a great showing from Wilson, who now has three rushing scores in the past two games. The third-year back showed he can step up when the Packers need him to step up.
The problem for fantasy managers is that the Jacobs injury is the only reason we saw this level of volume. Maybe that'd be fine if Jacobs was going to miss more time with his knee issue, but considering he tried to go in Week 12, it's hard to really imagine he'll be out for Week 13. When Jacobs is healthy, the Packers are going to go back to trusting him as the lead back.
Wilson should have earned more touches based on this performance, but he probably won't get enough additional usage to make him more than a dart-throw flex option once Jacobs returns. However, the Packers could move on from Jacobs as a post-June 1 cut in 2026, with only a pair of $3.1 million cap hits as the consequence, so maybe there's long-term upside for Wilson if that happens.
Verdict: Fact, but only until Jacobs is back
Chimere Dike, WR, Tennessee Titans
Week 12 stats: five catches for 44 yards and a touchdown, one punt return touchdown -- overall WR9
I saw the most unbelievable post on X yesterday, to the point where I thought I was getting trolled. I can no longer find the post, but I can summarize it in one sentence: Dike is on pace to break the single-season all-purpose yardage record.
CHIMERE DIKE 90-YARD PUNT RETURN TD
SEAvsTEN on FOX/FOX Onehttps://t.co/HkKw7uXVnt pic.twitter.com/x2b3dRBUfO
— NFL (@NFL) November 23, 2025
Now, most of that is because of his ability as a return man, and I'm pretty sure one of the following two things is true. Either you play in a league that doesn't have return yardage like 99.9 percent of fantasy players, or if you do play in a league with return yardage, you already know that Dike is an elite weapon in that format.
What matters to us here is his receiving usage, and that's probably not something to get excited about. Yes, he caught a touchdown this week, but he only finished with 44 receiving yards. He's topped 50 yards just twice in 11 career games, and the last time he had more than five receptions, he followed it up by catching just one pass the next week.
Dike's an intriguing player, but a true breakout as a receiver likely won't happen until 2026.
Verdict: Dike would be a Fact in a league with return yardage, but he's still a Fiction in most formats
John Metchie III, WR, New York Jets
Week 12 stats: six catches for 65 yards and a touchdown -- overall WR12
It's been a rollercoaster of a season for Metchie, who was traded from Houston to Philly in August, then traded from Philly to New York in October. That latest trade has paid off for the former second-round pick, though, as he's quickly carved out a key role in this Jets offense.
Metchie has found the end zone in two of his three games in New York, including this week's road loss to Baltimore that saw him catch six passes for 65 yards and a touchdown.
With Garrett Wilson out with a knee injury, Metchie has shown himself to be New York's best healthy receiver, though that's not hard to do when the other guys getting snaps are Adonai Mitchell and Allen Lazard.
If I were going to play a Jets wideout in fantasy until Wilson returns, Metchie is clearly the one I'd go with, but I'm not sold that this offense is good enough for us to trust he'll continue having games like this. Tyrod Taylor is an improvement at quarterback over Justin Fields, but he's still one of the league's worst staters, so inconsistency will likely be an issue.
Verdict: Not fully a Fiction because his role is growing, but I'd expect uneven production since he plays for the Jets
Brenton Strange, TE, Jacksonville Jaguars
Week 12 stats: five catches for 93 yards -- overall TE5
I entered 2025 convinced that Strange was set to break out, but it hasn't happened. He was playing decent football before suffering a hip injury in Week 5, but returned in Week 12 against the Cardinals.
It was a strong return, as Strange caught five passes for 93 yards. He immediately slotted in as the No. 1 tight end, playing 71 percent of Jacksonville's snaps while Johnny Mundt and Quintin Morris saw time when the team went with two tight ends.
With Travis Hunter done for the year, Jacksonville doesn't have the league's scariest group of pass-catchers. Jakobi Meyers was a great midseason addition, and Parker Washington is playing the best football of his career, but there's not a lot happening beyond that.
Brenton Strange is a real-deal weapon in the passing game. Add what he does as a blocker and there is a good argument to make that he is one of the offense's most important players pic.twitter.com/4Kj0rrog5N
— John Shipley (@_John_Shipley) September 22, 2025
That leaves Strange as the No. 3 option in this offense. Unfortunately, quarterback Trevor Lawrence has the lowest completion percentage he's had since his rookie year, and the Jaguars rank 21st in the league in passing yards, so Strange's ceiling is capped by that. However, if you're in the situation where you're streaming tight ends week to week and you've got a chance to plug Strange in there, I'd do it. He has two games left against the Colts, who allow the fifth-most fantasy points per game to opposing tight ends.
Verdict: Don't get too excited, but this is definitely more of a Fact than a Fiction — Strange can be used as a low-end TE1/high-end TE2 play
Who Should I Start Tool
Not sure who to start? Check out the Who Should I Start tool:
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Who Should I Start? Who Should I Sit? Some common Week 13 fantasy football lineup decisions are regarding players like Cameron Ward, Emanuel Wilson, Chimere Dike, John Metchie III, and Brenton Strange. But not to worry, we are here to help make these decisions and build winning lineups in Week 12. Set your optimal fantasy football lineups for Week 13 of the 2025 NFL season. Our free Who Should I Start? tool will help make your fantasy football lineup decisions. Compare up to four NFL players, and we tell you who to start... all free! Get your winning lineups set, and make the right decisions.
Week 13 Player Decisions. Today's focus is on specific players - Cameron Ward, Emanuel Wilson, Chimere Dike, John Metchie III, and Brenton Strange. These are some of the most common searches for fantasy football lineups in Week 13.
Using The Tool. This is a simple tool, but very powerful. The first step is to enter the player names that you want to compare. In the first box, search for the first player's name. In the second box, search for the second player's name. Compare up to four NFL players at once, and then click the Who To Start? button to see who the recommended starts are based on weekly fantasy football matchups.
Improvements For Who Should I Start? You may have noticed that our 'Who Should I Start?' tool has gotten an overhaul. We've added lots of great features for you to give you as much information as possible to win your fantasy football matchups each week. You'll see NFL player tiles with headshots and bye weeks, stats, projections, strength of schedule, player news, and enhanced search results with data to compare with a slick new interface. We hope you enjoy!
How It Works. Each week, our RotoBaller staff puts together their weekly fantasy football rankings and projections based on their research. That information is the core data that is powering the decision-making in this tool. When you search for player names, you will only see those players who are ranked. If someone is out for the week, they will not appear in the search results.
Scoring Formats. Fantasy football managers play in various types of leagues, and this tool allows you to choose whether it's PPR scoring, Half-PPR scoring, or Standard (Non-PPR) scoring. The second thing you want to do is to select the scoring format. There are three small radio buttons (small circles), so click on the scoring format you prefer. The results may vary based on the scoring format you select.
Popular Week 13 Searches. Curious to see some tough lineup decisions for Week 13 (2025)? Below you will find a list of some popular Who Should I Start? searches that RotoBaller readers are looking at this week. Click any of the links to see the result and recommendation.
Popular Week 13 Searches - Start/Sit Player Comparisons
Below are some popular searches and comparisons from our Who To Start tool for Week 13 for Cameron Ward, Emanuel Wilson, Chimere Dike, John Metchie III, and Brenton Strange:
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