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Unexpected fantasy football performances and waiver wire sleepers and trade targets for Week 14 (2023). Will these NFL players sustain their Week 13 success?
The carousel of injuries continues during this 2023 season. This is said every year, but it feels like there have been more injuries than normal this season. I’m not going to list every nick and bruise suffered by star players this week, but just know there were more than enough.
Outside of the injuries though, Week 13 ended up being a pretty entertaining week of NFL football. With six teams on bye, the remaining teams picked up the slack with some close, high-scoring affairs.
With numerous injuries tied to some high-scoring matchups, some unexpected boom performances happened almost by default. As fantasy playoffs near, these names could be important to monitor as they could be difference-makers down the stretch. Let’s get into them below.
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Surprise Fantasy Football Performances
Alec Pierce, Indianapolis Colts
In one of the most exciting games from Week 13, a promising young player finally had a productive performance.
After showing flashes in his rookie year, Indianapolis Colts wide receiver Alec Pierce has had a tough time breaking through during his second season. Although he has the physical tools that show his potential, for whatever reason, things just haven’t gone his way in this evolving Colts offense.
That all changed against their division rival Tennessee Titans as Pierce played a huge role while hauling in three of six targets for 100 yards and a touchdown. As a result of his best performance of the season, the second-year receiver accumulated 17.5 half-PPR points, making him the WR11 in Week 13.
Now, it should be taken into account that the Titans have a dreadful secondary. That may have been a reason for Pierce’s strong performance, but he clearly showed that he’s more than a guy who just runs wind sprints out there, too.
Due to his role as a deep threat in this offense, he’s more of a boom-bust type that is hard to predict on a weekly basis. You can take a shot on him but don’t expect this every week.
Ezekiel Elliott, New England Patriots
It’s probably for the best if you didn’t catch a single second of the New England Patriots attempting to play football on Sunday. I applaud the team for seeing the writing on the wall and tanking for a top quarterback in next year’s draft, but man, there are few things more demoralizing than watching this team.
That being said, a familiar face had an unexpected boom performance that resulted from one of the many notable injuries in Week 13.
The familiar face was former Dallas Cowboy Ezekiel Elliott, and the injury was to starting running back Rhamondre Stevenson, who may be out for an extended period with an ankle sprain. While it wasn’t the prettiest outing, Zeke stumbled his way to a quality fantasy day due to his teammate’s injury.
During the Patriots’ Week 13 loss to the Los Angeles Chargers, Elliott had 17 carries for 52 yards along with four receptions for 40 yards. It wasn’t astounding, but his large opportunity resulted in 11.2 half-PPR points and an RB15 finish.
Although New England’s offense is unwatchable, take a shot on Zeke. The massive opportunity share is there, and he could be serviceable based on volume alone. Consider him a priority add off waivers with the playoffs approaching.
Demarcus Robinson, Los Angeles Rams
The Rams just continue to surprise every week, don’t they? While there are plenty of notable names in this offense, the team managed to bring a player out of the woodwork that made most say, “Oh yeah, I forgot about that guy.” That player was wide receiver Demarcus Robinson.
Most probably didn’t even know the former Kansas City Chief was even on this roster. However, he may have shown enough to push for the WR3 role in this offense behind Puka Nacua and Cooper Kupp.
Against the Cleveland Browns, Robinson caught four of five targets for 55 yards and a touchdown. It wasn’t game-breaking, but his solid performance resulted in 13.5 half-PPR fantasy points and a WR17 finish.
Unless you’re in a very deep league, this isn’t a player you need to bother with off of waivers. There is a chance that he pushes for more playing time because of this impressive performance, but there probably won’t be enough to make him relevant. Consider him an add in only the deepest of leagues.
Harrison Bryant, Cleveland Browns
With Joe Flacco returning to the NFL to help the Cleveland Browns’ perplexing quarterback situation, the passing offense actually saw somewhat of a boost. In addition to that, Cleveland’s top wide receiver Amari Cooper left the game with a concussion, so Flacco had to look for other options in the receiving game.
That’s where tight end Harrison Bryant came in. While he’s had some success in the past, Bryant has been an afterthought during the 2023 season outside of a couple of touchdowns. But in Week 13, for whatever reason, the fourth-year pro was pretty involved.
In his best performance of the season, Bryant caught all five of his targets for 49 yards and a touchdown. That output resulted in 13.4 half-PPR points, making him this week’s TE5.
This likely won’t lead to any consistent production, so Bryant is probably a name you can leave on waivers unless he strings together solid performances down the stretch.
Dameon Pierce, Houston Texans
Now, this wasn’t a huge performance, but right when it seemed like we had this Houston Texans backfield figured out, they flipped it on its head again.
Although he came into the season as the lead back, second-year pro Dameon Pierce gradually lost his role as the starter to teammate Devin Singletary as reasons for his lack of usage stemmed mostly from him not fitting with the Texans’ offensive scheme.
However, something must’ve changed, as Pierce saw most of the work in Week 13.
In a win over the Denver Broncos, Pierce had 15 carries for 41 yards and a touchdown, which led to 10.1 half-PPR points and an RB17 finish.
With his recent struggles, someone in your league may have dropped Pierce out of frustration. If that is the case, he could be a strong addition considering this Houston offense knows how to put up points and there could be plenty of goal-line opportunities.
Monitor his usage as we near the end of the season because he could be a sneaky play.
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