Best Week 13 fantasy football QB/TE/DEF streamers

Week 13 of the 2021 fantasy football season is upon us. It’s time to identify the best streamers at the quarterback, tight end and defense/special teams positions.

The tight end position appears to be weak on the surface, but Pittsburgh Steelers rookie TE Pat Freiermuth has entered must-start territory.

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Quarterback

Carson Wentz, Indianapolis Colts | 58% rostered

Wentz continues to function as a borderline QB1 in fantasy football despite the Colts' recent success on the ground. After another 20-plus point performance against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Wentz currently sits as the QB11 on the season.

Wentz gets the honor of facing the Houston Texans in Week 13. The Texans are awful on the defensive side of the ball, though they’re only 16th in fantasy points allowed to quarterbacks and also around average in passing yards and touchdowns allowed. They do rank 20th in explosive pass percentage and 25th in passing yards per attempt (YPA) allowed, suggesting that they're susceptible to big plays and volume alike. 

Matt Ryan, Atlanta Falcons | 47% rostered

Ryan has topped double-digit fantasy points just twice since Week 8, offering up three stinkers totaling less than 7.0 fantasy points in that stretch. But he has a decent matchup against an injury-ravaged Buccaneers secondary. The team was already without two of their top three cornerbacks and lost Jamel Dean to an injury in Week 12. The Bucs are exploitable on the back-end — Wentz just passed for 306 yards and three touchdowns against them last week.

Tampa Bay Buccaneers vs. QBs | 2021

Taylor Heinicke, Washington Football Team | 36% rostered

Heinicke scored 75.9 fantasy points from Weeks 7-11 (prior to Monday Night Football) on 0.48 points per dropback — both marks good for 12th at the position. He has a solid Week 13 matchup against the Las Vegas Raiders, who have conceded the seventh-most passing touchdowns this season. They also rank 24th in EPA per play against, 24th in rushing yards and 22nd in explosive run percentage allowed to quarterbacks. Heinicke has the mobility to take advantage of this matchup. 

Tight End

Pat Freiermuth, Pittsburgh Steelers | 63% rostered

Freiermuth is highly rostered for a waiver consideration, but the rookie should really be rostered across all leagues at this point. Freiermuth is the TE4 since Week 6 and the TE1 since Week 8. There is no reason to avoid starting him at this point: His 16.7% target share ranks second on the team, even though he’s run a route on just 56.5% of the team’s dropbacks since Week 6.

Freiermuth is a touchdown savant and red zone monster with five touchdowns in as many weeks. His matchup against the Baltimore Ravens also happens to be a great opportunity to produce a top-10 week. They’ve been beaten for the third-most yards and fourth-most touchdowns by the position this season.

Tyler Conklin, Minnesota Vikings | 33% rostered

There aren’t many great streaming options at tight end this week due to injuries, inconsistency and bad matchups across the board. Conklin is one of the safer floor plays, having scored 6.0 or more fantasy points five times in the past six contests. Conklin has a decent 14.4% target share and has run a route on 63.7% of the team’s dropbacks. He gets a divisional rival and the best matchup of the players on this list with the Detroit Lions next up. They’ve been beaten for the second-most fantasy points by tight ends.

Detroit Lions vs. TEs | 2021

C.J. Uzomah, Cincinnati Bengals | 18% rostered

PFF’s strength of schedule metric doesn’t envision this week's battle against the Los Angeles Chargers as an easy one for Uzomah, ranking it as the eighth-toughest of the week. Uzomah hasn’t done much in the past few weeks, failing to score double-digit fantasy points in every game since Week 8. But the Chargers are exploitable to some degree: No team has conceded more touchdowns to tight ends. They also rank 26th in explosive pass percentage and 30th in EPA per play against tight ends when targeted. There should be opportunities for big plays and potential touchdowns — the type of high-value touches that can help at a desolate position in a pinch. 

Defense/Special Teams

Indianapolis Colts D/ST | 59% rostered

If the tight end position is weak, the defense/special teams options land on the opposite end of the spectrum. There are a handful of great options, beginning with the Colts taking on the Texans this week. The Colts are the fifth-highest-scoring defense and rank seventh in average fantasy points per game. They’re a good play nearly every week, but even more so against a Texans offense that ranks 26th in interceptions and 31st in offensive scoring (touchdowns and field goals).

Philadelphia Eagles D/ST | 58% rostered

The Eagles rank just inside the top-12 at the position and could be considered a weekly starter. They have one of the best matchups this week, taking on a pathetic New York Jets offense and a struggling quarterback in Zach Wilson. No team has thrown more interceptions, and they also happen to rank 24th in sacks surrendered and 31st in pressures allowed. New York doesn’t score much, either. This is a huge opportunity for the Eagles to produce a top-three D/ST performance.

Minnesota Vikings D/ST | 17% rostered

Minnesota is nearing weekly start territory as the 13th-highest scoring unit in the league. I almost never reference the special teams aspect of D/ST’s, but the Vikings are the only team with two kickoff return touchdowns this season. They also get the pleasure of defending a terrible Lions team that ranks 31st in EPA per play and comes in as PFF’s second-worst graded offense. This should be a cakewalk of a matchup for the Vikings.