Fantasy Football Week 13 Running Back Preview: Bet on Jaylen Warren if Najee Harris misses time

At the beginning of the week I wrote that Zonovan Knight and Benny Snell were the top waiver adds, but both of those situations could be ugly. A day later, Jaylen Warren announced he’d been cleared to return and the Steelers’ running back situation became instantly less clear.

We’re leaning towards Warren for a variety of reasons. The biggest is that the team was making a bigger effort to get him involved before his hamstring injury; he saw a season-high 12 touches in Week 10 against the Saints, and that was with Najee Harris healthy. Snell, in that same game, did not receive a touch. 

• Week 13 Previews: QB | RB | WR | TE

While we can’t be too sure of usage with a duo we haven’t seen together, I’m projecting 11 carries apiece for Warren and Snell, with Warren dominating passing downs. Against a Falcons defense that has surrendered the fifth-most PPR Fantasy points to running backs over the past five weeks, that makes Warren a borderline top-20 running back and Snell a touchdown-dependent flex.

Of course this is all dependent on Najee Harris missing Week 13. Keep your eyes on the injury reports before starting any Steelers.

Now let’s get to the rest of the Week 13 RB Preview:

Week 13 RB Preview

The following players are not being projected to play in Week 13 at this time. Here’s what it means:

• 7 — Touches inside the 10-yard line for Isiah Pacheco in Week 12. He only scored once, but had 22 rush attempts in an encouraging performance. 
• 29.7 — The Texans surrender the most PPR Fantasy points per game to opposing running backs.
• 22.04 — PPR Fantasy points per game for Josh Jacobs in 2022, second only to Austin Ekeler at running back. 
• 23 — Touches for Rachaad White in the absence of Leonard Fournette. White caught all nine of his targets, too. 
• 103 — Scrimmage yards for Zonovan Knight, who led the Jets with 14 carries after Michael Carter went down with an injury.
• 16 — Carries for Gus Edwards in his return from injury. Justice Hill and Kenyan Drake combined for just three carries.
• 15 — Dameon Pierce has one more rushing yard than carries in the past two weeks.