Week 13 QB Waiver Wire Pickups & Adds: Kirk Cousins To Stay Hot Against Jacksonville

Lineups.com is your one-stop shop on your way to a Fantasy Football Championship in 2020! Check out our stats, projections, offensive, and defensive rankings. We even have DFS projections for the Daily Fantasy Sports community. Week 13 has arrived, and with it comes desperation. For many of us, our playoff hopes hinge on the balance of a week 13 win and any potential tie-breaker scenarios with fellow league mates. If you’re unsure of who you’re playing at quarterback, look no further! Here are a handful of quarterbacks with great matchups this week and beyond.

Taysom Hill

How wonderful for fantasy it is to have a quarterback that likes to run the ball. This past week, Taysom Hill completed nine of his 16 passes for 78 yards, no touchdowns, and one interception. Despite this, he still finished with 17.52 fantasy points behind his 44 rushing yards and two touchdowns on the ground. This is now two straight weeks Hill has been an adequate streaming option while the injured Drew Brees sits. The good news is Hill gets to take on Atlanta again, who was his opponent two weeks ago when he scored 24.22 points and trails only Seattle for the most fantasy points allowed per game to opposing quarterbacks. If you’re desperately in need of a week-13 win, and Hill is available, don’t be afraid to be bullish on the waiver wire with your FAAB. You can’t take your FAAB money with you after the season is over! Monitor the situation closely though, as it remains unclear how long Brees will be out, and New Orleans schedule gets tougher either way starting in week 14. I would be looking to add an additional option for week 14 and beyond, rather than just relying on Hill for the rest of the season.

Jared Goff

Goff hasn’t been a guarantee in 2020, but you should consider playing him against Arizona. Currently, Arizona is 18th against fantasy quarterbacks, making them an above-average matchup for Goff. In addition, Arizona’s high-scoring offense is always capable of inducing a higher scoring game out of their opponents. While they didn’t yield much to Cam Newton in week 12, they gave up solid games to Tua Tagovailoa, Josh Allen, and Russell Wilson in weeks nine, 10, and 11. Meanwhile, Goff has been spotty. This past weekend was rough, scoring just 3.02 points against San Francisco on 19 of 31 passing for 198 yards, no touchdowns, and two interceptions. The week prior, however, Goff finished as the QB4 on the week, scoring 23.04 against Tampa Bay. You’re playing Goff in the hopes that this game becomes a high-scoring affair, giving Goff multiple opportunities to score. I recommended a higher percentage of FAAB considering Goff’s remaining schedule. After Arizona, two of his next three matchups are among the league’s worst teams against opposing quarterbacks: New England, New York Jets, and Seattle. While you might want to pivot away from New England in week 14, Goff is an option in week 15 and 16 as well.

Kirk Cousins

If you want to play the hot hand, go with Kirk Cousins. Here are his positional finishes in each of the last three weeks (week 12 pending the Wednesday Night Football outcomes): 3, 5, 11. Most recently, his 26.18 points against Carolina was without star receiver Adam Thielen, who he might have back this upcoming week. The even better news is this week’s opponent, Jacksonville, who trails only Seattle and Atlanta in fantasy points per game allowed to opposing quarterbacks. Following their week eight bye, they have given up an average of 282.75 passing yards and two passing touchdowns per game. Most recently, despite a dominant rushing game from Cleveland, Baker Mayfield still managed 258 yards and two touchdowns in the air. You play Cousins because the scoring opportunities will be there as their potent rushing attack will set them up in the red zone on multiple occasions in this game, and their defense is bad enough to never game-script out the passing attack.

Derek Carr

Sometimes we start Derek Carr, and sometimes we get burned. Last week was not pretty. According to Josh Dubow on Twitter, Derek Carr is the first player to lose three or more fumbles in a game and throw a pick-six since Mark Sanchez did it in 2011. However, keep in mind, this is the same Derek Carr that scored 21.6 points against the Chiefs the week prior, throwing for 275 yards and three touchdowns. This upcoming week is against the Jets, the perfect solution for Carr and the Raiders to get back on track. You’d have to travel back to week seven to find the last time the Jets did not allow at least 250 passing yards and two total touchdowns to an opposing quarterback. While Carr is technically owned in just about 70-percent of leagues, expect many fantasy owners to drop him this week after his performance, plummeting that 70-percent down and making him available. His matchup positivity fades after week 13, however. Two of his next three games are against top-10 defenses against the quarterback, with the Chargers in week 15 being his only great matchup left.

Baker Mayfield

As a streaming option in week 12 on the road with a good matchup, Baker delivered. That’s why he makes the list again for the second week in a row. This past week, Cleveland was on the road against Jacksonville, who ranks 30th against the pass. Baker finished with 18.42 points on 19 of 29 passing for 258 yards and two touchdowns. Over his last two road games, Baker has averaged over 250 yards and three touchdowns per game. However, his three most recent home games with horrible weather have all been under 10 fantasy points. The good news is Cleveland is on the road again this week, taking on the Titans, who rank 28th against fantasy quarterbacks. Most recently, Tennessee and Indianapolis combined for 71 points, and Tennessee’s lead forced Philip Rivers to throw the ball 42 times, finishing with a solid fantasy day. A very similar outcome could be in the future for Baker Mayfield and the Browns. I wouldn’t put too many eggs in the Baker basket, however, as his matchups following week 13 are rather tough. Only one of his remaining four games is a plus matchup (week 16 against the Jets).