WEEK 13: START OF THE WEEK

START 'EM

Jamaal Williams, RB

Detroit Lions vs. Minnesota Vikings

Hello, long time no see! How have you been? I’ve been well; thanks for asking! Can I come in to chat real quick? There's some important things to discuss. Thanks! Let me get straight to it; Jared Goff is a really bad quarterback. Naturally, the Detroit Lions have to be more reliant on their run game this year, and most of that has fallen on the shoulders of D’Andre Swift with some also falling to Jamaal Williams. Combined, the duo have less than 950 yards rushing with Swift having around 550 and Williams having just under 400. Swift has been the big winner of the season, but most of his fantasy value has come through the passing game with 56 receptions for 429 yards while Williams is behind him with only 21 receptions for just over 100 receiving yards. At the beginning of the year, the fear for this backfield was that it would have been a true committee backfield, but Swift quickly carved out the main position leaving Williams to pick up the slack. This week, however, Swift is out, leaving all the work for Williams. Behind Williams in most carries this year is Jared Goff with a staggering 13. There is no other running back on this roster that has remotely proved themselves enough to warrant significant touches in this week's game. Williams will be the workhorse for the Lions against a team that plays to the level of their opponent in the Vikings. Last week, when Swift went down, Williams had 15 touches and caught all 5 of his targets for 83 total yards. Besides Swift before his injury, the rest of the Lions team collectively had 1 carry, and only 1 target to the RB position. Even with an extra long week of practice, I don’t see any other RB stealing production away from Williams. Williams will have a solid fantasy game from a pure production standpoint, and if he is able to score that will elevate his game to high end RB2, low end RB1 for the Week.