Stock Up, Stock Down: Can you trust Justin Herbert in the fantasy playoffs?

You get to Week 13 and start feeling like you’ve “made it through” the injuries and they won’t happen again…sike. I’m still trying to understand (like others are) why Tank Dell was basically playing swing tackle and going inside to block on a lead dive on the goal line. It’s wild and we wish Tank Dell (and all others who were injured) a speedy recovery, but that’s football. Brock Purdy making a true MVP case (on the legs of Deebo Samuel and Brandon Aiyuk, nonetheless) was not something you’d thought you’d say in July, but it is real. A lot of things are real, the good and the bad. Hopefully for your fantasy teams though, it’s all good. As we near the end of the fantasy football regular season, we have to check some players' temperatures.

STOCK UP

RB - Ezekiel Elliott, New England Patriots

Zeke could find himself in a new role depending on how much time is missed by Rhamondre Stevenson who suffered a sprained ankle in Week 13. After seeing a season-high in touches (21) and yards (92), Elliott should have a major workload heading into the fantasy playoffs. For a backup running back, he was already seeing a decent number of touches, averaging 10.4 per game this season. In his last three games with Stevenson active, he’s averaged 15.6 touches per contest. What hinders the Patriots’ offense the most is subpar quarterback play whether it’s been Mac Jones or Bailey Zappe. That’s hard to overcome, but if Zeke gets a week or two where he’s the Patriots' lead back, it could get you right for the fantasy playoffs.

WR - Dontayvion Wicks, Green Bay Packers

Christian Watson has scored in his last three games and in his last two has looked like the WR1 the Packers drafted him to be. Unfortunately, he suffered what looked like another hamstring injury in the fourth quarter in the Packers’ Week 13 game against the Chiefs. He’d be here, but Wicks has been stepping up as well. The rookie finished Week 13 with three receptions for 43 yards. In Week 12, he racked up 91 yards and stands to get more of the target share should Watson miss any more time. With Jordan Love playing his best football of the season right now and a new role likely, Wicks should be a waiver wire favorite heading into Week 14. The Packers face the Giants, Buccaneers and Panthers in their next three games. Two of the three (Giants and Bucs) are bottom five in allowing fantasy points to wide receivers per game.

WR - Noah Brown, Houston Texans

Brown made his return to action after missing the last two games to go 0-0-0 on the stat sheet with two targets. You shouldn’t worry about it too much as it was his first game back and now someone will have to pick up the slack for Tank Dell. We saw what Brown was capable of in the weeks prior to him missing time, going for 153 and 172 receiving yards in back to back weeks. Brown should assume the WR2 role for the Texans, but with the passing volume that they display, look for some other guys to step up as well. John Metchie saw his second highest snap count percentage (32%) after Dell went down and rookie Xavier Hutchinson has been sparingly used this season. Those are a few names, but C.J. Stroud will look to Nico Collins and then Brown.

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STOCK DOWN

QB - Justin Herbert, Los Angeles Chargers

To be fair, the Patriots are a top-10 team against quarterbacks in terms of allowing fantasy points. In the same breath things like that shouldn’t matter when you have an elite, top-five (so they say) quarterback. The fact that a Herbert-led offense mustered up no touchdowns and less points than a Tim Boyle-led offense in Week 13 is alarming. From a fantasy perspective, Herbert is QB19 on a points per game basis over the last three weeks. In total points he’s QB15, so no matter how you slice it, it hasn’t been great. The Chargers’ offense, after exploding for 38 points against the Lions in Week 10, has scored a total of 36 points in the three games since. The schedule down the line isn’t the greatest either as the Chargers will face a Broncos’ team fighting for their playoff lives, a Raiders’ team playing better under Antonio Pierce and a Bills’ squad trying to save their season. Can Herbert, the highest paid player in football, save the Chargers?

RB - Austin Ekeler, Los Angeles Chargers

Ekeler is RB44 over the last three weeks, averaging 7.0 points per game (yes, in PPR), but you can’t bench him right? No, you can’t, but the stat lines are looking crazy. Ekeler has only three touchdowns in eight games since his return from an ankle injury earlier in the season. We thrive on him scoring touchdowns and catching passes. He’s averaging a miserable 3.5 YPC this season and he’s coming off a game in which he barely had more yards than carries going 14-18-0, which looks like a nice stat line for a starting NBA center. I’ll give credit where credit is due, Ekeler actually whooped me in a head to head fantasy matchup a couple of weeks ago, but I don’t think that matters as much to him as what he’s actually doing on the field. No NFL player loves fantasy football more than Ekeler, so seeing this type of season from him is a downer. Don’t give up.

WR - Terry McLaurin, Washington Commanders

I can’t even remember if I’ve had McLaurin in this column before, but if I did, he needs to be here again because at least he’ll get noticed here. Coming into Week 13, Sam Howell was averaging 46 passing attempts per game over his last five, but despite that, McLaurin was averaging only 4.6 receptions for 52 yards. So I suppose it makes sense that when Howell doesn’t throw the ball everywhere, McLaurin's numbers would look even worse. That was certainly the case in Week 13 as he ended with a goose egg on three targets. Curtis Samuel led the Commanders in receiving for a second straight week, so it’s fair to wonder if McLaurin is seen as the team’s true WR1 anymore. At this point, he’s an average flex play with Samuel or Jahan Dotson having just as good of odds to have a respectable game.