Fantasy Football Outlook: DeVonta Smith, Logan Thomas, Najee Harris, David Montgomery

Every week we’ll bring you The Primer, a deep dive into every fantasy-relevant player from every NFL game of the week. You can find the full weekly Primer here. Below we dive into a few notable players ahead of this weekend’s games.

Fantasy Football Outlook

David Montgomery: Montgomery was limited on Wednesday (foot). I’ll continue to monitor his practice reports this week, but for now, we’ll assume he’s good to go for Week 13. Since his return from injury in Week 10, he has played 27-40% of the snaps, averaging 13.7 touches and 95 total yards. During those three games, Montgomery split the red zone work down the middle with Gibbs, with each player getting 11 opportunities. Montgomery has been one of the most explosive backs in the league this season, ranking 15th in explosive run rate, third in missed tackles forced per attempt, and fourth in yards after contact per attempt. Montgomery should chew up some ground this week against a struggling New Orleans run defense. Since Week 7, they have allowed the sixth-highest explosive run rate and yards after contact per attempt while also bleeding out the second-highest yards per carry to zone runs (5.07). 53.4% of Montgomery’s runs have been on zone plays. Week 13 Positional Value: RB2

Najee Harris: Harris has finished as an RB2 or higher in five of his last six games (RB13, RB22, RB12, RB9, RB13). Since Week 7, he has averaged 15.6 touches and 71.7 total yards. Harris ranks fourth in explosive run rate and 17th in yards after contact per attempt. Harris should have another solid day this week. Since Week 9, Arizona has allowed the 14th-highest explosive run rate and the eighth-highest yards per carry to zone runs (Harris 56.6% zone) while also ranking 19th in missed tackles allowed per attempt. Over the last three games, Harris has had five red zone opportunities (Warren six). Week 13 Positional Value: RB2

Logan Thomas: Thoma is the TE14 in fantasy points per game with the sixth-most deep targets and the 12th-most red zone looks. He has four weeks with TE1 weekly finishes (TE11, TE10, TE4, TE9). Thomas has a 13.6% target share, 1.17 YPRR, and a 13.8% first-read share. Thomas could get a volume bump this week, considering the matchup. Miami has allowed the 11th-most fantasy points per game and the ninth-most receiving yards per game to tight ends. Week 13 Positional Value: Borderline TE1

DeVonta Smith: Smith is the WR17 in fantasy points per game, ranking 17th in deep targets. Since Week 7, the 49ers have utilized single-high on 57.5% of their defensive snaps, but last week, it climbed to 62.9% with Talanoa Hufanga out for the season. Against single-high, Smith has a 19.4% target share, a 27.6% air-yard share, 1.20 YPRR, and a 19.7% first-read share. His fantasy points per route run have cratered to 0.28, which, among 88 qualifying wide receivers, ranks 62nd immediately behind Robert Woods. This doesn’t project as a Smith smash week. Week 13 Positional Value: WR3