Since the beginning of 2021, Jameis Winston has been started in at least 1% of leagues a grand total of 14 times. In those 14 weeks, he has averaged 18.4 fantasy points. He has scored over 20 fantasy points five times, four of which came in weeks where he has been started in fewer than 10% of leagues.
- Waiver Wire Advice
- Weekly Fantasy Football Expert Rankings
- Fantasy Football Start/Sit Advice
- Fantasy Football Trade Tools
Winston was the 29th-ranked quarterback on FantasyPros for Week 13, which meant his raw 3% started rate gets adjusted down to 0% for the serious fantasy football managers (by my algorithm, see below for details). But if you count Week 13 of 2024 as one of his 1-10% started games, his fantasy points per game (22.6) surpasses that of the average starting fantasy quarterback (21.1).
If your team is struggling and needs a huge week out of nowhere, there is arguably no better hack than throwing Winston out there. I only say “arguably” because Taysom Hill is still around, however, Hill is out for the season.
Fantasy Games Won (FGW)
Fantasy Games Won (FGW) is a statistic that converts fantasy points into fantasy wins. Players get positive FGW points for outscoring average fantasy starters and negative points for below-average scores.
A player can score up to +0.5 FGW for increasing your chances of winning from 50% to 100% or down to -0.5 for dropping your chances from 50% to 0%. Percent started matters — 0% started throttles your FGW down to zero.
For a longer explanation, check out the 2023 FGW launch on my blog. The stat hasn’t changed since its inception.
Who Won Week 13?
| # | Player | Pos | Pts | %St | FGW |
| 1 | Brock Bowers | TE | 25.2 | 94% | 0.30 |
| 2 | Denver D/ST | DEF | 20.0 | 89% | 0.23 |
| 3 | Terry McLaurin | WR | 23.3 | 84% | 0.20 |
| 4 | Bijan Robinson | RB | 22.5 | 97% | 0.19 |
| 5 | Mike Evans | WR | 21.8 | 90% | 0.19 |
| 6 | Josh Allen | QB | 30.4 | 90% | 0.18 |
| 7 | Bucky Irving | RB | 26.0 | 63% | 0.17 |
| 8 | Joe Mixon | RB | 19.9 | 100% | 0.15 |
| 9 | David Njoku | TE | 21.7 | 54% | 0.14 |
| 10 | Jayden Daniels | QB | 30.6 | 67% | 0.14 |
| 11 | Lamar Jackson | QB | 27.4 | 97% | 0.13 |
| 12 | Josh Jacobs | RB | 19.7 | 94% | 0.13 |
| 13 | Chris Boswell | K | 16.0 | 78% | 0.13 |
| 14 | Trey McBride | TE | 15.6 | 88% | 0.13 |
| 15 | Ja’Marr Chase | WR | 17.6 | 100% | 0.12 |
- I’m calling it: The changing of the guard at tight end has begun. Not only is Brock Bowers the first tight end to hit 0.30 FGW in a game this season, but his tight end contemporaries on the Week 13 leaderboard are all ahead of Travis Kelce and Mark Andrews in season-long FGW.
- It’s strange, but I feel like Bowers is going to be a nicknameless star. Just like Brock Lesnar. His name already sounds like Rock Powers, which I’m surprised isn’t already some superhero’s alter-ego.
- Believe it or not, Terry McLaurin has been consistently useful in 2024. His percentage started rate hasn’t been below 70% since Week 4, and he’s scored double-digits in all but one week since then. His weekly scoring standard deviation is only 6.6 points; the only player with more fantasy points and a lower standard deviation is David Montgomery (S.D. of 6.0, with 182 points to McLaurin’s 172).
- Bucky Irving is a reminder that sometimes, it pays to watch your football players play football.
- Lamar Jackson just passed Derrick Henry for second place in the FGW MVP race. Jackson is at 1.54 FGW for the season; Henry is at 1.49. Ja’Marr Chase isn’t far behind at 1.45. Saquon Barkley still paces the field at 2.00 for the year.
Who Lost Week 13?
| # | Player | Pos | Pts | %St | FGW |
| 15 | Jahmyr Gibbs | RB | 9.4 | 98% | -0.09 |
| 14 | Garrett Wilson | WR | 6.6 | 74% | -0.09 |
| 13 | Aaron Jones | RB | 8.3 | 87% | -0.10 |
| 12 | Tank Dell | WR | 2.8 | 49% | -0.10 |
| 11 | San Francisco D/ST | DEF | -4.0 | 44% | -0.11 |
| 10 | Deebo Samuel | WR | 2.0 | 52% | -0.11 |
| 9 | Christian McCaffrey | RB | 7.7 | 94% | -0.12 |
| 8 | Baker Mayfield | QB | 11.2 | 55% | -0.12 |
| 7 | Justin Herbert | QB | 8.0 | 49% | -0.13 |
| 6 | Breece Hall | RB | 6.0 | 85% | -0.14 |
| 5 | CeeDee Lamb | WR | 4.9 | 93% | -0.15 |
| 4 | Kenneth Walker | RB | 5.6 | 87% | -0.15 |
| 3 | George Kittle | TE | 1.2 | 89% | -0.15 |
| 2 | Chuba Hubbard | RB | 2.3 | 74% | -0.17 |
| 1 | Cooper Kupp | WR | 3.2 | 95% | -0.18 |
- I have an old boss who is a 49ers fan. He’s a nice guy and when whenever I’ve seen him this year, he’s been torn between drawing commonality between our teams (I’m a Jets fan) and being appropriately deferential to the catastrophe the Jets are. I have to say, though, his negativity around the 49ers seems justified. Maybe there’s something to his theory that Kyle Shanahan is just another glorified offensive coordinator.
- 49ers and Jets fans have a lot to talk about this week, as the teams combined for 40% of the Thanksgiving losers. Leaving enough leftovers for a good sandwich is one thing, but they left enough points on the table we are all researching how long they can last refrigerated.
- A total of 5.6 half-PPR points from Jonathon Brooks means the end of >50% started Chuba Hubbard.
- Please excuse me while I triple-check whether Cooper Kupp got hurt. On second thought, those ankles are fragile enough I’m worried I will injure them from afar if I type his name too fervently.
Week 13 Junior Varsity All-Stars
| # | Player | Pos | Pts | %St | bFGW |
| 1 | Jameis Winston | QB | 37.0 | 0% | 0.32 |
| 2 | Jerry Jeudy | WR | 36.0 | 24% | 0.31 |
| 3 | Parker Washington | WR | 21.3 | 0% | 0.20 |
| 4 | Russell Wilson | QB | 29.9 | 8% | 0.17 |
| 5 | Adam Thielen | WR | 19.9 | 7% | 0.16 |
| 6 | Nick Westbrook-Ikhine | WR | 19.6 | 4% | 0.16 |
| 7 | Keenan Allen | WR | 21.8 | 28% | 0.15 |
| 8 | Caleb Williams | QB | 29.1 | 15% | 0.15 |
| 9 | Marvin Mims | WR | 18.4 | 0% | 0.14 |
| 10 | Pat Freiermuth | TE | 15.8 | 9% | 0.14 |
| 11 | David Njoku | TE | 21.7 | 54% | 0.12 |
| 12 | Dalton Schultz | TE | 14.6 | 7% | 0.12 |
| 13 | Bucky Irving | RB | 26.0 | 63% | 0.10 |
| 14 | Tua Tagovailoa | QB | 27.2 | 31% | 0.09 |
| 15 | Najee Harris | RB | 21.9 | 54% | 0.09 |
- Jameis Winston and Jerry Jeudy just teamed up to run an absolute clinic on the Junior Varsity Squad. Winston just matched the best bench-FGW week by a signal-caller since 2021 (Tyler Huntley in Week 15 of 2021: 37.9 points at 2% started).
- Jeudy is only the sixth wide receiver to hit 0.30 or more bench-FGW since 2021. Safe to Winston & Jeudy was the best QB-WR stack of the decade that absolutely nobody had in their starting lineup.
- I can see we’re all skeptical about the return of Russell Wilson to fantasy relevance. After his 20+ point outing in Week 10, he rewarded the 34% of managers that started him with 6.3 points. We’ll see if he betrays us again.
- Marvin Mims, meanwhile, just turned in his best outing since he waved goodbye to Mr. Unlimited in the offseason. He’s finally caught on with Mr. Limited.
200 MPH One Moment, Huge Crashes the Next: The Jameis Winston Cup Series
My Thanksgiving weekend was capped off with a nice moment and a life lesson that applies to fantasy football.
We stayed with family over the weekend. On Friday night, a handful of us were watching a compilation video of the best crashes in Red Bull Soapbox Racing history. My daughter and I are in stitches as one silly cart after another falls to pieces (the drivers were all OK). After the driver of the Hippy Split Camper Van nearly finishes his race by leaning away from his missing wheel, my mom sits down. She starts reacting to every crash as if it were a slow-motion replay of the Azeez Al-Shaair–Trevor Lawrence hit. Completely killed the mood. I was worried my daughter, who’s only seven, would be soured on the soapbox mayhem altogether.
Fast forward to Saturday night. My sister is showing my daughter a replay of the National Dog Show. Nice, calm entertainment. After enjoying the cute pups in the Herding and Hound groups, my daughter has had her fill, and says: “Hey Dad, can we watch the crazy crashes again?”
Two takeaways from the story:
- That’s my girl. My daughter wasn’t soured one bit.
- If your Winston-led fantasy team falls to pieces like a crudely fashioned soapbox with bike wheels, don’t revel in abject horror. Pump your fist like the driver of the Coffin Dodger and celebrate how far you got despite it all.
Good luck racing through the chicane in Week 14.
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