Should you bench Deshaun Watson in fantasy vs. Patriots?

The Houston Texans will host their AFC nemesis in the New England Patriots on Sunday night. Does that mean you need to bench Deshaun Watson in fantasy?

Sunday Night Football in Week 13 will be between a pair of AFC division winners from a year ago. The Houston Texans will host their AFC nemesis in the New England Patriots, who always seem to have Bill O’Brien’s team’s number. If you have Deshaun Watson as one of your fantasy starting quarterbacks, should you roll with him in this game or park him on the bench vs. New England?

The Fantasy Footballers look at Watson as a fringe QB1 this week with the likes of guys like Kirk Cousins of the Minnesota Vikings and Sam Darnold of the New York Jets. Watson has been a good player for the Texans this year, but this is a high-risk, high-reward scenario to start him this week vs. New England.

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So in normal circumstances, you’re probably better served going with another quarterback this week as your fantasy football starter. That being said, there are a few things to consider before parking him on the bench heading into Sunday Night Football. Do you think he’ll play well at home vs. the Patriots and do you also have wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins on your fantasy team?

If this game were in Foxborough, then there would have been absolutely no reason to start Watson this week if you have better fantasy starting quarterback options. But with this game being in NRG Stadium, you might want to roll the dice and see what happens. As for if you have him throwing the ball to Hopkins this week and almost every week, you may want to go with that.

Hopkins catches everything and is undoubtedly one of the three best wide receivers in the NFL today. Chances are you typically need him to have a big game each week in fantasy if you want to win your matchup. Odds are that you’ve done just fine with the up-and-down fantasy nature of Watson with him targeting Hopkins a ton this season.

So if you have that pairing on your fantasy team, you probably want to go down swinging with the Watson-to-Hopkins quarterback-to-wide-receiver tandem. New England has a great defense, but getting to host the Patriots on the road may very well make this a worthwhile fantasy play. If you’re willing to assume the risk, then feel free to proceed with them as you normally would.