Fantasy football 2024: One QB, RB, WR and TE primed for huge Week 13 performances

It's Thanksgiving week, which means we have three games on Thursday this week.

That includes a game that...isn't going to be very good as the New York Giants visit the Dallas Cowboys. Maybe there was some upside for this game when it was scheduled, but now we get Cooper Rush taking on Tommy DeVito in a nationally televised game on Thanksgiving Day. Yikes.

But hey, football is still football, right? My uncle — a huge Cowboys fan — is still going to sit down Thursday afternoon and watch his Boys play some football.

And I mean, I'll be watching too, but it might be a little begrudgingly. Maybe the game will turn out to be a lot of fun. I don't know. I'm going to stop rambling about one game now and move on to discussing fantasy football.

Let's take a look at one player at each skill position who is set to have a strong 2024 Week 13 performance for fantasy football.

Quarterback: Anthony Richardson - Indianapolis Colts

Colts quarterback Anthony Richardson really struggled with his accuracy last week against the Lions, going 11-for-28 for 172 yards with no touchdowns against arguably the NFL's best team. But Richardson still managed 61 rushing yards, which kept him for bottoming out in fantasy.

This week, Richardson faces an easier path to fantasy scoring against the New England Patriots.

Now, I have some concern that the Patriots are one of four teams this season to not allow a rushing touchdown to a quarterback, but the schedule has played a factor there as the team hasn't faced many quarterbacks with rushing upside.

Richardson's high rushing floor coupled with a meeting with a secondary that's allowed 20 passing scores while picking off just four throws should propel the second-year quarterback to a big showing.

Running back: Bucky Irving - Tampa Bay Buccaneers

I think it's safe to call Bucky Irving the No. 1 back in Tampa Bay at this point. The rookie is coming off back-to-back games with double-digit carries and a touchdown, including a strong showing against the Giants last week that saw Irving carry the ball 12 times for 87 yards and a touchdown.

He also added six receptions for 64 yards, marking the second time this season that Irving had over 100 scrimmage yards, with a career-high 151 yards in this game. Irving is peaking at the right time.

Up next for Irving is a meeting with a Panthers team that allows more fantasy points to the running back position than any other team. It's a perfect opportunity for Irving, who has outplayed Rachaad White lately and should see a sizable workload for the third week in a row. White had as many carries as Irving against the Giants but had 50 fewer rushing yards, plus was targeted just once. This is Irving's backfield.

Wide receiver: Marvin Harrison Jr. - Arizona Cardinals

It's been an up-and-down season for Cardinals rookie wide receiver Marvin Harrison Jr., who has finished as a top five fantasy wideout twice but also has two finishes outside the top 100.

Last week was another disappointing game for Harrison, catching three passes for 47 yards and finishing as the overall WR49 on the week. This has certainly not been the rookie year that people anticipated when the Cardinals used such an early pick on Harrison.

He'll look to bounce back this week against a Vikings secondary that's had a few issues this season. For example, last week the Vikings took a Bears offense that's been struggling, but Caleb Williams threw for 340 yards and a pair of touchdowns in that game.

This feels like a strong week for Harrison to have one of his better games of the year. Despite some hiccups, he's finished top 15 in fantasy points in two of the past four games, so it's not like he's been consistently underperforming or anything. He just needs the right matchup.

Tight end: Cade Otton - Tampa Bay Buccaneers

We head back to the Buccaneers here, as their matchup against the Carolina Panthers is too juicy to just talk about once.

As mentioned above, the Panthers allow the most fantasy points per game to running backs, but they also allow the most to tight ends as well. This Carolina defense is bad, isn't it?

Cade Otton has been a pleasant surprise this season. The third-year tight end has already set career highs in targets, receptions and receiving yards and has tied his best mark in touchdowns.

Otton is coming off a poor game last week, catching just one pass for 30 yards in a win over the Giants. His three targets were his fewest since Week 2 against Detroit.

But what better time for a get right game? Before his current two-game dip, Otton had a three-game stretch where he averaged 10.3 targets, 8.3 receptions, 86.0 yards and 1.0 touchdowns per game. Those are numbers that are certainly within reach for Otton again in Week 13 due to the matchup.