The Las Vegas Raiders will face the Kansas City Chiefs in Week 13. Here’s the latest fantasy football news and advice to help you with your lineups this week and moving forward, especially regarding TE Brock Bowers.
Is Brock Bowers Playing in Week 13?
Meyers is not listed on the injury report this week, so barring any unexpected setbacks, he is on track to play on Friday.
We’ll continue to monitor the Raiders’ injury report. You can also visit and bookmark our NFL Injury Tracker and Fantasy News Tracker for the latest updates.
Should You Start or Sit Brock Bowers in Week 13?
With a touchdown or 10 targets in six of his past seven games, Brock Bowers is giving you an edge in expected production at the position over every team in your league. The loss of Gardner Minshew II isn’t something that I’m worried about as the game plan should remain in place while the quality of looks can’t really move down.
You’re playing Bowers, and you’re doing it with confidence. Rookie tight ends have historically struggled, and an outlier like Bowers isn’t enough to reverse those trends completely. Tyler Warren of Penn State is a weapon, but I’m going to get ahead of it by nine months — be careful in moving him way up your 2025 rankings. He’s great, but this remains a historically difficult position to transition to the professional game.
Are you looking for start/sit advice for other players in your lineup? Read our Week 13 Fantasy Start-Sit Advice Cheat Sheet for every fantasy-relevant player in every game.
Brock Bowers’ Fantasy Points Projection in Week 13
As of Friday afternoon, Bowers is projected to score 18 fantasy points in PPR formats. This includes 4.5 receptions for 98.7 yards and 0.6 touchdowns.
Check out the free PFN Fantasy Start-Sit Optimizer for the latest projections and advice for your lineups this week.
PFN Insight on the Chiefs' Defense
You hear people wax lyrical about the Kansas City Chiefs defense, but the metrics don't back up the hype. They haven't ranked inside the top 10 in any given week since before their bye (Week 5).
In the last four weeks, Kansas City has ranked 23rd, 22nd, 19th, and 16th, respectively, resulting in a downward trend in its overall ranking. The Chiefs are good against the run but mediocre against the pass and largely league-average in most metrics.
This is Steve Spagnuolo's sixth season as Kansas City's defensive coordinator, but 2023 is the only season in which his defense has ranked inside the top 10. The Chiefs are on pace for their fourth finish between 11th and 20th in our rankings over those six years, which tells you that this is largely what this unit is under his leadership.
Last year appears to be the outlier rather than the norm.
For more insight on all other team defenses, head to our PFN Defense+ Metric Analysis.
Brock Bowers’ Fantasy Ranking
Our Weekly Consensus PPR Rankings are below — both positional and overall. They were last updated at 10:30 AM ET on Sunday, December 1. If you're in a Superflex league, make sure you check out our Weekly Consensus Superflex Rankings.
Week 13 TE PPR Rankings
1) Trey McBride | ARI (at MIN)
2) Brock Bowers | LV (at KC)
3) Travis Kelce | KC (vs. LV)
4) George Kittle | SF (at BUF)
5) David Njoku | CLE (at DEN)
6) T.J. Hockenson | MIN (vs. ARI)
7) Taysom Hill | NO (vs. LAR)
8) Evan Engram | JAX (vs. HOU)
9) Kyle Pitts | ATL (vs. LAC)
10) Dallas Goedert | PHI (at BAL)
11) Will Dissly | LAC (at ATL)
12) Jonnu Smith | MIA (at GB)
13) Hunter Henry | NE (vs. IND)
14) Cade Otton | TB (at CAR)
15) Sam LaPorta | DET (vs. CHI)
16) Tucker Kraft | GB (vs. MIA)
17) Zach Ertz | WAS (vs. TEN)
18) Mark Andrews | BAL (vs. PHI)
19) Luke Schoonmaker | DAL (vs. NYG)
20) Dawson Knox | BUF (vs. SF)
21) Mike Gesicki | CIN (vs. PIT)
22) Dalton Schultz | HOU (at JAX)
23) Pat Freiermuth | PIT (at CIN)
24) Cole Kmet | CHI (at DET)
25) Isaiah Likely | BAL (vs. PHI)
26) Chigoziem Okonkwo | TEN (at WAS)
27) Tyler Conklin | NYJ (vs. SEA)
28) Theo Johnson | MIN (vs. ARI)
29) Noah Gray | KC (vs. LV)
30) Darnell Washington | PIT (at CIN)
31) Tommy Tremble | CAR (vs. TB)
32) Austin Hooper | NE (vs. IND)
33) Juwan Johnson | NO (vs. LAR)
Las Vegas Raiders at Kansas City Chiefs Trends
Las Vegas Raiders
Team: The Raiders pulled off the upset in Kansas City last year, but they entered that game after dropping 63 points on the Chargers the week prior. This year’s team enters play having scored 55 points over their past 11 quarters of action and is in the midst of a seven-game skid.
QB: Gardner Minshew posted a 4.9-yard average depth of throw in Sunday’s loss to the Broncos, the third time in four games his rate was under five yards.
Offense: The Raiders entered the red zone a season-high five times on Sunday against the Broncos – those drives netted just 16 points.
Defense: Vegas has allowed points on the majority of opponent drives in four straight games (last two weeks: 72.2%).
Fantasy: CeeDee Lamb (11.2), Malik Nabers (11.1), Garrett Wilson (10.1), and Ja’Marr Chase (9.9) – that’s your entire list of players averaging more targets per game since Week 3 than Jakobi Meyers (9.6).
Betting: The Raiders have seen eight of their past 11 games played on short rest go under the total.
Kansas City Chiefs
Team: Kansas City has won eight games by seven or fewer points this season, tying the most such wins this franchise has had in a single regular season since 2000. Over that stretch, only six times has a team won nine such games in a regular season:
- 2023 Steelers (lost in Wild Card)
- 2022 Vikings (lost in Wild Card)
- 2019 Seahawks (lost in Divisional Round)
- 2015 Broncos (won Super Bowl)
- 2012 Colts (lost in Wild Card)
- 2003 Panthers (lost in Super Bowl)
QB: Patrick Mahomes has completed all nine of his third-down passes over the past two weeks (last five games: 36-of-44, 81.8%).
Offense: The Chiefs scored a touchdown on three of eight drives against the Panthers, 37.5%, their highest rate in a game this season.
Defense: Against Carolina on Sunday, Kansas City allowed just 1.25 yards per carry after contact, a rate that was 25.1% better than anything this defense had produced through 11 weeks.
Fantasy: Is Patrick Mahomes here to save your fantasy season (if there is a season left to save)? The former MVP has thrown six touchdown passes on 70 attempts over his past two games after throwing six scores on 190 passes in the five games prior.
Betting: Unders are 7-1 in the Chiefs’ past eight games played on short rest.