7 Daily Fantasy Football Tournament Plays for Week 13

With bye weeks over, we finally have the whole league to draw from this week. In large-field tournaments, we're going to be looking to identify players who have the potential to put up huge totals - even at the expense of a low floor - and who will likely have lower ownership percentages.

As always, you can use our weekly optimal lineups, or use the custom optimal lineup tool, which allows you to make a lineup more suited to your personal taste.

Let's get to it.

Quarterback

Eli Manning, New York Giants - Eli has been hot as of late, no doubt thanks to the return of the effective, consistent Rashad Jennings and the explosive debut of Odell Beckham Jr. With a tasty matchup in Jacksonville, Eli comes with a low price and has a floor that is perfect for both tournament and head-to-head plays. For low-salary, high-upside tournament roles, Colt McCoy is near minimum salary across the board; they'll need to throw to keep pace with Indianapolis and, well, he looked decent earlier this season. Faint praise for an incredibly low price.

Running Backs

Tre Mason, St Louis Rams - Mason has emerged from the messy Rams backfield as the clear-cut number one. Over the last four games, he's averaging 19.5 carries for just over 70 yards. What has really hurt his value has been a lack of scoring, but over that stretch, he also leads the Rams in red zone carries, so the touchdown potential is still there. With a projected team total of 25, it looks like there will be a few scores to go around for the Rams' offense this week. Matched up against the Raiders who are giving up the fourth most fantasy points to running backs this season, and with the Rams as seven point favorites, Mason will likely see plenty of volume this week, and he should be able to translate that into a big fantasy day.

Andre Ellington, Arizona Cardinals - Ellington is another back who's been seeing solid volume and has a favorable matchup this week. In this case, it's the Falcon's defense I'll be fading, who rank 29th against the run according to our numbers, and have allowed the most fantasy points to running backs this year. Ellington is averaging a shade over 17 carries and almost 6 targets per game this year. Over the last four games, he accounts for 72% of the Cardinals red zone carries. The signing of Michael Bush may cut into these numbers, but very few of Ellington's red zone touches have come from the goal line where Bush will likely see work, so his scoring potential is relatively unaffected by the move.

Wide Receivers

Keenan Allen, San Diego Chargers - Allen has shaken off his early-season funk and has seen quite a bit of success recently as the focal point of the Chargers' passing game. Over the last three games, Allen accounts for 33% of the Chargers' targets, and is the only player on the team with multiple red zone targets (he also sits second on the team in red zone targets on the year). Against the Ravens defense, who are allowing the second-most fantasy points to wideouts, and having rediscovered how to find the end zone with two scores in the last four games, Allen is once again set up for a good week.

Charles Johnson, Minnesota Vikings - Charles Johnson has started to make some noise in the fantasy world over the last two weeks, but has yet to have a true breakout performance. This week, though, a soft matchup is giving him the potential to really burst onto the scene. The Panthers secondary has struggled this year, ranking 23rd against the pass according to our metrics, allowing the fifth-most points to receivers. Over the last two games, Johnson has been targeted 18 times, 10 more than any other wide receiver on the team. Standing 6'2" and weighing 215 pounds, Johnson is also the big-bodied type of receiver that poses a threat in the red zone too, giving the potential to add plenty of touchdowns to his heavy usage.

Tight End

Travis Kelce, Kansas City -The Chiefs don't really have a top receiver, but if they did, it'd likely be Travis Kelce, who is by far the most consistent and most dynamic playmaker in their passing game. With Peyton Manning coming to town, Alex Smith will have to be more aggressive - we'll see how that goes - and Kelce is a near-lock for 8+ targets and a great floor for PPR DFS formats.

Defense/Special Teams

Houston Texans - The fantasy success of Houston's defense this year has largely come on the back of turnovers and touchdowns. They sit atop the league with 24 takeaways, and are tied for first with four defensive touchdowns. Combining this with a very favorable matchup - the Titans are allowing the eighth-most fantasy points to defenses and are projected to score a league-low 18 this week - gives the Texans' defense a ton of upside this week.