Fantasy football projections, Week 13: Panthers-Seahawks featuring Cam Newton, Greg Olsen, Jimmy Graham, more

The Week 13 matchup between the Carolina Panthers and Seattle Seahawks features playoff contenders looking the bounce back from tough losses. We’ve got the fantasy projections courtesy of numberFire.

Tight end Greg Olsen was a popular pick in Week 12. He was pegged as a player who would be a top fantasy performer against an Oakland Raiders team that has been fairly generous to tight ends this season. While the Panthers did managed to score 32 points in the game, Olsen was held to just 45 receiving yards on four catches. He has now been held under 60 receiving yards in each of the last five games. Put that together with the fact that Seattle ranks in the top 10 at defending fantasy tight ends, and it’s going to be hard for fantasy owners to picture Olsen surpassing his projections in Week 13. With the way he’s been playing lately, he probably won’t.

Wide receiver Kelvin Benjamin likely won’t come close to his projected totals, either. Yes, it is a good sign that he finally scored his fifth touchdown of the season against Oakland last week. On the other hand, what’s not good is the fact that Benjamin missed practice on Wednesday to rest an ailing shoulder. He’s generally underperformed for most of the season after getting off to a hot start in the first couple of weeks. Going up against Richard Sherman in Week 13 is going to be tough, especially for a guy who has caught five or fewer passes in four out of the last five games.

With two key injuries on the defensive side of the football handcuffing the Seahawks, the team took a crushing loss at the hands of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in Week 12. From an offensive standpoint running back Thomas Rawls completely flopped. He rushed for just 38 yards on 12 carries against the Bucs. That’s not exactly what eager fantasy owners had in mind when it was announced Christine Michael was waived and C.J. Prosise was deemed to be out for the season with a shoulder injury. Carolina has been much better defensively lately. Optimistic Rawls owners will still have to start him in deeper leagues, but things don’t appear to be going his way heading into Week 13.

The much safer pick for fantasy production in Seattle this week is tight end Jimmy Graham. He caught six out of seven targets for 67 yards against the Buccaneers last week. He’ll be up against a Carolina defense that has allowed the third-most fantasy points to the tight end position this season. With his role in the Seahawks’ offensive schemes now clearly defined, a steady dose of targets should be in the mix for Graham’s fantasy owners with the fantasy playoffs around the corner. He should surpass his projected totals against the Panthers.