The Arizona Cardinals will travel to take on the Minnesota Vikings in Week 13. Here’s the final injury report and start-sit advice for every skill player who has the potential to make a fantasy football impact during the game.
Looking for more lineup advice? Head over to our Week 13 Fantasy Start-Sit Cheat Sheet, where we cover every fantasy-relevant player in every game.
And if you’re looking for all the latest injury updates around the league, our Final Week 13 Injury Report is live and updated with the very latest for all 32 teams.
Kyler Murray, QB | ARI
Murray’s Injury Status for Week 13
Murray is not listed on the injury report this week.
Week 13 Start-Sit Advice for Murray
Kyler Murray’s fantasy managers have every right to be frustrated, and sadly, I’m not sure things turn around in this spot. Over his past three games, Murray has one touchdown pass on 81 pass attempts, and while he punched in two scores with his legs against the Jets, the yardage totals on the ground have underwhelmed lately as well (36 rushing yards in those three games).
The Vikings are good at disguising what they are doing on the defensive end, though their desires are well known — they want to speed their opponent up and create discomfort.
Murray hasn’t faced many defenses like that this season, but in his two games against above-average blitz rate defenses, he’s finished as the QB17 and QB23. In those games, he totaled just 349 passing yards, two touchdowns, and 48 rushing yards.
We were hoping for games like that, not an eight-quarter stretch. The versatility of this player and the desperation of the situation create a path to fantasy goodness, but I’d rather play more pocket-oriented players this week in good matchups (Russell Wilson at Cincinnati or Baker Mayfield at Carolina) than roll the dice on Murray (three top-five finishes this season but also four weeks checking in outside of the top 20).
James Conner, RB | ARI
Conner’s Injury Status for Week 13
Conner is not listed on the injury report this week.
Week 13 Start-Sit Advice for Conner
Week 12 was a mess for the Cardinals in all regards, and yet James Conner did his best to keep you competitive with his second straight five-catch performance. He has now finished each of his past five contests as a top-20 back, and while he lacks the ceiling of a Jonathan Taylor or a James Cook, he deserves to be ranked right alongside them, if not ahead.
Conner currently ranks fifth in the league in carries inside the opponent’s 25-yard line (Joe Mixon, Kyren Williams, Saquon Barkley, and David Montgomery are the only players with more), and I’ll take that to the bank against the sixth-worst red-zone defense in the league.
It’s OK to have long-term health concerns, but until we see signs of decline, you’re playing him without any thought.
Trey Benson, RB | ARI
Benson’s Injury Status for Week 13
Benson is not listed on the injury report this week.
Week 13 Start-Sit Advice for Benson
Trey Benson should be rostered in more leagues than he is given his proximity to volume, but as we’ve been saying for months now, holding him is a bet against James Conner’s health more than anything.
The rookie was on the field for just 16.1% of snaps last week, and he’s cleared one-quarter of the snaps just twice this season, both in one-sided contests. Holding Benson is the proper way to build a roster, even if he doesn’t currently factor into your weekly decision-making.
Marvin Harrison Jr., WR | ARI
Harrison’s Injury Status for Week 13
Harrison is not listed on the injury report this week.
Week 13 Start-Sit Advice for Harrison
Marvin Harrison Jr. has finished just two weeks as a top-45 receiver since September, limitations that have to have his managers scrambling at this point. Are better days ahead?
Maybe, but it’s hard to look at the profile and be overly optimistic. He’s been held to single-digit expected points in three straight and hasn’t reached a dozen points in the expected category since Week 3.
There is an upside case to make for a high-pedigree receiver who has seen at least three deep targets in three of his past four games; against an aggressive Vikings defense, he could always victimize single coverage at the right time. I’m not comfortable betting on it as anything more than a Flex play this week against the third-best per-possession defense in the NFL.
Michael Wilson, WR | ARI
Wilson’s Injury Status for Week 13
Wilson is not listed on the injury report this week.
Week 13 Start-Sit Advice for Wilson
Michael Wilson continues to be put in a position to succeed with an end-zone target in three of his past four games, but the days of a meaningful role are not upon us yet.
The second-year receiver has just 12.8 expected PPR points over the past three games on 75 routes run, a lack of efficacy that should have him sitting on waiver wires in most formats.
Is he a post-hype sleeper in 2025? You could sell me on it. How about as someone I’m leaving the light on for 2024? Nope.
Trey McBride, TE | ARI
McBride’s Injury Status for Week 13
McBride is not listed on the injury report this week.
Week 13 Start-Sit Advice for McBride
There are four tight ends this millennium with at least three 10-catch games before turning 26 years of age: Jeremy Shockey, Kellen Winslow, Tony Gonzalez, and Trey McBride.
We liked the idea of McBride being the unquestioned second option in this passing game entering the season, and after 12 weeks, it’s clear that he’s the top threat. He had half of Arizona’s receptions in Seattle last week, and with seven first-down receptions, the Cardinals essentially trusted him to keep them ahead of the sticks.
McBride is my top-ranked TE for the remainder of the season, as Arizona tries to leverage a forgiving rest-of-season schedule and turn it into a divisional title.
Sam Darnold, QB | MIN
Darnold’s Injury Status for Week 13
Darnold is not listed on the injury report this week.
Week 13 Start-Sit Advice for Darnold
Sam Darnold has been a QB1 in three of his past four starts and a top-15 signal-caller in five of his past six. I was encouraged by his willingness to challenge the Bears last week with players not named Justin Jefferson — if he can spread the ball around, that is how he can continue to offer a nice fantasy floor.
The increased health of T.J. Hockenson makes Darnold a viable option in deeper leagues, though I’m still approaching this profile with caution. His efficiency has fallen off a cliff lately (under 65% completion rate in three straight games after reaching at least 72% in three consecutive games), and while the long scores have bailed him out, that’s a dangerous way to live.
I’d rather play Bo Nix (vs. CLE) or Jared Goff (vs. CHI) when it comes to low-end QB1s this week.
Aaron Jones, RB | MIN
Jones’ Injury Status for Week 13
Jones is not listed on the injury report this week.
Week 13 Start-Sit Advice for Jones
Aaron Jones had himself an up-and-down Week 12 in Chicago, but he finished with 129 yards and a score, a level of production we will take every single time.
Jones lost a goal-line fumble on the first drive, but the team didn’t blink and continued to bank on him as their bellcow. He rewarded them with a 41-yard run later in the first half and, when all was said and done, his third RB1 finish of the season.
I still think Cam Akers is a handcuff back work rostering, but this isn’t a committee, and the safe volume is going to land Jones inside of my top 20 every week moving forward. The Cardinals are allowing points on 43.7% of opponent drives this season (seventh-worst) and the Vikings project to be dictating the tempo in this spot.
Cam Akers, RB | MIN
Akers’ Injury Status for Week 13
Akers is not listed on the injury report this week.
Week 13 Start-Sit Advice for Akers
Cam Akers remains the definitive handcuff to Aaron Jones and nothing more. He’ll slide into the back end of my RB2 rankings should Jones end up missing time for any reason, but he’ll remain comfortably outside of my top 30 any week that’s not the case, and that’s where we stand right now.
Jordan Addison, WR | MIN
Addison’s Injury Status for Week 13
Addison is not listed on the injury report this week.
Week 13 Start-Sit Advice for Addison
Jordan Addison scored in three of four November games, posting top-25 finishes at the position in all three of those instances. On Sunday, he made a falling 45-yard grab (a drive he’d eventually finish with a touchdown) and then showcased elite balance on a 69-yard gain in which he bounced off tacklers.
I’d argue that Week 12’s performance was very much a ceiling outcome and not something that you can count on. That said, I don’t think this is the last time that defenses allocate most of their resources toward Justin Jefferson, and that opens up Addison for usable weeks.
In this matchup specifically, I think we see completely different usage, thus resulting in a narrower range of outcomes. This season, Addison’s aDOT dips by 21.3% when Sam Darnold is not pressured, and with this being the fourth-worst defense in terms of creating pressure, I’m projecting a more conservative route.
That thought process talks me out of him repeating his 8-162-1 stat line from last week, but if we are looking at six to nine looks that are more efficient, starting him as a low-end PPR Flex is a justifiable move.
Justin Jefferson, WR | MIN
Jefferson’s Injury Status for Week 13
Jefferson is not listed on the injury report this week.
Week 13 Start-Sit Advice for Jefferson
Justin Jefferson didn’t have a catch through the first 18 minutes on Sunday, but this is a good reminder that these are human beings, not just names on a sheet of paper. On one hand, we have Malik Nabers’ frustration bubbling over in a losing spot; on the other, we have Minnesota’s star:
I’m not sweating the down weeks (two catches for 27 yards), but Week 15’s rematch with the Bears could be a problem. We will get there when we get there (even with the script working as it did last week, he drew a 35-yard penalty that could be a play that adds 10+ points to his bottom line if not committed), but you’re not getting cute here.
For what it’s worth, I do have Jefferson ranked as one of the worst per-dollar DFS options this week among those with high-end price tags. I don’t have volume concerns, but Sam Darnold is trending in the wrong direction despite the team’s success, and that has resulted in Jefferson producing 29.8% below expectations over the past three weeks.
T.J. Hockenson, TE | MIN
Hockenson’s Injury Status for Week 13
Hockenson is not listed on the injury report this week.
Week 13 Start-Sit Advice for Hockenson
After totaling 112 yards in his first three games of the season, T.J. Hockenson burned the Bears for 114 yards on nine targets (seven catches) in the Week 12 win.
In a game that came down to the wire, I loved to see the star TE account for 60% of Minnesota’s receiving yards in the fourth quarter of a close game, and I am comfortable locking him in as a top-10 producer the rest of the way.
The late-game usage was encouraging, and so was the Vikings’ willingness to extend his routes downfield. Hockenson posted a 10.1 aDOT last week, fueling two chunk gains (20 and 34 yards), giving him access to a nice ceiling to complement his stable floor.