Darnell Mooney or DJ Moore: Who should I start in fantasy football? (Week 13, 2025 season)

When you're facing a tough start/sit decision on your fantasy football team, you may end up having to choose between Darnell Mooney or DJ Moore. Which player would Basement Brewed Fantasy Football recommend you start? Let's go through the details to find out.

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Game Scripts

The Falcons are entering this game as slim 2-point road favorites with a subpar projected team total of 21.0 points, the 13th fewest among all 32 teams on the week 13 slate. The narrow spread suggests a balanced offensive approach while the subpar projected team total suggests limited touchdown opportunities. With a nauseating over/under of 39.5 points and both teams sporting bottom 13 projected team totals, Falcons @ Jets projects as a game to mostly avoid in Week 13 of fantasy football.

The Bears are entering this game as uncomfortable 7-point road underdogs with a low projected team total of 18.75 points, the 9th fewest among all 32 teams on the week 13 slate. The uncomfortable spread suggests a potentially pass-heavy approach while the low projected team total suggests touchdown opportunities will be limited. I try to keep opinion out of this section but, candidly, I was shocked to see Chicago's projection so low. Averaging 26.3 points-per-game this season, I like Chicago's chances of pushing the over on this game.

Positional Matchups

After 11 games, the Jets present a mediocre matchup for WRs, holding them to the 11th fewest catches, 16th fewest yards, 9th fewest touchdowns and 12th fewest PPR points per game. 16 WRs in 11 games have scored 10+ PPR points against the Jets.

After 11 games, the Eagles present a mediocre matchup for WRs, holding them to the 4th fewest touchdowns while allowing the 14th most catches, 7th most yards and 15th most PPR points per game. 12 WRs in 11 games have been able to score 10+ PPR points against the Eagles.

Darnell Mooney: Bottom Line

I expect Darnell Mooney to finish, on average, around 9–13 PPR points on ~7–9 targets, 4–6 catches, ~50–70 yards and 0–1 TD in a WR4/flex role that benefits from Drake London’s absence but remains capped by the disgusting 39.5 total and mediocre matchup. With London out of the picture, Mooney is back on the WR 4/flex radar in this mediocre matchup.

DJ Moore: Bottom Line

I expect DJ Moore to finish, on average, around 10–14 PPR points on ~6–8 targets, 4–6 catches, ~50–70 receiving yards and 0–1 TDs in a likely pass-heavy script that should give him enough volume to hang around flex range even with the low implied team total. He's a high end WR 4/flex in this pass-heavy game script and mediocre matchup but low-scoring environment.

Should you start Darnell Mooney or DJ Moore?

Can we just not?

With DJ Moore, he's scored fewer than 10 PPR points in 6 of 11 games and landed between 10-13 PPR points in 3 of 11 games, mixing in highs of 18.9 (week 9) and 23.4 (last week). The floor is, well, the floor here.

But at the same time, Darnell Mooney has been trash this year so far, averaging just 6.1 PPR points despite 5.0 targets per game. That's really bad. He scored fewer than 10 PPR points in each of his first 8 games before finally scoring a season-high 16.4 PPR points last week. The 16.4 PPR points sounds nice, but it's important to note that Mooney did that on just 3 targets, seeing just 15% of Kirk Cousins' targets on a day where Kirk threw just 23 passes (3 targets, 3 catches, 74 yards, 1 TD). Mooney scored a season-low 2.1 PPR points in week 8 with Kirk Cousins, catching 1 of 4 targets for 11 scoreless yards. He was much better with Kirk Cousins last season, so there's maybe some hope...

...but I think I'd rather gamble on DJ Moore here. I think I'm going to be sick.

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