Who To Start, Sit, And Scoop Up For Your Week 12 Fantasy Football Lineup

Ah, Week 12. The week in which we have the fabled Thanksgiving games to offset any political talk around the dinner table. This is an important and underused strategy when you don’t want to engage in any pro-Nazi talk in-between mouthfuls of white meat — talk about your fantasy team. The only thing people want to hear about less than politics are your fantasy scores.

This week’s byes: None! We’re at full strength so there are no excuses for mediocrity beyond being mediocre!

Start of the Week

Russell Wilson: Wilson is back, healthy and playing the Buccaneers who give up the sixth-most points to fantasy QBs this season. C.J. Prosise is out with a Broken scapula and Michael Thomas is gone from the team, but Thomas Rawls is there to hold down the fort and set up the play action. Tyler Lockett is also looking healthy. In general, the Seattle passing attack looks revitalized and Seattle’s back to being the Seattle we remember from this time last year. Wilson also rushed 8 times against Philly, and could eat up chunks of yards against TB.

Dude is feeling good.

Start/Sit

QUARTERBACK STARTS

Aaron Rodgers: Don’t fear the Packers losing, don’t fear his rumored family troubles, don’t fear the Eagles defense — Aaron Rodgers will deliver once again after putting up 351 yards and 3 TDs against Washington Sunday night. We all must remember that Rodgers is still a top 5 QB, and he plays damn well under the bright lights. One could say, he’s a Night GOAT.

But seriously, who cares if the Packers are losing? Their poop defense is only going to force Rodgers into more work. And his work is nice.

Dak Prescott: You can no longer deny his greatness. The Tony Romo-endorsed rookie QB is making an MVP bid, and he’s bringing Dallas to historically great heights. Even with a rough start against Baltimore, he finished with over 300 yards, 3 TDs and no interceptions. DAK GETS THIS WEEK’S TWEETSPLOSION!

Cam Newton: Much ado has been made about the improving Oakland defense with their young, emerging corners but they just gave up 243 yards and a TD to Brock Osweiler. That’s unacceptable. Cam Newton will bounce back, finally, against Oakland. The Panthers may be on the road, but this could be that Newton game you’ve been waiting for since he beat up on the 49ers in Week 2. Newton is no longer a must-start, but this is one of those good options with the short week games possibly mucking up the play on Thursday. Stupid Thanksgiving (no I love you, Thanksgiving).

QUARTERBACK SITS

Kirk Cousins: He played awesome at home (with wild winds a-blowin’) against the Packers. The Packers. Kirk Cousins is a fine, if not underrated QB, but he’s merely top 12 depending on your league’s scoring. Ho do we like you now, Kirk? As a streamer or an excellent 2-QB option. Very situational. You like that?

Matthew Stafford: It’s been over a month since we’ve witnessed a good game from Matthew Stafford, one in which he scored more than 25 fantasy points. Now he’s facing Minnesota, who is not the Purple Juggernaut they once were but still have given up the 3rd-least points against QBs this season. This could be ugly if they can’t get their super weird passing offense going at home at least a little. Marvin Jones has completely disappeared, Golden Tate still isn’t relevant, and the only guy you can somewhat depend on is Theo Riddick in PPR leagues.

Carson Palmer: Michael Floyd was sick, J.J. Nelson isn’t what we expected, his offensive line isn’t helping, and he looks he can barely move out there. Palmer isn’t who we thought he was last season, but he’s also exactly what we thought he was — an aging QB having a career year. He can only feed David Johnson as his primary offensive weapon so much. It’s truly wonderful to see for Johnson owners, but the rest of the offense is rough. Just damn rough.

WIDE RECEIVER STARTS

Jarvis Landry: It’s going to be dink and dunk city against the weak (and getting weaker after injuries) 49ers secondary. Landry scored a touchdown in Week 11, which offset his Bad Landry™ game of 5/28, but he could see far more volume and way more RAC against the Niners. To put it into PPR perspective, he should have a very Julian Edelman-esque game. Edelman just put up 8/77/1 (on 17 targets in the rain!) against the 49ers, so they can be passed on. Jarvis Landry could continue to be the second-best Jarvis in the universe this week. After this guy:

Doug Baldwin: It’s that time, and even though he’s been top 20 almost all year, It’s clear Wilson is ready to take over the cold months like he’s prone too. Baldwin is especially nice in PPR leagues, finishing with less than double-digit points only once in the last 5 weeks. Ride this wave. It was real nice last year. You’ll enjoy it.

Mmmmm.

Sterling Shepard: OBJ will get his, but don’t ignore Shepard who has been getting a wonderful amount of targets the last few weeks. He saw the most on the G-Men last week (11) even with Victor Cruz coming back from an injury, and could eat up all the yards with the Browns showing Mr. Beckham too much (just enough) attention. He has touchdowns in 3 straight and should make it 4. Eli is trusts him. And trust is important on Thanksgiving. Trust, and health.

WIDE RECEIVER SITS

All Colts: Especially if Andrew Luck is out. He’s currently in concussion protocol and is looking unlikely to play on Turkey Day, so in his stead would trot Scott Tolzien. I don’t want to risk it, even if the likelihood for garbage time is high. Oof.

Stefon Diggs: This pains me to say, but when Diggs gets shadowed by elite corners, they usually do their job well. The Vikings end up being a decent offense (decent) under Bradford despite this (who’s having a career year), Patterson and Thielen doing well doesn’t help Diggs owners. This week he was followed into the slot by Patrick Peterson, and on Thanksgiving, Darius Slay may have his eyes on Diggs.

Here’s this, though.

Corey Coleman/Terrelle Pryor: Don’t get cute with your Browns. Sure, they may do Browns things like nab some garbage points, but McCown is back in, which could mean anything, and between the two of them on Sunday against Pittsburgh, they got 22 targets and only produced 9 catches for 136 yards. That was 55 percent of QB targets. Not good. Now they’re playing a top 15 and getting better pass D. I’ve seen some people, real winners, depend on Pryor as a slick lil flex, but don’t do it this week. There are a ton of WR options out there.

RUNNING BACK STARTS

Wendell Smallwood: The Ryan Mathews era of 2016 worked out as expected, now he has an injured MCL and could miss quite a few weeks. Darren Sproles has a fractured rib, and while the Eagles say he won’t miss any time, this should be the Smallwood show. He had 17 touches in Week 11, and Kenjon Barner could take a few snaps from him, but Smallwood could be a sweet DFS play and should top your waiver wire just on volume alone against a weak, weak Packers defense. So weak.

Tim Hightower: He’s still the dude in New Orleans, catching 8 balls on 9 targets (a 21.4 percent target share) and ran the ball 12 times to Mark Ingram’s 7. The Rams aren’t dominating the line of scrimmage but could have Robert Quinn back. They are a top 7 run D, but if Hightower is getting this much work in the passing game (and Ingram could be out with a concussion), you have to roll the dice on a $5,400 DFS play. He’s just so valuable. This is how you afford David Johnson, babe.

Frank Gore: The future Hall of Famer had 18 carries for 50 yards (not great) and 4 catches for 71 yards (pretty great) against the Titans. He’s been ageless this season as the Colts’ workhorse, and he’s had over 100 total yards or a TD in 5 of his last 6 games. If Andrew Luck is out, he will be fed early and often. This is probably his last go-round, even if he looks like a spry 29-year-old, so use him. He’s going to get a lot of touches.

RUNNING BACK SITS

Jeremy Hill: In a week where everyone is at relatively full-strength, this is a risky play. The full-load of RB duties should be on Jeremy Hill’s shoulders now that Gio Bernard is out with a torn ACL, but the question is if he’ll be a better play than what’s out there. The Ravens have been stout against the run, and their defense held Zeke Elliot to *only* 97 yards on 25 carries, and Hill will be doing it in what should be a stacked box now that A.J. Green is out with a torn hammy. Additionally, Ravens are still the 3rd-best D in RB points against, so hope for the end zone and hope for an RB3 finish for Hill with some upside. Things get brighter as the playoffs approach.

Dion Lewis and James White? I have both of these guys in multiple leagues, and am basically playing wait and see. It’s just too confusing and heartbreaking. It sucks that I benched James White the week he had 6 catches and a TD,and Lewis only played 21 snaps to White’s 24, but Lewis saw 2 more total touches (5 rushes/3 catches to White’s 6 catches). So what’s going on here?

This is cool:

But so is this:

When will it be a White game? When will it be a Lewis game? When will it be a Blount game? When will it be a Julian Edelman end-around game? No one knows but the Hooded One.

Jordan Howard: I know I’ve been preaching the whole Starting Running Back thing, but if the Bears are without Cutler, Alshon Jeffery and Zach Miller on Sunday, then there will be 15 Titans in the box waiting for Matt Barkley to hand off to the rookie RB workhorse. Yes, the refs are going to allow extra defenders on the field just to rub it in the faces of the Bears organization for getting themselves into this situation. Horrible. Horrible.

TIGHT END STARTS

Zach Ertz: TE is just so fickle and unforgiving. The Fantasy Gods give us Marty Bennett against San Francisco in a Brady General NFL Anger Game coming off a loss, and he gets 2 targets? We get it, Bill. It was rainy and Bennett is a good blocker, but give us a taste. At least Zach Ertz has officially become a thing after not being a thing for a long while. He has 26 targets over the last 3 weeks and has shown that he has Wentz’s trust along with being healthy.

To trust and health! Crack open some Campbell’s Chunky and have a Happy Thanksgiving!

Dennis Pitta: So Pitta has been a disappointment event though he’s been getting a decent amount of targets. The double-digit days are long gone, and he’s left with 11 targets over the last two weeks, but at least he’s caught 9 of those passes. He also hasn’t seen a TD all year, so something has to give, and it might against Cincinnati’s second-worst TE defense. He’s only $3,400 in Draft Kings.

Jason Witten: Like Pitta, the old man should be a decent play in PPR leagues. He has a choice matchup against Washington’s bottom-ten TE defense and he’s seen a staggering 25 targets over the last 3 weeks. This could be a shootout, but regardless Witten for $3,200 in a DFS league is nice.

TIGHT END SITS

Travis Kelce: Hot off his second 100-yard game of the season, Kelce will come crashing back down to earth against the Broncos and their top ten defense against the TE. In general, you can expect Alex Smith to be working off his back foot as scary, orange-clad defenders rush at him like he’s Cam Newton or something. You could get cute and play Eric Ebron, Vance MacDonald or Zach Ertz over him, and they could be available on your waiver wire. If you have to play him, you have to play him, but just don’t expect much. Kelce probably doesn’t agree with this.

Ladarius Green: I got it wrong. Green doesn’t look ready, and the Pittsburgh offense doesn’t seem ready for him. Beyond Bell and Brown, it’s hard to trust any Steeler, and he’s clearly being slowly eased into the offense. Maybe he’ll pay off during the playoffs, maybe, but for now you should stay away.

Tyler Eifert: You may think that he’s about to become the #1 option on a decent offense, but his whole situation worries me. Can he carry this offense like an A.J. Green? Will defenses scheme to stop him and Jeremy Hill to let Boyd do his damage? What’s going to happen? Even with Green out at the beginning of the game, Eifert only saw 6 targets, catching 3 of them for 37 yards. He remains a red zone threat, but Baltimore this week and Philadelphia next week are not sexy.

Waiver Wire

The injuries. My god, the injuries. While we may not be able to fill every gaping wound opened my the Fantasy Football deities this week, there are some obvious handcuffs that are probably out there and are below 50-60 percent availability. Make some moves. The end is near.

Rex Burkhead: This is a speculative add for those deep, deep leagues. In 2015, he saw 15 targets and caught 10 of them for 9.4 YPC. He brought one to the house. These are desperate times, so why not have a look-see?

PHI RB Wendell Smallwood: (See: RB Starts). Also, it has to be mentioned that many pundits felt that Smallwood has been the best RB in Philly since Week 2, so now’s the time that he took this job and scampered along with it (and Green Bay is a nice matchup).

Think about your defenses: The Texans have Indy, Jacksonville, and Cinci for the playoffs. Not great, but not bad if injuries keep screwing with those lineups. San Diego has Carolina Week 14 and Cleveland Week 15. The playoffs are coming, so if you have the room, a sneaky DEF pickup could be a championship move.

CIN WR Tyler Boyd: A.J. Green is out, so Tyler Boyd is getting asked to step up. He had 8 targets on Sunday, and finished with 6/54/1. Someone is going to have to absorb Dalton’s targets, and it can’t all be Eifert. Additionally, Cinci has some rough games ahead facing the Philly D and Baltimore, then things open up Week 14 at Cleveland. There are also reports that Green could come back this season. Something to consider before you drop a chunk of FAAB.

BUF RB Mike Gillislee: LeSean McCoy is having surgery on his dislocated thumb, and may or may not miss a few weeks. Try to keep an eye on his availability, but if he’s out, Gillislee will make for a fine plug and play to end the season. He’s averaging over 5 YPC in his Buffalo career and has the makings of a 3-down back in an offense utterly depleted of weapons. So he’s got that going for him. Oh, Sammy Watkins could come back, but who knows?

He can catch, too.

https://twitter.com/SotoSportsTv/status/776849332087644160

JAX RB Chris Ivory: T.J. Yeldon is out for an undetermined amount of time with an ankle injury, so the job is now fully Chris Ivory’s. He won’t be incredible, but he’ll be a starting running back on an NFL team that will receive a near-full workload. Extrapolating his near-constant 50/50 splits with Yeldon into 80 percent of the touches yields a decent RB3 that could do some damage in PPR if he doesn’t fumble.

If you’re out of it and your season is done, we feel you.