Fantasy Football Week 12: Rankings Audit & Podcast Highlights
Only two weeks left (for most leagues) before the fantasy playoffs commence. I can’t believe we’re almost done with the regular season. As you make those final playoff moves, it’s time to start looking ahead at schedules. Use this final bye week as your chance to scoop up those valuable handcuffs that were dropped in the heat of the moment. If you’ve been streaming QBs, Grab one, like Nick Foles, with a great schedule for the fantasy playoffs so you don’t have to fight for him. Even better if your potential playoff opponents were also streaming QBs! Let’s dive into the Fantasy Footballers Week 12 Rankings to see some of the biggest variances and points of interest when considering those players.
Quarterback Rankings
Russell Wilson has a four-spot variance, even though he has scored 15+ fantasy points in eight straight games. He ranks third in pass plays over 20 yards, and heads east to face the Eagles who are allowing the 4th most points to opposing WRs.
Josh Allen is currently QB6 on the year. While the Ballers had him highly ranked (around QB8 most of the pre-season), other sites were not as bullish, often finding him in low teens. Most ADP data showed him falling in around QB20. This week is a tougher matchup for the sophomore QB, facing a tough Denver secondary, however, his rushing ability keeps him in the top 10 for the Ballers.
Baker Mayfield has burned a lot of fantasy owners this season, but he coming off his first top 10 fantasy performance in five weeks and faces the Dolphins, who have been shredded by anyone and everyone, including the aforementioned Josh Allen in Week 11. If he’s on your waiver wire, his fantasy playoff schedule is pretty sweet: at Steelers Week 13, vs Bengals Week 14, at Cardinals Week 15. Even if you don’t play him, preventing someone else from playing him is also a sound reason for picking him up.
Runningback Rankings
Just like his teammate Baker Mayfield, a contest against the Dolphins will inflate your rankings. Nick Chubb, even with the presence of Kareem Hunt, checks in as the consensus RB2 for the week.
Seeing Christian McCaffery not ranked as the consensus RB1 has been pretty rare this year. Seeing him with only one ranking above RB3 is even more surprising. He’s averaging a league-leading 106 yards per game. And that is just his rushing! Where his opponent Sunday, the Saints, are strong is stopping RBs, while they struggle to contain WRs. Scouts across the league believe that McCaffery is such a good receiver, he would be a Pro Bowl lock if he was designated as a WR. Don’t get cute, McCaffery is the Fantasy MVP to this point.
Is Todd Gurley back, or was Week 11 a mirage? The Ballers are ranking him as a top 12 RB in a difficult matchup with the Ravens, who have been allowing the ninth fewest points to opposing RBs.
Wide Receiver Rankings
D.J. Chark is finally getting some respect as a WR1, checking in at consensus WR9. He’s on pace for an amazing 82/1236/13 stat line. The Titans’ defense ranks in the middle of the pack for opposing WRs. If your league allows trades this late (or a Week 12 Deadline), Chark’s remaining schedule is one to target; vs Buccaneers, vs Chargers, at Raiders, at Falcons.
With as poor as Mitchell Trubisky has been performing, it’s surprising to see Allen Robinson ranked as a borderline WR1 (Consensus WR13). He’s Jason’s start of the week, as he’s on pace for 90 receptions and faces a Giants secondary allowing the second-most points to opposing WRs.
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Only two players in the league have at least 4 receptions AND 50 yards in every game. Consensus WR1 Michael Thomas and this week’s WR16, John Brown. Brown is WR15 on the season but faces a difficult matchup against Chris Harris and the Denver Broncos. Will he keep his streak alive?
Tight End Rankings
The landscape for Fantasy TEs is abysmal. Catch a TD and you’re a top 5-10 TE for the week. Without top 5 stalwarts Travis Kelce and Hunter Henry (byes) and the recent resurgence of Kyle Rudolph, the top 15 TE ranks find some interesting names, including this week’s TE6, Ryan Griffin. Griffin faces a Raiders defense that is allowing the third-most points to opposing TEs.
With Zach Ertz occupying the top spot in the rankings, seeing his teammate Dallas Goedert at TE7 was a bit of a surprise. However, an injured WR corps and a matchup with the Seahawks who are allowing the eight most points to opposing TEs will push the TEs ranking up the list.
On the opposite side of that game, Seahawks TE Jacob Hollister is returning from his bye week riding a two-game stretch that saw him 12 receptions for 99 yards and 3 TDs.
Biggest Takeaways from the Week 12 Podcasts
Monday – Week 11 Studs & Stinkers + Weekly Rewind, Peanut Butter Dwelley Time
Mike (Out-Illness) is replaced by Jay Grizz for the show. This week’s Monday Punday is focused on some top-end performers. Was your team lead to a victory by SpecDAKular? The Weekly Rewind starts at 3:51 with new about Marlon Mack’s hand injury. Fantasy Studmuffins can be found at 10:02, lead off by Mike’s Start of the Week, Josh Allen. The Stinkers of the Week segment starts at 35:03 with Deshaun Watson’s stinker.
Tuesday – Week 12 Waivers + Full Stream Ahead, The Crushed Soul of Jason
Mike is back to chime in on the fantasy let-down Monday Night Football Game. The News and Notes segment at 11:22 with news about some Steelers, Rams, and Falcons. This week’s Waivers segment opens at 18:12. This week’s bye week teams are: the Cardinals, Chiefs, Chargers, and Vikings. Full Stream Ahead segment is found at the 44:36 mark.
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Wednesday – Week 12 Buy or Sell + Triple Mailbag, Sneaky Tank
Fantasy Buy or Sell at 3:27 focuses in on some of the top end WR2s on different teams heading into Week 12. The News and Notes segment opens at 14:38. Thursday Night Preview of the Steelers at Browns game is at 21:09 and then The Ballers’ open up the MAAAAAIIIIILBAG! Yeah! at 32:35, at which point we find out that Mike should have gotten the Questionable tag for this episode. The Footclan has some great questions this week about prepping for the playoffs. That’s followed by a great discussion on trade vetoes. The.
Thursday – Starts of the Week + Week 12 Breakdown, The Walrus and the Hare
The show opens with a quick question: Who’s an under the radar or underrated fantasy player that could end up on a majority of title-teams this season? News and Notes segment is found at 10:25 before diving into the Fantasy Forecasts 21:47 discussing the following matchups:
Buccaneers @ Falcons
Dolphins @ Browns
Giants @ Bears
Panthers @ Saints
Raiders @ Jets
The Ballers’ Starts of the Week can be found at 54:22. If you are still playing in a league with Kickers, Jason’s Ironclad, Locked & Loaded, 100% Guaranteed, Boom Boom Kicker of the Week can be found at 1:05:38.
Friday – Week 12 Matchups + In-or-Out, All Chewed Up
The Ballers discuss the Thursday Night Football game before the In-Or-Out segment starting at 8:42. If your match up was not on the Thursday show, you can listen to the second half of the Fantasy Forecasts at 12:24. The 59:01 mark closes out the show with the Ballers on a Budget segment.
Fantasy Previews:
Broncos @ Bills
Lions @ Redskins
Steelers @ Bengals
Seahawks @ Eagles
Jaguars @ Titans
Cowboys @ Patriots
Packers @ 49ers
Ravens @ Rams
As we head into the fall, the weather will start to play a role in some of the games. Make sure you check back every Sunday for Eric Ludwig’s Weekly Weather Conditions article.
Weekly Articles
Rob Wilson’s Ten Things We Learned from the weekend.
Jeff Greenwood’s Trade Targets and Ammo
Matthew Betz’s Injury Recap
Aaron Larson’s Target Report
Ryan Weisse’s Snap Count Observations
Lauren Carpenter’s Waiver Wire
Ryan Weisse’s Defense/Special Teams Strategy
Much of the DFS content begins to drop on Thursday’s. There are a lot of DFS focused articles, so check them all out here: https://www.thefantasyfootballers.com/dfs/
Kyle Yates’ Dynasty Report
Kyle Borgognoni’s Predicting the Top-12 QBs
Sunday –Eric Ludwig’s Weekly Weather Conditions
Have a great weekend and best of luck in Week 12!