As we head into NFL Week 12, the fantasy football regular season is coming to a close and your opportunities to make the playoffs or improve your seeding are quickly ticking down like Mona Lisa Vito’s biological clock. 

 

 

 

Are you locked in yet? If not, what do your chances look like? A fantasy football season without the playoffs is a sad time and while we obviously have DFS and betting to carry us through the Super Bowl, no one wants to spend the holidays watching everyone else compete for a championship.

There is a lot happening around us right now and Week 12 is lining up to be a tough one for many fantasy owners. We have six teams on a bye this week and the NFL injuries continue to pile up. In addition to concerns we expressed last week regarding CeeDee Lamb and Tyreek Hill, we are also dealing with the possibility of losing Brock Purdy, another quarterback change in New York and the Isiah Pacheco vs. Kareem Hunt debate. They don’t make it easy for us, do they?

The questions are coming in fast and furious, so let’s just get to them now and see where we’re living for NFL Week 12. 

NFL Week 12 Fantasy Football Advice: Start/Sit, Waivers & Trades

Daniel Y. Wants To Know...

Yes, please, let’s address this situation first and foremost. I have a much different take on this week’s Chiefs/Panthers game than most. It is my belief that this game for Kansas City is exactly like last week’s game for the Lions against the Jaguars. Everyone told me I was crazy for using Jared Goff because the Lions would simply run the football and take the easy win. 

I said Dan Campbell would use the matchup as a way to fine-tune the passing attack and give Goff one of those games where he had the freedom to throw whenever he wanted. You know, have some fun. And that’s exactly what happened. This game for the Chiefs against the Panthers is headed in that same direction, especially now that the prefect season is dead and the Chiefs can relax a little.

Does that mean we don’t use either Chiefs running back? Nope. We lock in with Hunt. First off, as of writing this, Pacheco has yet to log a full practice. He was limited Wednesday and Thursday with Friday’s report pending. If he doesn’t log a full practice, there is no reason for the Chiefs to run him out there. It’s not like they need him to beat the Panthers and with such a soft matchup, why not take the extra week for Pacheco and make sure that he is 100-percent ready to shoulder a full workload. 

I would leave Pacheco on IR – probably because the Chiefs do as well – and worry about who to drop when you actually do need to add Pacheco to your roster. Charbonnet is likely the one to go of that group, but we’ll see what happens around the NFL before we make that final decision.

 

 

 

Alex C. Asks...

Some good names from which to choose here. If Smith is healthy and able to play without limits, I will lock him into my lineup with this matchup against the Rams. Unfortunately, he hasn’t practiced yet this week and is in danger of missing the game. You’ll have to stand-by and wait for more news, but again, if he plays, I am using him.

As nice as Meyers can be in PPR formats, I am probably going to skip him this week as he is expected to see a lot of Patrick Surtain. Not only is Surtain one of the best cover-corners out there, but if there’s a chance he gets beat, he will take the penalty rather than give up the big play. Surtain has been penalized several times this season for well over 100 yards.

I will also eliminate Dissly in this group because I don’t see a huge target share and the Ravens secondary is starting to improve, especially against the tight end. Tre’Davious White is being integrated more into the pass coverage and Kyle Hamilton is healthy again. I love his new target share but this matchup gives me pause.

So that brings it to Robinson vs. Boutte. If Smith is out then these are the two guys I will use. Tommy DeVito is going to need to lean on some of the short-passing to get comfortable and the Bucs, even coming off a bye, are notorious for leaving the middle of the field open. 

I think there’s a lean on Robinson this week. And Boutte has seen six targets in each of the last four games. He hasn’t found the end zone, but that just might be a stat waiting to be corrected as we see the consistent work coming from him as well as the improved play of Drake Maye. 

For me, I will rank them Smith (if he plays), Boutte, Robinson, Dissly and then Meyers.

 

 

 

David J. Is Wondering...

My man, David, sneaking in two for the price of one. No worries. We got you!

Richardson vs. Stafford is definitely a tough one. Both the Lions and the Eagles rate considerably high in the realm of pass defenses and both are strong opponents. You can also look at the over/under for both games and see they are in the 49-50-point range as well, so we are expecting both teams to produce.

But can we trust in Richardson to maybe repeat what he did last week against the Jets? Can he play the whole game if he tries putting his shoulder into defenders trying to tackle him? How effective is Stafford going to be behind this offensive line? Yes, they are making improvements and he has both Puka Nacua and Cooper Kupp out there, but this is a very formidable pass-rush coming at him.

For me, I am going to lean the same way as Andrew Cooper in the Fantasy Alarm Weekly Rankings. They are close, but the rushing upside of Richardson gives him a higher ceiling, especially when you consider the Lions lost LB Alex Anzalone. Their front-seven isn’t what it was just a few short weeks ago. It’s close, but I’ll roll with Richardson and bank on the rushing yards helping me out.

As for the tight end, I’m actually going to lean Schoonmaker over Hockenson for the time being. With Jake Ferguson sidelined with a concussion, Schoonmaker gets all the work as the starting tight end. He saw 10 targets last week and has a more favorable matchup against the Commanders. Hockenson is still playing fewer than 50-percent of the snaps and targets are still being funneled to Johnny Mundt and Josh Oliver as well. 

 

 

 

Fantasy Football Week 12 - NFL 2024

Thank you, as always, to everyone who emailed, tweeted and messaged me their questions this week. If your fantasy football question didn’t get answered here in the Mailbag this week, don’t worry. 

Chances are, you’ve already heard from me via email or on social media. But please keep them coming. Many of us are diving into the start/sit questions regarding the same players, so maybe someone else gets their answer but you’ve got a very similar question. 

And, as always, please reach out at any point, whether it’s through the Fantasy Alarm Discord (just be sure to tag me or send a private DM) or in an email me at rotobuzzguy@gmail.com. 

Best of luck to you here in NFL Week 12 and let’s keep crushing it.