Week 12 is here and sadly it’s another 10-game slate and these slates tend to consolidate ownership numbers. There are six teams with the week off and on a short slate, we typically see ownership flock to a few teams. 

The holiday season is approaching fast so why not lock in some winning lineups for this weekend’s short slate and build up our bankroll ahead of next Thursday’s Thanksgiving slate? Here are the top cash and GPP plays for this week’s NFL DFS Week 12 D/ST Coach!

 

 

 

NFL DFS Week 12 D/ST Coach For FanDuel & DraftKings Fantasy

Last week’s Play of the Week, the Green Bay Packers, bucked the trend of targeting D/ST’s facing the Chicago Bears. They weren’t bad but the Bears, without Shane Waldron, looked better offensively. 

They utilized more pre-snap motion, and the Packers defense did not offer much of an answer on defense. Six fantasy points isn’t bad, but still unbecoming of the Play of the Week. If you were able to get to either the Minnesota Vikings or Denver Broncos last week, they both returned double-digit fantasy points. 

Remember, those two teams blitz more than the rest of the league and that has provided plenty of success in DFS. It should come as no surprise we go back to the well with them in the NFL DFS Week 12 D/ST Coach.

 

 

 

NFL Week 12 Defense/Special Teams

A 10-game slate means fewer options across the board with just 20 teams available. It’s one of those “BYEnado” weeks with six teams not playing in Week 12. And we have a few D/ST’s that are going to attract significant ownership in both cash games and GPP’s.

And I’ll warn you, this week’s NFL DFS Week 12 D/ST Coach “Fade” may surprise you. But we should be mindful that this is the hardest position to predict in DFS. We can project pass volume, targets, running back touches, etc. for the skill positions. Can we predict a pick six? Not really. Can we predict sacks and turnovers? Well, we certainly try to!

Below I’ve tried to navigate the player pool and avoid the traps while taking advantage of the best options to consider for Sunday’s 10-game slate. Let’s take a look at the NFL DFS Week 12 D/ST Coach to build our winning lineups on DraftKings and FanDuel.

 

 

 

NFL DFS D/ST Top Tier Picks For Week 12

Houston Texans - DraftKings: $3,600 | FanDuel: $4,700

The lone concern I have with Houston is that they just played on Monday Night Football. But they have the luxury of playing at home in this game and they’re getting some reinforcements back.

Kamari Lassiter missed Monday’s game against Dallas with a concussion and Will Anderson Jr. was out as well. Fortunately, Lassiter was a full participant in practice on Wednesday while Anderson was limited. But the news regarding both is enough to pique my interest in paying up for Houston. Even without Anderson and Folorunso Futukasi (DNP in practice so far this week), the Texans still had five sacks against the Dallas Cowboys.

Houston does tend to allow opposing offenses to score points. However, they do force turnovers at a high rate due to their 26.3% pressure rate which is seventh in the NFL. I actually don’t mind Will Levis as a DFS play this week given his price tag. But even I will acknowledge that he’s turnover prone and this defense can make him pay.

Minnesota Vikings - DraftKings: $3,400 | FanDuel: $4,800

So, the Bears offense did look much better after relieving Shane Waldron of his duties. I targeted the Green Bay Packers in this spot a week ago, and it didn’t pan out as a “smash” play. This is a road game for Minnesota but they're 3.5-point favorites in a game with a 39-point implied total, the lowest on the main slate.

The Bears utilized a lot more pre-snap motion which did help their offense be more productive as opposed to Waldron’s boring route trees and general lack of creativity. But why do we keep going back to Minnesota? If you’ve read this article every week, you know the answer. They lead the league in blitz rate (37.7%) and pressure rate (29.6%).

Previously, we’ve seen defenses such as the Washington Commanders, Arizona Cardinals, and New England Patriots take advantage of Chicago’s poor offensive line. I almost put Minnesota at the bottom of the article as the Play of the Week, but the Vikings are one of my three favorite plays on the slate.

 

 

 

NFL DFS D/ST Mid-Tier Picks For Week 12

Denver Broncos – DraftKings: $3,200

Denver is my top mid-tier play on DraftKings, but they’re the most expensive group on FanDuel. So they might be a little too tough to get over there. But similar to the Vikings, Denver blitzes a ton. Denver is tied with the Kansas City Chiefs for the second-highest blitz rate (34.7%) and they’re fifth in pressure rate (26.8%).

Last week, the Miami Dolphins were able to hold the Las Vegas Raiders to just 19 points and they collected three sacks. Miami’s defense isn’t nearly as reliable as Denver’s. Not to mention, Denver has Pat Surtain who can easily take away one of Vegas’ two best pass catchers, whether that be Jakobi Meyers or Brock Bowers.

The sportsbooks are giving the Raiders an implied team total of 17.5 points and the Broncos are six-point road favorites. That’s always risky and this is a divisional matchup, but the Broncos did get three sacks and three turnovers when these two organizations met earlier in the year.

Detroit Lions – FanDuel: $4,600

This one does give me some pause, but as a mid-range recommendation on FanDuel, I don’t mind the Lions. We do need to be mindful that this is a difficult spot. The Lions are on the road against the Indianapolis Colts who, despite being 7.5-point underdogs at home, still have an implied team total of 21.5 points.

Anthony Richardson also regained the starting quarterback job last week and he looked outstanding. The Colts ran more RPOs, and they called more designed runs for Anthony Richardson which resulted in him scoring two touchdowns on the ground. Moreover, defenses had to respect the run, and he looked like a competent passer when he did have to run.

If I had my choice, I’d look elsewhere. The Lions haven’t been easy to run on this year and they force about two turnovers per game. If you believe Anthony Richardson regresses and comes back down to earth in this game, then plug in the Lions on FanDuel. If you don’t love the outlook for this matchup, then I’d suggest looking elsewhere.

 

 

 

NFL Week 12 DFS D/ST Value Picks

Chicago Bears – DraftKings: $2,500 | FanDuel: $3,900

We already touched on the Minnesota Vikings for this matchup. As a paydown option I’m okay with the Bears as well. They are at home for this game, and they've performed much better at Soldier Field. At home they yield just 16.7 points per game and 305 yards per game. On the road they surrender 21.3 points per game and 361.8 yards per game. They’ve also forced more turnovers and sacks at home as well.

Sam Darnold has had his struggles of late with seven turnovers in his last three games, but he did play well a week ago against the Tennessee Titans.

We should also be mindful this game isn’t in a controlled environment. It won’t be freezing in this game, but the temperatures are cooling off in the Midwest and this game will be in the 40’s with moderate winds. That could be tricky for Minnesota since they play indoors in a controlled environment.

If you need a pivot in this range, I like the Arizona Cardinals as a cheap play as well. They’re coming off their Bye week and the defense was looking better in their two games leading up to the week off and there is some rain in the forecast in Seattle which could make things a bit messy.

 

 

 

NFL DFS D/ST Fades For Week 12

Tampa Bay Buccaneers - DraftKings: $3,300 | FanDuel: $4,400

I get it. And this could easily blow up in my face. If my feelings change by Sunday, I will provide an update. The price tag is tempting on both sites. The Giants are benching Daniel Jones for Tommy DeVito this week. The Giants players have even been outspoken about how they disagree with that decision and how things were handled.

But the G-Men have given up on this season and they’re looking toward the future sans Daniel Jones. So because of the mess the Giants have made for themselves, this is a ripe matchup for the Buccaneers, right? They’re six-point favorites (on the road) and the Giants have an implied team total of 17.5 points.

And I’ll even acknowledge that there were five games last year where DeVito was sacked five times. By all accounts this is a smash spot for Tampa Bay, and if you play cash games, they probably should be in your lineup. But I don’t like playing chalk D/ST’s in tournaments. This is a position of variance so if they come in as the popular option, I’d rather look elsewhere because this feels like a trap.

The Bucs have allowed each of their last six opponents to score 23 points and you can run on this defense. Perhaps we see a heavy ground effort from Tyrone Tracy and Devin Singletary to slow this game down. The Bucs have returned five or fewer fantasy points on eight occasions this year so as of Thursday, I might be laying off this chalk play.

 

 

 

NFL DFS Week 12 D/ST Play Of The Week

Washington Commanders - DraftKings: $3,500 | FanDuel: $5,000

It’s a tough price to pay on FanDuel, but reasonable over on DraftKings. This is a divisional matchup out of the NFC East, but anything can happen in these games. The Cowboys are also on a short week having played at home on Monday night and now they’re on the road for this game in Washington.

Washington’s defense was a joke earlier in the year, but under the leadership of Dan Quinn they’ve turned things around. Moreover, Dan Quinn knows the Cowboys offense regardless of who is starting at quarterback because he served as the team’s defensive coordinator under Mike McCarthy.

Since Dak Prescott’s injury, we’ve seen two D/ST’s put up double-digit fantasy points against Dallas and in that two-game sample size, the Cowboys have a total of just 16 points scored. Washington comes into this game as sizable 10.5-point favorites leaving Dallas with an implied team total of 17.5 which is honestly still a bit high. Over Washington’s last eight games they’re allowing the second-fewest fantasy points to opposing wide receivers.

Per Mike Clay, that includes the fifth fewest to the perimeter and fewest to the slot. And they’ve even done this without Marshon Lattimore, who has yet to make his debut with the team. But given how Washington is trending, and how bad Dallas is now, this is a great spot to get the Commanders into your builds if you can afford them.

 

 

 

NFL DFS Week 12 Defense/Special Teams Projections