It’s time for the Week 12 update of The List! Each week, you can expect positional rankings and FLEX rankings to help you win your fantasy football leagues! As a reminder, this week, there are six teams on their bye week:
- Atlanta Falcons
- Buffalo Bills
- Cincinnati Bengals
- Jacksonville Jaguars
- New Orleans Saints
- New York Jets
A few quick injuries to watch and storylines to follow ahead of Week 12’s action:
Brock Purdy is out this week with a shoulder injury, meaning it’s Brandon Allen under center for the 49ers. Allen is not a recommended start and lowers the ceilings of all 49ers skill position players. This unfortunately means we have to give Jauan Jennings, Deebo Samuel, and George Kittle downgrades in their rankings for the week. Christian McCaffrey is the only player whose ranking isn’t strongly impacted by the QB change for the week.
In a somewhat surprising turn of events, we won’t be seeing Isiah Pacheco in Kansas City’s Week 12 matchup against the Panthers. That means it’ll be the Kareem Hunt show for at least one more week, and he gets a fantastic matchup against Carolina’s soft run defense. He vaults up our ranks to RB9 on the week and will be a strong start in what may be his swan song as the Chiefs’ RB1.
Tyjae Spears is out for Week 12, meaning Tony Pollard will shoulder the full workload for the Titans against the Texans. He gets a bump up to RB18 in our rankings thanks to a projected higher workload. The Texans are tough against the run, but Pollard has shown he can come through when given plenty of touches to handle.
D’Andre Swift is listed as questionable this week, but he was able to log a full practice on Friday, which bodes well for his availability in Week 12. Still, we’re giving him a slight bump down this week since he’s facing one of the top run defenses in the NFL. Roschon Johnson also tallied 11 touches in last week’s game and could be used more often to spell Swift in this contest while the Bears manage his injury. Swift is a low-end RB2 this week, while Johnson is a middling FLEX. You’re hoping both can find the end zone in this difficult matchup.
Alexander Mattison and Zamir White are both out this week, which means we’ll see some combination of Ameer Abdullah and Dylan Laube in the Raiders backfield against the Broncos. Neither is a very strong option this week, but Abdullah at least has the track record in the NFL and would be more likely to return value in a desperation spot start in our first of a couple of Byemaggedons at the end of the regular season. If you’re in a Dynasty or super-deep league, snag Laube in case he’s able to show out this week.
Both Mike Evans and Tyreek Hill appear likely to take the field in Week 12. It will be Evans’ first game action since the disastrous Week 7 game against Baltimore that saw both Evans and Chris Godwin sustain significant injuries. Both Evans and Hill will slot in as high-end WR2s in their respective matchups.
DeVonta Smith is out for Week 12’s Sunday night contest against the Rams with a hamstring injury. None of the Eagles’ other receivers are worth starting (aside from A.J. Brown, of course), and the vacated target volume will likely go to Brown, Saquon Barkley, and Dallas Goedert.
We’ve got some questions in the Panthers’ receiving room with both veteran Adam Thielen and rookie Jalen Coker bearing questionable tags ahead of Sunday. If Thielen suits up and Coker does not, he would probably be the best option in the Panthers’ passing game as the supposed security blanket for Bryce Young. Still, none of Thielen, Coker, or Xavier Legette are recommended plays against the Chiefs defense.
Keenan Allen picked up a questionable tag on Friday, but this hopefully doesn’t affect your lineup decisions with the Bears playing a stout Vikings defense. If you’re facing a slew of byes and were forced to start Allen this week, make sure you have a backup plan in place.
Sam LaPorta appears ready to return to the fold after missing one week with a shoulder injury. LaPorta is a back-end TE1 for us this week; the upside is there to make a big play or score a touchdown, but he’s also seen some low-output games this season.