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.
Jonathon Brooks will be making his debut for the Panthers this week, and he couldn’t have a tougher matchup against the Kansas City Chiefs. It’s best practice to keep Brooks on your bench this week, as he’ll likely see limited touches in his first NFL game action. Still, it’s enough to keep Chuba Hubbard as a low-end RB2 when you combine Brooks’ presence with the league’s best run defense.
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.