Week 12 Fantasy Football Rankings Thoughts Plus Ask Mike

This is a post to discuss Week 12 fantasy football rankings. I will update this throughout the week as the rankings are posted and changed, typically from Wednesday through Sunday morning.

Plus, feel free to ask your own fantasy football questions in the comments. Waivers, free agent add/drops, trades (although I am not a big trader), and start/sit are all fair game. I’ll try to answer as quickly as I can.

Rankings Posted Wednesday

Week 12 fantasy football rankings are up. The initial rankings I mostly use for waivers. Plugging in the league_id for my leagues on MyFantasyLeague.com, Sleeper, or Fantrax, highlights the players who are rostered to identify free agent acquisition targets. If you ever notice a player not marked correctly then let me know. It probably means the player_id for that player isn’t matched in my database.

Thanksgiving this week! Three games on Thursday starting just after noon Eastern. Since I’m in Canada, it is not really Thanksgiving here (or as we call it, U.S. Thanksgiving). However, I definitely enjoy the holiday (football) and traditionally take in the first game over lunch with friends at a local bar that does a turkey dinner spread. Love it. And a Bills game this year!

Not much time for commentary today between work, World Cup Canada-Belgium today, more work, early football games and a full 16-game Week 12 schedule. Justin Fields and Kyler Murray are the biggest question marks at QB. Zach Wilson is also a question to play for performance, not injury. Sam Darnold is in replacing Baker Mayfield. Hopefully you aren’t relying on any of these guys other than Fields.

I haven’t seen an update on Joe Mixon yet, so hopefully more clarity after practice today. The Leonard Fournette vs. Rachaad White split is tough to figure out coming out of the bye. I might have too big a gap between these two. Will we see Gus Edwards return to the field? I think so, but ranked conservatively.

Keenan Allen showed well last week and moves up into the Top 20 at WR. Mike Williams aggravated his ankle injury – the same ankle – and it is hard to imagine he will play this week. I have JuJu Smith-Schuster, Marquise Brown, Jerry Jeudy, Kadarius Toney, and Corey Davis all in the rankings right now with some optimism they are all on the right side of questionable.

Thanksgiving Thursday Morning Update

Some QB changes, mostly at the lower end, starting with Matthew Stafford declared out. Byrce Perkins is expected to start. He got into the Saints game last week, 5-for-10 passing, 64 yards, plus 5 rushes for 39 yards. Also 3 sacks. So he can run, has some upside, but given the state of the Rams, be hard pressed to expect higher than QB25.
No surprise, Zach Wilson is benched, and Mike White is the new Jets starter. The whole team should respond positively to this. Maybe Elijah Moore gets some looks finally. Could also be a plus for Michael Carter. Still not expecting a big fantasy boom from White, but he does have nice weapons available and they are playing a weak defense.
Kyle Allen takes over for Davis Mills in Houston. The Texans are a game and a half up on the first overall pick in the 2023 NFL Draft. That pick will be their new franchise QB.
Positive news on JuJu Smith-Schuster, he’s practicing, while Kadarius Toney is not. Dropped Toney from the rankings, and moved Skyy Moore in. Moore looked pretty good last week catching 5 of 6 targets for 63 yards. He played just over 40% of snaps.
Rondale Moore is not expected to play for the Cardinals, so he’s out of the rankings, Greg Dortch moves in. Oh, and Kyler Murray is expected to play, so he moves up to QB11. Not sure Murray will be running much, is missing Zach Ertz, but with Marquise Brown back, he is a solid starter again.

Happy Thanksgiving to all who celebrate, and enjoy the games today!

Thursday Update Two

Two more changes, the first essentially swapping Rachaad White and Leonard Fournette, so White is now in the 20s, Fournette in the 30s. Fournette is still dealing with a hip issue from the game in Germany before their bye. That is the main concern with him. The rookie looks good.
I removed Joe Mixon and moved Samaje Perine way up. Still not super-excited by Perine but if he starts he’s worth at least a low-end RB2 or flex consideration.

Friday-Saturday Update

Now some question whether Bryce Perkins or John Wolford will start for the Rams on Sunday. That is a late start, and if the Rams aren’t announcing until game time, it’s a big time avoid situation. It pretty much was anyway. Perkins now QB32, Wolford QB33.
To further complicate things, both Allen Robinson and Tyler Higbee are questionable and game-time decisions. I am streaming the Kansas City Chiefs defense this week.
Gerald Everett appears to be a go, so I moved him up to the top of Tier 3 at TE. Half the Tier 2 tight ends played Thursday with strong games by T.J. Hockenson and Dalton Schultz. Even though Everett has some duds lately, you would still trust him over a Cole Kmet, David Njoku (also questionable), Foster Moreau, etc. Mike Williams is out and Everett does get the Arizona Cardinals which is a prime TE matchup.
Raheem Mostert is out. Jeff Wilson gets a peach of an opportunity for a big game against the Houston Texans. I moved him up to RB12, start him if you’ve got him.
Leonard Fournette is doubtful. Rookie Rachaad White is in line for a big game of his own against the Cleveland Browns. He had 22 carries, 0 targets in their last game, in Germany versus Seattle before their bye last week. Fournette had 14 carries, 1 target in that game. White moves up to RB14.
Jerry Jeudy and KJ Hamler are out again. This was not unexpected, so Courtland Sutton didn’t move from his preliminary WR27 ranking. Seems low? Yes, but this is one of the lowest game totals I can remember in a long time at 36. Kendall Hinton joins the rankings in the mid-60s.
Our watch list of players who are questionable and game-time decisions is pretty significant. In the early games, Justin Fields, Gus Edwards, Ja’Marr Chase, Devin Duvernay, Demarcus Robinson, David Njoku, and Logan Thomas. I added Chase to the rankings at WR14. Joe Burrow says he is playing. We’ll see.
The watch list for the late games include Josh Jacobs, Deebo Samuel, JuJu Smith-Schuster, Allen Robinson, and Tyler Higbee. This is tricky with these late-start guys. I moved Deebo down to be more conservative on him. He really hasn’t been great most of the season, anyway.

Sunday Morning Update

After updating last night, driving to soccer, learned via SiriusXM Fantasy Sports Radio, probably the Football Diehards Show, that a handful of questionables received more clarity. Pushed these changes first thing this morning:

Ja’Marr Chase is unlikely to play. After just adding him to the rankings, he’s out of them again. I had never really altered his teammates when I added Chase so they stay put. Although, I am considering moving Samaje Perine up from RB26.
Justin Fields seems less likely to play, although they are going to let him test things out pregame and ultimately decide then. Thankfully, it is a 1:00 pm start. I did move him down to be conservative. Trevor Siemian lies in waiting to start if Fields can’t go.
Jaylen Warren is out. Najee Harris is coming off two straight good games. While his ranking is RB20, there is some upside there if he can keep it going.
Giovanni Bernard is active, and added to the low end RB rankings below Ke’Shawn Vaughn.
Greg Dortch is unlikely to play, removed him from the rankings.
Isaiah Likely is out.