
Ian Hartitz previews his Week 12 rankings.

Hide your kids, hide your wife: Week 12 is here. It's time to win another fantasy matchup, people!
What follows are my abbreviated early PPR ranks along with some key questions and answers ahead of this week's slate of action. Check out our Fantasy Life Rankings for full ranks from our squad of alleged expert rankers (code "Ian" for 20% off!).
As always: It's a great day to be great.
There are two bye weeks remaining: Week 12 and Week 14. Why are there no bye weeks in Week 13? *Best Nate Bargatze impression* Nobody knows.
But yeah: Managers depending on Bo Nix, Justin Herbert, Marcus Mariota or Tua Tagovailoa will need a new plan this week. Lucky for you, a scholar, I've got some pretty, pretty, pretty good sub-50% rostered streaming options for the occasion.
Week 12: Cardinals Jacoby Brissett vs. the Jaguars
All the 32-year-old veteran has done in five starts is average 314 passing yards while accounting for 11 TDs against just 3 INTs. Wild but true: The only QBs with more fantasy points per game than Brissett since Week 6 are Josh Allen, Jaxson Dart and Joe Flacco. That's it!
While the Jaguars deserve credit for shutting down the Chargers last week, we previously saw Matthew Stafford (182-5-0), Geno Smith (284-4-1) and Davis Mills (292-2-1) shred this group. Overall, Jacksonville has allowed the fifth-most fantasy points per game to opposing QBs this season. Brissett is my QB14 on the week and someone I'd start ahead of guys like Sam Darnold, Jordan Love and Trevor Lawrence among others.
Honorable mention: Panthers QB Bryce Young just had probably the best game of his young career and now gets an injury-ravaged 49ers defense that just allowed one of those aforementioned big performances from Mr. Brissett … Saints QB Tyler Shough has performed admirably in his first two NFL starts and gets a reeling Falcons team that had no answers for Young and might be close to checking on Cabo flights considering Michael Penix (knee) is potentially done for the season.
Well, in terms of having an unfortunate case of the butterfingers: The Jaguars (26), Broncos (26) and Browns (21) are the only three teams that have been charged with 20-plus drops through 11 weeks of action. You can see a full list of every team's drop total here.
That said: There's a bit more that goes into a quarterback being set up for success or failure than simply catching the football. A good offensive line and run game also certainly go a long way!
Presenting: Supporting Cast Rating, which takes the average of every team's PFF rush, receiving, pass blocking and run blocking grades—everything except passing. It's not a perfect stat (what is?) due to the reality that blocking is accounting for 50% of the equation and QBs have an impact on their offense's run game. But as Abraham Lincoln famously once said: PFF grades are better than nothing.
Best Offensive Supporting Casts
As for the worst: The Saints, Titans, Bengals, Dolphins, and in last place, the Browns have earned bottom-five ranks after 11 weeks of action. Adds up!
QB1 Josh Allen: Allen's 44.7 fantasy points in Week 11 were good for the second-highest single-game mark since 2015. The only better performance was achieved by … Josh Allen (51.9) in Week 14 last season. He's good!
QB12 Baker Mayfield: Baker's 5-39-1 rushing line on Sunday was great to see considering he had … zero rush attempts in his previous three games! Throw in the potential to get Bucky Irving (shoulder) and/or Chris Godwin (fibula) back in the lineup ahead of Sunday night's potential shootout with the Rams, and I'm comfortable getting Mayfield back into the mid-tier QB1 mix. That said: This passing game hasn't exactly been flirting with high-end efficiency in recent weeks.
Mayfield yards per attempt:
QB18 Jameis Winston: It remains to be seen if Jaxson Dart (concussion) will be ready to go for the Giants' rough Week 12 matchup in Detroit. Either way, fans should take solace knowing that Winston will not go down without a fight. Overall, Winston's 9.4 average target depth since 2020 is easily the highest mark among 49 qualified QBs—second-place Lamar Jackson (8.6) is nearly a full yard below! Will this gunslinging downfield mentality necessarily lead to much real life or fantasy success? No. Will it make for a more entertaining edition of what is otherwise another lost Giants season? Absolutely!
QB21 J.J. McCarthy: It's not fair to write our end-of-story evaluation of McCarthy in pen after just five career starts. That said: the 2024 NFL Draft's 10th overall pick has looked a lot like the NFL's worst QB this season. That's McCarthy in the bottom left corner in the below chart, and Vikings fans won't like the man on the opposite end of things.

QB22 Mason Rudolph: Expected to start at least one game with Aaron Rodgers (left wrist) likely sidelined. While it'd make sense if the Steelers embrace the run game and refrain from putting too much on Rudolph's plate, Myles Garrett's BFF actually did play the best football of his career the last time we saw him starting games wearing black and yellow. Incredibly, Rudolph averaged a robust 9.7 yards per attempt while ranking fourth in EPA per play (+0.17) during his limited action at the end of the 2023 season. Don't get too carried away, but I also wouldn't necessarily nosedive expectations for DK Metcalf and company—a sentiment that was shared by Fantasy Life Director of Analytics Dwain McFarland during the Sunday night recap edition of THE Fantasy Life Show.
QB25 Tyrod Taylor: The Jets have benched Justin Fields. If you've watched 30 or so minutes of Jets football this season, you can probably see why. That said: I wouldn't expect a 180 here just by swapping out QBs. This WR room remains laughably bad with Garrett Wilson (knee, IR) out of the picture, and it's not like the artist formerly known as TyGod has made the most out of his opportunities this season. Overall, Taylor ranks dead last in adjusted net yards per pass attempt (3.2), this metric accounts for TDs, INTs and sacks on top of yards, among 41 qualified QBs this season.
My definition:
I decided to double-count these factors: An explosive touchdown featuring three broken tackles is worth five points, not one. Cool? Cool.
The leaderboard among all RBs with 50+ opportunities (full list is here):
Adds up! Particular kudos to Hampton, Warren and Miller (injuries suck) for posting the position's top-3 marks in forced missed tackles per opportunity. Warren sure looked like he was on his way to a BIG performance last week before suffering an ankle injury. I appreciated his ability to seamlessly transition a failed hurdle attempt into a f*ck you stiff arm.
Of course, Warren could be sidelined depending on the severity of his ankle injury. This would instantly boost Kenneth Gainwell up into the mid-tier RB2 ranks ahead of a smashable matchup with the Bears. Gainwell is only rostered in 32% of Yahoo leagues as of Monday, making him an obvious waiver wire darling this week and someone who should absolutely be scooped up if possible.
Additional priority handcuffs available in at least half of Yahoo leagues that you should look to stash with any extra bench spots:
I like to look at RB rush yards *before* contact per carry as a good measure of a team's run-blocking ability. While not perfect, it does tend to do a good job quantifying the sort of lanes that are being opened up and the stat typically does correlate quite nicely with the league's most efficient rushing attacks.
The below chart denotes every team's rank in RB rush yards before contact per carry overall, in Weeks 1-5, and in Weeks 6-11.

Some notes:
The following players were tackled at the 1-yard line and did NOT score a TD on the same drive last week (pre-MNF):
Players tackled at the 1-yard line and did NOT score on the same drive:
The two RBs atop this unfortunate leaderboard this season: Etienne (7) and Kyren Williams (5). The latter is especially unfortunate considering all five of these sheeshy occurrences occurred on different drives!
Moral of the story: Find someone who loves you like Matthew Stafford loves Davante Adams near the goal line.
RB5 Derrick Henry: I've published this stat recently, but you know what? It's awesome. Let's do it again.
Derrick Henry career yards per carry by month:
Up next: Jets, Bengals, Steelers and the Bengals. Giddyup!
RB6 TreVeyon Henderson: The top-3 RBs in yards after contact per carry this season: Jonathan Taylor (4.5), Javonte Williams (4) … and TreVeyon Henderson (4)! The rookie has racked up five TDs across his last eight quarters of football and is cemented as a high-end RB1 for however long Rhamondre Stevenson stays sidelined. I would struggle to get Henderson lower than ~RB20-ish even with the return of Mondre ahead of this week's smash spot against the Bengals. Consider: Cincy has allowed a full seven additional PPR points per game to opposing backfields than any other defense—that's the same difference between the 31st ranked unit (Buffalo) and the 12th (Minnesota)!
RB8 James Cook: Hasn't found the end zone on the ground in three weeks, but the Bills have finally re-tapped Cook's upside as a receiver. Consider: Cook scored 23 PPR points from purely receiving production in Weeks 1-9 this season … which is exactly as many as he has in just his last two games!
RB10 Rico Dowdle: Seized the starting job and promptly went off for 141 yards and a pair of scores against the Packers in Week 9, but life hasn't been quite as great over the past two weeks. Overall, Dowdle has totaled just 98 yards on his last 37 carries (2.6 yards per carry)—the third-worst mark among 46 qualified RBs during this span. The overall usage remains great, and it'd make sense if Dowdle catches his stride against the 49ers' banged-up front-seven this Sunday, but I do wonder whether or not Dave Canales might be inclined to (again) shuffle up his backfield usage should this inefficiency continue. I'm comfortable selling HIGH on Dowdle over these next two weeks if possible; getting the Rams, a bye, and then the Saints, Buccaneers and Seahawks to end the season isn't ideal.
RB17 Travis Etienne, RB34 Bhayshul Tuten: The rookie started to loosen ETN's stranglehold on this backfield before suffering an (apparently minor) ankle injury. Credit to Tuten for running HARD: He's racked up at least three yards after contact on 51% of his carries this season—a mark that only trails Brian Robinson (54%) and Aaron Jones (52%). I'd be awfully surprised if Tuten ever straight up surpasses Etienne on the depth chart, but his growing role could produce some viable FLEX opportunities down the stretch, and there's legit RB1-worthy upside on the table should the Jaguars' starting RB miss any time due to injury.
RB18 Emanuel Wilson: While Josh Jacobs isn't believed to be dealing with an overly serious knee injury, his Week 12 status is very much in doubt at the moment. Enter: Wilson, who has been THE backup running back, y'all, in Green Bay this season. The third-year back dominated usage following Jacobs' departure and profiles for 15-20 combined carries and targets should the Packers be without their featured back. That's tough to complain about inside of the league's 13th-ranked scoring offense ahead of a matchup with the Vikings, who have allowed the 10th-most rushing yards to opposing RBs this season.
RB25 Sean Tucker, RB30 Rachaad White: Shoutout to Tucker for his yearly impression of LaDainian Tomlinson last week! Unfortunately, current jurisdiction in continental America prevents the Bucs from facing the Bills in every game, so we shouldn't exactly expect the same sky-high efficiency and scoring upside moving forward. It's also possible Bucky Irving (shoulder) is good to go for Sunday night's matchup with the Rams. But if not? Tucker has earned the right to be the higher-ranked Bucs back due to his ascension over the team's last three games.
Every Sunday I sink into the couch with my dachshunds for about 10 hours to:
I only bring this up to preface this study with an admission that this is 100% an effort to build Troy Franklin and Xaiver Worthy slander regarding their inability to track down deep passes. Not that every deep misfire is on the WR – Patrick Mahomes overthrew Worthy on a potential long TD in Week 11 – but it really does seem like these two pass-catchers in particular are in a class of their own.
And *drumroll please* … It turns out they are! Especially Franklin. Note that I even included playoff data since both deserve credit for making some big plays last January/February.
Worst catch rates on passes thrown 30+ yards downfield 2024-2025 (min. 10 targets, including playoffs):
Worthy comes in as the 12th-worst deep ball receiver (4/19, 21%). Not great, but hey, that is somehow better than Malik Nabers (19%) and Rome Odunze (15%)! Of course, there's a *slight* difference in QB play at hand there.
On a positive note, George Pickens (58%), Jaxon Smith-Njigba (57%), DeVonta Smith(54%), and Nico Collins (50%) are the only WRs to haul in at least half of their targets thrown 30-plus yards downfield. You can view the whole list here.
"Unrealized air yards" measure the total amount of air yards on incomplete targets. This helps identify players who had all sorts of fantasy-friendly downfield opportunities, but they simply couldn't come up with completions for one reason or another.
Anyway, 11 players had at least 80 unrealized air yards in Week 11 (pre-MNF):
Unfortunately Odunze has been a bit of a regular in this section in recent weeks. The man was en fuego during the first four weeks of the season, but times have been tough since returning from the team's Week 5 bye.
Odunze PPR points per game:
Good news: Up next is a rather pristine matchup against the Steelers' 31st-ranked defense in PPR points per game allowed to opposing WRs. Odunze profiles as someone VERY capable of taking advantage of a Steelers defense that runs more man coverage than just about anyone:
Bears WR target share splits against man/zone coverage:
WR2 Ja'Marr Chase, WR12 Tee Higgins: Joe Flacco took over in Week 6. The highest scoring WRs in fantasy since (PPR points per game):
Not too shabby! Unfortunately, Chase has been suspended one game for spitting on Jalen Ramsey. His absence takes Higgins from an auto-start WR1 to a legit top-six option at the position against a Patriots defense that has allowed 14 receiving scores to opposing WRs this season—tied for the second most in the league.
WR7 Nico Collins: Has posted 7-136-0 and 9-92-1 receiving lines over the past two weeks with Davis Mills under center. Collins has an NFL-best 25 targets in this span! We should see the return of CJ Stroud (concussion) sooner rather than later, but it's nice knowing that Mills is capable enough to get the offense's clear-cut best player the rock. Collins is up to WR10 status on the season in PPR points per game after his rough start.
WR10 Emeka Egbuka, WR27 Tez Johnson: It was probably just the wind, but I did find it interesting that Egbuka posted a season-low 4.7-yard average target depth in Week 11. His previous single-game low was 11! My WR10 ranking reflects the reality that I'm not concerned here, although the return of Chris Godwin (fibula) could further squeeze the available targets. Reminder: Tez has actually out-scored Egbuka on a per-game basis (11.7 vs. 10.6) since Week 6. A hamstring injury did limit Egbuka to a 53% snap rate in Week 6, but this has quietly been a pretty rough dropoff.
Egbuka PPR points per game:
Good thing America loves a comeback!
WR17 Tetarioa McMillan: T-Mac's 8-130-2 masterclass against the Falcons was a good reminder of just how talented the rookie is. We shouldn't assume Bryce Young will perform at that level every week moving forward, but hey, it sure was a good data point! Ultimately, McMillan is on pace for 1,156 yards and six scores–that's good enough for weekly WR2 treatment in reasonable matchups like next Monday night's spot against the banged-up 49ers.
WR39 Jakobi Meyers: The NFL's leaderboard in most targets without a single receiving TD:
WR42 Luther Burden: The Bears' rather electric rookie appeared to leap Olamide Zaccheaus on the depth chart last week. Now, a newfound full-time role doesn't necessarily mean Burden will even finish as a weekly top-three target inside a passing game averaging a good-not-great 227 passing yards per game (13th), but it is a step in the right direction! Burden has been one of the game's most-efficient rookie WRs on a per-route basis and is someone worth scooping on the waiver wire if possible due to the potential end-of-season upside should Ben Johnson decide to emphasize getting him the rock.

WR43 Isaiah Hodgins: Immediately assumed a near every-down role with Darius Slayton (hamstring) sidelined. We've seen Hodgins randomly boom in this offense before, and having Jameis Winston under center is a pretty damn great recipe for getting the most out of an otherwise mediocre WR (just ask Breshad Perriman). Don't get too carried away, but Hodgins profiles as a sneaky-solid FLEX option against the Lions' banged-up secondary.
WR57 AD Mitchell: Had the most AD Mitchell game ever last Thursday night, displaying some truly awesome route-running savvy … and equally horrible hands. Have we ever seen AD Mitchell and Dontayvion Wicks in the same room at the same time?
The below chart denotes every top-24 TE's PPR scoring this season by what percentage of their points have come from receptions, yards, and TDs.

Some notes:
TE1 Trey McBride: You already know McBride is the TE1 in fantasy, but get this: Jaxon Smith-Njigba, Puka Nacua, Drake London, Ja'Marr Chase, Rashee Rice, and Amon-Ra St. Brown are the only *WRs* averaging more PPR points per game than Jacoby Brissett's soulmate. Hell yeah!
TE5 Travis Kelce: Kudos to the future Mr. Swift-Kelce for re-gaining his once elite YAC ability. We haven't seen 2025's TE5 in PPR points per game move this well in years!

TE7 Mark Andrews: Has scored 17 TDs in his last 19 regular season games with Lamar Jackson. It's a good thing too, because Andrews has gained 35 or more receiving yards in just one game all season, although I guess now we have to consider him a rushing threat as well.
TE9 Hunter Henry: Has one TD in his last seven games and hasn't surpassed 51 receiving yards in a game since Week 3. So what is he doing in the top 10? You guessed it: This Bengals matchup is borderline erotic for the TE position. Cincy is allowing a league-high 22.5 PPR points per game to opposing TE rooms–the difference between them and the 31st ranked Jaguars (4.7) is the same as Jacksonville and the league's 14th-ranked defense (Broncos)!
TE21 Darnell Washington: The Steelers don't feature one TE enough to actually feel good about any of them in fantasy land, but good god Darnell Washington is fun to watch. On behalf of Planet Earth, thank you for allowing the below highlights to exist, Arthur Smith.
