Fantasy Football Week 12 Sleepers, Who to Start, & Who to Sit
Wide Receivers
Start: Fantasy owners have been waiting for the day when they could finally start him–Josh Gordon will be back this week and is an immediate fringe WR1 as he takes on a woeful Falcons secondary that has allowed the sixth-most fantasy points to opposing wide-outs. Gordon may be rusty, but his chemistry with Brian Hoyer, a good matchup, and no real competition for targets mean I think he sets up for a good day. As a WR2, Mike Evans has quickly risen to the top of the ranks with three huge games his last three weeks. In each of those games he’s caught seven passes and totaled 124, 125, and 209 yards while finding the end zone five times. Up next for Evans is the Bears defense in Josh McCown’s revenge game, so look for Evans to keep piling up the yardage and get back into the end zone. After a slow start, Torrey Smith has found the end zone in five of his last seven games although he has yet to go over 100 yards. This week Smith should be able to produce solid numbers against a Saints secondary that has allowed five of the last six top-WR they’ve faced to score at least 15 points. (last week: Randall Cobb, DeSean Jackson, Mike Evans, Martavis Bryant)
Sit: With the emergence of Mike Evans, Vincent Jackson has taken a back seat and turned into more of a possession option catching short passes for short yardage. Last week he was only targeted four times and caught just three for 43 yards. If you have no other option, he still has potential, but he is far from the fringe WR1 he was at one point. Another fading option, Mohamed Sanu has definitely taken a back seat to A.J. Green and put up forgettable 2-20 and 3-23 performances the last two weeks. (last week: Keenan Allen, Andre Johnson)
Sleeper: After the Saints lost Brandin Cooks for the season with a broken thumb, they’ll need more production from Kenny Stills who should get more looks going forward. Stills scored a touchdown last week and has been a boom-or-bust play all season. Against the Ravens who allow the fifth-most points to opposing WR, Stills makes for a high-risk, high-reward play on Monday Night Football. Another big-play receiver worth a roll of the dice is Malcom Floyd who takes on the Rams secondary that has given up the fourth-most points per game to opposing WR. The Rams have allowed a WR touchdown in all but two of their games this season and have allowed receiving corps to total 190+ yards in five of their last six games. (last week: Anquan Boldin, Cordarrelle Patterson)