Fantasy football 2024: One QB, RB, WR and TE primed for huge Week 12 performances

We're back with another week of football, which begins on Thursday night when the Steelers take on the Browns.

Last week, I highlighted Russell Wilson as a top fantasy play. I was right about a couple other top plays as Joe Mixon and Jonnu Smith finished right at the top of their positions, but I was wrong on Wilson, who finished as the QB26 for the week, posting just 7.3 fantasy points against the Ravens.

And yet, the Steelers won that game, taking an 18-16 victory to move to 8-2 on the year. It's hard to believe this Steelers team is this good, but never doubt Mike Tomlin, I guess? The Steelers are on the verge of another above .500 finish and the team still has seven games left to go.

Let's take a look at one player at each skill position who is set to have a strong 2024 Week 12 performance for fantasy football.

Quarterback: Baker Mayfield - Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Baker Mayfield doesn't directly benefit from the quarterback turmoil in New York this week, as the team is moving on from Daniel Jones and starting Tommy DeVito instead, but he doesn't not benefit, right? Either the Giants offense struggles even more, leading to more possessions for the Bucs, or the Giants offense figures it out with DeVito under center and Mayfield has to keep pushing deep into the game.

Mayfield is coming off one of his worst games of the season, throwing for a season-low 116 yards. In the game before that, he had 200 yards. It hasn't been a great stretch, but those came against the Chiefs and 49ers.

Before that, Mayfield had a top 10 fantasy finish at quarterback in seven of the first eight games of the season. The former No. 1 overall pick has played very well for the Bucaneers with only a few slight hiccups along the way.

And a matchup with the Giants? That simply doesn't feel like one of those potential hiccups.

Running back: Brian Robinson Jr. - Washington Commanders

Washington Commanders running back Brian Robinson Jr. returned from a two-game absence last week and almost finished as an RB1 against the Eagles, with 16 carries for 63 yards and a touchdown as well as one catch for nine yards.

This week, Robinson gets a juicy matchup against a Dallas Cowboys team that's in turmoil right now. The Cowboys have seemingly forgotten how to play on both sides of the ball and their run defense has been awful, allowing the second-most rushing yards and most rushing touchdowns in the NFL this season.

On Monday night, Texans running back Joe Mixon demolished this defense. Mixon had 20 carries for 109 yards and three touchdowns in a 34-10 Houston win.

At this point, fantasy managers should fire up any running back facing the Cowboys. I don't even really care who the running back is. Robinson is a talented player so he's obviously a must-play, but the Commanders could lose all their running backs to the flu this week and sign a 47-year-old Trung Candidate and I'd recommend Candidate as a flex play.

Wide receiver: D.J. Moore - Chicago Bears

It's been a tough year for D.J. Moore and for this Bears passing attack as a whole. Chicago currently ranks 30th in passing yards and 31st in passing touchdowns.

But a Week 12 matchup with the Vikings could be an opportunity for the Bears offense to figure something out — or, at least, for Moore to figure something out against a defense that allows the third-most fantasy points per game to wide receivers.

Moore has just one finish as a fantasy WR1 this year and one other as a WR2, highlighting just how poorly this year has gone for him, though it's not for a lack of targets. Despite the struggles to produce, Moore's 73 targets rank a solid 18th in the NFL this year.

Aside from the matchup, something else that gives me some confidence in Moore is that he's coming off a strong showing against the Packers, catching all seven of his targets for 62 yards.

I know trusting Moore is a lot to ask with how this season has gone in Chicago, but I like the recent usage patterns and I really like the matchup. Not saying he'll be the best receiver in the league this week, but a top-15 fantasy finish is well within reach.

Tight end: Will Dissly - Los Angeles Chargers

Comparing the weekly tight end rankings now to what our preseason expectations were is so weird. For example, if I told you both Cade Otton and Will Dissly would be ranked ahead of T.J. Hockenson, Dallas Goedert, Mark Andrews and Sam LaPorta, you would have either lobbied for me to never speak about football again or you would have hailed me as a clairvoyant.

But things change, and this week that's the reality we exist in.

Ever since the Week 5 bye, Will Dissly has seen an uptick in work for the Chargers, with five or more targets in five of the six games.

That includes six targets last week against the Bengals, which Dissly turned into four receptions for 80 yards and his first touchdown of the season. The veteran tight end now has 12 targets and nine receptions over the past two games and at least 30 receiving yards in four of the last five Chargers games.

Once you get beyond the top five or so tight ends, everything's a bit of a mystery, but Dissly is playing some good football right now and faces a Ravens defense that allows the 10th-most fantasy points per game to the position. He's not an elite play, but fantasy managers with question marks at tight end can still grab Dissly in the majority of leagues, as he's only about 15% rostered right now.