Dynasty Fantasy Football Stat Pack: Week 12
If you follow me on Twitter, you’ve probably noticed a series of tweets I share on a weekly basis regarding player and team defensive performances, all from a fantasy lens. I’m going to be sharing some of that same information with you here.
I use this each week as I am making my own lineup and waiver wire decisions and thought you might find this valuable as well.
Note: The scoring system used for this data is always PPR with four points for passing touchdowns.
All year to date fantasy ranks are based on total points.
Quarterbacks
Week Twelve QB1s (top 12 scorers)
Josh Allen bounced back from a couple of disappointing games in a big way on Thanksgiving, tossing two touchdowns and running for a third, placing him back in a familiar spot atop the quarterback rankings. Kyler Murray was back on the field after missing some time and posted one of the best fantasy performances of his season. The story of the week at the quarterback position may have been new Jets starter Mike White. The Jets benched struggling former second-overall pick Zach Wilson and replaced him with White, who passed for 315 yards and three touchdowns. His play, albeit against a fading Bears defense, made Garrett Wilson and Elijah Moore relevant.
Year to Date QB1s
While the top of the season-long quarterback rankings stayed nearly the same from the previous week, we saw a shakeup near the bottom. Injured Bears starter Justin Fields fell a couple of spots down to QB6, while Justin Herbert climbed up to QB9 on the year. Trevor Lawrence is back among the top-twelve, as expected, replacing a struggling and injured Aaron Rodgers. It feels like we may never see Rodgers name as a top-twelve season-long quarterback ever again.
QB1 Games this Season
Most QB1 Games Allowed
The Raiders continue to struggle against the quarterback position, allowing nine QB1 games on the year. This week, that means all systems go for Herbert, who is starting to get hot at the right time for fantasy managers. The Cardinals, Lions and Chiefs have each surrendered eight QB1 performances on the year. While Arizona gets a bye, Lawrence (vs. DET) and Joe Burrow (vs. KC) are obvious starts, as they are in most matchups. The Vikings (vs. White) and Dolphins (vs. Jimmy Garoppolo) are other teams allowing more than 24 fantasy points to opposing quarterbacks.
Twelve weeks in and the Eagles have still not allowed a single QB1 game. That poses certain problems for veteran quarterback Ryan Tannehill and the Titans. At this point in his career, Tannehill is a matchup-based quarterback anyway and this is not the week to trust him. Other teams posing difficult quarterback matchups include Cincinnati (vs. Patrick Mahomes), Buffalo (vs. Mac Jones), Denver (vs. Lamar Jackson), Houston (vs. Deshaun Watson) and San Francisco (vs. Tua Tagovailoa.)
Running Backs
Week Twelve RB1s (top 12 scorers)
In Week Twelve, we all got to witness one of the greatest single-game performances by a running back in league history. If you were really lucky, you even had Josh Jacobs in your starting lineup as he posted somewhere in the range of 50 fantasy points against the Seahawks. Jacobs rushed for 229 yards and caught six balls for another 74 yards, becoming one of the rare backs to total over 300 yards from scrimmage.
JaMycal Hasty benefitted from an in-game injury to starter Travis Etienne to finish as the RB5 for the week, while Samaje Perine and Rachaad White continued to play well in the absence of their respective teams’ starters. White might even be stealing that job from veteran Leonard Fournette.
Year to Date RB1s
With his career-best game, Jacobs climbed up to the RB2 for the season, while the injured Joe Mixon slid down two spots to the RB9. Jamaal Williams scored again and is now among the RB1 group, replacing Fournette.
RB1 Games this Season
Most RB1 Games Allowed
The Falcons and Chargers have each allowed eight RB1 games through twelve weeks. That is good news for the Steelers running game, though it is not yet clear who will draw the start with both Najee Harris and Jaylen Warren banged up. Warren seems to be trending in the right direction to play. The Chargers could make it back-to-back bangers for Jacobs, who will try to do the impossible and improve on his Week Twelve performance.
The Browns and Texans face each other and are among two of the three teams allowing over 29 fantasy points to opposing backfields. We were already locking Nick Chubb in fantasy lineups regardless of matchups but this makes rookie Dameon Pierce worthy of another shot after consecutive eight rushing yard games. The Seahawks are the third team allowing over 29 fantasy points per tilt but that might not even be enough to rely on the Rams backfield this week.
The Patriots have allowed one RB1 game all season and now face off against the Buffalo Bills and Devin Singletary. Probably not the week to gamble on the Bills backfield. Along with the Pats, the Commanders (vs. Saquon Barkley), 49ers (vs. Jeff Wilson) and Buccaneers (vs. Alvin Kamara) are the teams allowing less than 19 fantasy points per game.
Wide Receivers
Week Twelve WR1s (top 12 scorers)
Justin Jefferson went off on Thanksgiving night, carrying his Vikings team to a victory against the Patriots. Chris Godwin and Amon-Ra St. Brown were equally impressive. All three wideouts caught at least nine passes for 110 yards and a touchdown. Christian Watson endured an in-game quarterback change as backup Jordan Love took over for an injured Rodgers but the rookie receiver kept his touchdown streak alive. He now has six scores in the past three games and that leads all rookie receivers for the year.
Year to Date WR1s
As expected, Jefferson was the crucial riser of the week, jumping up two spots to reclaim the season-long WR2 spot. St. Brown and Tee Higgins rejoined the WR1 group, replacing Chris Olave and Tyler Lockett.
WR1 Games this Season
Most WR1 Games Allowed
The Lions have proven to be the team to pick on when choosing fantasy wideouts. They’ve allowed ten WR1 games on the season, two more than any other team. This week, that’s great news for Christian Kirk and company and the Lions host the Jaguars. The Rams, Titans, Falcons and Steelers have each given up at least seven WR1 games. That means fantasy managers might want to consider using the following receivers: Lockett and DK Metcalf (vs. LAR), AJ Brown and DeVonta Smith (vs. TEN), George Pickens and Diontae Johnson (vs. ATL) and Drake London (vs. PIT.)
The Texans and Giants have only given up one WR1 game all year, posing a difficult matchup for Amari Cooper (vs. HOU) and Terry McLaurin (vs. NYG) this week. The Colts (vs. CeeDee Lamb), Broncos (vs. Devin Duvernay) and Jets (vs. Jefferson/Adam Thielen) are the only three teams in the league holding opposing receivers to less than 28 fantasy points per game.
Tight Ends
Week Twelve TE1s (top 12 scorers)
It was another odd week for the tight end position, which is sadly becoming the norm. Dalton Schultz hauled in a pair of Turkey Day touchdowns, which was enough to earn him the TE1 rank for the week, while backups Jelani Woods and Josh Oliver each delivered their career-best game to rank among the top-three tight ends for the week.
Year to Date TE1s
David Njoku and Hayden Hurst each joined the top-twelve tight ends following their Week Twelve performance and each have the exact same amount of fantasy points, tying them for the TE8 spot. The Saints duo of “tight ends” Juwan Johnson and Taysom Hill each fell two spots while Cole Kmet and Tyler Higbee fell out of the TE1 group completely.
TE1 Games this Season
Most TE1 Games Allowed
The Seahawks have now allowed nine TE1 performances, the most in the league. This week, they face Higbee. While this seems like an obvious opportunity to start the Rams tight end, the team will be playing without Matthew Stafford and many others. Despite the matchup, I’d likely look elsewhere. The Falcons (vs. Pat Freiermuth) and Dolphins (vs. George Kittle) are a couple of players who absolutely deserve to be in starting lineups this week.
Five teams are tied, allowing just two TE1 games all year. To sort this out, let’s pivot to fantasy points allowed. There we see that three teams have allowed less than nine fantasy points per game. The 49ers (vs. Mike Gesicki), Commanders (vs. Chris Myarick) and Saints (vs. Cameron Brate) offer matchups concerning enough that none of these three should be considered this week.
Finally, here is the chart summarizing how teams have fared against each position. I’ve also included the schedule for this week for reference.
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