Fantasy Football Sleepers to Help You Survive In Week 12 (2024)

It’s that time of the NFL season when it’s even scarier than Halloween. Yeah, we’re talking about “Byemageddon Week.” Six teams are on bye; with the addition of some injuries, you might need a player who you can plug into your fantasy football matchups this week. Don’t worry; that is where I come in! Come take my hand. We’ll walk through this week together through the hell that is “Byemageddon.”

Before we begin, I always recap the previous “Shore Thing Sleepers,” which went well last week. I saw some slack for my picks, but while some were disappointing, some showed up big-time! Tyjae Spears, Diontae Johnson and Pat Freiermuth were huge whiffs, as they all performed over 3.5 points under projection. Ezekiel Elliott (+0.4) and Rome Odunze (+2.7) helped rescue me from those abysmal performances. Still, one player needs a shoutout for getting me out of that hole: Anthony Richardson, who scored 12.4 points over projection! Altogether, we ended on a positive, with 1.2 points over projection!

So, let’s scour the depths of who to consider in your Week 12 start/sit decisions.

Fantasy Football Start/Sit Consideration: Week 12 Sleepers

Quarterback

C.J. Stroud (Houston Texans)

After last season, I don’t think anybody expected C.J. Stroud to be considered a sleeper in Week 12. He’s been putting up constant duds starting in Week 7 and has not scored over 12.5 fantasy points since. Last week was the third game in his last five that he failed to score a touchdown. There was a slight difference last Monday, though, as the offense started on a wrong note when Nico Collins had a 77-yard touchdown called back… on the first play! If they start the game right, that should get the offense back to what we were seeing.

Stroud seems to excel in divisional games. Within his eight career divisional games, he has scored 12.4+ fantasy points in every game. The averages have been amazing, too, with 301.8 total yards, 1.8 total touchdowns, no interceptions and 20.1 fantasy points. What great timing that is when the Titans have also allowed quarterbacks to average 230 total yards, 2.5 total touchdowns, no interceptions and 21.7 fantasy points in their previous two games.

I know everybody hoped last week would be the week he would get out of this “sophomore slump.” However, I think it will be this week that the Ohio State standout does just that, especially when he excels in divisional games against a struggling divisional opponent.

Running Back

Roschon Johnson (Chicago Bears)

We’ve reached that point in the season where we must trust Roschon Johnson again. The Bears might have to do just that, as D’Andre Swift popped up on the injury report with a groin injury and did not practice on Wednesday and in a limited capacity on Thursday. This should explain why Johnson saw double-digit carries for only the second time this season on Sunday. I wouldn’t be surprised if Swift is inactive or, at the least, sees fewer carries for this game due to injury.

Admittedly, the Vikings have been tough against running backs this season, especially in the last three weeks. No running back has scored double-digit Points Per Reception (PPR) fantasy points or gone over 60 scrimmage yards in that span. However, in the three games this season that the Vikings have faced a running back with 15+ carries, they had 97+ rushing yards and 17.4+ fantasy points. This fits the Bears’ running back room, as they’ve had a running back carry the ball 14+ times in every game since Week 3.

Another thing to add is that Johnson has a touchdown upside, as he has scored five of the 11 rushing touchdowns by a Bears running back this season. At first glance, it might look rough, but a touchdown upside and a possible uptick in carries could guide us to a surplus of fantasy points.

Jeremy McNichols (Washington Commanders)

Don’t think I forgot those people in deeper fantasy football leagues! I am looking at Jeremy McNichols for those of you. In two games this season, McNichols has 42+ rushing yards in games where both Brian Robinson Jr. and Austin Ekeler played. Do you want to guess what both of those games had in common? The Commanders won in blowouts with combined victories of 74-20.

Now, I usually don’t look at games and say, “Oh, that’s going to be a blowout”. If you happen to succumb yourself to watching a quarter of Dallas Cowboys football, though, you will be saying that. Everything is bad for the Cowboys with back-to-back games of scoring 10 or fewer points. The defense is also allowing 34 points in that span. The total of the last two games has the Cowboys losing 68-16. A significant factor in these blowouts is not stopping the running back position. This season, the Cowboys have allowed the 10th-most rushing yards and second-most rushing touchdowns to the position. Making matters worse, the Cowboys have allowed an RB2 to score 4.9+ fantasy points in two of their last three games.

McNichols won’t even cost a nickel but can put up a nickel’s worth of fantasy points in deeper leagues.

Wide Receiver

Xavier Legette (Carolina Panthers)

Xavier Legette has social media abuzz with his twang and his lovable character. His name, alongside Jalen Coker, has also been buzzing on the football field! In the last three starts with Bryce Young, Legette is averaging 3.6 receptions on 5.6 targets for 35.6 yards, 0.6 touchdowns and 11.4 fantasy points. While he has not exceeded 40 receiving yards in any of those games, he’s still managed to put up at least seven fantasy points.

Posting few receiving yards but scoring touchdowns is exactly what the Chiefs have been allowing to wide receivers since their bye. That’s right, the Chiefs have not allowed a receiver to surpass 70 receiving yards since Week 5. While those numbers would normally have me looking away from a matchup, the Chiefs are tied for fourth in allowing the most receiving touchdowns to wide receivers with six. But wait, there’s more! The Chiefs have gone back-to-back games by allowing a trio of receivers to score seven-plus points!

This feels like the perfect set-up for the rookie. Despite being held to 40 or fewer receiving yards, he’s scored a touchdown in two of the last three of Young’s starts. The Chiefs have not allowed a wide receiver to go over 70 yards but allowed six touchdowns in a five-game span. That includes three of the six wide receivers to score a touchdown being held to 40 yards or fewer. I can Legette him riding “Dolla Bill” back to the sidelines from the end zone.

Justin Watson (Kansas City Chiefs)

You can truly never escape Justin Watson. Right when you begin to forget about him, he pops up. While this is more for those in deeper leagues, he is starting to bubble again, scoring 4.6+ fantasy points in three of his last four games. So, now that I have him on my radar, let’s look at the matchup: the Panthers.

Carolina has allowed a trio of receivers to score 5.8+ fantasy points in five of their last eight games. Watson might have only seen two targets in back-to-back games, but in three of the last five games, a receiver has only needed to see three-plus targets to surpass that 5.8-point threshold.

Anything is possible in this Kansas City offense. Just last week, we saw backup tight end Noah Gray scoring two touchdowns while Travis Kelce was held to two receptions for eight yards. With that in mind, I think Watson could be due for a bigger game than expected.

Tight End

Isaiah Likely (Baltimore Ravens)

Are we going back to this whole conundrum again? Last week, we saw Isaiah Likely out-produce Mark Andrews in every stat. If you look closely at the metrics, something adds up. Likely has seen five-plus targets in two games this season. Those two games are when Derrick Henry has seen the fewest rushing yards this season. Yes, in the two games where Henry was held to 65 or fewer rushing yards, Likely saw 75+ receiving yards.

Thanks to this, I’m putting a running back trend in a tight end writeup. The Chargers have not allowed a running back to go over 90 rushing yards in four straight games and over 50 in three games in that span.

The Chargers have also allowed a backup tight end to have more receiving yards than the primary in two of the last three games. It might be hard to stop Henry, but the Chargers’ defense has been performing very well this season. So if Henry struggles, which is definitely in the realm of possibility, Likely benefits from it.

Check out all of our Week 12 fantasy football content:

Thanks for reading this week’s “Shore Thing Sleepers.” If you’re looking for more fantasy content like this or need help with the last-minute fantasy football start/sit decisions for your roster, you can find me on Facebook at “Fantasy Sports Start or Sit’Em Questions” or on Twitter/X @FSSOSEQ.

*Photo Credit: Kirby Lee – USA TODAY Sports*

Ben Siebert

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Week 12 Shore Thing Sleepers (2024)