Stars of Week 12

QB:  Patrick Mahomes, KC: 37-49, 462 yards, 3 TDs, 0 INTs

RB: Derrick Henry, TEN: 27 carries, 178 yards, 3 TDs

WR: Tyreek Hill, KC: 13 catches, 269 yards, 3 TDs

TE: Evan Engram, NYG: 6 catches, 129 yards, 0 TDs

We had some monstrous performances in Week 12 from the usual suspects. The league’s top quarterback, Patrick Mahomes, lit the Buccaneers’ defense on fire this past Sunday, passing for 462 yards and 3 TDs. One of his top battery mates joined him in making this week’s honor roll, as we’ll get to below. 

While there will never be another Marshawn Lynch, the Tennessee Titans’ Derrick Henry presents the closest resemblance from the current crop of NFL running backs. Henry diligently wears the other team’s front seven down, and by the third quarter of games, players are loathe to tackle him. Henry rampaged through the Colts’ defense and scored three TDs, racking up 178 rushing yards. He remains an easy top-5 RB.

Wide receiver Tyreek Hill, and not tight end Travis Kelce, is the Chiefs’ pass catcher who led his position for the week. Hill demoralized the Bucs’ secondary, and many fantasy team opponents, with 269 receiving yards and 3 TDs, catching 13 passes from Mahomes. Hill also remains a weekly top 5 option at his position.

New York Giants’ tight end Evan Engram crashes the leader board as the fourth and final member of the week 12 top performers. Engram has had an up-and-down season to date, with only one TD for the season, and now with his first 100 yard performance. Engram has always had top-5 talent at the position, but has been slowed down by injuries and inconsistency. While he’s a weekly starter for fantasy purposes, the inconsistency will continue to be an issue.  

Week 12 Takeaways – A Closer Look 

Each week we take a closer look at a handful of performances and sort out what such performances mean going forward. 

Taysom Hill, QB – NO: 10 carries, 44 yards, 2 TDs

Alvin Kamara, RB - NO: 11 carries, 54 yards, 0 TDs

Latavius Murray, RB – NO: 19 carries, 124 yards, 2 TDs

Analysis: With Drew Brees out for multiple weeks with rib injuries and swiss army knife Taysom Hill handling QB duties in Brees’ absence, there has been a temporary shift in how the team’s backfield shakes out. The unambiguous loser of Hill’s arrival thus far has been Alvin Kamara, who had been a top-3 fantasy RB for this season…at least up until Hill took over QB duties. Over the last two games, the rushing totals have looked as follows:

With Hill extremely limited in the passing game, Sean Payton has to scheme easy play designs for him, much of which results in Hill running, which eats into the rushing pie. Given Hill’s size and rushing propensity, now that he’s on the field on each offensive snap, he also gets more goal line carries. And given much fewer pass plays called, this means that Kamara will get less looks in the passing game – where much of his value comes from. As for Murray, his leading portion of carries comes in part due to the Saints handily leading in both games, so I’m less worried about Murray taking Kamara’s carries as the new normal. Ultimately, as long as Hill has the reigns as the Saints’ QB, Kamara drops down to RB2 status due to a reduction in passing volume and TD chances. Murray gets a slight bump to weekly flex status, just due to the higher proportion of run calls. If you’re a Kamara owner, don’t panic, but hope that Brees returns to the lineup ASAP. 

Cam Akers, RB - LAR: 9 carries, 84 yards, 1 TD

Analysis: The Los Angeles Rams’ running game has been hard to peg this season from a fantasy perspective, as they have employed a troika of RBs, all of whom have been productive. Second year player Darrell Henderson has gotten the most run (pun intended), while veteran Malcolm Brown has been used frequently at the goal line, as evidenced by his five rushing TDs. With that said, the most talented RB on the team could very well be option number 3, rookie Cam Akers. The Florida State product came into the league with bell cow potential, as a strong downhill, between-the-tackles runner with good size. While Henderson and Brown have received the majority of the carries this season, Akers has seen his usage increase over the past five weeks, averaging 8.4 carries per game and more than 5.5 yards per carry over this time. Against the 49ers, Akers comfortably outperformed his RB counterparts, with 84 rushing yards and a TD over 9 carries, while Henderson was limited to 19 yards over 10 caries, and Brown to only 4 yards over 3 totes. Looking at the snap count (per PFF), it was actually Brown who led the group with 25 snaps, with 20 for Henderson and 17 for Akers. While still the lowest of the three, Akers made the most of his snaps and he’s slowly cutting into Henderson’s and Brown’s snaps. Expect Akers’ usage to continue to trend upward, mirroring his performance. This is your last chance to snag Akers off the wire, so if you need an RB, make sure to put your claim in for him. 

Deebo Samuel, WR - SF: 11 catches, 134 yards, 0 TDs

Analysis: No team in the NFL has been ravaged by injuries more than the San Francisco 49ers during this wacky 2020 season. The 49ers have been without their top QB, RB, WR and TE for long stretches of the season, and that’s not even touching on their losses on defense. In any event, reinforcements have started to arrive, as both top wide receiver Deebo Samuel and top running back Raheem Mostert came back this weekend to face the Rams, after having been out several weeks. For purposes of this article, we’ll take a closer look at the former. For some reason, Samuel remains available in 45% of leagues at the time of this writing. That number should be 0%. Even with shoddy QB play, Samuel is a matchup nightmare for defenses, with bubble screens, yards-after-the-catch, and the like that even a mediocre QB can’t screw up. Samuel made his presence felt against the Rams with 11 catches for 134 yards, despite having Nick Mullins at QB. The hope is for starting QB Jimmy Garappolo to return over the next few weeks, which would boost Samuel’s value even further. But regardless, Samuel will continue to threaten 100 yards per game from scrimmage, and he’s a weekly WR2 to flex option, depending upon matchup. Samuel’s your top add at WR in case he remains available in your league. 

Sterling Shepard, WR - NYG: 7 catches, 64 yards, 0 TDs

Analysis: The New York Giants sit at 4-7 after Thanksgiving weekend – and that’s good enough for a first place tie in the NFC Least! We can sit here and riff on the NFC East all day, but instead we’ll focus on something more useful. The Giants have quietly played resilient football, being competitive in almost every game they play. While the team lost star RB Saquon Barkley early in the season due to injury, a few weeks back the Giants did get a key component of their offense back in Sterling Shepard. And while the stats don’t flash, Shepard has been remarkably relevant and consistent, especially for PPR leagues. In his five games since returning from injury, Shepard has had no less than 6 receptions in any game, with receiving yards ranging from a low of 39 yards to a high of 74, with an average just under 57 yards. In a PPR league, that average performance amounts to a solid 11.7 points per game, setting aside any TDs. While he’s only had one TD over that span, TDs are fluky and it’s reasonable to expect positive regression to follow. Sterling Shepard, and not Darius Slayton, is the top Giants’ WR to own. Shepard needs to be owned in all PPR leagues, deployed as a high end WR3 / flex play. Shepard should also be owned in deeper standard leagues (12 plus teams), as he’s a lower end WR3 / flex play in such leagues. Shepard faces a very friendly Seahawks’ secondary next week, and can help you if you need a WR. 

Rapid Fire Pickups 

Each week we throw out potential free agent pickups from each position for deeper leagues, in each case 1) someone who has NOT been featured above, and 2) a player available in more than 50% of leagues.

QB: Kirk Cousins, MIN (vs JAC)

RB: Frank Gore, NYJ (vs LV)

RB: Devontae Booker, LV (at NYJ) *if Josh Jacobs is out

WR: Allen Lazard, GB (vs PHI)

WR: Darnell Mooney, CHI (vs DET)

TE: Trey Burton, IND (at HOU)