Week 12 Fantasy Football Cheat Sheet: Shedeur Sanders, Rhamondre Stevenson and More
Everything you need to know for Week 12 as we barrel into the weekend ... in one spot!
Week 12 holds an odd little place in fantasy football—multiple teams in leagues are out of it and either relishing a spoiler run or suggesting "we switch to dynasty!" Plus, Thanksgiving is staring us down. And, of course, Shedeur Sanders is starting.
Let's start there!
Our Fantasy Life expert rankers have Sanders as the consensus 30th QB. Go back a year with me, won't you?, to a time when almost every NFL Draft expert had Sanders at No. 1 overall. Imagine telling them Sanders was starting for the Browns—"Oh, so he went second overall!"—and then explaining his draft-day slide and Cleveland's subsequent (although never surprising) backslide into messiness.
Now just play along with me for one more second — what if all these draft experts... were right? And Sanders really is an uber-talented QB? Is 30 too low? And to take it a step deeper ... if you're 4-7 and out of it, and Jameis Winston is already rostered, wouldn't you add Sanders to start at QB just to watch and cheer for what should be, at the very least, an interesting performance? Stack him with Jerry Jeudy! (consensus WR40 in our rankings) — who Sanders wondered aloud if he'd ever actually thrown a pass to after finally getting reps with the first team this week.
I don't know what it's like to be 4-7, obviously, but I could imagine a world where if I was -- and again, definitely not me in this example-- I would end-game this team with IDGAF players I want to watch air it out, like Sanders, Jeudy, Matthew Golden, and more. It's not so much laying down; it elevates the end of a lost season.
On to the cheating!
Saturday's Newsletter Was Awesome
Oh they're plugging their own stuff right off the bat!
No -- well okay technically yes... but it was just really funny. Jake Trowbridge somehow tied green chile scents back to fantasy football.
Andrei Iosivas' Name Keeps Popping Up
One of the most helpful columns on the site is Jonathan Fuller's "Late Week Pickups" column—kind of a second set of waivers advice after four days of news. In it, Fuller suggests adding Andrei Iosivas while Ja'Marr Chase serves out his one-game suspension.
He doesn't hold a ton of appeal for the rest of the season, but if you are in win-now mode, I like Iosivas as the best weekly streaming option who is available in nearly every league.
And Coach Gene Clemons, in his start/sit column added this in naming Iosivas a "start:"
They will need to pass the ball. With no Ja'Marr Chase to throw to, Iosivas is the next man up. He is a big-bodied receiver that we have already seen have a WR11 finish just three weeks ago. He will not get all of the Chase targets, but he should get a healthy injection of them.
There is also a chance that Joe Burrow is back for this one. Can you say “rocket boost?" I can. Tee Higgins will likely draw Christian Gonzalez in coverage and the Patriots have one of the best rush defenses in the NFL, so running the ball will not be easy. It opens the door for a massive day from the former Princeton Tiger regardless of who is passing him the ball.
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...So Does Luther Burden's
Jake Trowbridge suggests stashing Luther Burden (rostered in about 11% of Yahoo leagues), and Fuller says he's good enough to stream now. Our experts are remarkably close on their Burden takes: 
Freedman features Burden in his "Best of the Rest" section in his WR rankings column:
The rookie Burden has an efficient 10.8 yards per target, and last week he had a career-high 61% route rate and 18% target share. The Steelers are No. 2 in most fantasy points allowed to WRs (31.6), and starting CBs Darius Slay (concussion) and Brandin Echols (ankle) might be out.
Keith Bulluck Calls Bullsh**t on A Couple Young QB Takes
If you aren't watching Keith Bulluck's web show, Bullseye View, you're missing out. This week, he took on (among other things) Sanders — giving his take that he's never been on a team where the backup didn't get reps:
"Every team that I've been on, the backup usually got two to three reps at the end of each period... they save a couple reps for the backup."
Bulluck then went on to offer support for Cam Ward, also calling "bulls**t" on people who don't see the signs that Cam Ward has improved after 10 games.
"I don't know how many adults were good at their job the first 10 days after going to their job"
Something For Your Earholes
There's a new set of hosts on Fantasy Football Weekly—Corey Parson, Brian Johnson, Faraz Siddiqi and John Laghezza (of Start/Sit column fame here)—and it's a great, fun, energetic show. You can check it out on Apple Podcasts here. Perhaps you will love it as much as I love Shedeur Sanders.
(And here's the "earholes" reference, for those who aren't familiar with an obscure Tribe Called Quest song from 30 years ago).
Time to Worry About Kyren Williams?
This Week's "Talk Data To Me" was all about the latest data-driven trends in fantasy, and answers the buzzy question: "Should we be worried about Kyren Williams?" If you have him, you may want to not watch, as the phrase "there are several red flags here with Kyren Williams" is uttered very early on.
Williams' rushing props have gone down each of the last three weeks, and his UR Score has gone from 85 in his first six games to 73 in his last four.
Looking For a Quick Shot of Adrenaline?
I'm biased here, but if you haven't done a Guillotine League yet, there's no need to wait until next year. Grab four friends and start a five-week league — Thanksgiving to New Year's! There's no ulterior motive here ... our staff is wrapping up two "Halloween to Thanksgiving" ones and it's a legitimately fun rush. Plus it's kind of bizarre (in a good way) to do a late-season draft with what we know now, and also kind of weird (in a good way) to play with five all-star teams.
A Surprise "Start" Recommendation
We've brought up the start/sit column here already, but Big John Laghezza had a HOT TAKE: start Rhamondre Stevenson.
Cincinnati’s run defense ranks 30th or worse almost literally across the board, allowing nearly 29 fantasy points to opposing running backs per game—which is nearly 23% worse than the next team! The bottom line is, we get another week to fight over the Patriots’ deserved starter because they’re both in line for 15+ fantasy points Sunday.
And if Rhamondre Stevenson out-touches TreVeyon Henderson, don’t say I didn’t warn you.
Good luck to everyone in Week 12! And remember to tune in to our weekly start/sit show on YouTube Sunday morning at 10! Ian Hartitz and Chris Allen take all the questions you can throw at them!
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