Antonio Brown and Keenan Allen broke out of slumps in week 11 to produce major fantasy totals.
Brown showed once again why he is a coveted wide receiver, while Allen took advantage of good field position and scored for the first time since week 1. While Brown has been a slight disappointment, Allen has underperformed regularly, despite being heavily targeted.
He’s due to have a big end to the season, so keep an eye on him for Daily Fantasy contests. Here’s the week 12 wide receivers start ’em, sit ’em guide for fantasy football.
Start
Rishard Matthews vs. Indianapolis Colts
Matthews is like several other fantasy wide receivers. He’s an inconsistent producer.
He was good in week 9 and 11, but not so good in week 10. The key in those totals is that he’s still being targeted relatively the same amount of times at about seven per game. That’s not great, but not terrible.
He’s not a boom or bust candidate, so I feel good about starting him against a Colts defense that ranks 30th in passing yards allowed. They rank in the bottom-10 in fantasy points allowed to wide receivers, too.
The matchup is strong and I expect Marcus Mariota to have a better outing than he’s had in previous weeks.
Cooper Kupp vs. New Orleans Saints
Of all the wide receivers to earn a bump after the Robert Woods injury, I’d side with Kupp.
He’s more consistent in his targets pre-Woods injury, at about seven per game. What’s also nice about Kupp is that he catches a lot of those targets, too, but for relatively low yardage totals.
Someone is going to have to step up in Woods’ absence. Sammy Watkins will get some more looks, but Kupp should increase his target-load a little, too. I trust Kupp more in the slot anyway, going against a defense allowing just 166 passing yards per game on the road.
Kupp offers value and should see a slight increase in targets.
Jeremy Maclin vs. Houston Texans
The Ravens will have to pass against Houston. So that has to create more value for this lifeless passing game.
Joe Flacco looks terrible, but he’s facing a Houston team allowing 287 yards passing per game in the last three games. During that time, the Texans have actually been one of the best teams against the run.
That should create some opportunities for this Ravens passing game that’s been missing in action this season. Maclin offers the best opportunity to steal some fantasy points, so look for him to get more than his five targets per game, and provide some much-needed relief for this offense.
Sit
Robby Anderson vs. Carolina Panthers
Anderson has displayed some nice production in recent weeks with touchdowns in four consecutive games.
It’s not like he’s been a target monster during that time, though, registering more than five targets twice, and never attracting more than seven in that span.
He’s on a relatively low-powered offense, where he garners about six targets a game. And he’s facing a defense ranked in the top-five against the pass.
The Jets won’t be able to move the ball through the air against Carolina. That will limit Anderson’s targets and production. You can find a better receiver on your bench to start this week.
Jordy Nelson vs. Pittsburgh Steelers
I know Green Bay fans miss Aaron Rodgers, but I bet they don’t miss him as much as Nelson. There’s always been questions about Nelson’s abilities as a go-to receiver based on having Rodgers as his quarterback.
He’s been answering those critics with disappointing results in recent weeks.
Since week 6 when Rodgers went out with injury, Nelson has 21 targets in four games. Even worse, he has only 10 catches in that time period, with no touchdowns and less than 40 yards receiving in each game.
It’s obvious he doesn’t have much of a rapport with Brett Hundley and that gets even worse against a Pittsburgh defense that allows the fourth-fewest fantasy points per game to wide receivers. Forget about his draft position and put him on the bench.
Marvin Jones vs. Minnesota Vikings
Jones has been really good in three of the last four weeks, ranking fourth during that stretch among fantasy wide receivers.
But I still am not sold on him being a plug and play wide receiver. He’s not a target monster in all instances (he went from 36 combined targets in three weeks to two targets the next week at one point this season), and he’s in an offense that spreads the ball around a lot.
That worries me against a Vikings defense that allows just 212 yards passing per game. What also has me backing off the Jones bandwagon is Minnesota’s ability to limit touchdowns through the air. Only Baltimore and Jacksonville (don’t sleep on this stat, the Jaguars have allowed one touchdown to wide receivers this year) have allowed fewer touchdowns to wide receivers than the Vikings.
Jones generally needs touchdowns to be highly productive. If you have someone with a better matchup, put him in as your WR2/3.
