John Brown could produce beyond his week 12 ranking against a poor 49ers team

Still recovering from the unusually high quantities of tryptophan in your system? Hopefully Thanksgiving was very generous to you from a food and football perspective. Unfortunately, if you were on the wrong side of the scoreboard, for example, starting Tony Romo or any other Cowboys player, it was a bad break (no pun intended). Lineup decisions can be hard at any time in the season, but even moreso when fantasy playoff positioning is on the line. With so much riding at this time of the year, we’re here to do our best with helping you out.

We’ve combed through the consensus rankings to pinpoint players that the top-ranked experts have dissenting opinions on. If you’re not sure about starting a player on your roster, have a look below to see if one of their names are mentioned by our featured pundits.

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Wide Receivers

John Brown: WR, ARI at SF
Consensus Rank: WR27 | Jody’s Rank: WR17
“With the way QB Carson Palmer has been tearing up the league lately, and with San Francisco’s offense stuck in neutral, this is a great week to captilize by starting Brown and any of Arizona’s now healthy receiving corps. Brown lines up all over the field and will be utilized in ways to attack San Francisco’s defensive backs, who all have below average grades at Pro Football Focus. The last three times Brown has faced the 49ers, he’s averaged just under seven targets and 55 yards per game, with two touchowns. He’s a stong WR3/Flex play this week.”
– Jody Smith (Gridiron Experts)

Michael Crabtree: WR, OAK at TEN
Consensus Rank: WR18 | Maurile’s Rank WR10
“The Raiders are coming off a disappointing week, but this passing offense still has firepower. The large majority of Derek Carr’s targets go to the team’s top two wide receivers, and Crabtree has gotten 13% more targets than Amari Cooper. Crabtree is also an effective target in the red zone, and has scored four touchdowns in the team’s last five games.”
– Maurile Tremblay (Footballguys)

Stefon Diggs: WR, MIN at ATL
Consensus Rank: WR26 | Kyle’s Rank: WR16
“Diggs has effectively established himself as the preferred receiver for Teddy Bridgewater and is averaging over 80 receiving yards per game. While the Vikings remain a run-first team and Diggs isn’t an every week WR2, he’ll find himself as one in a more favorable matchup. Expect Atlanta to move the ball and Diggs to be plenty involved as the Vikings try to keep pace.”
– Kyle Wachtel (Forensic Fantasy)

Martavis Bryant: WR, PIT at SEA
Consensus Rank: WR17 | Sigmund’s Rank WR6
“Bryant has scored five touchdowns in five games and only failed to score when Ben Roethlisberger was rusty in his first game back from an injury. The Seahawks pass defense at home gave up a huge game to a similar receiver two weeks ago in Michael Floyd, and if the Seahawks devoted Earl Thomas over the top to keep Bryant from going vertical, Antonio Brown is going to eat them alive. The Steelers’ vertical pass offense is very similar to Arizona’s, who put up 39 points in Seattle two weeks ago.”
– Sigmund Bloom (Footballguys)

Running Backs

Latavius Murray: RB, OAK at TEN
Consensus Rank: RB16 | Rich’s Rank: RB10
“My thoughts on Murray are a combination of the Oakland running game due some positive regression over the past two weeks, the Titans schedule inflated rush defense, and the current running back landscape being a wasteland. Murray ranks 5th in the league in interior rushing (guard to guard runs) and the Titans have played one of the worst run schedules in the league. Quality backs have posted fine fantasy days against them and Murray dominates red zone touches for the Oakland backfield.”
– Rich Hribar (The Fake Football)

Frank Gore: RB, IND vs. TB
Consensus Rank: RB20 | Sean’s Rank: RB13
“Fears of Ahmad Bradshaw’s return are overblown as Frank Gore has been used more heavily in the two weeks since Pep Hamilton left town, than at any point in the season despite sitting out a portion of last week’s game with a quad injury. He’ll face the Buccaneers who’ve allowed over 400 yards to running backs the past three weeks. He’s in prime position to capitalize on the Bucs’ recent vulnerability to receiving backs after having been targeted 19 times in the last four weeks. From a consistency and usage standpoint, it’s difficult not to rank Gore as an RB2 given that he’s playing for a favored home team trying to take the load off a veteran quarterback’s aging shoulders, in a game predicted to be among the week’s highest scoring.”
– Sean Morris (Bruno Boys)

Quarterbacks

Matt Ryan: QB, ATL vs. MIN
Consensus Rank: QB15 | Pat’s Rank: QB7
“Ryan provides a high, stable yardage floor — he’s thrown for more than 250 yards in every game this season, with an average of 298.2. He’ll be playing at home, where he’s thrown five TD passes in his last two starts. With the status of RB Devonta Freeman uncertain due to the concussion he sustained last week, the Falcons’ offense could be pass-heavy on Sunday. And while the Vikings would apppear to be a tough matchup on paper, Minnesota has faced few good quarterbacks this season.”
– Pat Fitzmaurice (The Football Girl)

Brian Hoyer: QB, HOU vs. NO
Consensus Rank: QB8 | Maurile’s Rank: QB2
“With Hoyer, it’s about volume and matchup. The Texans have averaged over 70 offensive plays per game this season (not including sacks), substantially above the league average of 62. And they’ve passed the ball on 61% of those plays, also above the league average of 57%. This week they face the Saints, who have been God’s Gift to Fantasy Opponents lately. Even good teams can’t cover DeAndre Hopkins. I think the Hoyer-Hopkins connection could go nuts against the Saints.”
– Maurile Tremblay (Footballguys)

Tight Ends

Heath Miller: TE, PIT at SEA
Consensus Rank: TE16 | Phil’s Rank: TE9
“After allowing a top 12 finish to Jermaine Gresham in Week 10 and a top 5 finish to Vance McDonald last week, Seattle has now let up the third-most fantasy points to opposing tight ends this season. Since Ben Roethlisberger returned from injury in Week 8, Miller has seen between 6 and 13 targets in every game, including 18% of Pittsburgh’s red zone targets. I see something in the neighborhood of a 5-50-1 receiving line as closer to Miller’s baseline projection than his ceiling in this matchup, making him an easy top 10 choice at tight end this week.”
– Phil Alexander (Footballguys)

Jacob Tamme: TE, ATL vs. MIN
Consensus Rank: TE20 | Dawgmatica’s Rank: TE11
“During the three games WR Leonard Hankerson missed between Weeks 7-9, Jacob Tamme caught 20 of 28 targets (6.7 receptions/game) for 200 yards (66.7 yards/game) and one touchdown. Basically, it was no coincidence that Tamme had just one catch for 16 yards on three targets in Week 11. With Hankerson ruled “Out” for the game against the Vikings this week, I expect Tamme to go back up to around 10 targets, which should be enough to do some fantasy damage.”
– Dawgmatica (Pyromaniac)

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Running Backs

LeGarrette Blount: RB, NE at DEN
Consensus Rank: RB18 | Walter’s Rank: RB32
“The Broncos have the NFL’s No. 1 rush defense. They surrender close to three yards per carry, and they haven’t given up 100-plus yards to opposing running backs since Week 2. Meanwhile, the Patriots are having major issues on their offensive line. They’ve also struggled to move the ball, so LeGarrette Blount may not be in a position to score a touchdown. If he isn’t, Blount may have trouble posting six points in standard-league scoring.”
– Walter Cherepinsky (WalterFootball)

Lamar Miller: RB, MIA at NYJ
Consensus Rank: RB15 | Jody’s Rank: RB26
“Traveling to New York to take on a ferocious Jets defense that’s allowed the fewest rushing yards and only one rushing touchdown all year is going to be a tough task for Miller. Usage is also a concern, despite being the RB4 on the season, Miller has yet to get 20 carries in any single game. He’s also now ceding a further half-dozen touches to rookie RB Jay Ajayi, further lowering his ceiling. With Miami’s passing game sputtering and receiving corps questionable, the Jets are likely to put an even larger emphasis on neutralizing the Dolphins biggest strength – running the ball with Miller.”
– Jody Smith (Gridiron Experts)

Quarterbacks

Blake Bortles: QB, JAC vs. SD
Consensus Rank: QB7 | Sigmund’s Rank QB23
“Bortles’ biggest games this year have come when the Jaguars have been playing from behind against defenses nursing leads. The Jaguars would rather be balanced and not put as much on Bortles when the Jags play with a lead or in a back and forth game. The Chargers are limping in and unlikely to put up much of a battle and Bortles has just been a middling option in that kind of game, not to mention Jason Verrett’s ability to cover Bortles’ best option, Allen Robinson.”
– Sigmund Bloom (Footballguys)

Ben Roethlisberger: QB, PIT at SEA
Consensus Rank: QB12 | Sean’s Rank QB20
“Big Ben goes up against what is still the league’s top pass defense this week, so establishing his rank is a balancing act. On paper, the Seahawks still allow a very low 207 yards/g through the air. However, breaking down each game you can see they have really faced some bad QBs this year and have recently looked beatable by Carson Palmer and Blaine Gabbert (of all people). I think Big Ben is still a low end QB1 this week and most owners will still have to roll with him, but expectations should be tempered in this less than ideal matchup.”
– Sean Koerner (STATS)

Wide Receivers

Emmanuel Sanders: WR, DEN vs. NE
Consensus Rank: WR35 | Scott’s Rank: WR49
“I’ll take a wait-and-see approach with Sanders. He didn’t play at all last week, he went without a reception in the Kansas City game, and he’s taken less reps with Brock Osweiler than the other primary receivers on the Denver roster.”
– Scott Pianowski (Yahoo)

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Thank you to the experts for sharing their dissenting opinions. You can get additional lineup advice with My Playbook.