Anyone who closely follows the Raiders-Broncos rivalry already knew that Michael Crabtree and Aqib Talib don’t like each other, but Crabtree owners were painfully reminded of it on Sunday. For the second year in a row, Talib pulled Crabtree’s necklace off during the game, setting off fisticuffs that led to both players being ejected and potentially facing further discipline.
Crabtree had a tough matchup to begin with, but the ejections happened before he could haul in a single catch for fantasy owners who had to stare at a big fat goose egg in their starting lineups. Amari Cooper was also forced out of the game after getting concussed from a nasty hit by Broncos safety Darian Stewart. Crabtree and Cooper would each likely benefit from a fantasy perspective if the other were to miss next week’s matchup with the Giants, but if both need to sit out, Raiders QB Derek Carr will have to rely on Cordarrelle Patterson and Jared Cook as his top options in the passing game. Not pretty.
He’s what else we learned in Week 12.
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Aaron Rodgers is worth stashing for the fantasy playoffs
Brett Hundley did his best Rodgers impersonation on Sunday night, throwing for three scores and no picks as the Packers came up just short of upsetting the Steelers at Heinz Field. But the more significant news for fantasy managers was how good Rodgers looked throwing the ball in warmups.
The Packers’ playoff chances took a hit when they failed to pull off the upset in Pittsburgh, but Green Bay isn’t out of it yet. They stand a great chance of beating Tampa Bay and Cleveland over the next two weeks, particularly if Hundley can continue to play like he did on Sunday.
That would leave the Packers with a 7-6 record heading into Week 15, when Rodgers is eligible to return. If they win out and get to 10 wins, a playoff berth is entirely within reach.
All of this means that Rodgers should be stashed in fantasy leagues. Weeks 15 and 16 are the semi-finals and finals in most fantasy leagues, and Rodgers was the first QB taken in drafts for a reason. Unless you have a short bench and already own Tom Brady, Russell Wilson, or Carson Wentz, you should find room to stash Rodgers if he’s available in your league.
Kareem Hunt’s fast start has become a distant memory
It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. Kareem Hunt’s rookie year has been a tale of three seasons.
In the first three games, Hunt was Superman, piling up 538 yards from scrimmage and scoring six touchdowns. Over the next four weeks, he was a Steady Eddie, failing to find the end zone but always topping 100 total yards. But over the last four weeks, he’s been an overmatched rookie, averaging just 58 total yards per game and 2.9 YPC — again with no touchdowns to speak of.
Hunt is now losing passing-down and hurry-up offense work to Charcandrick West, and his ineffectiveness in recent weeks is also having an impact on his rushing workload. He has now failed to receive 15 touches in two of the last three games. Plus, the Chiefs offense is struggling mightily as a whole, which doesn’t help matters.
Hunt is still the unquestioned lead back in an Andy Reid offense, and he’s already shown us what his upside looks like. So there’s still hope that he can find a way to finish the season the way he started it. But that will only happen if Hunt is given 20+ weekly touches — and the entire Kansas City offense can get back on track.
Alex Smith isn’t a reliable QB1
Speaking of the Chiefs’ offensive struggles, it turns out that Alex Smith is who we thought he was. I can’t fault fantasy managers who rode Smith while he was putting up big numbers through the season’s first seven games, but hopefully you realized it wouldn’t last.
Smith is a good game-manager, which has value in the NFL, but he has never been a consistent starter in fantasy leagues. He has never thrown for more than 3,502 yards or 23 touchdowns in any of his 12 seasons in the league.
He may top those marks this year because of his fast start, but he is still mostly the same quarterback he’s always been. Hopefully, you have a better option at QB for the stretch run, whether it be Aaron Rodgers, Philip Rivers, or even Case Keenum.
Devin Funchess is the new Kelvin Benjamin
Funchess likes life in Carolina without Benjamin around. Funchess has at least 86 yards in all three games since Benjamin was traded to Buffalo, and on Sunday he saw a whopping 12 targets.
Greg Olsen’s return didn’t have a significant impact on Funchess’ production, and Olsen wasn’t even able to make it through the entire game without re-aggravating his foot injury. Even if Olsen is fine, Funchess is the clear number one option in the Panthers’ passing game right now, and that makes him a weekly WR2 in fantasy leagues.
Robby Anderson is an every-week starter
An undrafted second-year receiver in a Josh McCown-led offense, Anderson has to be one of the more unlikely success stories in fantasy football this year. But here we stand with the calendar turning to December and Anderson ranks ninth in fantasy points at the wide receiver position in standard (non-PPR) leagues.
Simply put, Anderson is a big play waiting to happen. He now has six touchdowns in his last five games, many of them of the long-bomb variety. And he’s got at least one catch of 32 yards or more in six of his last nine games.
Big play receivers don’t tend to be the most reliable fantasy options (think DeSean Jackson), but Anderson seems to always be part of the game plan. He’s not likely to maintain WR1 production, but he deserves to be considered an every-week WR2 at this point.
Jay Ajayi’s workload remains worryingly low
As I mentioned in last week’s Running Back Roundup, Ajayi needs his touches to trend upward to be an attractive RB2 option. That seemed plausible as Ajayi became more acclimated to the Eagles offense, but on Sunday, the opposite happened. His touch totals in three games as an Eagle are now 8-8-6, which just isn’t going to get it done for fantasy owners.
There were reasons for optimism for Ajayi owners when he was dealt from Miami to Philadelphia, but it’s hard to see the move as a positive one at this point. Ajayi went from being a bell-cow in a lousy offense to a bit player in a good one. His role in Miami made him an RB2 with RB1 potential, but in Philadelphia, he is just a boom-or-bust flex option unless his role expands and he stops playing second fiddle to LeGarrette Blount.
Julio Jones is back with a vengeance
We never doubted that Julio Jones was a great player, but it was beginning to look like he was destined for a down year in an offense that wasn’t taking full advantage of his abilities. Then on Sunday, Jones erupted for 253 yards and two scores, putting up more fantasy points than he had managed in the previous four games combined.
Jones has caught just two touchdowns all year from Matt Ryan — one of the touchdowns on Sunday came on a pass from Mohamed Sanu — so it is still fair to wonder whether Ryan can consistently get the ball to Jones in the red zone. But at the end of the day, it’s not wise to bet against a player of Jones’ caliber. Outside of Antonio Brown, it’s tough to name a WR you’d rather have for the fantasy playoffs.
Joe Mixon finally delivered a big game
Just when it looked like Mixon might go the entire season without having a single nice fantasy day, he piled up 165 yards and a TD in Week 12 against the Browns. The Browns have a way of making other teams look good, and they haven’t been nearly as strong against the rush lately as they were earlier in the season. But it was an impressive performance by Mixon nonetheless.
The upcoming schedule (PIT, CHI, @MIN) is not favorable, but Mixon has both raw talent and opportunity on his side, so his owners will hope this game was the start of something. At the very least, they should feel a bit better about slotting him into their RB2 spot for the next couple weeks.
Cooper Kupp is stepping up
The Rams continue to be an elite offense, and that makes the top option in their passing game a strong play as well. Earlier in the year, that man was Robert Woods. Now, with Woods week-to-week with a shoulder injury, the time is right for Cooper Kupp.
Kupp saw a team-high 11 targets on Sunday and hauled in eight of them for 116 yards. Given that performance — and what Woods was doing before he went down — Kupp looks like a high-end WR2 for however long Woods remains sidelined.
Sammy Watkins also had a nice game, catching four of his nine targets for 82 yards and a score, and Josh Reynolds added four catches for 37 yards and a score. Watkins is a strong WR3/flex with Woods out, and Reynolds could soon find himself on the flex radar as well.
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Andrew Seifter is a featured writer at FantasyPros. For more from Andrew, check out his archive and follow him @andrew_seifter.
