Fantasy Football Week 12 Streaming Options
Bye weeks may be a thing of the past for the 2017 season, but that doesn’t mean an end to streaming players. The stream can still provide value at fantasy’s three most fungible positions: quarterback, tight end and defense.
For streaming purposes, 4for4’s Schedule-Adjusted Fantasy Points Allowed (aFPA) is a metric we rely on heavily to determine weekly matchup strength. As the season progresses and more data is available, aFPA becomes more and more reliable, using rolling 10-week data. Targets and efficiency metrics are also considered when coming up with weekly streamers.
To provide advice that you can actually use, candidates for streaming must be available in at least 50% of Yahoo fantasy leagues.
Quarterbacks
Joe Flacco, Ravens vs. Texans (14% owned)
The Texans sit dead last in quarterback aFPA, surrendering the league’s most fantasy points to the position weekly, including a 257-yard, 3-touchdown performance from the inimitable Blaine Gabbert in Week 11. Flacco gets a home contest with the Texans on Monday night, in a game where the Ravens are favored by seven points. He doesn’t have a huge fantasy ceiling, and a bad defense alone can’t change that, but he does have a high enough floor to carry potential low-end QB1 value this week.
Week 12 Fantasy Football Rankings
Jacoby Brissett, Colts vs. Titans (19% owned)
The Colts second-year quarterback is in the concussion protocol, but is expected to be cleared to play in the team’s Week 12 showdown with Tennessee. Brissett has been impressive thus far, posting 2,172 passing yards with nine touchdowns, plus another 154 rushing yards and three scores on the ground this season.
The Titans rank 26th in quarterback aFPA, 27th in wide receiver aFPA and 16th against tight ends, which bodes well for Brissett and his two main targets, T.Y. Hilton and Jack Doyle. The Titans come into the game as 3.5-point favorites, but the Colts still have a healthy implied total of 20.5 points.
Case Keenum, Vikings at Detroit (43% owned)
In Week 11, Keenum led the Vikings to a big victory over the Rams, racking up 280 yards and a touchdown in the 24-7 romp. He gets the starting nod again on Thursday, in a short-week, Thanksgiving Day contest in Detroit.
The Lions defense has been pretty stout this season as a unit, yet rank 18th in quarterback aFPA. Keenum has one of the best sets of weapons in the league, headlined by Adam Thielen and Stefon Diggs. In nine games so far this season, Keenum has shown a high enough ceiling and floor to keep him in the mix as a go-to streamer, regardless of matchup.
Tight Ends
Tyler Kroft, Bengals vs. Browns (45% owned)
Over the past four weeks, Kroft ranks 13th in both targets and PPR points among tight ends, doing it on an offense that has struggled to put points on the board. He’s averaging 8.2 fantasy points per contest and has been a quality streamer for us this season.
Fantasy Football Week 12 Injury Report
Kroft gets a home tilt versus the Browns this week, a defense ranked 30th in tight end aFPA. Cleveland is allowing an average of 17.6 PPR points to enemy tight ends. Remember, too, that Kroft added to that total when these teams first met in Week 4. He had six catches for 68 yards and two scores in that game, and is a threat to push or match those numbers this week.
George Kittle/Garrett Celek, 49ers vs. Seahawks (3% and 1% owned)
Whichever tight end starts for the 49ers this week will be a worthy streamer against a Seahawks defense that ranks 21st in tight end aFPA and is reeling without Richard Sherman and Kam Chancellor. Kittle was out in Week 10, the Niners last game, opening the door for Celek, who stepped through to the tune of four catches for 67 yards and a touchdown against the Giants. Whoever starts has enough touchdown upside to be in the low-end TE1 discussion this week.
Martellus Bennett, Patriots vs. Dolphins (34% owned)
Bennett got the same amount of targets as Rob Gronkowski saw the same amount of targets in the Patriots 33-8 win over the Raiders in Mexico City last week. Some of that likely had to do with the score, but it’s clear that Bennett has a role that, at the very least, makes him a faint dot on the fantasy tight end radar. He seems to be comfortable in his new-old offense, catching three balls in each of his first two games for a combined 53 yards. His fantasy production will never be consistent given his standing in the New England offense, but he has a favorable matchup this week with a Dolphins defense that is ranked 28th in tight end aFPA.
Defenses
Los Angeles Chargers, at Cowboys (34% owned)
The Chargers aren’t going to get quite the same patsy this week as they did last week, but they still deserve a ton of credit for what they did to Nathan Peterman, picking him off five times in the first half. They took one of those picks back for a touchdown, and added another score in the second half. Dallas is not the same without Ezekiel Elliott, though the Cowboys could get left tackle Tyron Smith back this week. Even if they do, the Chargers front four, led by Joey Bosa and Melvin Ingram, makes the team a worthy streamer against a downgraded Dallas offense.
Washington Redskins, vs. Giants (10% owned)
New York managed a big win over the Chiefs in Week 11, but have sputtered offensively this season. Even in the win last week, they scored just 12 points against a Chiefs defense that has not lived up to its end of the bargain for most of the season. This is a must-win game for the Redskins, playing at home against a bad team and coming off a brutal come-from-ahead loss go the Saints in Week 11. This should also be the sort of game where the defense is able to pressure Eli Manning into mistakes.
Oakland Raiders, vs. Broncos (15% owned)
Denver’s offense is not very good this season, to put it mildly. The Broncos will start their third quarterback of the season, as it’s now Paxton Lynch’s turn to try to make something happen. He’s seen very little real NFL action, and, remember, was unable to beat out Trevor Siemian in two separate seasons. He’ll make his first start of the season in a the tough environment of the Black Hole in Oakland. Denver’s offense is dead last in defensive aFPA, allowing 14.2 schedule-adjusted fantasy points per game.
