Sports

The following is an excerpt from the latest edition of Yahoo's fantasy football newsletter, Get to the Points! If you like what you see, you can subscribe for free here.

If you need help setting your fantasy football lineups for Week 12, Scott Pianowski offers some assistance.

[Upgrade to Fantasy Plus and gain your edge in player projections and much more]

Start-sit decisions can be vexing for even the best of fantasy managers, especially as we navigate the bye-week season. Here’s our Week 12 traffic report to help you make some of those calls this week.

Green Light

TE Kyle Pitts Sr. at Saints: He caught all nine of his targets the last time Kirk Cousins had to start, a signal we should follow. Cousins won’t have Drake London (knee) in this spot, so Pitts is likely to lead Atlanta in targets again.

WR Chris Olave vs. Falcons: He’s kept his production steady despite uneven quarterback play, and we like that the Saints have a narrow target concentration and a fast pace on offense. Atlanta’s secondary collapsed against the Panthers last week, a good sign for Olave managers.

RB TreVeyon Henderson at Bengals: Just because it’s obvious doesn’t mean it’s not correct. Even if Henderson has to share with Rhamondre Stevenson this week, he should get home against a Cincinnati front seven that’s been crushed by running backs all year.

WR Michael Wilson vs. Jaguars: The Jacksonville defense is easier to beat through the air, and Wilson might be a genie out of the bottle after last week’s 15-catch explosion. It’s clear Wilson and Jacoby Brissett have run a bunch of reps together.

WR Jameson Williams vs. Giants: The Lions unlocked him during the bye week, and he’s had three scores in three games since. The New York secondary allows chunk plays, and we always like Detroit more on the indoor track (where it'll be for six straight weeks). Wheels up.

Yellow Light

QB Bryce Young at 49ers: He hasn’t been consistent enough to earn a green light mention, but he’s coming off a monster game and the San Francisco defense is riddled with injuries. The Niners have a league-low 12 sacks and have allowed 21 touchdown passes against just three picks.

RB Zach Charbonnet at Titans: Kenneth Walker III has outplayed Charbonnet of late, and for the year Charbonnet’s YPC is 1.2 yards lower. The saving grace could be the matchup, as the Seahawks are likely to make several red-zone trips against the overmatched Titans. Charbonnet likely needs a touchdown to pay off.

WR Zay Flowers vs. Jets: He hasn’t visited the end zone since Week 1, though his yardage totals have been steady, even without Lamar Jackson. Now, Flowers gets to attack a New York defense that allows a 104.1 passer rating, and still doesn’t have an interception on the year. Flowers' drought ends here.

WR A.J. Brown at Cowboys: Is the glass half-empty or half-full here? The Dallas secondary has been a giveaway all year, but Brown had just one catch when the teams met in the season opener. At least the Eagles tried to get Brown going last week, targeting him 11 times.

D/ST Raiders vs. Browns: The Las Vegas defense ranks just 29th in DVOA, but this unit has a chance to pile up the stats Sunday against inexperienced rookie QB, Shedeur Sanders. While Sanders will be better prepared than last week’s emergency appearance, it’s hard to unsee his 4-for-16 nightmare against Baltimore.

Red Light

QB Baker Mayfield at Rams: He’s fallen hard from those early-season MVP chants, averaging just 5.7 YPA over the past month. The Rams defense is a negative matchup and the Buccaneers have numerous skill players dinged up.

RB Tyrone Tracy Jr. at Lions: He’s had to share with Devin Singletary lately, with Singletary handling more at the goal. With QB Jaxson Dart out again, the Giants could struggle to sustain offense.

WR Xavier Worthy vs. Colts: An ankle injury has him limited this week, but even if he does play against the Colts, it’s hard to be optimistic. Worthy has just one touchdown after nine in his rookie season, and he’s been stuck at 31 yards per game over the past five contests. 

TE Jake Ferguson vs. Eagles: Ferguson has become a touchdown-or-bust option since CeeDee Lamb returned, averaging just 31 yards per game over the last seven weeks. The Eagles have been the NFC’s most difficult matchup for tight ends.

There are elements of life that seem so much better in theory than in reality: New Star Wars movies. Pizza buffets. Bill Belichick coaching college football. And now … Shedeur Sanders playing quarterback in the NFL.

You know Shedeur, the most heralded, most successful quarterback of the 2025 rookie class … or, at least, he would be if the NFL hadn’t conspired to send him plummeting to the fifth round of this year’s draft. Or, wait … maybe he’s an entitled nepo baby who only thrived in Colorado because he threw to a Heisman winner and his father was the coach. Is that it?

One player, multiple narratives. All of which can exist forever in the minds of the faithful or the furious … as long as there’s no evidence to swing the argument one way or the other.

Fortunately (or unfortunately) for Sanders, the moment of truth has arrived. This weekend against Las Vegas, Shedeur Sanders will get his first NFL start. And everyone will get to see whether the Hype Train or the Hate Train was the right one to board.

Welcome, friends, to the Shedeur Sanders “I Told You So” Bowl!

Sanders saw his first NFL action last week, coming in to play the second half against Baltimore after starter Dillon Gabriel suffered a concussion. Sanders did not exactly light up the box score, going 4-for-16 for 47 yards with an interception while suffering two sacks. Still, the debut of the son of an NFL immortal was enough to warrant an “every throw” compilation from the NFL’s social media team:

You don’t need to be a grizzled tape-eater to see the problems with Sanders’ debut: lack of timing with the first-team offense, slow progression through his receivers, a throwing motion you could clock with a sun dial. Every snap, Sanders had the look of the guy at the beach who charged out into the ocean … and just realized the waves are much bigger than he’d expected.

Is this correctable in the course of one week of reps with the first team? Maybe yes, probably not, but at least we’re getting the chance to see what Sanders has to offer at the NFL level. And he’s getting the chance to see what an NFL defense — or whatever facsimile of an NFL defense the 2-8 Raiders can manage — looks like over the course of 60 minutes.

“I’m doing everything I need to prepare to be the best version of myself as possible,” Sanders said earlier this week. “With the circumstances, everything got me sped up, and that’s great. I like pressure in life. I’m just excited for everything. So, I feel like I’m the guy, I know I’m the guy, but you just have to be able to see. The game got to speak.”

The Shedeur Sanders Discourse is the latest iteration of the He Got Robbed mania that swirls around a quarterback every few years — i.e. long enough for everyone to forget we’ve all done this dance before. Back in the early 2010s, there was a “the NFL is keeping Tim Tebow out of the league because of his beliefs!” conspiracy. (Untrue, Tebow is a good man but a bad NFL-level quarterback.) And then in the late 2010s, there was a “the NFL is keeping Colin Kaepernick out of the league because of his protests” conspiracy. (Likely true the first season, untrue afterward as his skills markedly and understandably declined.) It’s always easier to believe in fantastic possibilities rather than face hard realities.

Now, you want a real conspiracy theory, here’s one I totally believe. The NFL looked at this miserable slate of afternoon games — Jags-Cardinals, Falcons-Saints, Browns-Raiders — and decided there had to be at least something worthwhile alongside Eagles-Cowboys. Did the NFL instruct the Browns to keep Gabriel on the bench and start Sanders just to inject a tiny bit of life into Sunday afternoon’s games? I’m not saying they did … but I haven’t found any evidence they didn’t, either. I’m just saying you can’t discount the possibility.

(Disclaimer so someone doesn’t howl “fake news”: The NFL did not do this. The preceding paragraph was a joke.)

This weekend’s game will level a verdict on Shedeur Sanders, one way or another. No, we won’t know about Sanders’ potential for NFL stardom — or “bust” status — from this one game. But we will get more data points, trending in one direction or the other.

The game, as Sanders himself said, will speak. One major 2025 NFL narrative will meet its end this weekend … and another will take flight.

The Yahoo Fantasy Football crew reveals their boldest takes for Week 12. Check out what Scott Pianowski, Matt Harmon, Ray Garvin, Chris Allen, Justin Boone and Joel Smyth have to say.

[Upgrade to Fantasy Plus and gain your edge in player projections and much more]

Jameson Williams posts his third straight top-10 fantasy WR finish

Williams has been on fire since the Lions’ Week 8 bye with stat lines of 4-66-1, 6-119-1 and 4-88-1. All three results put him inside the top 14 fantasy receivers each week, but the two most recent outings landed him in the top six. Now, he gets to go back to Detroit and the friendly domed confines of Ford Field, where the Lions’ passing attack tends to do its best work.

His opponent, the Giants, are the sixth easiest matchup for fantasy wideouts this season and the game is tied for the highest projected point total on the week at 50.5, so be prepared for a lot of scoring. With Williams in the ideal environment for a favorable matchup, he’s about to keep his hot streak going. — Justin Boone

Zay Flowers scores his first TD since Week 1

Zay Flowers' last touchdown came in Week 1 versus Buffalo. Sixty-five targets later, and he has yet to score, including being tackled inside the 10-yard line six times. Although the Ravens may not be in a pass-heavy gamescript, I believe Flowers is set up beautifully to have better odds at getting into the end zone.

The Jets secondary is a fraction of what they once were. With a new secondary, New York allowed over 200 yards to Patriots WRs last week, a season high to a below-average receiver room. Playing against the 27th-ranked defense versus explosive passes also pairs well with Flowers finding the end zone on a big play. — Joel Smyth

Chris Olave is a top 10 receiver in Week 12

The Saints wideout was seeing a ton of volume the first five weeks of the season, as he was second in the NFL in targets in Weeks 1 to 5 but ranked 40th in yards per game. From Weeks 6 to 10, he was still seeing plenty of volume but ranked seventh in yards per game and has scored three times. That’s just simple regression for a talented wideout, who is still underrated as a star-level player.

Olave had a season-high 141 air yards in Week 10 before the bye. Rookie Tyler Shough was much more willing to rip it to Olave downfield and outside the numbers. Shough finished 11 of 16 for 202 yards and both of his touchdowns on throws outside the numbers before the bye. He can look to attack the Falcons the same way, as they use single-high coverage on a league-high 69% of their defensive plays, per Fantasy Points Data. Olave averages 2.57 yards per route run against single-high coverage this season and 4.04 in the two games Shough started. — Matt Harmon

Sean Tucker does it again

I’m going right back to the well. Sean Tucker finds the paint twice on Sunday night in Los Angeles. On 20 fewer rushes, he’s sitting at 235 yards with a team-best 4.6 yards per carry and 4 rushing touchdowns. Rachaad White is solid but Tucker is the most explosive back on this roster. Against a Rams offense that can put you in a track meet, the Bucs counter by shortening the game and leaning on their ground attack. That’s how you keep Stafford, Nacua, Adams and Williams watching.

If Bucky Irving misses again, the high-value touches consolidate and Tucker gets the goal-line calls. Tampa needs physical answers in the red area and Tucker supplies them.

Book it. Tucker punches in two scores on Sunday Night Football and kicks off a backfield conversation in Tampa that won’t go away the rest of the season. — Ray Garvin

Jakobi Meyers posts WR2 numbers against the Cardinals

Jakobi Meyers broke a lot of the “rules” we associate with receivers and their ability to earn targets. Some think it takes time to establish a rapport. Meyers gave that concept the "Nah" wave as he hoarded 30% of Trevor Lawrence’s targets after his first full week of practice with the Jaguars. Also of note, Brian Thomas Jr. nor Travis Hunter ever saw their single-game shares get to Meyers' level during the season.

It’s also reasonable to assume that if a receiver becomes the focal point quickly, the play-caller has to use screens or other manufactured looks to get the ball to their new pass-catcher. That also wasn’t the case for Meyers. The majority of his targets came on timing routes to the outside or across the middle of the field. And with Arizona allowing the 12th-highest passing success rate to WRs over their last six games, Meyers continuing to get in sync with Lawrence should land him in the top 24 for Week 12. — Chris Allen

Raiders stifle Shedeur, finish as a top-five D/ST

Shedeur Sanders looked lost in his 4-for-16 show at Baltimore, and while first-team reps should help in theory, he’s always had a sack problem, dating back to his Colorado days. The Las Vegas defense hasn’t played well for most of the year (29th in DVOA), but this is a spot to take advantage of. — Scott Pianowski