Fantasy Football Week 12 Wide Receiver Preview: Waiver adds, DFS plays, and more

There's been plenty of talk about the massive number of quarterback injuries and the impact they've had on the NFL this season. The impact has been felt particularly hard at wide receiver. 

Davante Adams, Garrett Wilson, D.J. Moore, Jordan Addison, and Amari Cooper have all seen their production impacted by quarterback injuries. Ja'Marr Chase and Tee Higgins played the first month with an injured Joe Burrow and will play the last six weeks with his backup, Jake Browning. If Justin Jefferson is able to return, he'll have a backup as well. 

While we've adjusted to most of these situations, the Bengals situation is still fresh. Chase is still ranked as a must-start, but he's outside of my top five this week and I wouldn't be all that surprised if he falls outside the top 10 against a more difficult matchup later in the year. Higgins isn't expected to play this week, but when he does return he'll be much lower than that. He might even be dropped in more shallow leagues. Tyler Boyd is already being dropped, probably for good reason. 

What we've mostly seen with the backup QBs is that the most elite wide receivers find a way to be start-worthy but everyone else can be absolutely crushed by a bad QB. Let's hope that trend doesn't continue with Higgins when he's ready.

You can find more in my weekly projections over at SportsLine. Now here is the rest of the Week 12 WR Preview:

Week 12 WR Preview

Who's Out

Numbers to Know

Matchups That Matter

Waiver Wire Targets

DFS Plays

Projections

WR Preview

Who's Out

The following players are not being projected to play Week 12 at this time. Here's what it means:

Cooper Kupp WR

LAR L.A. Rams • #10
Age: 30 • Experience: 8 yrs.

Puka Nacua is a must-start receiver and Tutu Atwell becomes an interesting flex if Kupp is out.

Darius Slayton WR

NYG N.Y. Giants • #86
Age: 27 • Experience: 6 yrs.

There are no Giants wide receivers we want to start this week.

WR Preview

Numbers to Know

• 3.43 -- Brandon Aiyuk ranks second at wide receiver with 3.43 yards per route run. He and Tyreek Hill are the only receivers above three YPRR.
• 0.68 -- Only Allen Robinson has a lower YPRR than Jonathan Mingo's 0.68. His targets have gone up lately but the efficiency is so bad it is hard to care.
• 2.29 -- Jayden Reed's 2.29 Fantasy points per target trails only Hill, Aiyuk, and Deebo Samuel.
• 52.4% -- Courtland Sutton's touchdowns seem unsustainable, but he is the only WR in the NFL accounting for more than half of his team's end zone targets.
• 31.8% -- Mark Andrews has seen nearly a third of Baltimore's red zone targets. That's a lot of potential opportunities for Odell Beckham, Zay Flowers, and others.
• 30 -- Keenan Allen has seen 30 targets in the past two weeks. With everyone else hurt, he's gone to a different stratosphere. If he stays healthy he could be the No. 1 wide receiver in Fantasy rest of season.
• 15.4 -- Adam Thielen scored 15.4 PPR Fantasy points in Frank Reich's first game back calling plays. He's topped 14.5 in all but one of the games Reich has called plays.

WR Preview

Matchups that matter

Matchups that matter

Jaylen Waddle WR

MIA Miami • #17
Age: 25 • Experience: 4 yrs.

Weekly Breakdown

@ NYJ MIA -10 O/U 41

OPP VS WR 30th

PROJ PTS 12.7

WR RNK 24th

YTD Stats
REC 44	TAR 66	REYDS 577	TD 3	FPTS/G 13.4

Davante Adams WR

LV Las Vegas • #17
Age: 31 • Experience: 11 year

Weekly Breakdown

vs KC KC -9 O/U 43

OPP VS WR 32nd

PROJ PTS 11.6

WR RNK 16th

YTD Stats
REC 64	TAR 111	REYDS 741	TD 4	FPTS/G 14.7

Josh Downs WR

IND Indianapolis • #1
Age: 22 • Experience: 2 yrs.

Weekly Breakdown

vs TB IND -2.5 O/U 43.5

OPP VS WR 29th

PROJ PTS 12.9

WR RNK 32nd

YTD Stats
REC 43	TAR 60	REYDS 523	TD 2	FPTS/G 10.7

Jordan Addison WR

MIN Minnesota • #3
Age: 22 • Experience: 2 yrs.

Weekly Breakdown

vs CHI MIN -3.5 O/U 43

OPP VS WR 30th

PROJ PTS 12.8

WR RNK 30th

YTD Stats
REC 48	TAR 71	REYDS 647	TD 7	FPTS/G 14.1

WR Preview

Waiver Wire Targets

Week 12 Adds (WR Preview)

Demario Douglas WR

NE New England • #3
Age: 23 • Experience: 2 yrs.

Weekly Breakdown

@ NYG NE -3 O/U 33.5

OPP VS WR 25th

WR RNK 35th

ROSTERED 50%

YTD Stats
REC 30	TAR 46	REYDS 361	TD 0	FPTS/G 7.4

Douglas has established himself as the No. 1 wide receiver on the Patriots with 23 targets in his last three games. I expect the rookie to continue to build on that as a WR3 who could give you WR2 numbers if he ever gets into the end zone.

Jayden Reed WR

GB Green Bay • #11
Age: 24 • Experience: 2 yrs.

Weekly Breakdown

@ DET DET -7.5 O/U 47

OPP VS WR 8th

WR RNK 36th

ROSTERED 58%

YTD Stats
REC 32	TAR 51	REYDS 463	TD 5	FPTS/G 11.7

Reed is a must-roster player, and the best wide receiver to roster on the Packers, but that doesn't quite make him a must-start wide receiver this week, even in a three-receiver leagues. The reason is that the ball is being spread around to such a degree that seemingly no one sees more than six targets in a game for the Packers. The rushing production was a nice bonus last week but you don't actually get anything for that if you pick him up this week.

Odell Beckham Jr. WR

MIA Miami • #3
Age: 31 • Experience: 10 yrs.

Weekly Breakdown

@ LAC BAL -3.5 O/U 47

OPP VS WR 25th

WR RNK 39th

ROSTERED 36%

YTD Stats
REC 24	TAR 42	REYDS 374	TD 2	FPTS/G 7.9

I am always going to be the most skeptical of a 31-year-old with Beckham's injury history but he's starting to convince me. With Mark Andrews out the only thing that really matters is that Beckham seems to be convincing Lamar Jackson. The veteran has seven targets in three of his last five games and he's delivered 15-plus Fantasy points in two of his last three. He's a good flex this week and could be much more down the stretch.

Stashes (WR Preview)

Khalil Shakir WR

BUF Buffalo • #10
Age: 24 • Experience: 3 yrs.

Weekly Breakdown

@ PHI PHI -3 O/U 48.5

OPP VS WR 26th

WR RNK NR

ROSTERED 15%

YTD Stats
REC 22	TAR 25	REYDS 363	TD 2	FPTS/G 6.4

You can't start Shakir this week based on one monster play, but you can add him and hope that the big play will convince the coaching staff to increase his role in the passing game.

WR Preview

DFS Plays

Top DFS Play (WR Preview)

Adam Thielen WR

CAR Carolina • #19
Age: 33 • Experience: 11 year

Weekly Breakdown

@ TEN TEN -3.5 O/U 36.5

OPP VS WR 5th

PROJ PTS 15.6

WR RNK 12th

YTD Stats
REC 76	TAR 97	REYDS 726	TD 4	FPTS/G 17.5

Thielen's consistency with Frank Reich playing is nearly unmatched this season. I have him projected for 14.7 FanDuel points, which makes him one of the top projected scorers on the main slate and one of the top projected values. The funny thing is that has been very close to his floor with Reich calling plays.

Contrarian DFS Play (WR Preview)

Nico Collins WR

HOU Houston • #12
Age: 25 • Experience: 4 yrs.

Weekly Breakdown

vs JAC JAC -1.5 O/U 48.5

OPP VS WR 11th

PROJ PTS 13.3

WR RNK 17th

YTD Stats
REC 43	TAR 64	REYDS 696	TD 4	FPTS/G 15.2

I have Collins and Dell both projected as top-six wide receivers on the main slate but Collins is $900 cheaper on FanDuel and based on early week chatter I expect Dell to be rostered in more FanDuel lineups. I want a chunk of all the Texans this week, but Collins is the best value.

WR Preview

Heath's Projections

My full set of Week 12 Fantasy Football projections for every position are now available on SportsLine. Find out which of my favorite plays are projected to score higher than consensus rankings and which don't live up to their draft hype, at least in Week 11. Projected stats for all starting quarterbacks are available at Sportsline.