We’re now into Week 12 of the NFL season; for your fantasy football team, that means winning is as crucial as ever, and losses can become devastating. To keep you covered week in and week out, The League Winners are here to help you with any start or sit questions you have. Spending the week agonizing over who to start in your flex? Put your mind to rest and rely on us to do the dirty work for you. If you missed last week’s picks, you can see them here.
Start
Joshua Palmer, WR – Los Angeles Chargers (Thomas Christopher)
Palmer has been a solid Flex play for a large portion of the year while the Chargers have dealt with injuries to both Mike Williams and Keenan Allen. With Williams out this week and Allen slowly being worked back into the offense, I’m expecting another big day for Palmer. He’s played over 90 percent of the snaps in four straight games; having 10 or more targets in three out of four. This week he gets a Cardinals defense that’s given up a ton of points this year. I’m expecting this game to be a shootout and for Palmer to go wild for fantasy football.
Rachaad White, RB – Tampa Bay Buccaneers (Aaron St. Denis)
Geno Smith, QB – Seattle Seahawks (Jeremy Shulman)
Geno Smith may be the surprise of the fantasy football season. The current QB7 is coming off of two straight 275 yard, 2 score performances; and just had a much needed bye to help his weapons get healthy. Now, he’s greeted with a tasty matchup against the Raiders, who have given up the 4th most fantasy points to the QB position. I like Geno to continue his 2022 dominance and lead the Seahawks to their 5th win in their last six games.
Antonio Gibson, RB – Washington Commanders (Sheldon Hand)
Antonio Gibson is the RB16 since Week 7, averaging 12.6 PPG. Gibson is the lead back in the red zone for the Commanders, with a total of nine opportunities in the last two weeks. The Falcons have allowed a rushing TD in five straight games, and a total of 12 TDs to the running back position this year. He is currently ranked as the RB 21 on FantasyPros. I expect he can put up a top 12 performance with one TD; if he can find the endzone twice, look out!
Najee Harris, RB – Pittsburgh Steelers (Harry Prskalo)
I hate to be the guy telling everyone to start Najee Harris after how his season has gone, but I am all in with Harris. Before the bye, Harris didn’t have over 90 total yards in any game. In back-to-back weeks he’s topped that, and has had 20 rushing attempts in each game – hitting that mark the first time this year. He also just had his first multi-touchdown game of the season last week against a tough Bengals defense. Now he gets to play the Indianapolis Colts defense which is 14th in allowed rushing yards. Jaylen Warren is going into this week with an injury and currently has the questionable tag. If he is out expect even bigger things from Najee. Start him in your fantasy football lineups this week.
Sit
Darnell Mooney, WR – Chicago Bears (Thomas Christopher)
Mooney has been a relatively disappointing player in fantasy football this season. Many expected a second year leap, but with a bad offense it’s been hard for Mooney to take the next step. This week he gets a tough Jets defense that has one of the best secondaries in the NFL in Sauce Gardner and DJ Reed. With Justin Fields highly questionable to play this week, I’m looking for better options to start than Mooney.
Tua Tagovailoa, QB – Miami Dolphins (Aaron St. Denis)
George Kittle, TE – San Francisco 49ers (Jeremy Shulman)
Dameon Pierce, RB – Houston Texans (Sheldon Hand)
Cam Akers/Kyren Williams, RB – Los Angeles Rams (Harry Prskalo)
This week I had to go with the whole backfield. This Rams RB room is something that I totally want to stay away from. After the shocking moveof releasing Darrell Henderson, this backfield will most likely be a two player operation. The big problem with that is; we have no idea how these players will be used, and until we figure that out, I am keeping them both on my bench this week.
