Week 12 Value Plays For After Turkey Dinner
Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving and are all out enjoying the madness of Black Friday. I’ve got to go wrestle some people at the stores myself so I will keep this fairly short. Here is a recap of my picks from last week:
THE GOOD:
- Matthew Stafford: Stafford needed to get 22.65 points and he really had a rough start. But after that, he came back and had over 300 yards and 5 TD’s to finish with over 30 points.
- Maurice Jones-Drew: He needed and finished with a solid game that made him a good pick. He finished with 19.8 which should have been more if they would have given him the ball on the last play.
- Antonio Gates: Gates had a good matchup against the Bears and put up some decent numbers. He needed 15.3 and that’s almost exactly what he got.
THE DECENT:
- Dez Bryant: Dez needed to get 18.3 and had a decent game but didn’t quite get as much as he needed. He only finished with 14.3.
- DeMarco Murray: Murray was a bit of a disappointment last week as he needed to get 21.6 and only ended up with 13.5.
THE BAD:
- Vincent Brown: I was almost sure that Brown was going to have a big day with Malcom Floyd out again last week. He only needed to get 8 points, but he had one catch and finished with 1.3.
Overall, it wasn’t my best week last week but I still had some good value plays and if you took Stafford and Jones-Drew, then hopefully it paid off for you. Now let’s get into this week’s picks:
NFL Week 12 Picks
QB: Matt Hasselbeck
Opponent: Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Salary & Points Needed: $11,833 * 1.5 = 17.7
Resoning: I’m not sure what has happened to the Buccaneers defense this year, but they have struggled to stop everyone (QB’s, RB’s, WR’s, & TE’s). Even though Hasselbeck went out with an injury last week, he is expected to start and gets the comfort of playing at home. All he needs to get is 17 points against a bad defense, I like those odds.
RB: Rashard Mendenhall
Opponent: Kansas City Chiefs
Salary & Points Needed: $12,045 * 1.5 = 18.1
Resoning: The Chiefs rank 28th against opposing RB’s which bodes well for Mendenhall this week. The Steelers haven’t been much of a running team this year, but I have a feeling this is going to get ugly fast. If that happens, expect around 25 carries for Mendenhall. I think he has a good shot to out produce most backs this week.
RB: Michael Turner
Opponent: Minnesota Vikings
Salary & Points Needed: $13,123 * 1.5 = 19.7
Resoning: Michael Turner and TD’s go together like Thanksgiving and football. This week he gets to face the Vikings who are 23rd against opposing RB’s. This game also seems like it could be a blowout which means more carries for Turner.
WR: Damian Williams
Opponent: Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Salary & Points Needed: $5,251 * 1.5 = 7.9
Resoning: Each week I typically like to take a QB/WR combo and have been pretty good picking them so far. This week I like Hasselbeck and Williams. Most people will probably pass on Williams this week because he was the big sleeper pick last week and he had a very quiet game. I think he bounces back this week with a solid effort.
WR: Marques Colston
Opponent: New York Giants
Salary & Points Needed: $10,732 * 1.5 = 16.1
Resoning: You never know what to expect with the Saints WR’s because Brees has so many weapons that he can’t always get everyone involved. So this pick is more of a hunch pick than anything else. He seems underpriced at only $10,732 and has a big upside.
TE: Jacob Tamme
Opponent: Carolina Panthers
Salary & Points Needed: $4,671 * 1.5 = 7.1
Resoning: If you are looking for a cheap TE this week, take a look at Tamme. Dallas Clark is out again and Painter isn’t much of a threat to throw the ball down the field so he will be looking for his TE a lot. The Panthers aren’t great at stopping TE’s either, which makes Tamme a good cheap play at TE.
Happy Holidays & good luck this week!
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
About the Writer: Derek ‘Notorious’ Farnsworth has been playing fantasy sports ever since he could walk. He loves sports so much he swears his first words were “Michael Jordan.” He recently graduated with a Master’s degree from the University of Utah and is excited for their entrance into the PAC-12. He was introduced to daily fantasy sports last year by clicking on one of Draftstreet’s famous referee ads, and quickly climbed the RotoGrinders Rankings into the Top 25. He also loves betting on sports and the occasional craps table.