2022 Fantasy Football Week 12: Start Em’ or Sit Em’

Each week we’ll break down one player that should start in your fantasy lineup and one that would be better left on the bench per position. There are players like Travis Kelce & Josh Allen who are matchup proof and should be in your starting lineups every week barring a major circumstance. Through 11 weeks, we’ve been correct on 48 of our 88 predictions.

QB Start of the Week: Jimmy Garoppolo – San Francisco 49ers

With all of his weapons active and healthy, we got a glimpse of what Jimmy G and this 49ers offense can do in their blowout win over the Cardinals. Jimmy G threw for 4 touchdowns in the win and they’re just getting started. After a slower start, the 49ers have been getting in a groove with both sides of the ball being dominant. From here on out, Garoppolo with a healthy lineup should be considered a top 12 quarterback. 

QB Sit of the Week: Aaron Rodgers – Green Bay Packers 

The Philadelphia Eagles have the best record in the NFL and also have been the best defense against opposing quarterbacks for fantasy. Only a select few quarterbacks we would trust to still be their usual selves against this Philadelphia team like Josh Allen and Patrick Mahomes. A couple years ago, we would say the same about Aaron Rodgers, but this is the worst season of his career as a starter. We’re expecting another rough outing for Rodgers who will give the Packers management a tough decision to make on the future of their team at the end of the season. 

RB Start of the Week: Jeff Wilson Jr. – Miami Dolphins 

The Dolphins made a trade deadline deal to get Jeff Wilson Jr. from Mike McDaniel’s former squad and the trade has paid off significantly in just 2 weeks. Wilson emerged as the leading rusher on the Dolphins and is the missing piece that the Dolphins offense needed to make them elite. In his 3rd matchup as a member of the Miami Dolphins, Wilson faces the worst run defense in the NFL in the Houston Texans. The Dolphins should get up ahead early and from there, primarily use the likes of Wilson and Mostert on the ground. Wilson is set for a monster day. 

RB Sit of the Week: Cam Akers – Los Angeles Rams 

The Los Angeles Rams have had a rollercoaster of a season and things have only gotten worse. Kupp is on the IR and Stafford will be out for another game. Earlier in the season, the Rams faded out Akers and he sat several games due to frustrations which led to him requesting a trade. Rams failed to trade him before the deadline leaving a huge mess within the organization. The Rams just let go of Darrell Henderson which brings Akers up to the starter by being the next man up. Even when Akers had a larger role, he still couldn’t capitalize on it. Part is to blame on Akers, part is to blame on the offensive line, and another part is the franchise is just in shambles. Akers looks like a trendy start with Henderson being waived and Stafford being out again, but we’re not trusting anyone on this Rams team with how chaotic the organization is right now.  

WR Start of the Week: Michael Pittman Jr. – Indianapolis Colts 

With Matt Ryan back in the offense, Pittman Jr. has returned to being a reliable fantasy option. The Colts are a pass first offense with Ryan and even more so since Jeff Saturday was brought on as the interim head coach. Pittman Jr. has emerged as Ryan’s #1 target and for good reason. If the Colts can start scoring, ideally with Pittman Jr., then he will put his name into WR #1 category, but for now he’s a reliable WR2. 

WR Sit of the Week: Darnell Mooney – Chicago Bears 

The Bears offense has a tough matchup this weekend against the New York Jets who’s defense has been amongst the best in the league. Sauce Gardner and company have been able to lock down some bigger names at the receiver position and Mooney is probably towards the bottom of that list. Add in that Justin Fields is injured and if he plays, it will not be at his best and we expect some inaccuracies in his performance. The Bears receivers should be kept on the bench this weekend. 

TE Start of the Week: Gerald Everett – Los Angeles Chargers 

After missing last week due to injury, Gerald Everett is off the injury report and cleared to play. One player who was playing last week and now ruled out for this weekend is receiver Mike Williams. With Williams being out in Everett’s return, he should get a higher target share rather than being eased back into the lineup. Keenan Allen is also not at 100% but still playing, so Everett can be seen as streaming worthy for the week. 

TE Sit of the Week: Robert Tonyan – Green Bay Packers

Given that multiple of the better tight ends are out for this week and longer, the tight end options on the market are limited and you’ll most likely end up needing to start someone you’d rather not. With that being the case, there are still a couple tight end options out there that would be better left as a free agent or on your bench, One particular candidate is Robert Tonyan of the Green Bay Packers. For similar reasons of why we’re fading Aaron Rodgers, we’re saying the same for Robert Tonyan. The Eagles have a surprisingly tougher defense and the Packers have just looked bad. Tonyan was supposed to get a big workload increase being a veteran presence on this offense, but Rodgers is off his game. Only Packers receiving option we trust is Christian Watson temporarily on this team.