Danny Dimes canned for Tommy Cutlets! 🤌🏻

Week 11 was a blast, and fantasy teams are loading up to make the final push into the fantasy playoffs. Make sure to stay tuned to our Instagram later today for our full waiver wire targets post, as well as the today’s waiver wire episode of the Upper Hand Fantasy podcast! 

ICYMI: Head over to our website to check out the brand-new Upper Hand Fantasy Start/Sit Decision tool! Compare players, matchups, and rankings across all positions and get instant answers to your start/sit questions!

• Giants announce QB Tommy Devito as their starting QB for Week 12 vs the Buccaneers, bench Daniel Jones

  • The writing was on the wall for Daniel Jones, and it seems as though his Giants career is effectively over after six disappointing seasons in the Big Apple. Despite providing serviceable fantasy performances every now and again for fantasy managers (four top-12 finishes placed sporadically in his game log), his play wasn’t enough for New York in real life as they’ve sputtered to a 2-8 record to open the 2024 season. Despite his struggles, he’s been peppering rookie phenom Malik Nabers, who has himself come back down to Earth in terms of his production as a result of Daniel Jones’ play: after three straight top-6 finishes in Weeks 2-4, Nabers has finished as the WR24 or worse in his last four games. The last time we saw Devito under center, he played serviceably and didn’t have the luxury of an elite WR1 on his offense like he will this week against a porous Buccaneers pass defense. It’s hard to imagine that Devito won’t lean on Nabers in a similar way as he draws his first start in 2024, and he could have appeal as a QB2 in superflex leagues given the matchup and a history of relatively solid production. His most important job the rest of the way, though, is undoubtedly his ability to not only sustain a useful baseline of fantasy production for Nabers, but also dig him out of WR3 purgatory and restore him to his rightful place among the WR1 ranks. The good news: the Giants’ schedule is arguably the best for any WR the rest of the way, so help could be on the way for fantasy managers who have been waiting for Nabers to save them down the stretch.

• Jaguars WR Gabe Davis suffers season-ending meniscus injury in Week 11 loss to Lions

  • Davis hardly lit up the box score this season, notching more than three catches in a game just once this season and finishing outside the top-40 at the position every week besides Week 6. Despite that lack of production, his utilization remained quite healthy among the Jaguars receivers – his 74% route participation on the season was right up there with Brian Thomas Jr. (81%) and Christian Kirk (78%). With both Kirk and Davis both out for the rest of the season, Brian Thomas Jr. will likely be locked in as Jacksonville’s top perimeter wide receiver while Parker Washington and Devin Duvernay rotate in the slot and on the outside opposite Thomas. Washington would be worth a look off the waiver wire this week and the next as long as Trevor Lawrence is able to return sooner rathe than later. TE Evan Engram could also be in line for an expanded role as one of the Jaguars’ two premier target earners. Jacksonville’s offense has been helpless without Trevor Lawrence under center, scoring 13 total points across their last two games with Mac Jones throwing for 249 scoreless yards in those contests. The bye week should give Jacksonville much needed time to regroup (and potentially install a new head coach - wink wink), and if Trevor Lawrence is able to go in Week 13, Engram and Thomas Jr. would be must-starts in a divisional matchup against the Texans.

• Panthers set to get WR Adam Thielen back from injury in Week 12, as well as debut 2nd-round rookie RB Jonathon Brooks

  • On paper, the Panthers offense will look much different than it has over the past few weeks without Thielen and Brooks in the lineup. Consider also that RB Miles Sanders will officially miss Carolina’s Week 12 clash with the Chiefs, and it seems like Brooks could have his role cut out for him as he makes his first start in a Panthers uniform. The exceptional play of Chuba Hubbard over the past few weeks netted him a hefty four-year contract, locking him in for the foreseeable future and securing his role in Carolina’s backfield. As a result, it’s unlikely that Brooks will be able to make this anything close to a 1-2 punch in the early going. Brooks will more than likely serve as a change-of-pace option to give Hubbard a rest as necessary, though he could push for a larger role over the course of the last three weeks of the fantasy regular season. He’ll also become a premium handcuff option along with the Tyler Allgeiers and the Braelon Allens of the world. Meanwhile, Thielen is set to reprise his role from the first few weeks of the 2023 season as the Panthers’ WR1. With Bryce Young as his quarterback, Diontae Johnson out of the equation, and expectations for the offense as low as ever going into a difficult matchup, it’s nearly a carbon copy of his circumstances from his productive run last season. Whether he lives up to those expectations remains to be seen, but Thielen could be worth a look as a WR3 option this week.

Check if they’re available: Anthony Richardson (QB - IND)

• In a bit of a surprise move, the Colts went back to Anthony Richardson this past week as their starting QB after having previously claimed that Joe Flacco would close out the season as the starter.

• After sitting for a few weeks, Richardson looked like what he was supposed to be in 2024:

  • 20/30 for 272 yards, 1 TD, and 0 INTs passing

  • 10 carries for 32 yards and 2 TDs on the ground

  • 28.1 fantasy points (QB3)

• We could be looking at a singular 'got hot' game against a Jets team that has had that effect on opposing QBs or we could be looking at a maturation moment for Richardson that he may build on (similar to Bryce Young sitting and looking substantially better after returning).

• It's anyone's guess which it will be, but that's a 50/50 chance that he'll be a top-10 QB the rest of the season given his rushing abilities. He's sitting at just a 47% rostered percentage so make sure he's not available in your league(s).

Marquez Valdes-Scantling (WR - New Orleans Saints)

• Last week it was made clear that MVS would be stepping into the "Rashid Shaheed" role with a pair of long catches that included a TD. This past week he doubled down on that narrative in true Rashid Shaheed fashion with a 2-catch, 87-yard, 1-TD stat-line on 4 targets (16.7 points).

• He's got back-to-back 16+ point performances and remains a weekly boom-or-bust player based on whether he hits that deep TD or not.

• The Saints are heading on their bye in Week 12 but MVS will likely put up another 2-3 of these types of performances the remainder of the season. That potential is something that can be valuable to at least have in your back pocket if you are in true need of a "home run" in your FLEX come the end of the season.

Zach Ertz (TE - Washington Commanders)

• It wasn't pretty, with a large portion of his production coming on the final drive of the game, but Zach Ertz has now made it five of his last six games with 4+ catches and 7+ fantasy points (four of those six with 11+ points).

• He's definitively the Commanders' 2nd/3rd receiving option on every given week (rotating with Austin Ekeler) and has a relatively stable volume for PPR formats in any game that isn't a complete blowout of the opposition.

• Very few TEs offer his security but most TEs offer more upside. He's a quality TE2 option that you can plug and play whenever you need and you can be confident you'll walk away with 8-10 points at a minimum.