Check out the new start/sit tool!

Week 12 rankings are available now and fully updated! Head over to our website to see full rankings for this week’s matchups, and tune in to yesterday’s episode of the podcast to catch up with Faraz and Zach on QBs and RBs! WRs and TEs will be available later today!

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!

• 49ers QB Brock Purdy remains limited in practice Thursday, HC Kyle Shanahan neglects to confirm QB’s status for Sunday

  • Purdy has rattled off five straight top-12 finishes over his past five games, and that’s been done with a happy helping of work in the ground game (29 rush attempts, 159 yards, 4 TDs in that span). However, Purdy appears to have picked up a shoulder injury as HC Kyle Shanahan alluded to earlier in the week. They’re calling it soreness heading into Week 12, and after not speaking to the press like he normally does and has all season, there’s speculation about Purdy’s status for this weekend’s game being up in the air. Shanahan did say that Purdy was able to work a little bit more yesterday than he did on Wednesday, which could mean he’s trending in the right direction – though today’s injury report will be the most telling about what fantasy managers can expect going into the weekend. If Purdy would miss, the entire 49ers offense would receive a significant downgrade – especially the likes of WR Deebo Samuel, Jauan Jennings, and co. Christian McCaffrey will likely remain unaffected by the QB change, as his role is too good to be affected by a change under center. In the event Purdy is sidelined, QB Brandon Allen is the backup for San Francisco and would be worth a look off the waiver wire in the deepest superflex and 2QB leagues.

• Cowboys WR Ceedee Lamb listed as DNP on Thursday’s practice report with back and foot injuries

  • We knew Ceedee Lamb was dealing with a shoulder injury coming out of the game against the Falcons a few weeks ago, but that’s been well in the rearview for a while now. He played through a back injury against the Texans that landed him on the injury report last week, but the foot injury appears to be new and forced him to miss practice yesterday. The fact that he was able to practice in a limited fashion to begin the week, only to be downgraded to a DNP the next day, suggests that something could have been aggravated in practice on Thursday. While there’s still today’s practice yet to go, fantasy managers should be prepared regardless to be without Lamb in the event he ultimately misses a tough matchup against the Commanders in Week 12. Further complicating the situation: the Cowboys are a dumpster fire of a franchise at the moment, and it’s unlikely that a star veteran like Lamb would want to risk life and limb by taking the field too early for a team that’s clearly not going anywhere this year. The vibes in Dallas are just all around bad currently, and with Cooper Rush inexplicably set to make yet another start, Lamb’s ceiling and floor are both incredibly shaky heading into the stretch run.

• Eagles WR Devonta Smith misses practice Thursday with hamstring injury, status for Week 12 up in the air

  • Smith has been able to suit up over the past few weeks while nursing the injury, but this is the first time he’s missed back-to-back practices to open the week as a result. For context, he missed Wednesday’s practice before picking up two limited sessions on Thursday and Friday – meaning his absence yesterday is a deviation from what we might have expected based on what we had seen before. Smith has had a tough go of things since the Eagles’ bye week – he hasn’t caught seven or more passes in any game since Week 6 after catching seven passes in three straight games to open the season. The numbers have been the worst over the past two weeks as he’s continued to play through the injury, garnering just nine targets and catching six of them for an underwhelming 43 scoreless yards. Should Smith miss, start/sit decisions could become a lot easier and WR A.J. Brown could be in for a further increased workload in a target distribution he’s dominated over the past six games. Pay attention to tomorrow’s practice report; if Smitty is able to log a limited practice, he should have a chance to play on Sunday.

Start QB Patrick Mahomes vs CAR

• Mahomes has been a different fantasy quarterback since the Chiefs acquired WR DeAndre Hopkins from the Titans in Week 8. His fantasy points per game has jumped from 15.2 in Weeks 1-7 all the way up to 19.5 over the past four games, and he’s averaging two pass TDs per game since Week 8 as opposed to just 0.75 pass TDs per game in Weeks 1-7. 

• His opponent this week just happens to be one of the softest defenses against fantasy quarterbacks. The Panthers are allowing the 6th-most passing touchdowns per game, the 7th-most fantasy points per game over the course of the season, and the 10th-most fantasy points per game to quarterbacks over the last four weeks.

• Kansas City has the 4th-highest implied total on the week at 26.5 points, as well. Mahomes should continue his recent hot streak, and he re-enters the top-10 at the position given the number of byes this week; he’s currently my QB9 and Faraz’s QB10.

Start QB Justin Herbert vs BAL

• The Chargers’ bye week transformed Justin Herbert from a barely rosterable QB2 into a high-quality every-week QB1. The Chargers increased Herbert’s dropback rate from 49% from Weeks 1-4 (-5% dropback rate over expectation) all the way up to a 58% dropback rate from Weeks 6-11 (+1% dropback rate over expectation). That’s led to a drastic increase in fantasy production for Herbert, as he’s jumped from 11.1 fantasy points per game before LA’s Week 5 bye all the way up to 19.7 points per game since Week 6.

• This week, Herbert draws the golden matchup for fantasy quarterbacks against the Ravens in the new Harbowl. The Ravens are allowing the most pass attempts and yards per game to quarterbacks this season, as well as the 4th-most passing touchdowns and the 3rd-most fantasy points. Over the past nine games, only two quarterbacks (Russell Wilson last week and Josh Allen in Week 4) have scored less than 18 points against Baltimore, with six of those QBs scoring 20 or more.

• The matchup is also tied for the highest total of the week at 50.5 points between the Ravens and Chargers. We just saw Herbert get it done in a good matchup in a shootout last week against the Bengals, and this has more of the same written all over it.

Start Brian Robinson Jr. vs DAL

• Robinson’s role has been clear in every game he’s been healthy for this season, serving as Washington’s early down and goal line hammer with limited upside in the receiving game (which has been Austin Ekeler’s wheelhouse). Robinson has handled at least 16 carries in five of his seven healthy games this season and finished outside the top-25 at the position just once – a game he left early due to injury in Week 8.

• This week, his path to production is as clear as it’s been all season with a fantastic matchup against the Cowboys. Dallas is allowing the 7th-most fantasy points, 2nd-most rush touchdowns, 10th-most rush yards per carry, and 4th-most fantasy points per game to opposing running backs this season. They’re also fresh off a 35-point, 3 TD drubbing at the hands of Joe Mixon, and Dallas’ offense has had a hard time staying on the field with Cooper Rush at the controls.

• The Commanders have the second-highest implied team total of the week at just under 27 points, and as 10.5 point favorites at home, Washington could be salting the game away by halftime. That could set Robinson up for his largest workload this season, and against a defense as soft as the Cowboys’, he could realistically finish inside the top-8 running backs this week.