Adam Zibuda 
While I am working with limited time on this article due to the holiday, we also have a much smaller slate than usual which leaves us with limited options. As such, I will keep the extra commentary short and sweet and look to focus on the top core quarterbacks and stacks that we can focus on for week 12 of the NFL. As usual I will be covering the top quarterbacks and players to stack with them for GPP contests across the NFL DFS industry, so any stack that I recommend is in play for both FanDuel and DraftKings. With that said, let’s get to the picks!
The QB’s
A. We have an absolute toilet bowl with the Texans taking on the Jets, and despite Houston drawing a prime matchup I cannot bring myself to target that mess of a team. Instead, I will be targeting Matt Ryan ($5,500 DK / $7,100 FD) of the Atlanta Falcons as he throws against the weak defense of the Jacksonville Jaguars. It has been a pretty turbulent season for Ryan, at times looking like his old self and at times looking like he should have retired long ago. This is a matchup where he should be able to finally look like his old self again after the Patriots defense absolutely embarrassed his offensive line in week 11. The Jags rank 29th in DVOA which is the second worst on this main slate, and also rank second to last in the NFL against the pass. Interestingly enough, they rank 5th in DVOA against the run somehow, so we should expect the Falcons to look to attack through the air early and often, which only further boosts Ryan’s ceiling.
B. Another team that was recently embarrassed by my New England Patriots is the Los Angeles Chargers. Justin Herbert ($6,600 DK / $7,800 FD) is an excellent option for our DFS lineups as he matches up against a Denver Broncos defense that ranks just 26th in the NFL in DVOA, 17th against the pass, and 28th against the run. While the Broncos are much more susceptible to the run than they are the pass, this offense features one of the best pass-catching running backs in the entire NFL, which allows Herbert to rack up the fantasy points. This game has a close spread and the Chargers have roughly a 25 point implied team total as of this writing. This should be easy sledding all around as the matchup between the Chargers offensive line and the Broncos defensive line (sans Von Miller) rates out as the third best for run potential on the entire slate, so we can confidently load up on LA on Sunday.
C. Coincidentally enough, my QB3 for week 12 of the NFL will be the same as the QB3 I wrote in this spot last week, Joe Burrow ($6,200 DK / $7,100 FD). After seeing a price drop and drawing a matchup against a Pittsburgh Steelers team that he threw three touchdowns against earlier in the season, how could I stay away? The Steelers are somewhat of a slight pass funnel, ranking 26th in pass DVOA but 16th in run DVOA, but they also rank 25th in total DVOA and are a team that the young LSU product is familiar with. We have another spread within a touchdown and another implied total of roughly 25 points, which is tied for the highest mark this week of any team not wielding Tom Brady. While Joe did not blow the doors of in terms of fantasy points due to a lack of passing yards despite the three house calls, I do not expect that to be the case this week.
The Stacks
A. While I will definitely admit that it is slim pickings as far as viable fantasy options go on the Atlanta Falcons, if this offensive line is able to give Matt Ryan just a bit more time than he can put Cordarrelle Patterson and Kyle Pitts to excellent use. These are the clear top two dogs in this offense from a fantasy point production standpoint, and any Falcons stack should honestly start with either one or both of them. After that, we could look to Russel Gage as the best option from the wideouts, or we could get weird with UMass Amherst grad Tajae Sharp or Olamide Zaccheaus, but given the likely low ownership we are already getting, I do not see that as being a necessary route this Sunday. On the other side of the football, we could listen to the coach speak and load up on Laviska Shenault, but coach speak usually just leads to abnormally inflated ownership that makes it more worth fading than believing. Despite the Jags being in shambles, this Falcons defense is not good either so I am fine using James Robinson, Marvin Jones, or even Dan Arnold as bring back options if we look to game-stack, despite that not being a totally necessary route to takedown tournaments.
B. I expect the Chargers to potentially be the chalkiest of the three teams that I have highlighted as our top stack options on Sunday, so with that in mind we will need to look to differentiate with who we choose for the stack or who we fill in around our stack. Austin Ekeler has proven himself to be the new CMC, as outside of a few random down weeks he has absolutely crushed for fantasy this season and is obviously the top option on this team. We had a Mike Williams sighting last week, and he should still be lower-owned than Keenan Allen at a massive price discount as well. The tight ends on this team truly do not do much of anything, so our best leverage point seems to be targeting Williams over Allen. On the Broncos side of the ball, they do not have a heavy pass-catching RB so I will be avoiding that, and instead will target Courtland Sutton, Jerry Jeudy, or Noah Fant as a bring-back option. This game has a total approaching 50 and has the second highest mark of any game on the main slate this Sunday so we should look to get exposure.
C. To close things out for week 12 of the NFL, I will be going back to the Bengals well as they are home favorites against a Steelers team that they embarrassed earlier this season. Joe Mixon is a pass-catching RB that we can pair with our QB, but the star of this offense is rookie sensation Ja’Marr Chase. Tee Higgins has disappeared quite a bit recently, so I think our second best option for wideouts is Tyler Boyd who was peppered with targets last week. C.J. Uzomah is serviceable at an a TE position that continues to be absolutely brutal this season, but Chase and Boyd are my top two targets in this spot. We have a clear head of each of the three skill position groups for the Steelers, which makes our job much easier. Najee Harris, Diontae Johnson, and Pat Freiermuth are the Steelers that we should look at for a bring-back, with Harris having the highest floor/ceiling combination of the three for Sunday.
That will do it for this week’s article. If I am not taking down the million this Sunday, then I hope that it is a member of our WDS fam! Please make sure to check out our projection model by clicking here, and if you have any questions about GPP strategy or the top stacks for the week, I will be in our expert chat in Discord leading up to Sunday afternoon. Feel free to shoot me a DM or @ me in chat! Lastly, do not forget to subscribe to the WinDaily YouTube channel and follow me on Twitter: @AThr0ughZ!
