Week 12 Fantasy Football Rankings — Looking Back on Past 4 Weeks

We had to switch up our Week 12 Fantasy Football rankings a little bit this week, mostly because time was not on my side! But I’m not going to leave you hanging, and with just two weeks left until the Fantasy playoffs arrive, your Fantasy Football lineup is more important than ever.

Normally, I go through each position in a separate article post, and I discuss an interesting notion about either the upcoming week, or some trending stats for that position. Since I’m posting all of the rankings into one post, I’m not going to be able to do that this week.

But I still want to offer up something interesting to think about going forward.

Rookie Wide Receivers

First, I thought I’d share a couple articles I wrote for other websites this week, dealing with the current crop of Fantasy rookie wide receivers.

Over at FantasySports.About.com, I looked back over the past 20 years or so to see if this crop has a chance to become the greatest class of rookie wide receivers ever. Led by Evans, Sammy Watkins and Kelvin Benjamin, are they going to be better than the 2004 crop that brought us four WRs with seven or more touchdown catches? Can they beat the ’96 class that had both Marvin Harrison and Keyshawn Johnson – even though they weren’t the best that season?

Then, over on SportsGrid.com, I look at the top 10 rookie wide receivers over the past 30 years, and I try to guess which rookies will crack that list in Fantasy points. The interesting part is – I listed all of them for PPR formats, which is not what you usually see when you look up the best rookie wide receivers ever.

Recent Fantasy History Tells Us More

I also thought now would be a good time to look back at the past month of action (four weeks), to see which players now rank among the best at their position, compared to where they were from before.

Quarterbacks

It’s no surprise to see Ben Roethlisberger, Aaron Rodgers and Peyton Manning, but seeing Ryan Tannehill seventh overall, and Brian Hoyer 11th, might be a little more surprising. Only Big Ben, Manning and Drew Brees have more passing yards since Week 8 than Hoyer’s 1,103, and now he’s getting Josh Gordon back! And with just three games under his belt, Mark Sanchez is knocking on the door at 13th.

Running Backs

Over the past four weeks, Mark Ingram ranks third behind Jamaal Charles and Marshawn Lynch in Fantasy points. The Saints running back leads all players with 459 rushing yards since Week 8.

Steven Jackson returned to the top 20 running backs over the past month, as he keeps rookie Devonta Freeman at bay.

Even before the Ben Tate signing for Minnesota, rookie Jerick McKinnon ranks as the 39th Fantasy running back over the past four weeks.

Wide Receivers

Evans has the most Fantasy points over the past four weeks among wide receivers, and he’s joined by FOUR other rookie WRs in the top 10 over the past month, including Benjamin, Jordan Matthews, Martavis Bryant and Brandin Cooks, (thumb) who is now out for the season.

You might also be surprised to note that only six other wide receivers have more targets since Week 8 as Giants WR Rueben Randle’s 36.

While Michael Floyd finally came out of the shadows with a good Fantasy week, but he has averaged just 4.5 targets in the past four weeks.

Tight Ends

Greg Olsen is the only tight end among the top 20 in Fantasy points that doesn’t have a touchdown over the past four weeks.

Even with just one touchdown catch since Week 8, Heath Miller ranks fifth in Fantasy points in that span.

Mychal Rivera leads all tight ends in the past four weeks with 33 targets, and Charles Clay ranks third with 26 targets, behind Jimmy Graham’s 29.

Kickers

Despite being tied for third with 14 extra points since Week 8, Brandon McManus ranks 21st among all kickers because he made just two field goals in that span.

Caleb Sturgis has two more field goals in that time period than any other kicker, and he leads the position with 10-of-11 field goals made since Week 8.

Defense/Special Teams

On the strength of last week’s effort, the Packers DST ranks as the best over the past month.

The leaders among the different “big points” categories, include:

• Sacks: Bills DST (15), Rams (15)
• Interceptions: 49ers (9), Browns (7), Cardinals (7)
• Forced Turnovers: 49ers (10), Browns (10)
• Fewest Average Points Allowed: Dolphins (10.5), Cardinals (12.5)
• Fewest Average Yards Allowed: Seahawks (279), Dolphins (286)

Hopefully, this look back over the past four weeks helped you get a clearer vision of the next four weeks!

Week 12 Fantasy Football Rankings

The Week 12 Fantasy Football rankings will hopefully help you get one step closer to your league’s Fantasy playoffs!