NFL Fantasy Forecast Week 12: Busts, Breakouts, Sleepers, and More

Week 12 gets an early start as three Thanksgiving Day games begin the slate of NFL action. While Detroit and Dallas continue their tradition as holiday hosts, the Minnesota Vikings get in on the action when they take on the New England Patriots in the nightcap.

The Vikings look to rebound after Sunday's 40-3 thumping at home at the hands of the Dallas Cowboys. Fantasy Football players should look for quarterback Kirk Cousins to have a bounce-back week, right? Not so fast.

Sports7’s NFL Week 12 Fantasy Football Forecast

Quarterback Bust of the Week: Kirk Cousins

Luke Norris: Kirk Cousins is coming off his worst game of the year and faces a short turnaround before facing a solid New England Patriots defense – in prime time. Good luck with that.

Player Prop of the Week: Christian Watson under 11.3 PPR points

Jack Dougherty: Christian Watson is the rising star of the Fantasy Football world, and for a good reason. The rookie wideout has scored 53.8 PPR points over the last two weeks on just nine total touches.

Watson has finally found some chemistry with Aaron Rodgers after a bumpy start to his career, but this level of fantasy production simply isn't sustainable. Of Watson’s eight catches over the last two games, five have gone for touchdowns.

I think the Eagles secondary holds him out of the end zone in Week 12.

Breakout Rookie of the Week: James Cook 

Tim Crean: Buffalo Bills rookie James Cook had an inauspicious start to his NFL career as he fumbled his first pro carry. Since then, the former Georgia Bulldog has been building back up to becoming a productive RB. 

Last week vs. the Browns, Cook had his most productive rushing game of the season, going for 86 yards on 11 carries. As the Bills focus on running the ball (with RBs) more due to Josh Allen’s injury, Cook should continue to see a good amount of work.

The Lions have given up 1,537 rushing yards this season, the third-worst mark in the NFL, so on Thanksgiving Day, look for Cook to get double-digit carries again and break a big one or two vs. the home team’s poor rushing defense. 

Defensive Disaster of the Week: Philadelphia Eagles

Mike Thomas: Last week, my pick was the disaster of the week. I went with the Dallas Cowboys, who allowed just three points in a 40-3 victory over the Minnesota Vikings.

We have to reach a little bit on these picks. It would be easy to choose the obvious this week. We could go with the Detroit Lions, Los Angeles Rams, or Houston Texans to surrender a boatload of points, but we’re trying to look past the blatant ones. Last week was a huge swing and a miss.

This week our hopes hinge on Aaron Rodgers, who has reached the desperation level. A loss against the Philadelphia Eagles pretty much ends Green Bay’s season. The Packers defense hasn’t stopped too many opponents, so if the Packers want to keep their season going, they’ll need to outslug the Eagles. We’re banking on Rodgers and the Packers to finally put a strong offensive game together.

Kicker Sleeper of the Week: Greg Zuerlein

Adam Fromal: Let’s get back on the right track by turning to an old staple. 

Somehow, Greg Zuerlein is still rostered in just 11.8% of ESPN leagues, which leaves him at No. 21 in the most-rostered rankings at his position. His New York Jets have already gotten through their bye week, which makes the juxtaposition of that number and his ninth-place scoring among kickers all the more impressive.

Sunday, Zuerlein faces the Chicago Bears, who have allowed the eight-fewest points to kickers but are trending in the wrong direction without Roquan Smith in the middle. They gave up a season-high 12 points to Younghoe Koo last week, and the trend should continue for a Jets offense that is at least open to the possibility of moving on from Zach Wilson.