FAABulous: Fantasy Football Pick-ups Week 12

Fantasy owners rejoiced Bobby Rainey's Week 11 performance. Fantasy writers rejoiced being able to make easy puns. (si.com)

FAABulous will recap the week of football activity and point fantasy owners where to spend their hard earned (not really) FAAB or waiver priority. Players will be owned in at most 50% of Yahoo! FFL. This is the one time where mo' money probably wouldn't mean mo' problems.

I can honestly say that I don't recall dishing out fantasy football info as well last year as I have this year. Perhaps I've been too generous with my information because as I look ahead to Week 12, I see a lot of FAABulous favorites still available on waivers. Under 50% owned. So, I must wonder to myself if this is indeed the case, then maybe they need the spotlight put back on these fantasy factors. 

Over the past couple of weeks, I've added a Persons of Interest section with previous players that I have mentioned in FAABulous, but now in light of seeing how many of these players are prominently involved in Week 12, it would only make sense to bring it back and build a Week 12 line-up after these undervalued players. Hopefully, this will get most of these players off the Persons of Interest List and into more Yahoo! line-ups.

I was going to base this introduction off of The Purge. A movie that I saw the trailer for and it looked interesting, but more than a couple of people have said the movie is a total disappointment. Paradoxically, this is supposed to be about players that are certainly not disappointments, but since I don't know what this movie is about, nor care I'm pushing forward anyway. Here are your Purge List All-Stars.

Case Keenum, QB - HOU (49% owned) v. JAX

We can all admit. What happened to Case Keenum last week was awkward. Having him benched for the hated Matt Schaub. Schaub getting yelled at by one of the nicest guys in the NFL, Andre Johnson (who, oh by the way, has 1000x more TDs this season with Keenum under center as opposed to Schaub), and all of this orchestrated by the head coach who was recovering from a stroke? It's been that kind of year in Houston, but Keenum is still a strong play against those Jaguars.

Josh McCown, QB - CHI (16%) @ StL

Trust in Trestman! Trust in Trestman!

Bobby Rainey, RB - TB (28%) +Detroit Lions 

Rainey was my The 1% pick for last week, but you added Brian Leonard, didn't you?

Montee Ball, RB - DEN (37%) +New England Patriots 

It's happening! The fear of all Knowshon Moreno owners. Ball, despite being a part a fumble early in the game, managed to plunge himself into the end zone twice against the Chiefs for touchdowns. If Moreno gets those, he has a normal Moreno game. Without them you have 7.90 points. The best thing about Moreno to this point has been his consistency in the offense, but the Broncos seem to be looking to shake that up and get Ball more in the mix.

Donald Brown, RB - IND (27%) +Arizona Cardinals 

He's been better than Trent Richardson for a couple of weeks now, and last week was the official game where Brown is so much more effective than Richardson that you can't really ignore it. A tough match-up with Arizona, but Brown should be addded in all leagues.

Kenny Stills, WR - NO (42%) +Atlanta Falcons 

Have you seen this Falcons team play recently? This isn't just a team that has succumb to injuries, this is an absolute mess of a team. Even being in Atlanta won't help them against a Saints' offense that is out for blood.

Cordarrelle Patterson - MIN (17%) @ GB

Patterson has yet to showcase his offensive potential lining up at the line of scrimmage, but his opportunites should increase in the coming weeks. He started his first game of the year last week, and this week he faces a poor Green Bay secondary.

Marlon Brown, WR - BAL (12%) v. NYJ

Brown does have an injury that needs to be monitored, but if healthy he has shown an ability to use his size to be a great target for Joe Flacco.

Tim Wright, WR/TE - TB (27%) +Detroit Lions 

Tim, I thought we had something. When I picked you as my The 1% and you began showing signs of promise. You looked to have a good relationship with Mike Glennon, and put up two straight weeks of solid perfomances only to fall on your face in Week 10 and 11. Yes, you even hurt me personally when I needed 2.50 points from you that Monday Night in Miami and you netted 1.90. But we can work this out. We still have a future!

Delanie Walker, TE - TEN (22%) +Oakland Raiders 

While not getting as much attention as Jordan Reed in Washington, Walker has been better than Reed. I don't expect that trend to change. His 22% ownership is criminally low.

PENNY SAVED IS A PENNY EARNED

Brandon LaFell, WR - CAR (25%) +Miami Dolphins 

LaFell has always been inconsistent. With Cam Newton making strides this year, you'd expect LaFell would show some benefits of working with the Big Man, but seems to be the same old LaFell. 

THE 1%

Chris Ogbonnaya, RB - CLE (4%) v. PIT

Oh, those crazy Cleveland Browns. Still putting up a fight with their third string quarterback starting, trading away their former 3rd overall pick in what now looks to be a great deal for them, ignoring their star TE Jordan Cameron for no apparent reason, and now it looks like Ogbonnaya is their starting RB. Pittsburgh has been uncharacteristically shaky against the run this year. He's worth an add.

FAABulous: Fantasy Football Pick-ups Week 10

Aaron Rodgers in street clothes is not what fantasy owners wanted to see Monday night. (nbcsports.com)

FAABulous will recap the week of football activity and point fantasy owners where to spend their hard earned (not really) FAAB or waiver priority. Players will be owned in at most 50% of Yahoo! FFL. This is the one time where mo' money probably wouldn't mean mo' problems.

Sometimes I will ask myself why not just write FAABulous on Monday? I usually have more time, and this usually lousy Monday Night Football game is what's keeping me from getting this article up faster. It's a petty complaint I have, but it's quickly rebuffed as I realize things can happen on Monday Night. Not necessarily fantasy altering, but little nuggets here or there. 

Well last night, during an actually interesting MNF game, something very significant happened. On the first drive of the game, Packers' quarterback Aaron Rodgers was sacked and fell on his non-throwing shoulder. He did not return to the game.

There was growing concern this morning. ESPN's omnipotent Adam Schefter just reported that Rodgers has a fractured collar bone and will miss 3 weeks. Not as horrible a blow as many were thinking, but something that requires immediate attention. Gone is a favorable match-up for Rodgers against the Philadelphia Eagles, and with Seneca Wallace as the back-up there's nothing to see here.

I mentioned a couple of weeks ago with a slew of injuries all over the field, that having depth is important. Now with a three week absence, and typically owners of the best fantasy quarterback not focusing too much on a QB2 it's time to attack the waiver wire. There's one guy I talked about for the past three weeks that could be of service, but there's also an unlikely candidate that was at Lambeau Monday night.

Jay Cutler says he'll be back 3 weeks ahead of schedule and start Week 10. (bleacherreport.com)

Jay Cutler, QB - CHI (31% owned) v DET

Cutler is reportedly coming back next week. I mentioned last week, that I Trust in Trestman so I was rewarded with a  stellar performance by Josh McCown. Both are intriguing options if you are a Rodgers owner, but you can get creative as Yahoo!'s Andy Behrens tweeted out last night.

If you were to play at Foles/Cutler platoon rest-of-season, these would be your DEF match-ups thru Week 16: GB, WAS, STL, MIN, DAL, MIN, PHI
— Andy Behrens (@andybehrens) November 5, 2013

...if you were to play that Foles/Cutler fantasy platoon, your final four matchups of season would be vs. defenses that allow 290+ pass YPG
— Andy Behrens (@andybehrens) November 5, 2013

Now that it is being reported that Rodgers is only out for 3 weeks, this is still useful info, but I doubt anyone has the FAAB/waiver priority to snag both quarterbacks.


Jake Locker, QB - TEN (37%) +Jacksonville Jaguars 

The beauty about Locker is that he has a high floor. The only time he put up less than double digit points was Week 1 against the Steelers. He doesn't turn the ball over and can run a little. These all equate to a safe 12-15 fantasy points. If you're team is stacked and you're confident in your offense, Locker presents a conservative add.

Case Keenum, QB - HOU (11%) @ ARZ

Case Keenum! Kevin Kolb has nothing on you! I gave Keenum a brief mention last week, but he deserves a full couple of sentences now. I'll say this, Keenum is why I dislike college football. The guy is the all-time leader in passing yards (by 2,000 yards by the way) and he can barely get an NFL job. I mean look at this list of Hall of Famers. Liking college football and liking the NFL is a non-sequitur. They play the same sport by name and there might be some similar positions and rules, but everything else is a disconnect. Keenum has looked good though, but he has a tough match-up in Arizona.

Andre Brown, RB - NYG (37%) v OAK

He's ready to be activated, but I would expect him to get going a bit slowly. Brown was basically the same as David Wilson statistically last year, but with Peyton Hillis still operating somewhat well, there's no push to get Brown going from day one. 

Riley Cooper, WR - PHI (9%) @GB

Foles is presumably starting next week in Green Bay, and he and Cooper have a great relationship on the field and it's shown. The two biggest games of his career have been with Foles under center, and you can never overlook how a new quarterback runs an offense. His tendencies and ability can open the door for some potential solid fantasy plays.  Also, he has to be breathing a sigh of relief that he's no longer the most hated player in the NFL. Although, I wouldn't exactly be sending Richie Incognito a thank you card.

TE du jour

One of the more overlooked injuries in a crazy week of shenanigans on and off the field is Kyle Rudolph. He hasn't been as good as advertised, but at this point with him out and anyone that owns him was probably twiddling their thumbs and hesitant to make a move, well now is the time. I mention a lot of TE here, so without beating a dead horse, there are two TE widely available in my Persons of Interest section I would go after. 

PENNY SAVED IS A PENNY EARNED

Mike Brown, WR - JAX (11%) v TEN

So, Justin Blackmon gets suspended again for drugs and now everyone is flocking to Mike Brown? No. Just no. Oh, and by the way, if anyone ever complains about how Dez Bryant got passed on by all of these teams, this is the reason. Blackmon was selected 5th overall and has certainly been a bigger headache than he's worth for the Jaguars. 

THE 1%

Andrew Hawkins, WR - CIN (2%) +Baltimore Ravens 
FAABulous favorite Andrew Hawkins is back! He can fit in perfectly for what the Bengals need as a slot receiver who can take short passes and make big plays out of them. Depending on his health and what Marvin Lewis wants to do with Gio Bernard, this could be a great add.

And yes, we are at the point of the year where I'm upping the ownership to less than 5%.

PERSONS OF INTEREST

Nick Foles, QB - PHI (12%), Chris Ivory, NYJ - RB (45%), Mike Tolbert, RB - CAR (37%), Aaron Dobson, WR - NE (35%), Tim Wright, WR/TE - TB (11%), Marlon Brown, WR - BAL (10%), Colby Fleener, TE - IND (50%)