This is your one-stop shop for Week 12 fantasy football start/sit advice! Need lineup help? Jeff Pratt and Dan Johnson have you covered.
Do you have tough lineup decisions to make on Sunday? We’ve got you covered. Welcome to your one-stop shop for Week 12 fantasy football start/sit advice. In this article, Jeff Pratt and Dan Johnson highlight one pick from each of their positional start ’em, sit ’em articles for this week’s slate. Check out each article for a deeper dive into that position!
Quarterback
Sit ‘Em: Daniel Jones (Indianapolis Colts) vs. Kansas City Chiefs
I’m sitting Daniel Jones in Week 12, even though the box scores say he’s been balling. Through ten games with Indianapolis he’s at 2,659 passing yards, 15 touchdowns, 7 interceptions and 265.9 yards per game, with about 19.3 fantasy points per week—true fringe QB1 output. He’s fresh off a bye, but that rest feeds directly into Arrowhead’s teeth. Kansas City is allowing only about 196.8 opponent passing yards per game and sits in the top half of the league in pass defense efficiency. By fantasy points, quarterbacks are managing roughly 15–16 points per game against them, a top-twelve stingy profile.
The advanced stuff is even less friendly. Kansas City ranks in the upper third of the league in EPA per pass at about −0.03, has surrendered just nine passing touchdowns all season, and carries a sack rate north of 6.5%. That’s a defense that concedes completions but squeezes explosives and red-zone payoffs. Jones himself is thriving on volume and aggression—31.9 attempts per game, 8.3 yards per attempt, 3.4 deep shots and 4.7 red-zone attempts per week, with play-action on 36.1% of dropbacks. That profile is fantastic when the opponent can’t punish mistakes. Here, a noisy road environment and a defense that tilts negative EPA on early downs raise the volatility big-time.
With Jonathan Taylor driving a run game that already owns 1,399 scrimmage yards and 17 touchdowns, the cleanest Colts path is conservative. I expect Jones to play fine real football but land outside my top-twelve fantasy quarterbacks this week.
Check out all of Dan’s start/sit Week 12 QBs here!
Running Back
Start ‘Em: Sean Tucker (Tampa Bay Buccaneers) at Los Angeles Rams
Sean. Tucker. Must. FLY.
In Bucky Irving’s extended absence, Rachaad White had been receiving a bellcow’s workload over the last few weeks while Tucker saw minimal opportunities. Yet, every time the third-year back touched the ball, he flashed a certain burst that White simply doesn’t have. So, Tucker started seeing a few more carries across Weeks 9 and 10. Then, finally, he broke out.
Tucker almost carried the Bucs to a win over Buffalo by himself, surpassing White as the new lead back. He took 21 touches for 140 yards and three total touchdowns, looking like the best playmaker on either team that day.
Irving has been sidelined since Week 5 with foot and shoulder injuries. If the star back isn’t able to return Sunday night, Tucker becomes a must-start RB1. Even if Irving does suit up, the Bucs will almost certainly ease him back, opening the door for 12-15 touches for the Syracuse product. The matchup isn’t ideal, but L.A. did just allow Kenneth Walker III to rush for 67 yards and a touchdown. I expect Tampa Bay to feed the hot hand.
Check out the rest of Jeff’s Week 12 RB start/sit picks here!
Wide Receiver
Sit ‘Em: Xavier Worthy (Kansas City Chiefs) vs. Indianapolis Colts
Year 2 of the Xavier Worthy experience has been a complete 180 from Year 1. After establishing himself as one of the most dangerous playmakers in the league, Worthy has failed to get involved consistently throughout the entirety of the 2025 season.
In Week 11, the speedster recorded his worst performance of the current campaign, catching only three balls for 25 yards. It was the third time in the last four weeks Worthy has failed to score eight fantasy points. Yet, his start percentage across a majority of redraft leagues has hovered around 35-60% due to his ceiling.
Even in a potential shootout against the Colts, Worthy’s inconsistent target share and lack of production makes the risk not worth the reward as we get into must-win fantasy matchup territory.
Check out the rest of Jeff’s Week 12 start/sit WR picks here!
Tight End
Start ‘Em: gHunter Henry, New England Patriots (vs. Cincinnati Bengals)
Hunter Henry has gone quiet enough that managers are forgetting how strong his role still is—and Week 12 is exactly when I want to buy that amnesia. Through eleven games he sits at 34 catches for 422 yards and four touchdowns on 53 targets, right around three grabs and just under 40 yards per week in an offense that now ranks top ten in scoring and top five in passing yardage.
The recent box scores look modest—one catch for nine yards in Week 10, then four for 45 last week versus the Jets—but the underlying usage never really dipped. Henry owns roughly a 15.6% target share, 37.7 receiving yards per game, 1.44 yards per route run, and a 17.3% first-read share, plus he’s second on the team with nine red-zone targets and third in deep looks. That’s a full-time, progression-priority tight end attached to Drake Maye in an attack implied for just under 30 points on the road.
Cincinnati is the matchup you circle in red for tight ends. Through ten games the Bengals have already surrendered 97 targets, 66 receptions, 808 yards, and 12 touchdowns to the position—league-worst 81.4 yards and 21.9 PPR points per game. That is broken geometry against seams and option routes, and it’s getting stressed now by injuries on all three levels.
In full PPR, I want the every-down tight end with red-zone equity walking into the softest TE matchup on the slate, in a game with a near-50 total and a surging rookie quarterback. Henry is a clear top-eight start for Week 12.
Check out the rest of Dan’s Week 12 start/sit TE picks here!
Those are Dan and Jeff’s start ’em, sit ’em Week 12 fantasy football picks! Stay tuned for more fantasy advice next week.
All views expressed are my own. I am an employee of DraftKings and am ineligible to play in public DFS or DKSB contests.