Fantasy Football Week 12: Before You Start

Week 12 of the NFL regular season got an early kick start this week with three Thanksgiving contests and if you were fortunate enough to have the likes of Calvin Johnson, Andre Johnson, RG3, Stevan Ridley, Arian Foster or the Patriots defense starting for then you got a really nice head start on your league mates this week.

November 22, 2012; Detroit, MI, USA; Houston Texans running back Arian Foster (23) celebrates a touchdown against the Detroit Lions during the second half of a game on Thanksgiving at Ford Field. The Texans won 34-31. Mandatory Credit: Mike Carter-US PRESSWIRE

However, that doesn’t mean you’ve clinched a win this week, as we still have a lot of football left to play. Below you’ll find the relevant football news and notes that will help you set up your fantasy football line-up for the rest of Week 12….

-Noteworthy names ruled out prior to today: Eagles QB Michael Vick and RB LeSean McCoy, Steelers QBs Byron Leftwich and Ben Roethlisberger, and Raiders RBs Darren McFadden and Mike Goodson.

-A few starting QBs: Chad Henne, Brady Quinn, Nick Foles, Ryan Lindley, and Colin Kaepernick. Henne and Kaepernick have highest upsides this week but Kaepernick has the potential to be a top ten fantasy QB this week; take the risk with him if you can.

-Falcons WR Julio Jones is active and starting. The amount he plays will depend on game situations so you might not seem him play a full compliment of snaps. But you have to start him if you own him.

-Colts TE Coby Fleener is once again inactive, giving Dwayne Allen borderline TE1 status going up against the Bills today.

-Giants WR Domenik Hixon is inactive.

-Steelers WR Antonio Brown is inactive. Newly signed WR Plaxico Burress is going to be strictly a red zone target.

-Vikings WR Percy Harvin is inactive.

-Bengals WR Andrew Hawkins is inactive; look for Mohamed Sanu to keep the WR2 job for the Bengals and he makes for a decent WR3/Flex play against the Chiefs.

-Bears QB Jay Cutler is active and starting.

-The Colts have named Vick Ballard the starter today against the Bills and is an intriguing RB2 play. Donald Brown is also active.

-Broncos WR Demaryius Thomas is active, so too is RB Knowshon Moreno and it looks like he might get the chance to be the lead RB. However, Ronnie Hillman has the most upside out of the replacement RBs on the Broncos roster.

-Cardinals RB Beanie Wells is active and will be rotating snaps with La’Rod Stephens-Howling.

-Steelers RBs Rashard Mendenhall, Isaac Redman and Jonathan Dwyer all active.

-Packers WR Greg Jennings and Rams WR Danny Amendola both unlikely to play this week.

-Jaguars have named Jalen Parmele the starting RB this week; has flex play potential.