Week 12 is now in the books. I hope you were able to pull out a win and you're on your way to the fantasy football playoffs!
Before we start moving forward to waiver wire targets, players to watch in Week 13, etc. here are 5 observations from this past week's games!
1. Christian McCaffrey Silenced His Critics
Coming into the year, there were a lot of people (myself included) who didn't think that McCaffrey would be used as a bell cow back under Norv Turner in Carolina. His size, the offense, past data, etc. all indicated that McCaffrey would continue to be used as a receiver out of the backfield, but would most likely not see more than 12 carries in a game. McCaffrey has exceeded expectations this year and continues to dominate touches in that Panthers offense. Yesterday, he went 17-125-1 on the ground and 11-112-1 through the air. McCaffrey finished with 47 fantasy points in my league format, which is unheard of for fantasy running backs! McCaffrey is a bell cow back and needs to be treated as such moving forward. Not only the rest of this year, but next year as well. I'm projecting McCaffrey as a Top-5 pick in fantasy drafts next season already.2. Saquon Barkley Vanished
Barkley was on his way to matching McCaffrey's monstrous day all through the first half. He had 15 touches that resulted in two touchdowns and amassed over 30 fantasy points. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QF6HjAs3I_c Not only was Barkley dominating, but the Giants were winning soundly. And then, he vanished. Barkley only touched the ball 5 times in the 2nd half and the Giants went on to lose the game. At the time of writing, nothing has come out about an injury or anything revolving around this lack of usage. It's incredibly strange, but this is worth monitoring moving forward. Can Pat Shurmur be trusted week in and week out? Let's hope this doesn't happen in the coming weeks and into the fantasy playoffs.3. Lamar Jackson Needs To Be Rostered Everywhere
Lamar Jackson is an adequate NFL quarterback...But he's an outstanding fantasy football quarterback. The rushing yards for a quarterback is extremely valuable and Lamar can rack up those easy points like it's nobody's business. The only concern with Jackson was Flacco's return and whether or not he would remain the starter...The Ravens selected Lamar with a first round draft pick. They're 2-0 with him at quarterback and Flacco has shown decline over recent years...it's time to give Jackson the reigns. If this does happen, Lamar has the best remaining schedule for fantasy quarterbacks as Atlanta, Kansas City and Tampa Bay are his next three opponents. That's potentially league-winning production! He's only 42% owned in Yahoo leagues, so grab him if he's available. Based on what we saw yesterday, Lamar could win you a championship.
4. Baker Is Free
In my Week 12 Waiver Wire Adds article, I mentioned that Baker was a target of mine. Honestly, I did not realize just how good of a pickup that was going to be... Baker finished yesterday with 258 yards passing and 4 touchdowns against the atrocious Cincinnati Bengals defense. Mayfield is fitting perfectly into Freddie Kitchens' offense, which is very similar to the offense Bruce Arians deployed in Arizona.Now that Baker is out from under Hue Jackson, we're seeing his true talent shine on the field. It's going to be very interesting to see who John Dorsey brings in as head coach next year to work with him. (Caution: Temper expectations for Baker these next couple of weeks. He has Houston, Carolina and Denver the next three weeks.)
