Fantasy football Week 12 quarterback preview

Last week, we had six quarterbacks score more than 20 Fantasy points. One of those six, Justin Fields, has been benched for Tyrod Taylor. Patrick Mahomes, Jalen Hurts, Jared Goff, Bo Nix, Caleb Williams, Lamar Jackson, and Justin Herbert all scored 15.3 or fewer. Now, in Week 12, we have Herbert, Nix, Marcus Mariota, and Tua Tagovailoa on bye. Even in a one-quarterback league, this position doesn’t feel very deep.

If you have to replace Fields or one of those guys on a bye, I have waiver wire suggestions for you below. One of them even projects as a top 12 QB this week. But first, I want to focus on one of the positive developments at QB this week. Brock Purdy is back, and he looked fantastic.

Purdy only threw 26 passes in Week 11, but he was his typically efficient self, throwing three touchdowns and averaging 7.7 yards per attempt. This is suddenly an excellent environment for a QB with Christian McCaffrey, George Kittle, Jauan Jennings, and Ricky Pearsall all healthy. Maybe more importantly, this is a team that ranks second in the league in passing yards and 27th in rushing yards. They are dead last in yards per carry as a team. And they rank 25th in net yards allowed.

For most of Purdy’s career, he has been wildly efficient on very low volume, which has kept him in that borderline QB1 conversation. On this 49ers team, he could average 35 pass attempts per game and consistently do what he did in Week 11, which is finish as a top-five QB. His 49ers have an implied team total of 27 points this week against Carolina, and they face the Titans, Colts, and Bears in the Fantasy playoffs, with two of those games being at home and one of them being in a dome. You’ll need a backup plan in Week 13 (Browns) and Week 14 (bye), but Purdy could absolutely lead your team to a Fantasy championship.

Let’s get to the rest of the preview:

Week 12 QB Preview

• 47 — Jacoby Brissett set an NFL record with 47 completions in Week 11.
• 6.4 — Justin Herbert is now averaging 6.4 yards per attempt on the season without Joe Alt. He may not be a top-12 QB rest of season.
• 7 — Sam Darnold has thrown seven interceptions in his last four games. His low pass volume may get even lower.
• 63 — Matthew Stafford leads the NFL with 63 red zone pass attempts. Dak Prescott is the only other QB with more than 53 attempts in the red zone.
• 69.7 — Cam Ward is on pace to take 69.7 sacks this year. That would be the third-most ever.
• 23 — Three teams are giving up at least 23 Fantasy points per game to QBs: the Cowboys, Bengals, and Giants. That’s just part of the reason we expect a big bounce-back week from Jalen Hurts, Drake Maye, and Jared Goff.
• 15.7% — 15.7% of J.J. McCarthy’s throws have been off target. That’s tied with Caleb Williams for the worst mark in the league.
• 19 — Baker Mayfield has scored 19 or more Fantasy points once in his last four starts. The Rams have allowed a QB to score 19 or more once in their last five games.

My full set of Week 12 Fantasy football projections for every position is now available on SportsLine. Find out which of my favorite plays are projected to score higher than consensus rankings and which don’t live up to their draft hype, at least in Week 12. Projected stats for all starting quarterbacks are available, so be sure to check out the full set of projections at SportsLine.