Staff Friday Cash Plays - Week 12

Hello, all of us at Footballguys.com hope you had a very Happy Thanksgiving (like Matthew Stafford's, Cam Newton's, and Jay Cutler's!).

Looking forward to the weekend slate of games, it is time for the Staff Friday Cash Plays - as always, I commend to the reader Dr. Jene Bramel's and Craig Zumsteg's injury articles for your reference before setting your weekend DFS lineups.

Reviewing the Staff lineups, one thing is clear - The Footballguys have a man-crush on Thomas Rawls ($6,300) - he is on every lineup submitted for Week 12 as of the time I post this on the Cracking FanDuel Blog. As Chris Feery points out in his comment, the price is almost too good to be true considering Rawl's 30/209/1 rushing and 3/46/1 receiving performance last week. Pittsburgh's rush D is a tougher nut to crack than San Francisco's, but Seattle's rushing attack is MUCH better than Cleveland's which posted the anemic 14/15/0 rushing against Pittsburgh last week.

Also very popular is T.J. Yeldon ($6,500), rostered four times due to his prime matchup against the injury-riddled Chargers (in the process of completely imploding in all facets of the game) - however, I will point out that Yeldon has just ONE rushing score this season (and, in fact, that is the ONLY rushing TD the Jaguars have produced as a team this year). Yeldon is on four of eight staff lineups, but he is not on mine. Yeldon has amassed 147/585/1 rushing and 27/153/1 receiving to check in at 26th among all fantasy backs so far this year - is Week 12 the week he breaks out with a huge game? Four Footballguys are betting he will.

Also featured on all eight Staff lineups this week - DeAndre Hopkins ($9,400) going against the ultra-generous New Orleans pass D (over the past four weeks, the Saints were first in fantasy points allowed to QBs (36.3 per game on average); fourth in fantasy points allowed to WRs (31.0 per game); and first in fantasy points allowed to tight ends at 17.5). Brian Hoyer ($7,100) is stacked with Hopkins on three of the eight staff lineups submitted at posting time.

The Giants' passing attack is also well-represented with Odell Beckham Jr. ($9,100) appearing on three lineups - he is stacked with Eli Manning ($7,700) on two of eight rosters. The Washington D is among the top-ten most generous concerning fantasy points allowed to quarterbacks and wide receivers over the past four weeks (three games played), with wide receivers earning 28.1 per game (eighth-most in the NFL) and quarterbacks gaining 24.1 (fifth-most in the league). Tight ends don't do as well (only 6.2 fantasy points per game on average, 23rd in the NFL), so Will Tye ($4,900) isn't rostered by anyone. 

There isn't a strong consensus on tight ends - Delanie Walker ($6,100) and Gary Barnidge ($6,500) are the most-frequently rostered at two-of-eight lineups apiece.

Arizona ($5,300) is the most-favored team defense this week, with three staffers plugging the Cardinals in against the woeful 49ers' "attack".

Enjoy the NFL action this weekend, everyone, even as y'all enjoy your left-over turkey sandwiches!