SSSQ is a weekly look at under-the-radar fantasy players to consider starting and potential busts you should leave on your bench. We also identify breakout candidates to stash on your roster and players you can safely cut.
For the rest of your lineup decisions, consult our Week 12 rankings. You can also listen to the Week 12 preview episode of theScore Fantasy Football Podcast.
Start
Cam Newton, Panthers
at Dolphins
Christian Petersen / Getty Images Sport / Getty
In his first start since returning to the Panthers, Newton made his presence felt by throwing for 189 yards and two touchdowns while adding another 46 yards and a score on the ground.
It made Newton the QB4 overall on the week and gave fantasy managers hope that he can be a potential starting option the rest of the season.
Next up is a Dolphins defense allowing the fifth-most fantasy points to quarterbacks.
Sanders quietly tallied 94 rushing yards on 16 carries last week in his first game back off injured reserve. The reason his fantasy stat line didn’t jump off the page was because he failed to reach the end zone and fumbled once.
However, with teammate Jordan Howard dealing with a knee injury that will sideline him for Week 12 and perhaps longer, Sanders is in a position to see plenty of volume in the Eagles’ revived rushing attack.
Philadelphia’s schedule is excellent the rest of the way, starting with a matchup against the Giants who are the seventh-easiest opponent for fantasy running backs.
Rookies often get off to a slow start in their debut campaign before taking on a larger role in the second half of the season.
Moore has been on that track, and the days of him being underutilized appear to be over.
Over the last few weeks, he’s emerged as a dangerous weapon in the Jets’ offense, with stat lines of 6-67-0, 7-84-2, 3-44-1, and most recently 8-141-1. He’s also done it with a revolving door at quarterback.
Zach Wilson is slated to return under center this week and there’s nothing to fear about the Texans’ pass defense. With teammate Corey Davis nursing a groin injury, this should be another chance for Moore to showcase his skills.
Boone’s projection: 89 receiving yards, TD
Other WRs to start
Brandin Cooks vs. Jets
Brandon Aiyuk vs. Vikings
Marvin Jones vs. Falcons
Pat Freiermuth, Steelers
at Bengals
Jason Miller / Getty Images Sport / Getty
Freiermuth has averaged the fifth-most fantasy points among tight ends since Week 6.
His breakout coincided with Eric Ebron missing time a few weeks back. In the two games Ebron was sidelined, Freiermuth finished as the TE3 overall (Week 8) and TE1 overall (Week 9).
When the veteran returned to the lineup, Freiermuth’s playing time and production took a hit.
Now, with Ebron expected to miss time with a knee injury, the rookie will be unleashed as a true top-10 fantasy option.
Boone’s projection: 63 receiving yards, TD
Other TEs to start
Rob Gronkowski at Colts
Dallas Goedert at Giants
Dan Arnold vs. Falcons
Sit
Ryan Tannehill, Titans
at Patriots
Andy Lyons / Getty Images Sport / Getty
Don’t start fantasy quarterbacks against the Patriots. Just don’t do it.
Here’s a list of recent QBs and where they’ve finished after taking on Bill Belichick’s defense.
Gaskin has been an extremely boom or bust fantasy back with most of the booms coming against easier opponents and most of the busts happening versus tough run defenses.
Some recent bust examples include the Ravens in Week 10 (RB42) and Bills in Week 8 (RB34).
The Panthers are permitting the third-fewest fantasy points to running backs, which should make you question using Gaskin this week.
There’s also the addition of Phillip Lindsay to consider, though that’s more of an issue for Gaskin’s value the rest of the season.
Despite the new contract extension he signed this week, Sutton has been underperforming ever since Jerry Jeudy returned to the field. He’s caught just five passes over the last three outings.
A player of his caliber is destined to bounce back eventually, but this isn’t the game to bet on Sutton escaping his slump.
The Chargers rank ninth in Football Outsiders‘ pass defense DVOA and are giving up the second-fewest fantasy points to receivers.
Boone’s projection: 48 receiving yards
Other WRs to sit
Kenny Golladay vs. Eagles
Jarvis Landry at Ravens
Tyler Boyd vs. Steelers
Hunter Henry, Patriots
vs. Titans
Icon Sportswire / Icon Sportswire / Getty
Henry has only topped 42 yards once this season, but his touchdown scoring has kept him fantasy relevant.
With seven trips to the end zone over the last eight games, Henry is the definition of a touchdown-dependent play.
Unfortunately for him, the Titans – who are a bottom-five matchup for fantasy tight ends – have only allowed three touchdowns to the position this season.
Boone’s projection: 37 receiving yards
Other TEs to sit
Tyler Higbee at Packers
Tyler Conklin at 49ers
Jared Cook at Broncos
Stash
DeeJay Dallas, Seahawks
Steph Chambers / Getty Images Sport / Getty
Chris Carson is officially done for the year and former first-round pick Rashaad Penny is once again dealing with an injury that will likely keep him on the sidelines.
Alex Collins has taken the lead in Seattle’s backfield, but the coaching staff seems reluctant to use him as a pass-catcher – capping his upside.
Meanwhile, Dallas (3% rostered) saw his largest snap share of the season in Week 11 and began to carve out a role. He even scored a rushing touchdown in the game.
Though waiver wires tend to be picked apart at this point in the season, Dallas has a shot to earn significant touches on a depth chart desperate for someone to create a spark.
Curtis Samuel, Washington
Icon Sportswire / Icon Sportswire / Getty
It’s been a long and disappointing season for Samuel (12% rostered) in Washington. Injuries have kept the versatile receiver out of all but two contests, and he was limited to just 30 combined snaps in those appearances.
However, Samuel is finally back at practice and may actually suit up for a Monday night matchup with the Seahawks.
While there’s still a long way to go before we can trust him in our fantasy lineups, now is the time to scoop Samuel up and get him on your bench.
Quit
Mike Davis, Falcons
Icon Sportswire / Icon Sportswire / Getty
Davis was outplayed by Cordarrelle Patterson early in the season, but at least he was getting volume over the first five weeks.
Since the Falcons’ Week 6 bye, the 28-year-old has fallen off the fantasy map. Davis has just one game with more than 21 yards from scrimmage in the past five outings and hasn’t found the end zone during that span.
With Patterson sidelined in Week 11, Davis managed just three carries for one yard while gaining 20 yards on three receptions.
Unlike other backup runners around the league, Davis doesn’t come with upside … regardless of how many injuries strike Atlanta’s running back room.
The roster spot he’s occupying is being wasted. Drop him and find someone who at least has a path to more production.
MONTREAL – On a night when New York’s top line was missing in action, the bit players grabbed the spotlight and led the Rangers to a commanding 7-2 win over the Montreal Canadiens.
“That’s the kind of team we have,” said Filip Chytil, who led the Rangers with a pair of power-play goals Tuesday. “The guys on the top line had chances but when they don’t score we have three other lines to pick up the slack.”
The Rangers’ dominance was reflected in the amount of time they spent in the Canadiens zone and their 45-23 edge in shots.
“If you’ve watched us practice, you know that’s something we work on all the time,” said Chytil. “When we get the puck, we want to hold on to it.”
The Rangers grabbed a 2-0 lead on goals by Mika Zibanejad at the 56-second mark and Jonny Brodzinski at 2:05, but it was Montreal which pressed the play in the first minute.
“I thought we had a good start but they turned it around on us,” said Montreal coach Martin St. Louis.
Lane Hutson controlled the puck off the opening faceoff and had two early shots, both of which were blocked by New York’s Jacob Trouba.
“That was huge for us,” said Rangers coach Peter Laviolette. “We know (Trouba) can generate offence but he can come up with those big defensive plays.”
Montreal goalie Sam Montembeault exited at 11:05 of the first period after giving up four goals on 10 shots. Zibanejad, Brodzinski, Chytil and Reilly Smith all scored on the Habs’ starter.
His replacement, Cayden Primeau, stopped 33 of 35 shots, giving up goals to Braden Schneider, Kaapo Kakko and Chytil.
Nick Suzuki scored both of the Montreal goals, his first strikes of the season
“It didn’t really feel like a 7-2 game until the end there when you look up at the scoreboard,” Suzuki said. “But we obviously keep digging ourselves these holes, and against a good team like that, our details early on have to be really sharp. And we were definitely a little sleepy coming out and they jumped on us.”
Hutson led the Canadiens in ice time with 24:10 but this wasn’t one of his better games. Smith scored on a breakaway after taking the puck off Hutson’s stick and the rookie was minus-4 for the night.
After Tuesday’s morning practice, the Canadiens announced forward Juraj Slafkovsky will miss at least a week with an upper-body injury. Defenceman Kaiden Guhle missed a second consecutive game with an upper-body injury but the team said it isn’t a long-term ailment.
The injury situation didn’t get any better after Trouba flattened Justin Barron at 7:11 of the third period. Barron didn’t return to the ice but there was no immediate word on his condition.
The Rangers welcomed back defenceman Ryan Lindgren, who made his season debut after missing five games with a jaw injury.
Before the game, 14 players from the Canadiens’ team that won four consecutive Stanley Cups between 1976 and 1979 were introduced at the Bell Centre. Among them were Hockey Hall of Fame members Yvan Cournoyer, Serge Savard, Guy Lapointe, Bob Gainey and Ken Dryden.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 22, 2024.
LOS ANGELES (AP) — LeBron James gave his 20-year-old son a pep talk before they rose from the Lakers bench. Amid rising cheers, they walked together to the scorer’s table — and then they stepped straight into basketball history.
LeBron and Bronny became the first father and son to play in the NBA together Tuesday night during the Los Angeles Lakers ‘ season opener, fulfilling a dream set out a few years ago by LeBron, the top scorer in league history.
“That moment, us being at the scorer’s table together and checking in together, it’s a moment I’m never going to forget,” LeBron said. “No matter how old I get, no matter how my memory may fade as I get older or whatever, I will never forget that moment.”
Father and son checked into the game against Minnesota simultaneously with four minutes left in the second quarter, prompting a big ovation from a home crowd aware of the enormity of the milestone. The 39-year-old LeBron had already started the game and played 13 minutes before he teamed up with his 20-year-old son for about 2 1/2 minutes of action.
LeBron James is one of the greatest players in NBA history, a four-time champion and 20-time All-Star, while LeBron James Jr. was a second-round pick by the Lakers last summer. They are the first father and son to play in the world’s top basketball league at the same time, let alone on the same team.
“Y’all ready? You see the intensity, right? Just play carefree, though,” father told son on the bench before they checked in, an exchange captured by the TNT cameras and microphones. “Don’t worry about mistakes. Just go out and play hard.”
Their time on court together was fast and furious, just as LeBron promised.
LeBron, who finished the night with 16 points, missed two perimeter shots before making a dunk. Bronny had an early offensive rebound and missed a tip-in, and his first NBA jump shot moments later was a 3-pointer that came up just short. He checked out one possession later with 1:19 left in the second quarter, getting another ovation.
“(I) tried not to focus on everything that’s going on around me, and tried to focus on going in as a rookie and not trying to mess up,” Bronny said. “But yeah, I totally did feel the energy, and I appreciate Laker Nation for showing the support for me and my dad.”
After the final whistle on the Lakers’ first opening-night victory in LeBron’s seven seasons with the team, father and son also headed to the locker room together — but not before stopping in the tunnel to hug Savannah James, LeBron’s wife and Bronny’s mother. The entire family was in attendance to watch history — on little sister Zhuri’s 10th birthday, no less.
Ken Griffey Sr. and Ken Griffey Jr. also were courtside at the Lakers’ downtown arena to witness the same history they made in Major League Baseball. The two sluggers played 51 games together for the Seattle Mariners in 1990 and 1991 as baseball’s first father-son duo.
LeBron first spoke about his dream to play alongside Bronny a few years ago, while his oldest son was still in high school. The dream became real after Bronny entered the draft as a teenager following one collegiate season, and the Lakers grabbed him with the 55th overall pick.
“I talked about it years and years ago, and for this moment to come, it’s pretty cool,” LeBron said. “I don’t know if it’s going to actually hit the both of us for a little minute, but when we really get to sit back and take it in, it’s pretty crazy. … But in the moment, we still had a job to do when we checked in. We wasn’t trying to make it a circus. We wasn’t trying to make it about us. We wanted to make it about the team.”
LeBron and Bronny joined a small club of father-son professional athletes who played together. The Griffeys made history 34 years ago, and they even homered in the same game on Sept. 14, 1990.
Baseball Hall of Famer Tim Raines and his namesake son also accomplished the feat with the Baltimore Orioles in 2001.
In hockey, Gordie Howe played alongside his two sons, Mark and Marty, with the WHA’s Houston Aeros and Team Canada before one NHL season together on the Hartford Whalers in 1979-80, when Gordie was 51.
While the other family pairings on this list happened late in the fathers’ careers, LeBron shows no signs of slowing down or regressing as he begins his NBA record-tying 22nd season.
LeBron averaged more than 25 points per game last year for his 20th consecutive season, and he remains the most important player on the Lakers alongside Anthony Davis as they attempt to recapture the form that won a championship in 2020 and got them to the Western Conference finals in 2023.
Bronny survived cardiac arrest and open heart surgery in the summer of 2023, and he went on to play a truncated freshman season at the University of Southern California. He declared for the draft anyway, and the Lakers eagerly used the fourth-to-last pick in the draft on the 6-foot-2 guard.
LeBron spent the summer in Europe with the gold medal-winning U.S. team at the Paris Olympics, while Bronny played for the Lakers in summer league. They started practicing together with the Lakers before training camp.
The duo first played together in the preseason, logging four minutes during a game against Phoenix just outside Palm Springs earlier this month.
“It’s been a treat,” LeBron said at Tuesday’s morning shootaround. “In preseason, the practices, just every day … bringing him up to speed of what this professional life is all about, and how to prepare every day as a professional.”
The Lakers were fully aware of the history they would make with this pairing, and coach JJ Redick spoke with the Jameses recently about a plan to make it happen early in the regular season.
The presence of the Griffeys likely made it an inevitability for opening night, even though Redick said the Lakers still wanted it “to happen naturally, in the flow of the game.”
The Lakers have declined to speculate on how long Bronny will stay on their NBA roster. Los Angeles already has three other small guards on its roster, and Bronny likely needs regular playing time to raise his game to a consistent NBA standard.
Those factors add up to indicate Bronny is likely to join the affiliate South Bay Lakers of the G League at some point soon. LeBron and Redick have both spoken positively about the South Bay team, saying that player development is a key part of the Lakers organization.
Miami forward Kevin Love, who knew all the James children — Bronny, Bryce and Zhuri — from his time as LeBron’s teammate in Cleveland, said it was “an unbelievable moment” to see father and son playing together.
“I grew up a Mariners fan, so I got to see Griffey and then Griffey Sr. But this is different, because LeBron is still a top-five player in the league,” Love said. “This game, man. It’s why we have that ($76 billion) TV deal. The storylines and the things that happen like this, it’s an unbelievable story. This is really cool to see.”
___
AP Basketball Writer Tim Reynolds in Miami contributed.
TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — Lamar Jackson threw for 281 yards and five touchdowns, helping the Baltimore Ravens overcome an early double-digit deficit and extend their National Football League winning streak to five games with a 41-31 victory Monday night over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, who lost their top two receivers to injuries.
The two-time NFL MVP improved to 23-1 against NFC teams, the best mark by a quarterback against an opposing conference in NFL history. He’s 3-0 against the Bucs (4-3), who faded after taking a 10-0 lead with help from the 100th TD reception of Mike Evans’ career.
Evans departed with a hamstring injury after Baker Mayfield tried to connect with him in the end zone again, and late in the fourth quarter with the game out of reach, leading Bucs receiver Chris Godwin was carted off the field with a left ankle injury. ESPN declined to show replays of Godwin’s injury, which appeared to be severe.
Jackson completed 17 of 22 passes without an interception, including TD throws of nine and four yards to Mark Andrews. He also tossed scoring passes of 49 yards to Rashod Bateman, 18 yards to Justice Hill and 11 yards to Derrick Henry, who rushed for 169 yards on 15 carries. Bateman had four catches for 121 yards.
The Ravens (5-2) rebounded from a slow start on defence, with cornerback Marlon Humphrey turning the game around with a pair of second-quarter interceptions — one of them in the Baltimore end zone. Jackson led a four-play, 80-yard TD drive after the first pick, and the second interception set up Justin Tucker’s 28-yard field goal for a 17-10 halftime lead.
Elsewhere in the NFL:
—
CARDINALS 17 CHARGERS 15
GLENDALE, Ariz. (AP) — Kyler Murray ran for a 44-yard touchdown and led the Cardinals on a drive that set up Chad Ryland’s 32-yard field goal as time expired, and Arizona rallied for a win over Los Angeles.
Cameron Dicker kicked his fifth field goal of the night — this one from 40 yards — to give the Chargers a 15-14 lead with 1:54 left. But the Cardinals (3-4) quickly moved into field goal range, aided by an unnecessary roughness call on Cam Hart that cost Los Angeles (3-3) 15 yards.
Arizona followed that with a bruising 33-yard run by James Conner, who finished with 101 yards on the ground. That eventually set up Ryland’s short field goal and a Cardinals celebration.
It was a frustrating night for the Chargers’ offence, which gained 395 yards but couldn’t find the end zone. Justin Herbert completed 27 of 39 passes for 349 yards.
Dicker booted field goals of 59, 50, 28, 47 and 40 yards, the first of which tied a franchise record for distance.
Murray ran for a spectacular touchdown early in the fourth quarter, rolling to his left before turning on the jets, beating safety Junior Colston to the sideline and then coasting into the end zone for a 14-9 lead.
It was Murray’s second long touchdown run in three weeks after he scored on a 50-yard sprint against San Francisco. It was also Murray’s 20th career game with a touchdown pass and run.
Murray completed 14 of 26 passes for 145 yards, one touchdown and one interception.
