Fantasy Football Week 12: Quarterback rankings for 2-QB leagues

If you’re playing quarterbacks by name value, then your’re playing wrong. Our top QBs are no longer flashy names. This is your go-to QB ranking for 2-QB leagues in Fantasy Football Week 12.

Fantasy Football Week 11 wasn’t anything special in terms of quarterback production. The bottom of the two-QB scoring leaders, though, caught our eye. The 24th-ranked QB from last week, Mason Rudolph, scored 6.3 points. The previous week, our 24th passer scored 8.9 points. For a check back at Week 1, before any byes or injuries seeped through, 24th scored 12.9 points.

It’s a useful reminder that two-QB leagues and SuperFLEX leagues are not quite the same. If you have the option, it doesn’t always pay to start that second quarterback, especially as the season progresses and our top guys hit the injury report. Sometimes, occasionally, you can find a skill position player to fill that SuperFLEX spot. Quarterbacks have the leg up, but they don’t always come through.

With that said, Dwayne Haskins outscored Patrick Mahomes last week and 22 quarterbacks outscored Tom Brady. Only four passers topped Jeff Driskel‘s output and five of our top 11 had that random rushing touchdown (for two of them, it was the only yard they gained on the ground) to hammer home how unpredictable this game can be. Who’s the best quarterback play in Fantasy Football Week 12? We’ve got your exclusive rankings right here.

Two brothers from New York, Dan Salem and Todd Salem, debate Fantasy Football Week 12 in today’s NFL Sports Debate.

Fantasy Football Week 12 – The Top 12

Matt Ryan (TIE – Dan’s Ranking: 1, Todd’s Ranking: 3), Lamar Jackson (TIE – Dan: 2, Todd: 2), Russell Wilson (Dan: 4, Todd: 1), Drew Brees (Dan: 3, Todd: 5), Deshaun Watson (Dan: 6, Todd: 4), Jameis Winston (Dan: 7, Todd: 6), Aaron Rodgers (TIE – Dan: 5, Todd: 10), Baker Mayfield (TIE – Dan: 8, Todd: 7), Dak Prescott (Dan: 10, Todd: 8), Jacoby Brissett (Dan: 13, Todd: 11), Derek Carr (Dan: 16, Todd: 9), Jimmy Garoppolo (Dan: 11, Todd: 15)

Dan Salem on Brissett at 13: I don’t like the risk of a Thursday game, but Houston’s defense gave up a ton last week to Baltimore. Brissett should be able to improve and put up some nice numbers.
Todd Salem on Garoppolo at 15: He is done facing the Cardinals, which is terrible news for fantasy owners. Garoppolo has just three games scoring more than 15 points this season: the two Arizona matchups and a game against Cincinnati. His ceiling immediately drops back down to the 15-point range here.
Dan Salem on Carr at 16: The Jets have the number one run defense, meaning Carr will have to throw to win. But his team depends heavily on the running game. Consider me skeptical.

13. Josh Allen (Dan: 15, Todd: 12)

Dan Salem: This is matchup dependent and I don’t trust him against Denver. The Broncos shut out Minnesota in the first half last week and Buffalo has been struggling to build momentum. This feels like a trap game.
Todd Salem: He’s still worthy of top 12 considerations.

14. TIE – Jeff Driskel (Dan: 9, Todd: 19)

Dan Salem: I love the juicy matchup versus Washington. They can’t play defense.
Todd Salem: Matthew Stafford is expected to miss another game or two with his back injury. Driskel continued to impress with some extra practice time this time out. And now he faces one of the worst teams in the league.

14. TIE – Ryan Tannehill (Dan: 12, Todd: 16)

Dan Salem: Tannehill continues to impress and the Jaguars are only slowing people down, not stopping them.
Todd Salem: Until we see a bad game or two from Tannehill, I continue to trust him. And based on Tennessee’s remaining schedule, I’d expect to start Tannehill pretty high up in these rankings for the remainder of the season.

16. Tom Brady (Dan: 18, Todd: 13)

Dan Salem: As the weather gets colder, Brady is getting worse as a fantasy quarterback. New England is playing close, low scoring games now. He isn’t a great option.
Todd Salem: We have to give Brady the benefit of the doubt, but he’s been secretly disappointing since roughly Week 6. The schedule has not been particularly hard in terms of opposing defenses either.

17. Sam Darnold (Dan: 14, Todd: 18)

Dan Salem: I’m not overly impressed with the Raiders, but have been impressed with Darnold’s continued improvement over the last three weeks. He’s now a reliable fantasy option.
Todd Salem: The improvement continues for the Samchise. We could see it on the horizon way back in Week 7. As the defenses get weaker, Darnold gets better. It may not be any great news for real life, but it does wonders for us in fantasy.

18. Nick Foles (Dan: 20, Todd: 14)

Dan Salem: My expectations are tempered for Foles, especially against the stout Tennessee defense.
Todd Salem: I liked what I saw in his first game back. The Jaguars needed Foles to throw the ball 47 times to boot. We’ll see if the game script moves more in the other direction but allows Foles to pick his spots.

19. TIE – Daniel Jones (Dan: 17, Todd: 21)

Dan Salem: Despite the turnovers, Jones keeps putting up gaudy statistics. Chicago has not been great and the bye week will be enough to push Jones over the top.
Todd Salem: Jones is a big gamble this week for sure. He has yet to have a good game against a good defense. We’ll see if the bye week helps him prepare for Chicago.

19. TIE – Carson Wentz (Dan: 21, Todd: 17)

Dan Salem: The Eagles could not get much offense going last week and don’t get a break versus Seattle. Wentz is a high-risk play.
Todd Salem: Wentz is coming out the other side of a rough, rough stretch of defenses. Things get even easier starting next week, but he still has a pretty good matchup in Week 12.

21. Ryan Fitzpatrick (Dan: 19, Todd: 23)

Dan Salem: Fitzpatrick has fallen into the plateau phase, which isn’t a bad thing. The Browns are in turmoil defensively, giving Fitz a chance to excel.
Todd Salem: Fitz held his own against some rough defenses these past five weeks. He gets a bit of a reprieve beginning here.

22. TIE – Jared Goff (Dan: 22, Todd: 22)

Dan Salem: Goff is a very high-risk play since his team is on Monday night this week. The Ravens have been playing great defense, so buyer beware.
Todd Salem: Goff is in the midst of a horrid run; far worse than even Baker Mayfield went through earlier in the year when he was routinely getting eviscerated in the news. It doesn’t help to face the hottest team in the NFL.

22. TIE – Chase Daniel (Dan: 24, Todd: 20)

Dan Salem: I don’t like Chicago’s offense very much, but the Giants defense is pretty weak. Perhaps Daniel can make something of this opportunity.
Todd Salem: It seems like Mitch Trubisky will be sidelined for this game against the Giants. Whether that’s because of a real injury or an excuse to get him out of the lineup doesn’t really matter for our purposes.

24. Mason Rudolph (Dan: 23, Todd: 24)

Dan Salem: He is due to bounce back and gets a juicy opponent to do so. If he’s going to have a big game, it will be against Cincinnati.
Todd Salem: It seems like the bottom of our rankings often come down to Rudolph or Kyle Allen. Rudolph has the far superior matchup this time.