John Laghezza's Bold Predictions for Week 12

John Laghezza's fantasy football bold predictions for Week 12 of the 2025 NFL season. Expert predictions for every single game on Sunday's day-time slate.

Welcome one and all to another wacky edition of wild calls with your faithful narrator here at RotoBaller. Making all these bold predictions was too much fun not to run back for Week 12 — I couldn't wait to get back in the fold for another go at it.

There are another 10 bold calls in my bag of tricks for this upcoming weekend of fantasy football. As expected, we've had our hits and our misses, but that's the name of the game when you shoot the moon. Just make sure when you do hit, it moves the needle.

Hopefully, you rolled with us last week on Tetairoa McMillan's statement game (and not so much for Calvin Austin III's 1.5 fantasy points). This weekend's slate is stacked with lopsided affairs and plenty of spots to risk it for the biscuit.

• 2025 fantasy football rankings
• Running back (RB) fantasy football rankings
• Wide receiver (WR) fantasy football rankings
• Tight end (TE) fantasy football rankings
• Quarterback (QB) fantasy football rankings
• FLEX fantasy football rankings
• Defense (D/ST) fantasy football rankings
• Kicker (K) fantasy football rankings
• Dynasty fantasy football rankings

Pittsburgh Steelers at Chicago Bears

Pittsburgh's generally porous secondary surprised a lot of us Sunday — finally holding an opposing passer under 200 yards for the first time this season, shutting down the Bengals in their best scoring effort of 2025. Well, I'm chalking that whiff up to a Joe Flacco clunker over some defensive renaissance in the Steel City. PIT created pressure on just one-third of dropbacks, the most critical stat when projecting Chicago's Caleb Williams.

The Bears' second-year 1.01 represents a true case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde when toggling pressure on/off. Under duress, Williams' macros drop near the bottom of the board: -0.24 EPA/dropback, 38.5% completion, 4.9 yards/attempt, 57.0 passer rating. Yikes! Conversely, give the young man time to operate and look out — it's wheels up for Caleb's fourth top-5 finish of the season: +0.25 EPA/dropback, 68.6% completion, 8.1 yards/attempt, 103.7 passer rating. Big game incoming.

New England Patriots at Cincinnati Bengals

Not all bold predictions are exciting, so get ready for a big, old scoop of vanilla blandness. Despite the film, spreadsheet, or legions of fantasy managers on social media calling for the banishment of Rhamondre Stevenson to the shadow realm, it's not happening. Mike Vrabel values his veterans, with his eyes set firmly on making a run at the Super Bowl.

There's a great chance New England splits work down the middle, with Stevenson in the lead for goal-to-go carries — that's the bad news. The good news? Patriots play the Bengals, so both RBs finish inside the top-12. There's a double prediction for you.

New York Giants at Detroit Lions

Luckily for Detroit, they're heading for the comfy, climate-controlled confines of Ford Field to host the Giants, where Jared Goff's legendary temperature splits are of no concern. Jaxson Dart still cannot take contact, setting up Jameis Winston for another start and a potential blowout loss against an extremely tough Lions' D.

Jahmyr Gibbs does his thing as always, but it's backup David Montgomery who goes off for +20 fantasy points in three quarters of positive game script.

David Montgomery & Jahmyr Gibbs have each scored a rush TD in the same game for the 9th time.

That's tied for the 3rd most by teammates in NFL history. 🔥@Lions | @FedEx pic.twitter.com/QwIxTTt0Uk

— NFL (@NFL) November 24, 2024

Minnesota Vikings at Green Bay Packers

Sometimes, it's just over for certain players in a given year. No one's played worse under center than Minnesota's J.J. McCarthy, leading all current starters in completion rate, off-target throws, and interception rate... in the wrong direction. And it goes from bad to worse under pressure, something Green Bay generates at a 39% clip despite a bottom-5 blitz rate. Bold prediction?

It gets so bad for the Vikings on Sunday, we see the NFL debut of rookie UDFA Max Brosmer (a super sneaky add in Super Flex formats by the way).

Kevin Byard picks off JJ McCarthy for his league-leading 5th INT!

CHIvsMIN on FOX/FOX One+https://t.co/HkKw7uXVnt pic.twitter.com/314cxCU8SZ

— NFL (@NFL) November 16, 2025

Seattle Seahawks at Tennessee Titans

Seattle's champing at the bit to get back in the win column after a disappointing loss featuring four Sam Darnold interceptions. And they're about to take all that aggression out on the lowly Titans. Tennessee enters the game as a two-touchdown underdog, which could wind up being off by double-digit points, if the Seahawks' defense has anything to say about it — their league-leading pressure rate will spell disaster for the Titans, who get shut out Sunday.

And I don't want to hear about hating the Titans after correctly predicting Cam Ward's first top-12 finish last week — Seattle's D/ST outscores anyone on Tennessee Sunday. Boom.

Coby Bryant forces it, Drake Thomas recovers it. @Seahawks ball!

SEAvsLAR on FOX/FOX Onehttps://t.co/HkKw7uXVnt pic.twitter.com/xshPXJmZot

— NFL (@NFL) November 16, 2025

Indianapolis Colts at Kansas City Chiefs

Sure, Jonathan Taylor's this year's league-winning pick by a country mile. However, considering four separate overall RB1 finishes, winding up outside the top-30 at the position three times might surprise you. Kansas City's on the ropes after a second straight loss, and you know DC Steve Spagnuolo will have the Eye of Sauron fixed directly on number 28 in the Colts' backfield.

Outside of James Cook in Week 9, no RB managed to top 90 rushing yards in over two months.

Indianapolis also started showing some cracks in the offensive armor, turning this into more of an inter-conference rock-fight than the 50-point game total suggests. The Colts score fewer than 20 for the first time all year, with Taylor posting his worst game of the season. Book it.

The Chiefs' defense stops them on fourth down!

📺: #BUFvsKC on CBS
📱: Stream on @NFLPlus and Paramount+ pic.twitter.com/VwGmEZ3IrW

— NFL (@NFL) January 27, 2025

New York Jets at Baltimore Ravens

Does predicting the Jets to score more than three points Sunday count as bold? Even with Lamar Jackson still attempting to return to peak powers from an ankle injury, New York's in a heap of trouble as 13.5-point underdogs Sunday. Projecting for a week-low 15.5 points, assume Gang Green's playing from behind the majority of the game. Aaron Glenn has decided to pivot away from Justin Fields for Tyrod Taylor, which is... something?

Kidding aside, all Jets' pass-catchers get a boost in target accuracy for a pretty narrow receiver room; only three NYJ WRs ran routes in Foxboro last weekend. As the world awaits an Adonai Mitchell breakout that will never come, it's actually the new addition, John Metchie III, who catches fire for +20 fantasy points in Baltimore.

The former Texan has shown the ability to earn targets from the slot when healthy, plus a little bit of wiggle to get loose in the secondary — just like he did versus New England. Welcome the Big Apple's new WR1 to town.

Fields finds Metchie! Back to a one-possession game.

NYJvsNE on Prime Video
Also streaming on @NFLPlus pic.twitter.com/rAxT2Pnq9b

— NFL (@NFL) November 14, 2025

Cleveland Browns at Las Vegas Raiders

Following up the dreadful Jets with a battle between the two-win Browns and the Raiders? Talk about making it hard to take the backend of this slate seriously. Sheesh. Would expecting more than five non-fantasy gamers to watch this game in its entirety count as a bold call? Kidding aside, it's a race to the bottom with Cleveland making a move on the pole position by starting Shedeur Sanders.

With that, Kevin Stefanski will look to hide his rookie QB against a poor Raiders' defense, and all roads lead to Quinshon Judkins.

The Browns' rookie RB ranks sixth in backfield touch share since taking over the lead role, even if you might not notice it. Judkins is a perfect case for team quality affecting fantasy output, no matter how talented the player may be. Only relevant in positive game scripts, we finally get one (maybe for the last time in 2025), and Judkins takes full advantage. Mark him down for +25 fantasy points Sunday.

Quinshon Judkins 46-yard TD!

MIAvsCLE on CBS/Paramount+https://t.co/HkKw7uXVnt pic.twitter.com/tEkT7aMNZx

— NFL (@NFL) October 19, 2025

Jacksonville Jaguars at Arizona Cardinals

Arizona's backup QB Jacoby Brissett just completed his fifth QB1 finish in as many tries, set to host the Jaguars' pass funnel out in the desert Sunday. Every Cardinal running back is injured, so it's time to let the good times roll for the ARI pass attack. Expect Jonathan Gannon to abandon the run early, and Brissett to pick up right where he left off versus San Francisco — targeting Michael Wilson, who becomes only the second player all year to post back-to-back top-3 overall WR finishes.

35-yard pickup from Jacoby Brissett to Michael Wilson!

SFvsAZ on FOX/FOX Onehttps://t.co/HkKw7uXnxV pic.twitter.com/eFtO17j8UV

— NFL (@NFL) November 16, 2025

Atlanta Falcons at New Orleans Saints

As the industry's high man on Saints' rookie QB Tyler Shough, this one's a breeze. My boy just posted the best single game by a rookie QB this season in only his second start against a decent Panther defense (+0.49 EPA/attempt, 128.9 passer rating, and yards/attempt 10.4). Shough's at home and off the bye against a very gettable Falcon secondary as of late, culminating in last week's 448-yard decimation at the hands of Bryce Young.

To make things worse, CB Billy Bowman Jr. just injured his Achilles at Friday's walkthroughs. Though it's too early for anything definitive, he's already listed out, and coaches describe it as "not good"—a pretty optimal setup for a big QB game out of nowhere. If Shough's the rest-of-season Superflex answer we've been looking for, you heard it here first.

Tyler Shough hits his TE Juwan Johnson for 52 yards!

NOvsCAR on FOX/FOX Onehttps://t.co/HkKw7uXVnt pic.twitter.com/9sjtnsfWR7

— NFL (@NFL) November 9, 2025

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