RADIO
Justin's wide receiver start 'em, sit 'em picks for fantasy football Week 12 lineups (2025). Read his expert WR start/sit advice for Tetairoa McMillan, Tre Tucker, Alec Pierce, others.
I'm glad I wrote this column on Friday instead of Thursday, because I probably would have looked very wrong if I tried to predict wide receiver performances from Houston's Thursday night win over the Bills.
Khalil Shakir had eight catches for 110 yards against one of the league's best defenses, while last week's breakout star, Tyrell Shavers, wasn't even targeted despite playing 26 snaps. Nico Collins finished below Jayden Higgins and Christian Kirk in targets. It was a very strange game, and somehow the Texans emerged with a victory to move to 3-0 this year in games where Davis Mills was the starting quarterback.
Surely, the rest of the week will be a little more normal, right? Well, there's no way to guarantee that. However, there are some players who look to be solid fantasy options and others who are in danger of being busts. Anything can happen, but I feel fairly confident projecting these guys' performances. Below are my Week 12 WR start 'em, sit 'em picks.
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Week 12 Starts - Potential Fantasy Football Booms
Tetairoa McMillan, Carolina Panthers
Last week against the Falcons, Panthers rookie Tetairoa McMillan finished as the overall fantasy WR1, catching eight passes for 130 yards and two touchdowns. It was the breakout performance that fantasy managers had been waiting for.
This week, McMillan has a great chance to repeat against a 49ers defense that's been struggling lately. Last week, Jacoby Brissett threw for 452 yards against this team.
Here's rookie wide receiver Tetairoa McMillan winning the entire route tree.
Sub 4.5 hits different at 6'5. Everything looks effortless. Every route looks the same. After catching the ball, his best trait might be processing zone/finding the soft spots. He's 22. pic.twitter.com/AzEtyKG9DM
— Kyle Posey (@KP_Show) November 21, 2025
Is Bryce Young going to throw for 400-plus yards? Usually, I'd say no because that's not who Young is as a passer, but considering he threw for 448 yards against the Falcons last week, the answer might be a resounding "maybe."
Realistically, Young probably won't hit that mark again, but I'd be shocked if he doesn't go over 250 yards for just the third time this season. McMillan will be the primary beneficiary of a game like that, as he's really dominated the targets for the Panthers this season.
Calvin Austin III, Pittsburgh Steelers
This is a risky one, but I think there's definitely some upside here.
The Bears' defense allows the third-most fantasy points per game to opposing wide receivers and has given up 14 touchdowns to the position, the second-most in the NFL.
This makes D.K. Metcalf an obvious must-start, but you know that already. What's more interesting is if you can find value elsewhere in the Steelers receiving corps, and I think you can.
Calvin Austin III put up a complete nothing burger against a bad Bengals defense last week, catching one pass for five yards while only playing 29 percent of Pittsburgh's snaps. Not great, but maybe this is the week for a bounce-back?
In the three games before his bad Week 11 showing, Austin had 19 total targets and 11 receptions. He didn't really manage to do much with those opportunities, but the Bears' defense might be bad enough for Austin to have his best performance since Week 1.
Michael Wilson, Arizona Cardinals
The Cardinals were without Marvin Harrison Jr. last weekend, and it gave Michael Wilson a chance to shine. The third-year receiver was targeted 18 times against the 49ers, catching 15 of those passes for 185 yards.
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
Now, let's get the obvious out of the way. If you're a fantasy manager who thinks Wilson is even approaching 18 targets again, you might need to, IDK, pour a bucket of ice water on your head to cool off. Last week's loss to the Niners was a strange one that saw Jacoby Brissett set an NFL record for completions, which won't happen again.
Still, Brissett throwing 40-ish pass attempts seems very much in play, which is enough for Wilson to take advantage with Harrison set to be out again. The pass-catching options on this team fall off a cliff after Wilson, Trey McBride, and Greg Dortch.
Arizona has a decent matchup against the Jaguars this week. Jacksonville has done a solid job picking off passes this season, but the Jags have also allowed the 12th-most receptions to the wide receiver position. I'd say the matchup is, at worst, neutral for Arizona, which is good news considering the team's newfound desire to throw a million passes with Brissett under center.
Week 12 Concerns - Potential Fantasy Football Busts
Alec Pierce, Indianapolis Colts
This is it: the week where Daniel Jones finally crashes back down to earth and looks like Jones. The Colts are on the road against one of the best pass defenses in the NFL, and that pass defense is likely going to be playing angry. A loss on Sunday would make it very difficult for the Chiefs to make the playoffs.
-- WEEK 12 #NFL 🏈 Playoff Leverage --
Here you can see how the playoff probability of each team changes depending on whether they win or lose the next game. pic.twitter.com/GkIcQvYu8V
— Sebastian (@mrcaseb) November 19, 2025
Even if the Chiefs didn't have extra motivation this weekend, this is a nightmare matchup for the Colts' pass-catchers. Kansas City allows the second-fewest fantasy points per game to opposing wide receivers, fueled by the team allowing an NFL-low 1,180 yards to the position.
You can probably get away with playing Michael Pittman Jr. due to his volume, but Alec Pierce definitely feels like a landmine. He has more receiving yards than Pittman, but that's all because of the way he's used. Pierce leads the NFL in yards per catch at 20.9, but it feels fluky still. He has three games this year with two or fewer receptions and has only found the end zone once.
The Chiefs should be well-positioned to shut Pierce down in Week 12.
Jordan Addison, Minnesota Vikings
The Packers have held three consecutive opponents under 200 total passing yards and have allowed over 250 yards just once all year. That's not a great sign for the Vikings this weekend, especially since J.J. McCarthy has only thrown for over 200 yards once in his NFL career.
I think you can play Justin Jefferson. He's had some disappointing efforts this year, but he's still an elite wide receiver, even if he's averaging a career-low 74.7 yards per game.
Jordan Addison? Yeah, you probably have to bench him. In three games with McCarthy this season, Addison has averaged just 2.3 receptions and 34.3 receiving yards per game. In four games without him, he's averaged 5.3 receptions and 77.3 yards. That's, uhh, a pretty big difference, especially heading into a matchup as difficult as this one.
Tre Tucker, Las Vegas Raiders
The Cleveland Browns have allowed the second-fewest receiving yards and receptions to the wide receiver position this season. That doesn't bode well for the Raiders this weekend.
Tre Tucker is ostensibly the No. 1 receiver for Vegas after the Jakobi Meyers trade, but tight end Brock Bowers is the "real" No. 1 receiver. That leaves Tucker as the second option in a passing attack that isn't great — the Raiders have thrown for the sixth-fewest yards in the league and the seventh-fewest touchdowns.
It's just not a great combination of factors, you know? We're probably getting a low-scoring slog of a game on Sunday. The Browns are starting Shedeur Sanders at quarterback, so there's a good chance Vegas controls the pace of this contest and largely takes the air out of the ball, which means you might want to play Ashton Jeanty while avoiding the team's passing game.
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