NFL Usage Trends from Week 12: Fantasy Football Notes for All 32 Teams

This weekly piece will look at those trends and make recommendations for players who might be worth rostering or starting in our fantasy lineups. We will look primarily at how roles changed over the first 12 weeks of the season for a player on each team, and if that is signal or noise for the season.

If you have interesting usage notes, feel free to reach out to me on Twitter/X (@CableBoxScore) and let me know. Let’s dive into the NFL Week 12 usage!

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NFL Week 12 Usage Trends

ARIZONA CARDINALS

Michael Carter Getting More Work

While Michael Wilson and Trey McBride continue to go off with Jacoby Brissett, it’s the running back usage that’s more interesting. Michael Carter saw his snaps go up for the third straight week, 56% in Week 12. Trey Benson might be back soon, so this is something to monitor.

ATLANTA FALCONS

Running Back Snaps in a Win

In a game the Falcons won and controlled throughout, Bijan Robinson’s snaps dropped from 85% last week to 66%. Tyler Allgeier’s snaps jumped from 21% in Week 11 to 39% this week. This should be the norm in games that the Falcons control.

BALTIMORE RAVENS

Lamar Jackson Busts Again

Lamar Jackson has back-to-back weeks with zero total touchdowns. He told the media on Sunday that it is not due to any injuries, but just performances that he knows need to be better. Somehow, the Ravens keep winning and are now atop the AFC North, but this level of mediocre play after his amazing 2024 season is a major concern for fantasy football managers.

For the first time in his career, Lamar Jackson totaled ZERO touchdowns in back-to-back weeks. pic.twitter.com/aQASLjBlqv

— Underdog (@Underdog) November 23, 2025

BUFFALO BILLS

Khalil Shakir Separates

The receiving options for the Buffalo Bills are getting slimmer and slimmer each week. Keon Coleman has been a healthy scratch for two weeks. Dalton Kincaid is hurt. Joshua Palmer is coming back from injury. That meant that Khalil Shakir drew 10 of Josh Allen’s 32 targets on Thursday night. This offense is shrinking its usage to Allen, Shakir, James Cook, and a sprinkle of Dawson Knox right now.

CAROLINA PANTHERS

Running Backs Can’t Get Going

Thanks to some long drives by San Francisco and some turnovers by Carolina, the Panthers only had the ball for 22 minutes on Monday Night Football. They only rushed with running backs nine times, with Rico Dowdle getting six of them and Chuba Hubbard tacking on three more.

CHICAGO BEARS

D.J. Moore Out of Nowhere

DJ Moore resurrected his fantasy football season for one week and caught five passes for 64 yards and two touchdowns. It seems that every four or five weeks, Caleb Williams and the Bears remember that they have a $100 million wide receiver on their team and decide to heavily utilize him. Moore had 21 points in Week 12 and 2.6 combined points in Weeks 10-11.

CINCINNATI BENGALS

Joe Flacco’s Time is Over

Joe Flacco, thank you for your service, but you can go back into semi-retirement now that Joe Burrow is about ready to return. Flacco did all he could while he was called in to start for Cincinnati, but he has been looking like all of his 41 years in recent starts. On Sunday, Flacco had 182 passing yards, one touchdown, and an interception. This was his second game in a row with just 10 fantasy points.

CLEVELAND BROWNS

Jerry Jeudy Fall (and Drop) From Grace

Jerry Jeudy dropped an easy long pass from Shedur Sanders for a fumble on Sunday and may have dropped any chance he has at a productive rest of the season as well. Jeudy is now connected to one of the worst quarterbacks in the league and has fewer than 10 fantasy points in all but one game this season. Jeudy has just one receiving touchdown all season.

DALLAS COWBOYS

George Pickens Outproduces CeeDee Lamb Again

Dak Prescott engineered a 21-point comeback to beat the Philadelphia Eagles at home. He finished the game with 354 passing yards, two passing touchdowns, and a rushing touchdown. Despite seeing nine targets to CeeDee Lamb’s 11, George Pickens outproduced Lamb again. Pickens finished with nine receptions for 146 yards and a score, while Lamb had just 75 scoreless yards.

DENVER BRONCOS

The Denver Broncos Were on Bye For Week 12

Where is everyone?

Happy Bye Week, #BroncosCountry! pic.twitter.com/VtIhEMGK8g

— Denver Broncos (@Broncos) November 23, 2025

DETROIT LIONS

Jahmyr Gibbs’ Record Day

Jahmyr Gibbs had one of those games where, if you’re facing him in fantasy football, you just close the laptop and go outside and touch some grass. It took him just 15 rush attempts to get to 219 rushing yards and two touchdowns. But he also added 11 receptions, 45 receiving yards, and another touchdown on top of that. His 49.9 Half-PPR fantasy points doubled what any other running back scored on the day.

GREEN BAY PACKERS

Emanuel Wilson Passes the Test

Emanuel Wilson did his best Josh Jacobs impression for Green Bay on Sunday. He touched the ball 35 times, had 125 total yards, and scored twice. He was the number one waiver pick-up of the week and rewarded those who emptied their wallets on him. If Jacobs misses more time, Wilson gets the Lions, Broncos, and Bears (oh, my!) the next three weeks.

HOUSTON TEXANS

Woody Marks Takeover

For the third straight game, Woody Marks had more than 66% of snaps played in the backfield for the Texans. He out-touched Nick Chubb 17 to seven and totalled 79 yards. He is moving slowly into workhorse territory.

INDIANAPOLIS COLTS

Jonathan Taylor Concerning Pattern

Jonathan Taylor has now alternated between dominant and poor performances over the last week. Unfortunately, Week 12 was a bad one, and Taylor finished with just 58 rushing yards and eight receiving yards for 7.6 Half-PPR points. He was playing a very tough Kansas City rush defense, but with the Texans and Seahawks up in two of the next three weeks, the schedule doesn’t lighten up much for a couple of weeks.

JACKSONVILLE JAGUARS

Parker Washington Roars Back to Life

After a week with only two targets in Week 11, Parker Washington saw seven targets and caught five passes for 71 yards and a touchdown. He and Trevor Lawrence have a clear connection, and Washington now has at least seven targets in four of his last five games. Washington also now leads Jacksonville in targets on the season with 60.

KANSAS CITY CHIEFS

Rashee Rice On Top Again

Rashee Rice suffered some kind of hamstring injury late in the game against the Indianapolis Colts. Many have said it was just cramps, and he would have been out there in any kind of playoff game. But before that happened, his 12 targets were four more than any other player on the Chiefs.

LAS VEGAS RAIDERS

Raiders Bottom Out and Fire Chip Kelly

Quarterback Geno Smith was sacked 10 times and constantly pressured, leading to a largely dysfunctional offense. The performance was so poor that offensive coordinator Chip Kelly was fired after the game. Despite the heavy pressure, Smith completed 30 of 44 passes for 285 yards and a touchdown. Tre Tucker finished with 10 targets against the Browns.

LOS ANGELES CHARGERS

The Los Angeles Chargers Were on Bye For Week 12

time to recharge pic.twitter.com/xOemZ0X0Bz

— Los Angeles Chargers (@chargers) November 21, 2025

LOS ANGELES RAMS

Puka Nacua Back to 100%

He has been so efficient it was hard to notice, but the Los Angeles Rams have been easing Puka Nacua back into action after his injury from Weeks 6-7. In Week 9, Nacua played 49% of snaps, but he was finally all the way back up to 82% in Week 12. Not surprisingly, Nacua crushed with seven catches for 97 yards.

MIAMI DOLPHINS

The Miami Dolphins Were on Bye For Week 12

Through the lens of Madrid 🇪🇸

Full #WASvsMIA 📸 gallery ⬇️https://t.co/Wof6QvVCdm

— Miami Dolphins (@MiamiDolphins) November 20, 2025

MINNESOTA VIKINGS

Jordan Mason Can Be Dropped

Jordan Mason has not scored more than 10 Half-PPR fantasy points since October 19, and Sunday was his fourth game in five weeks where he has fewer than five fantasy points. When Aaron Jones came back into action for Minnesota a few weeks ago, he boxed Jordan Mason out even more. Add this on top of the abysmal state of the Minnesota offense, and you can drop him easily.

NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS

Hunter Henry Comes Back

Hunter Henry had 21 fantasy points in Week 12, which is about the same number of total points he had from Weeks 8-11. He became the focal point for Drake Maye again and demanded 10 targets, which he converted into seven receptions for 115 yards and a touchdown. The Bengals are the worst team against tight ends this season, so this may not be predictive, but it was good to see Henry back in the positive column for one week.

NEW ORLEANS SAINTS

Saints Without Alvin Kamara

Alvin Kamara left the game against Atlanta after only five touches and did not return. It was reported after the game that he suffered an MCL sprain in his knee. In his absence, Devin Neal rushed seven times, Taysom Hill got seven carries, and quarterback Tyler Shough had another seven.

NEW YORK GIANTS

Jameis Winston Day

Jameis Winston put on a show against the Detroit Lions, throwing for 366 yards and two touchdowns, rushing for 13 yards, and catching a 33-yard touchdown. Add it all up, and you get 32.74 fantasy points, and the best quarterback score of the week heading into Monday Night Football. There is no quarterback controversy here as Jaxson Dart is clearly the quarterback of the future, but fantasy football managers sure would love to see more of Mr. Winston.

NEW YORK JETS

Tyrod’s Tendencies

With Tyrod Taylor at quarterback, the Jets had more passing first downs (10) than in the previous two games combined (6) with Justin Fields. Taylor distributed the ball to six different receivers, including recently acquired wide receivers John Metchie III and Adonai Mitchell. Metchie had a career-high six catches for 65 yards.

PHILADELPHIA EAGLES

Where has Dallas Goedert Been?

In a game where A.J. Brown finally had more than 100 yards and a touchdown, Dallas Goedert couldn’t perform in Dallas. A weird turn of irony. He caught just two of Jalen Hurts’ passes for 20 yards and now has three straight games with six or fewer fantasy points. It seemed that the Eagles were making a point to get A.J. Brown the ball in Week 12, so hopefully, Goedert gets back in the startable tight end column as the schedule opens up ahead of the fantasy playoffs.

PITTSBURGH STEELERS

Can’t Go Wrong With Either Back

It was an identical 50-50 split in terms of snaps for Jaylen Warren and Kenneth Gainwell on Sunday for the Steelers. The Steelers are running about 30 times per game, so there has been plenty of work to go around for both. Against the Bears, Gainwell got the most yards (122), but Warren got the most touches (18) and a touchdown.

SAN FRANCISCO 49ERS

Christian McCaffrey Approaching Records

In their win against Carolina, Christian McCaffrey had 24 carries and seven receptions for another 31 touches. He is now on pace for 298 carries and 114 receptions. If he gets to that number of 412, it would be the most in the NFL since DeMarco Murray had 449 for the Dallas Cowboys in 2014.

SEATTLE SEAHAWKS

JSN Continues to Smash

Jaxon Smith-Njigba at times looked like he was toying with the Tennessee Titans’ secondary on Sunday. He finished with eight catches on 10 targets for 167 yards and two touchdowns. He was high-pointing the ball all over the place and frequently beat his man on any given route. JSN is also on pace to break the all-time receiving yards record and become the first person to pass 2,000 yards.

TAMPA BAY BUCCANEERS

Sean Tucker Curiosity

Sean Tucker’s snaps went down from 60% to 37% in Week 12 despite all the coach’s speak about how much he would be used. He did have 13 touches, which led all players on the Buccaneers. Not much can be drawn from this since Tampa Bay was losing miserably the entire game.

WASHINGTON COMMANDERS

The Washington Commanders Were on Bye For Week 12

Continue to fight@NWFCU | #RaisseHail pic.twitter.com/KlWRddjwcN

— Washington Commanders (@Commanders) November 19, 2025

Data Sources: Pro Football Focus, NFL Next Gen Stats, Football Guys Snap Summary, FTN Air Yards, Pro Football Reference, Team Rankings, Fantasy Points Data Suite

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