Kyren Williams Fantasy League Winner | Week 12 Risers and Fallers

by Jonathan Lange · Studs and Duds

Welcome back to Risers and Fallers! Thanksgiving is now behind us, and we are only two weeks away from the fantasy playoffs starting up. After a full day of football on Thursday, we were treated to the first Black Friday game in league history.

There was plenty of market fluctuation for players from every team in action this week. Let’s kick things off with the Risers, starting with a quarterback who has stepped up his game as of late.

Risers

Jordan Love, QB — Green Bay Packers

Jordan Love is quietly putting together some respectable quarterback play lately, and there’s been little discussion about it. On Thanksgiving, he carved up the Lions defense to the tune of 268 yards passing and three touchdowns. The lack of rushing production had the potential to cripple the offense but lately, Love has shown himself to be capable of carrying the offense in the passing game.

Over the Packers’ last three contests, Love has compiled a TD:INT ratio of 7:2. It doesn’t hurt that he gets to face off against the Giants and Buccaneers over the next two weeks. With Joe Burrow and Kirk Cousins out for the season, there’s a possibility Jordan Love finishes the season as a top-15 fantasy QB.

Jonathan Taylor, RB — Indianapolis Colts

I nearly put Jonathan Taylor on the Riser list after week 10 when he out-carried Zack Moss 23-to-1. Taylor once again was the lead back against the Buccaneers on Sunday. He turned in a two-touchdown performance, rewarding fantasy managers who held him all season. There was frustration early this season with how the team handled Taylor and his workload, but we now have back-to-back weeks where Taylor was the leader in carries and snaps. It wasn’t a clear-cut bell cow workload, but Taylor was effective enough with 57-percent of snaps. On a limited snap count and playing behind Zack Moss (for some reason), Taylor was a low-end RB2. Now with the Colts signaling that they want to use Taylor as the starting running back, he looks locked in as the league winner we saw in his rookie season.

Kyren Williams, RB — Los Angeles Rams

When Kyren Williams went down with an ankle injury, it appeared his days of monster fantasy production would take a dip. Kyren did not get the message. On Sunday, he finished with 143 rushing yards and a rushing touchdown on only 16 carries. He contributed in the receiving game, as well, securing six passes for 61 yards and two receiving touchdowns.

Fun fact: Williams had more receiving yards than Cooper Kupp and Puka Nacua combined! Williams was and is a lock as a top-15 RB option due to his Snap Share; he has recorded three games out of six eclipsing an 89-percent Snap Share or higher. But he won the day with outstanding efficiency. Williams is an extremely talented back who has earned the trust of his coaching staff enough to keep the backfield to himself.

Pat Freiermuth, TE — Pittsburgh Steelers

Sunday was the first game in the Steelers’ post-Matt Canada era, and it went well. The Steelers finished with over 400 yards of offense, a number they never eclipsed during Canada’s time as OC. And it went even better for tight end Pat Freiermuth, who finished the day with 11 targets, catching nine of them for 120 yards. It was only the fourth time this season a Steeler pass catcher finished a game with over 100 receiving yards.

Freiermuth has missed a large portion of the season due to injury, so it was nice to see him be the focal point of the new offense. Freiermuth led the team not only in receptions and receiving yards, but also in targets. Fantasy football is a game about finding edges, and Freiermuth being the key cog in this offense can be the edge that helps your tight end-needy fantasy roster!

Fallers

Desmond Ridder, QB — Atlanta Falcons

Not long ago, Desmond Ridder was benched (unless you ask Arthur Smith) and Taylor Heinicke took the starting job. After a mediocre performance and a hamstring injury, Smith announced that Ridder would again be the starting quarterback. Against the Saints without Marcus Lattimore, Ridder finished with 168 passing yards, one touchdown, and two interceptions.

https://twitter.com/DBro_FFB/status/1728870400233501062

To his credit, Ridder did finish with a 61-percent Completion Percentage, but you would hope for more from the second-year starter. Ridder has finished with more than 250 passing yards only twice on the season, and he’s been credited with 14 total turnovers (8 interceptions, 6 fumbles lost). In a conservative offense laden with stars such as Kyle Pitts and Drake London, Ridder must be better.

Joe Mixon, RB — Cincinnati Bengals

After the Bengals lost Joe Burrow, there was grave concern about the future of the offense without its star QB. The first week wasn’t great, and Joe Mixon turned in a terrible performance. He took eight carries for 16 rushing yards. He did finish with 44 receiving yards on two receptions, but had only two targets all game. Mixon is still a talented back, but with the change at quarterback, there must be major concern that he will have trouble hitting his ceiling rest of season. The offense has been neutered with the loss of Burrow, and everyone takes a hit. Mixon, however, may have the hardest time reaching his potential.

James Conner, RB — Arizona Cardinals

James Conner is a fine, do-it-all back that Arizona trusts in a bell cow role. But after Sunday, the stat sheet and the game suggest a change is on the horizon. The Cardinals recently claimed Michael Carter from the Jets, and on Sunday he got his first taste of action in the desert.

Carter ate into Conner’s workload, siphoning four carries and four receptions. Conner took 40-percent of the snaps, followed by Carter, who took 38-percent. The situation needs to be monitored because Carter has shown himself to be a capable back, and if Conner loses his bell cow status, he’s nothing more than an RB2 in a middling offense. Conner is a quality running back, but a running back needs plenty of opportunity to make a difference.

Adam Thielen, WR — Carolina Panthers

Adam Thielen was a shocking surprise from the beginning of the 2023 season. Despite all the struggles in Carolina, he’s played out of his mind, averaging 94 yards receiving over weeks two through eight. However, there’s been a shift in his production. If you count only the last four games, he’s averaging 37 receiving yards.

No matter what you think of Bryce Young, this offense is not the type of environment where a skill position player can be a reliable player through the entire season. Jonathan Mingo has emerged as a target for Young in the passing game, finishing with six or more targets over the past three games. With the recent coaching change, perhaps we could see a shift in the offense, but if you can still trade Thielen away, I’d do it now.

Conclusion:

Jordan Love, Jonathan Taylor, Kyren Williams, and Pat Freiermuth are the rankings Risers this week. Desmond Ridder, Joe Mixon, James Conner, and Adam Thielen are the Fallers. My actionable advice for this week is simple: keep an eye on Michael Carter when you place your waiver bids, and perhaps consider trading Thielen if someone is willing to pay enough. Have a great week and keep grinding for those fantasy wins!