NFL – Expert Recap & Grades – Week 12

Fantasy scores were down overall this week which made it a challenging week for the NFL DFS experts. However, it was one of the best showings for our Industry Consensus list which had many of the top plays at each position. If you were able to piece together the right combination of players it could have been a very successful week.

The Overall Standings also got a little tighter with the top expert, DailyFantasyNerd, finishing with their worst showing of the season this week, allowing FantasyTeamAdvice to come within just a fraction of a point from first place.

Be sure to come back each week for a review of the Industry Consensus picks highlighting the top (and bottom) grades for the week and season from the experts we are tracking. For Week 12 we tracked and graded 22 sets of experts picks including the Industry Consensus list. You can view all expert’s overall rankings on the Expert Grading page.

On to the Week 12 grades, class is in session!

Consensus Recap – Week 12

The Industry Consensus picks performed very well compared to the list of experts this week with a 6th place finish out of 22 experts graded.

QB (Score: 3.56 / Rank 7th out of 22) – The Consensus list had a solid week at the QB position featuring five of the top eight scorers including the top two scorers Colin Kaepernick and Drew Brees.

RB (Score: 4.00 / Rank 8th out of 22) – The Consensus list also had a good week at RB finishing in the top 10 led by solid options at the position including David Johnson, Jeremy Hill and Carlos Hyde.

WR (Score: 1.91 / Rank 10th out of 22) – The wide receiver position wasn’t quite as kind to the Consensus and the experts this week as many of the most recommended plays did not perform. You had to go down the list to players such as Odell Beckham and Michael Thomas to find the best plays at the position.

TE (Score: 2.57 / Rank 7th out of 22) – Without many big fantasy days from the tight end position the Consensus list did well including the top play Travis Kelce and a couple other solid plays with Jimmy Graham and Delanie Walker.

D/ST (Score: 2.00 / Rank 10th out of 22) – Defense completed a clean sweep of top 10 finishes for the Consensus list with the Giants leading the way as the top play at the position this week.

Head of the Class – Week 12

Each week I will highlight a few of the top experts for the week. Here are the experts that deserve a “gold star” for Week 12 based on their cumulative grades for all players they touted this week.

#1) DailyFantasyCafe (Score: 5.00) managed to avoid the traps in Week 12 to take home top honors for the week with five “A+” grades and only two “F” grades out of 12 selections. Top plays included Drew Brees, David Johnson, Malcolm Mitchell, Mike Evans and Travis Kelce.

#2) FantasyTeamAdvice (Score: 4.89) put together a good week to finish in second place with five grades of “A” or better from their nine selections. Key selections included Drew Brees, Jonathan Stewart, Lance Kendricks and Odell Beckham.

#3) Moxyball (Score: 3.55) rounds out the top three with five grades of “B” or better from their 11 selections. They were led by picks of Drew Brees, David Johnson and Michael Thomas.

Top Value – DailyFantasyCafe (3.37 DK Pts/$1000) provided the top value plays of the week with key value picks of Malcolm Mitchell, Travis Kelce and the Chiefs defense.

Head of the Class – Week 12 (By Position)

Sometimes there is just that one class that you excel in. In this section, I will highlight who the top experts were at each position for Week 12.

QB –DailyFantasyNerd (10.00) led the position for the second straight week with their selection of Drew Brees as their only QB this week.

RB – RotoGrinders Lineup Builder (7.00) takes home first at RB this week led by selections of Jeremy Hill and Jonathan Stewart.

WR – DailyFantasyCafe (4.20) led a tough WR position this week with their selections of Malcolm Mitchell and Mike Evans.

TE – DailyFantasySportsRankings (10.00) received a perfect score at TE thanks to their selections of Travis Kelce and Lance Kendricks.

DST – DailyFantasySportsRankings and DailyFantasyCafe (5.00) share top honors this week with DFSR selecting the Giants and DFC picking the Chiefs.

Study Time – Week 12

If we are going to give a gold star to the top experts of the week, we also need to determine which experts might need to put in some extra study time to pull up those grades. Here are the Week 12 experts that didn’t make the grade this week.

• ProFootballFocus (Score: 0.78) had a rough week with eight of their nine selections receiving a “D” or “F” grade. They were let down by players such as Lamar Miller, Larry Fitzgerald and the Titans defense.
• DailyFantasyNerd (Score: 1.00) had their first truly bad week with five “D” grades and two “F” grades out of nine selections. Picks that struggled this week included Larry Fitzgerald, Greg Olsen and Spencer Ware.

Extra Credit – Week 12

In this section, I will look to give some extra credit to experts that received an A+ or A grade for a player that they recommended when very few other experts did. Week 12 extra credit goes to the following…

A+ – LeSean McCoy (DailyOverlay – Offensive Tendencies)
A+ – Quincy Enunwa (DailyRoto, DK Playbook)
A+ – Marquess Wilson (DailyRoto)
A+ – Malcom Mitchell (FantasyPros, DailyFantasyCafe)
A+ – Mike Evans (SportsBlog, DailyFantasyCafe)
A+ – Taylor Gabriel (DailyOverlay – Offensive Tendencies)
A+ – Lance Kendricks (DailyFantasySportsRankings, FantasyTeamAdvice)
A+ – Tyler Eifert (DailyRoto, RotoGrinders Consensus)

Head of the Class – Season

Here are the top experts in the Overall Standings after Week 12 of the season, including which site has provided the top DraftKings points per $1000 of salary.

#1) DailyFantasyNerd (Score: 3.72) just barely holds onto the top spot after a terrible performance in Week 12. They will need to bounce back strong in Week 13 to remain in first place.

#2) FantasyTeamAdvice (Score: 3.72) continues their strong picks and are just a fraction of a point behind DailyFantasyNerd thanks to a strong second place finish in Week 12.

#3) DailyOverlay – Value Index (Score: 3.45) remains in third place in the overall standings but continues to slide closer to the rest of the field.

#4) DailyFantasyCafe (Score: 3.28) jumps into fourth place on the overall leaderboard with their strong first place finish in Week 12.

#5) DailyFantasySportsRankings (Score: 3.24) remains in fifth place despite some other sites jump ahead and behind them in the overall standings with a very solid fourth place finish in Week 12.

Top Value – DraftKings Playbook (3.05 DK Pts/$1000) – NEW LEADER

The DailyOverlay Industry Consensus moves up one spot into 12th place in the overall standings this week out of 25 experts with a very good 6th place finish in Week 12.

Head of the Class – Season (By Position)

Sometimes there is just that one class that you excel in. Here are the top experts at each position through Week 12 of the season including which site has provided the top DraftKings points per $1000 of salary.

QB
#1) FantasyTeamAdvice (4.37) – NEW LEADER
#2) FakePigskin (4.30)

Top Value – DailyFantasyNerd (3.44 DK Pts/$1000)

RB
#1) RotoGrinders – Lineup Builder (4.33) – NEW LEADER
#2) DraftKings Playbook (4.26) – NEW

Top Value – DraftKings Playbook (3.53 DK Pts/$1000)

WR
#1) DailyFantasyNerd (3.97)
#2) DailyFantasyCafe (3.19)

Top Value – DraftKings Playbook (2.98 DK Pts/$1000)

TE
#1) DailyOverlay – Value Index (4.20)
#2) ProFootballFocus (3.67)

Top Value – FantasyPros (2.94 DK Pts/$1000) – NEW

DST
#1) FakePigskin (3.44) – NEW LEADER
#2) RotoGrinders – Lineup Builder (3.36) – NEW

Top Value – RotoGrinders – Lineup Builder (2.93 DK Pts/$1000) – NEW

Let’s see who can make the grade in Week 13!

Follow me on Twitter @RotoPilot