👋 Welcome back! It’s gameday, good people. Nearly 20% of the league is on bye in Week 12, so let’s get to work ...

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In this edition: We break down the latest fantasy news, offer tips for dumpster-diving through your league's waiver wire, identify potential league-winning bench stashes and more.

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Today's Get to the Points! is written by Andy Behrens. For the web version, click here. To sign up for free, click here.

America’s tight ends are healing: George Kittle has already declared that he’ll be playing on Sunday, and Sam LaPorta was a full participant in Wednesday’s walkthrough. Also, Dan Campbell came as close as he possibly could to saying LaPorta was good-to-go, without officially saying it. We’re in a good place, my fellow LaPortists. 

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Mike Evans on the mend: He was a limited participant Wednesday, and any level of activity in the week’s first session is usually a good sign. All reporting suggests Evans should ready for the Giants matchup, which, of course, is no small detail for those of us relying on Baker Mayfield.

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Isiah Pacheco inching closer: Andy Reid has been both evasive and optimistic when discussing Pacheco, who returned to limited practices last week. Reid said on Wednesday that both Pacheco and Kareem Hunt being potentially available was “a good problem to have” and both would be involved moving forward. The matchup ahead with Carolina is a gift, so we want to be aggressive with any active Chiefs back this weekend. 

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Brock Purdy dinged but practicing: He was officially limited Wednesday, dealing with soreness in his throwing shoulder. Kyle Shanahan has downplayed the severity of Purdy’s issue, which is nice. But also, Shanahan has been lying to us all season about injuries, so let’s not suddenly hang on that man’s every word. 

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D’Andre Swift dealing with a groin issue, sidelined Wednesday: This is another case in which a head coach was somewhat dismissive of the severity of the issue, so there’s no obvious reason to panic. It’s certainly worth noting that Roschon Johnson handled a beefy workload against the Packers last Sunday (11 touches), so he deserves bench/flex consideration without regard to Swift’s status.

On Tuesday morning, when you launched your league homepage to scope out this week’s lineup decisions, you probably recognized the terrible predicament NFL schedule-makers created for us. 

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Six different teams are on bye this week, none of which are irrelevant in fantasy. We will be without our Falcons, Bills, Bengals, Saints, Jets and Jaguars. 

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Put another way: We are missing the overall QB2, QB4, RB3, RB4, RB6, RB8, RB14, WR1, WR4, WR5, WR9, WR10, WR21, TE6 and TE7, among other useful pieces. Just an absolute fantasy nightmare. 

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It doesn’t have to be this way, of course. But who are we to tell the NFL how to handle its business? Our role is simply to help you manage around the chaos. 

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Whenever one of these mega-byes arrives — and another is ahead of us in Week 14, just so you know — it’s important to remember that amid the messiness, we can also find opportunity. Every active manager in your league placed multiple waiver claims this week, which of course means everyone in your league was dropping players. We happen to be in one of those weeks in which the second-wave of pickups might actually be better than the first. 

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Here’s a partial list of players who took a significant roster-percentage hit in Yahoo leagues when waivers ran overnight on Tuesday, each of them dropped by over 3,000 managers:

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• Kirk Cousins
• Aaron Rodgers
• Russell Wilson (ahead of a beatable matchup on TNF)
• Sam Darnold
• Keenan Allen
• Jaylen Waddle 👀
• Cedric Tillman (the week’s most obviously bad drop decision)
• Darnell Mooney
• Rico Dowdle
• Travis Etienne Jr. (OK, this one brought sweet relief to the dropper)
• Tank Bigsby
• Jonathon Brooks (ahead of his regular-season debut!)
• Tyler Allgeier
• Jordan Mason
• Raheem Mostert 
• Ray Davis
• T.J. Hockenson (no idea what this is about)
• Dalton Kincaid
• Jake Ferguson
• Kyle Pitts
• Evan Engram 
• Tucker Kraft
• Detroit Lions D/ST (they get Indy this week and still have both Bears games remaining)

So, yeah, it’s a pretty great week to dumpster dive. Every name above is either playable or stashable, depending on your league’s specific format. We just mass-dropped most of the premium backup running backs and almost 50% of the preseason top-12 tight ends. 

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If you haven’t made a regular habit of reviewing the mid-week drops … well, it’s certainly not too late to start. There’s never been a better time, in fact. When trade deadlines are behind us, often the best way to fill a roster need is by sifting through other people’s fantasy trash.

An important detail to remember as the season unfolds and we approach the money weeks is that, very soon, roster depth won’t be meaningful at all. For most of you, fantasy playoffs are beginning in less than a month. There will be no more byes to navigate. If one of your key players suffers an in-game injury, your team is probably cooked. Depth won’t save you. 

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Last week, we mentioned the declining importance of roster depth in the context of the approaching default fantasy league trade deadline, but it’s also an essential thing to keep in mind as we make pickups in the closing weeks. Ideally, by the time Week 15 rolls around, your starting lineup will basically set itself and your bench will consist exclusively of high-ceiling lottery tickets. 

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Most of these lottery tickets, of course, will be players with exceptional contingent value — guys who are just one injury/suspension/benching from breaking out in a massive way. 

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This, for example, is the sort of December bench you’re trying to build:

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Tyler Allgeier, RB, 35% rostered: He has a standalone role in his team’s offense, which is nice, and he would immediately rank as an every-week top-12 fantasy RB if Bijan Robinson missed time for any reason. Allgeier already has a 1,000-yard rushing season on his résumé, and he’s averaging 5.0 YPC so far this year. 

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Blake Corum, RB, 14%: To be clear, we are not trying to wish an injury into existence. Instead, we are merely pointing out that if Kyren Williams were to miss time, Corum is the clear replacement. He was the only other Rams running back to receive a touch last week. Williams was a true league-winner last year, so we know the RB1 role in L.A. is outrageously valuable. 

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Jordan Mason, RB, 48%: We already have proof-of-concept with Mason, who averaged 107.6 total yards per game and 5.2 YPC over the first seven weeks of the season with Christian McCaffrey sidelined. Mason is an easy, obvious fantasy RB1 whenever CMC can’t go. 

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Tutu Atwell, WR, 3%: It’s been a minute, so maybe you don’t even remember this guy. Atwell is a big-play-or-bust receiver under normal circumstances, but he was drawing huge target totals back in September and October, in the weeks without Cooper Kupp and Puka Nacua. He actually still ranks near the top of the NFL in yards per route run (2.41), immediately ahead of Kupp, Amon-Ra St. Brown and Ja’Marr Chase.

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Keon Coleman, WR, 45%: Coleman was thriving before the wrist injury knocked him out in Weeks 10-11, and he’s a good bet to return following Buffalo’s bye. The trade for Amari Cooper certainly didn’t have a negative impact on Coleman’s usage; he delivered his two best fantasy performances with Cooper in the mix. 

Isaiah Likely, TE, 29%: At this point, we have abundant evidence that Likely is an upper-tier fantasy tight end in any week without Mark Andrews (a seven-year veteran with an injury history). Likely is the only tight end who deserves end-of-season stash status. It’s otherwise not a position at which you need a backup in the closing weeks.

Another week, another surprisingly fun Thursday night matchup. Tonight, we’re treated to a game involving one legitimately good team (Pittsburgh) and one team that’s become a fantasy party while not actually winning (Cleveland). Weather could be problematic, so we might have a bench-the-kickers situation on our hands depending on evening conditions.

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Here are three players who deserve your attention on Thursday night:

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🫣 Jameis Winston, agent of chaos. The Winston experience has been exactly as advertised. He’s been an absolute blast, transforming a dull, hideous Cleveland offense into something both entertaining and impossible to forecast. The Browns certainly aren’t asking him to be a mere game-manager; Winston has attempted 133 passes in his three starts, never fewer than 41 in any game. 

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In any given week, Jameis is likely to complete 30 passes to his own team and two or three to the opponent, while keeping at least three of his receivers fantasy-relevant. With Winston at the controls, David Njoku is a locked-in starter at tight end and Cedric Tillman suddenly cannot be benched. Even in a thorny matchup, he’s a playable deep-league QB. 

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🥵 George Pickens, also an agent of chaos. If you enjoy outrageous highlights and occasional unintended hilarity, Pickens is your guy. He is simply a treasure. In four games with Russell Wilson at quarterback, Pickens has averaged 5.5 receptions and 91.3 receiving yards, scoring twice. He’s become a set-and-forget WR1. Nothing about tonight’s matchup with Cleveland should scare you off. The Browns defense has allowed 7.8 yards per pass attempt on the season and the fourth-most fantasy points to opposing wide receivers. 

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🍗 Najee Harris is feasting, with little fanfare. In each of Pittsburgh’s last five games — all of them wins — Harris has either 90 total yards or a touchdown (or both). He’s been phenomenal. Harris delivered multiple wow plays against Baltimore last week, in a critical division matchup vs. an elite run defense. 

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Plenty of fantasy analysts tend to dismiss Harris as a pure product of volume, but he’s been a clear difference-maker for the Steelers this season. The surface stats are good, but the underlying data is even better. Harris is averaging over 3.0 yards after contact per attempt and he’s second in the league in missed tackles forced on his carries, behind only James Conner. At this point, we should regard him as matchup-proof.