Kirk Cousins (QB, MIN) - Week 12 Waiver Wire Pickups

BALLER MOVE: Add in 14+ Team Leagues

ROSTERED: 42% of Leagues

ANALYSIS: For someone who has dropped below 14 FP just twice this season, and below 10 just once, finding Cousins available in more than half of Yahoo! leagues is a little incredible. Oh, and it is not that Kirk Cousins is averaging just those 14 FP/G, either. Removing those two below-14 FP duds, Cousins is at a great 20.2 fantasy points per game (he's still at 17+ with those two performances factored in).

In the past five games, Cousins has finished in the QB1 realm three times, and another one as a QB2 (in the other one was this close to QB2, but he ended as the QB25 while posting a putrid 10.4 FP). Although not his best game of the season (that happened in Week 6; 26.7 FP), Cousins was still able to put on his second-best performance against a bad Dallas defense that allowed him to go 22-of-30 for 314 yards and 3 TDs with no interceptions against. This marked the fourth time in 10 games with 3+ TDs, and the seventh Cousins has thrown at least 2 TDs in a match this season.

Cousins is 1) not going to rush for high yardage nor touchdowns, and 2) not going to play as a QB1 most nights because he is not a volume-thrower (23rd in pass attempts through W11) and that hurts his upside. That being said, Cousins is as efficient as it gets, having a 67% completion rate although a not-so-great 20:11 TD:INT ratio.

The Vikings have a couple of good matchups coming in their schedule, facing teams ranked 14th and 30th against fantasy QBs, so Cousins is a reasonably good WW target for needy GMs looking to stream a quarterback before the playoffs. Don't think about playing Cousins in the postseason, though, as he'll face much tougher opposition (11th, 3rd, and 10th-best teams against QBs).

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