Week 12 Risers & Fallers Analysis for Fantasy Football

As we enter Week 12 of the fantasy football season, many league trade deadlines are rapidly approaching. With the waiver wires largely dried up, and most FAAB budgets reduced to pennies, a last-minute trade could be your best chance to really make a significant roster impact as we head into the playoffs.

This weekly column examines ten fantasy football players, five guys that are on the up-and-up, or “risers,” and five guys that are struggling, or “fallers.” This week, the Risers will focus on players that you might want to try to acquire, either because of strong play right now or a favorable remaining schedule. The Fallers will be guys that you could likely cut in 10 or 12 team leagues, as this is the last week of team byes, and it's only the Steelers and the Panthers not playing.

With that said, here are your Week 12 risers and fallers. Good luck with your fantasy football lineup and matchups in Week 12, RotoBallers!

Fantasy Football Risers -- Stock Up

Julio Jones, WR -- Atlanta Falcons

Jones has not scored a touchdown since Week 3, which is pretty amazing. There is nothing noticeable that would suggest he has been playing hurt the past couple months, but clearly Jones's production has failed to live up to preseason expectations. However, now is the time to buy him, possibly on the cheap, for your playoff run. The Falcons next four opponents are all in the bottom half of the league in fantasy points allowed to opposing wide receivers. And Matt Ryan should continue to air the ball out, as Atlanta can't run at all (ranked 24th in the league in rushing yards per game).

Eddie Lacy, RB -- Green Bay Packers

Lacy's last couple games have been saved by his involvement in the Packer passing game, a trend that is unlikely to continue. However, he should start to get more touches (just 24 total carries the past two games), especially as the weather gets worse. As good as Aaron Rodgers is, there's just no way he can continue passing at this pace, and they are going to need to run the ball more. The schedule for Green Bay sets up quite nicely for Lacy the next few weeks, as he faces Minnesota, New England and Atlanta, and all are in the bottom third of the league in fantasy points allowed to opposing running backs.

Trent Richardson, RB -- Indianapolis Colts

Staying with the Alabama theme, Richardson is now in line to see the bulk of the carries for the Colts the rest of the season, after Ahmad Bradshaw's season-ending broken ankle. Richardson's value actually comes more in the passing game, since the Colts pass it a ton, and Richardson has shown that he can handle the dump offs and screen passes decently. Based on pure volume, he's probably a solid RB2 the rest of the season, especially in PPR leagues, as hard as that might be to believe.

Kenny Stills, WR -- New Orleans Saints

Stills should see an increase in targets in light of rookie Brandin Cooks's season-ending broken thumb. The Saints schedule sets up quite nicely for their passing attack over the next five weeks: home games against Baltimore, Carolina and Atlanta, who are all terrible against the pass, and facing Pittsburgh and Chicago on the road, who aren't exactly the '85 Bears or '00 Ravens, either. Brees has had a down year by his standards, but I wouldn't be surprised if he turns it on the final six weeks, and Stills could be a big part of that. He's certainly worth the add if he's available or if you can get him on the cheap.

Larry Donnell, TE -- New York Giants

Donnell's schedule the next four weeks is awesome. He faces Dallas, Jacksonville, Tennessee and Washington, all of whom are in the bottom third of the league in fantasy points allowed to opposing tight ends. Remember that two of Donnell's best games this season came against Dallas and Washington earlier this season. If you just lost Dwayne Allen or are sick of waiting for someone like Jordan Reed to be productive, Donnell might not be a bad option.

Fantasy Football Fallers -- Stock Down, and OK to drop

Anthony Dixon, RB -- Buffalo Bills

Dixon filled in acceptably for a couple of weeks while the Bills were treading water without Fred Jackson, but the veteran will probably be back this week, and it seems as though the Bills prefer Bryce Brown over Dixon anyway, so you can probably go ahead and cut Dixon at this point.

Travaris Cadet, RB -- New Orelans Saints

The Saints passing-down backs are always a crapshoot to begin with, but Pierre Thomas will probably be back for Monday night's game, meaning Cadet's role will be substantially reduced. He may still catch a couple balls, and with Cooks now out, perhaps he even gets a few of those targets, but he won't get the touches to be fantasy-relevant moving forward, even in PPR leagues.

Eddie Royal, WR -- San Diego Chargers

With just one touchdown since Week 4 and only eight total catches, Royal can be safely dropped in all but the deepest of leagues, The Chargers offense doesn't seem to be clicking right now anyway, but even when it is, there're too many options to spread the targets around (Keenan Allen, Antonio Gates, Malcolm Floyd) for Royal to be consistently involved.

Cordarrelle Patterson, WR -- Minnesota Vikings

People, this isn't August anymore. The fact that this guy is still owned in 60% of ESPN leagues is astounding. Clearly, Norv Turner doesn't consider getting this playmaker the ball to be a priority, and it's a shame because he does have talent. But just go look at his stats. He doesn't deserve to be rostered right now, especially with nearly all the bye weeks over.

Pierre Garcon, WR -- Washington Redskins

Washington is a complete mess. And the NFL target leader from last season has had a forgettable 2014. He has just eight catches over his  last three games, with zero touchdowns. Washington's two upcoming defensive matchups are pretty bad for an opposing wide receiver (San Francisco and Indianapolis). If you are trying to make a playoff push and need an option with more upside, I have no issue with cutting bait on Garcon at this point in the season.