The player pool for FanDuel tournaments is shallow in Week 12. Six teams are on bye, including the Bengals, Falcons, and Saints—teams that often feature players who are consistently underpriced. Additionally, recent go-to options like Justin Herbert and Ladd McConkey are playing on Monday night, leaving them off the main slate. The good news is that despite the limited pool, there are no players who stand out as absolute must-plays. FanDuel has done an excellent job with pricing this week, with no glaring mispricings. According to the Footballguys percent rostered projections, only one player is currently projected to exceed 18% rostered. This allows us to focus on building lineups around our favorite plays without worrying as much about being too chalky.

One reason for the flat percent-rostered projections is the premium pricing on top running backs. Saquon Barkley is priced at $10,000, and De'Von Achane has finally risen above $9,000. The elite running backs are now priced appropriately. Meanwhile, wide receiver pricing is moving in the opposite direction, with some of the top options becoming more affordable. A.J. Brown, Puka Nacua, and CeeDee Lamb are all priced in the mid-$8K range. Unlike last week, when it felt necessary to use a running back in the flex spot, this week's pricing makes flexing a wide receiver a viable option. The lack of pricing or projection trends pushing everyone toward a similar roster build means we can spend less time worrying about overall strategy and instead focus on the specific spots and players we want to target.

Let's start by looking at the top game environments before diving into the slate position by position.

Updated Slate Overview

Implied Team Totals

Let's begin by updating a few points from my DFS First Look article based on the latest lines. In the visualization below, you'll see each team's implied team total along with their point spread. Lines connecting opponents help illustrate the matchups. The higher the line, the higher the game total. The highest line connects the Lions and Colts, indicating that this game has the highest over/under on the slate and is one of the most appealing game environments to target.The Sunday Night Football matchup between the Eagles and Rams has the next highest over/under on the slate.

The length of the lines also visualizes the size of the spread between the two teams. For example, Washington and Kansas City both have strong implied team totals but are also heavy favorites. This means we need to be cautious when targeting players in these matchups, especially those in the passing games. The question is whether Dallas or Carolina can score enough points to push Jayden Daniels and Patrick Mahomes II, respectively, into ceiling performances.

Best Matchups

Season-to-date averages provide valuable context for identifying teams projected to exceed their usual performance. The table below compares each team's implied total ("Total") to their season average points per game ("PPG") and highlights the expected scoring boost for Week 12 ("Week 12 Boost"). Here are the top matchups:

The table above should draw your attention to the matchup between the Dolphins and Patriots. Both teams are expected to significantly outperform their season-to-date scoring averages. Tua Tagovailoa and Drake Maye have been playing well and this game has sneaky shootout potential.

Percent Rostered by Team

The table below ranks each team on the main slate by their implied team total. Generally, focusing on players from high-scoring teams is a strong strategy, as it often correlates with higher upside. However, high implied team totals should also correlate with high percent-rostered projections. It is when the percent-rostered projections by team deviate from the typical expectations that is especially interesting and may potentially indicate an edge we can exploit in tournaments. That's the purpose of the table below.

The two spots that stand out are the Lions and Dolphins. Last week, we highlighted the Lions here as being under-rostered. Unfortunately, I was more on the Detroit running game. Instead, it was the Lions passing game we needed to take down Week 11 FanDuel tournaments. Do things swing back toward the Detroit running game this week or will the passing game stay hot?