The fantasy football Week 12 schedule is here and some free agent pickups and sleepers to look at include Jonas Gray, Isaiah Crowell, CJ Anderson, Alfred Blue, Mike Evans, Jacob Tamme, Mercedes Lewis, Kenny Britt, Matt Asiata, Knile Davis, Jerick McKinnon, Odell Beckham, John Brown and Andy Dalton, as those names have the chance to step up for owners heading towards the playoffs.
The Patriots have found a new option in Gray, as he rushed for nearly 200 yards and had four TDs on Sunday night against the Colts. The team has needed someone to step up without Stevan Ridley in the lineup and now Gray appears to be that RB. CJ Anderson is coming in with injuries to Ronnie Hillman and Montee Ball for the Broncos and he is a solid pickup in all leagues with Juwan Thompson. Anderson has played well over the past two weeks and he could continue to get the bulk of the touches for the Broncos at RB.
Alfred Blue is a solid option to hang on to, as he came in for Arian Foster last week and played well while the Texans RB was out with an injury. Blue had over 150 yards in the game and while he didn't get into the endzone, he was very effective and he could be a solid start option this week as well. If Foster is out, the Texans will keep using Blue and with Ryan Mallett starting just his second game, the team likely will be rushing the ball quite a bit.
Blue comes in after rushing the ball for 156 yards on 36 carries and that was a very high amount of touches for the RB and he could continue along that was next week. The Bengals have a weak rush defense and if Foster is out again, Blue could be a strong starter. Foster is expected to return, but owners should be cautious with him as the season goes along and keeping Blue only helps that. This season Blue has 290 yards and he has been effective in the two games he has had to start with Foster out. The Browns have Terrance West and Isaiah Crowell and the team seems to be going with the hot hand between those players and Ben Tate. Crowell has that hot hand right now and after rushing for a TD the previous week, Crowell was the top rusher on carries for the Browns and he could continue that again this week.
Mike Evans has been fantastic in recent weeks and he has now scored six TDs in his last six games and he now has seven on the season. Evans has been as strong as any WR in the past month and he now has 46 catches for 794 yards this season. Evans had seven catches for 209 yards last week and that was against the Redskins and he added two TDs in the matchup after scoring three over the previous two games. Evans has had at least four catches in every game this season and he has had 21 catches in the last three games.