The Pittsburgh Steelers will face the Cleveland Browns at Huntington Bank Field for Thursday Night Football in Week 12. Here’s fantasy football start-sit advice for every Steelers skill player who has the potential to make a fantasy impact during the game.
Looking for more lineup advice? Head over to our Week 12 Fantasy Start-Sit Cheat Sheet, where we cover every fantasy-relevant player in every game.
Russell Wilson, QB
Russell Wilson has delivered some highlight plays, but don’t let those social clips skew your opinion — this isn’t a great fantasy profile.
In his four starts, Wilson has just 14 rushing yards and has seen the majority of his passes (52.9%) travel no more than five yards downfield. That’s a tough sell in one-QB leagues, and it doesn’t get easier against an opposing defense that allows the third-lowest completion percentage to the slot (62.6%).
Now, there is some upside here. The Browns are often attacked down the field (second-highest opponent aDOT), and we know that Wilson can make the most of those opportunities. I’m getting exposure to that potential by way of his receivers — Wilson himself is hovering around QB15 and isn’t my preferred option in most situations.
Najee Harris, RB
No projection is easy, but players like Najee Harris are a dream. This season, he’s produced 8.4-13.6 PPR points in seven of 10 games, making him somewhat easy to forecast and someone that fantasy managers can plug in with an understanding of what they’re getting.
Harris has been handed the ball at least 18 times in four straight games, but the lack of versatility is what has sucked the upside out of this profile. Prior to last week, he had five targets over a three-game run. Are the five targets against the Ravens a sign of things to come?
It’s possible. Russell Wilson’s “moon balls” get the attention, but he’s ultra-conservative otherwise, and that puts Harris in a position to win.
I think Harris will need to sustain some level of work through the air, as he is averaging a whopping 0.21 yards per carry before contact this season.
The Browns allow the fifth-most yards per carry after contact to running backs this season, a flaw that has me optimistic that we can get low-end RB2 numbers from Harris, even with Jaylen Warren factoring in (13 touches last week).
Jaylen Warren, RB
Warren didn’t practice on Thursday heading into last week due to a back injury, and while he was able to gut it out after a limited practice session on Friday, it’s clear that he’s not fully right and that Pittsburgh likes how Harris’ running style fits this offense.
Steelers RB snap shares, Weeks 10-11:
- Harris: 58.1%
- Warren: 33.8%
- Cordarrelle Patterson: 14.9%
Anything can happen against a Browns team that is allowing 1.6 RB carries of at least 15 yards per game (eighth-most). But as we sit here 11 weeks into 2024, there’s no denying that Harris is the more likely Pittsburgh RB to exploit that weakness.
Warren has caught multiple passes in five straight games, but he’s very clearly a low-upside option at this point, and the Steelers have no reason to pivot off of what is working.
George Pickens, WR
Saquon Barkley to Philadelphia and De’Andre Hopkins to Kansas City are two changes from 2023 that get the attention for impact moves paying off handsomely. However, the move from Justin Fields to Wilson deserves to be on that list in terms of George Pickens’ fantasy value.
Pittsburgh’s clear WR1 has cleared 16 PPR points in three of four games with Wilson, pacing for a 94-1552-8.5 stat line if you were to extend those games forward for a full season. Last week, we saw a 37-yard bomb from Wilson near the end of the third quarter, a pass play with a tiny window to drop the ball in, and proof of high-level confidence in his top playmaker.
Pickens ranks fourth in the league in total air yards up to this point. As long as his role remains the same, there’s no reason to second-guess playing him each and every week. The Browns are bottom five in defending the perimeter in terms of passer rating, average depth of throw, touchdown rate, yards per completion, and interception percentage.
We’ve seen star-level production from Pickens over the past month, and I think there’s a decent chance this is his best game of the season.
Mike Williams, WR
Big Mike Williams turned limited usage into viable fantasy numbers in his debut with the Steelers because he came down with a long touchdown. That had some of us (raises hand) rostering him in DFS last week, presuming that an increase in role and a strong matchup was a bargain.
The read was right in that his snap share rose from 12% to 31.1% (I was hoping for me, but at least it showed growth), but he didn’t earn a single target against the Ravens. Rostering Williams is something you should be comfortable doing, but I need to see him earn a handful of targets in a game before counting on him.
My hope is that he plays the majority of snaps this week and positions us to capitalize next week (at Cincinnati) and potentially in the semifinals of most leagues (Week 16 rematch with Baltimore).
Pat Freiermuth, TE
The idea of betting on Pat Freiermuth has always been rooted in his ability to score, something that hasn’t changed with Wilson under center. The fourth-year tight end doesn’t have a game with more than three targets since September, something I could overlook if he was benefiting from the heightened offensive expectations in Pittsburgh, but he’s not.
Freiermuth saw three end-zone targets to open last season and has seen just two since, the most recent of which came in Week 12 of last season. I’m fine with attaching yourself to Pittsburgh’s offense but understand that this is as touchdown-dependent of a player as there is at the position.
Freiermuth is firmly in the “experienced TE that I don’t trust but you can play and pray if need be” tier that also includes Mark Andrews and Zach Ertz.