Fantasy football is about having the guys in your lineup who are capable of having a big day. Wide receivers Courtland Sutton and Diontae Johnson are both capable of having monster fantasy performances.
Let’s take a look at which one of these wide receivers should be in your fantasy football lineups in Week 12.
Should You Start Courtland Sutton or Diontae Johnson This Week?
In the Pro Football Network Start/Sit Optimizer, our Consensus Rankings say that Johnson is the player to start. His projected 12 points include six receptions and 60 receiving yards. His projected stat line outperforms the consensus projection of Sutton’s 11.0 points.
While I agree Johnson is capable of having a big game, I am going to go against the Optimizer on this one. Right now, there are very few receivers who are scoring touchdowns at the same rate as Sutton. With that in mind, he has to be in your lineup on Sunday.
Fantasy Outlook for Sutton This Week
One of the biggest talking points in the NFL right now is the re-emergence of the Denver Broncos. After a 1-5 start, the Broncos have won four in a row to get back to 5-5. They have defeated some very good teams recently, as their last three wins are against Kansas City, Buffalo, and Minnesota.
A huge key in the Broncos playing much better football has been the play of quarterback Russell Wilson. Wilson’s No. 1 target has without a doubt been Sutton. On the season, Sutton has 45 catches for 499 yards and eight touchdowns.
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Only Tyreek Hill has more touchdowns (10), and he has 88 catches. While Sutton isn’t going to get a huge number of catches in a game, you can’t put touchdowns on the bench in fantasy.
He has scored a touchdown in each of his last five games, including the game-winner against Minnesota with 1:03 left in the game. In his last two games, he has 12 catches for 119 yards and two touchdowns. In his last five games, the fewest PPR points he has had is 10.9 — in the other four games, he has 14.6, 19.6, 19.3, and 16.6 PPR points.
It is another difficult matchup for Sutton on Sunday, as the Broncos are going up against the Cleveland Browns. The Browns are the best pass defense in the NFL, and they have a ton of great defensive players on all three levels. When the Broncos get in the red zone, Wilson is looking for Sutton all the time.
Look for Sutton to score a touchdown in his sixth consecutive game.
Fantasy Outlook for Johnson This Week
While Sutton has been on a role as of late, Johnson has been on the opposite. In his last two games, he has three catches for 33 yards. In the game against the Browns last week, he had a meltdown and got into it with teammate Minkah Fitzpatrick, according to a recent report by ESPN’s Adam Schefter.
In his two games before his last two, Johnson had seven catches for 90 yards and eight catches for 85 yards. When Johnson is at his best, he is more than capable of having a 100-yard, touchdown type of performance.
However, to be able to count on Pittsburgh Steelers receivers right now is just extremely tough to do. Despite being 6-4, the Steelers have been outgained in every single game this year.
Johnson does have a matchup advantage going up against the Cincinnati Bengals, as they are 27th against the pass (247.8 yards). Johnson hasn’t had a ton of success against Cincinnati, though, as he has scored only one touchdown against the Bengals.
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