The Carolina Panthers will face the Kansas City Chiefs in Week 12. Here’s fantasy football start-sit advice for every Panthers 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.
Bryce Young, QB
To say it’s been rough sledding for Bryce Young up to this point in his career would be undershooting things, but at least fantasy managers haven’t been tempted to invest in him or the pieces attached to him. Through 21 career starts, Young stacks up with some…names.
- Young through start No. 21: 72 passer rating, 15 TDs, 16 INTs, and 5.4 yards/attempt
- Zach Wilson through start No. 21: 71.8 passer rating, 15 TDs, 17 INTs, and 6.5 yards/attempt
- JaMarcus Russell through start No. 21: 70.9 passer rating, 15 TDs, 13 INTs, and 6.3 yards/attempt
- Brandon Weeden through start No. 21: 70.7 passer rating, 22 TDs, 27 INTs, and 6.4 yards/attempt
I have more optimism for Young long-term than the three others, but that’s obviously setting a low bar.
This is a brutal matchup, and while we’ve seen some minor forward steps over the past month, Young is a ways away from viable in standard formats. With six teams on a bye, Superflex managers aren’t going to have a better QB2 option, and I’d still prefer him to an RB3/WR3 type, given that our game is more friendly toward signal-callers and that the Panthers are motivated to let him work through struggles.
Chuba Hubbard, RB
From Weeks 4-10, Chuba Hubbard was the only running back in the NFL to run for 95 yards and a touchdown while averaging 5.0 yards per carry in three separate games (Derrick Henry, Saquon Barkley, Bijan Robinson, Jahmyr Gibbs, and Tyrone Tracy Jr. were the other backs to have multiple such games over that stretch). Say what you will about the organization extending him, but there is no denying that he has earned it on the field.
The debut for Jonathon Brooks looms, and any downtick in volume is a concern against the second-best success rate run defense in the league. That said, I need to see it before I fear it. Hubbard is averaging 19.1 touches per game this season, and even if that number falls to 16, he’ll still profile as a reasonable starter in all formats.
Jonathon Brooks, RB
Week 15 Status: OUT
The expectation is for Jonathon Brooks to make his NFL debut on Sunday, and that gives us something to monitor, but this is pretty clearly a read-and-react situation. The Panthers have no motivation to push the rookie during this lost season: their goal over the final seven weeks of 2024 is to set themselves up for 2025.
The Chiefs own the best per-carry rush defense in the league (3.1 yards per carry to running backs), so Carolina is in a bind to return any viable running numbers, let alone from a kid returning from a knee injury that sidelined him from game action for over a year.
Adam Thielen, WR
Dave Canales fully expects Adam Thielen (hamstring) to be active this week for the first time since September. That might help facilitate Bryce Young’s growth down the stretch of 2024 but is unlikely to matter in a fantasy sense.
Thielen had the magical run early last season, but he’s managed just 54 catches for 542 yards and a single score over his past 13 games. The Panthers are pretty clearly looking well beyond 2024, and they’ve invested in a handful of younger options who project to be a part of that big picture.
If you’ve held Thielen in your IR slot, you can now cut ties.
Jalen Coker, WR
Week 15 Status: PLAYING
If you’re looking for a gross DFS option, Jalen Coker is your Soppe Special of Week 12 (he’s penciled into a lineup that is built around a Kyler Murray-Trey McBride-DK Metcalf game stack).
It’s easy to forget that we saw Coker earn a season-high eight targets the last time we saw him (against the Giants in Germany) and even easier to overlook anyone on a double-digit home underdog. But that’s what separates us from the field, something that DFS managers are going to need to do more than normal with six teams on a bye and plenty of firepower in the prime-time slots.
For the season, Coker has run 71.8% of his routes from the slot, something I like for two reasons. The first is simple: in a low-octane offense with an unproven signal-caller, I’m happy to roster the “easy button” option. The second is this matchup — the Chiefs rank in the bottom quarter of the league in completion percentage allowed to the slot and top-quarter on perimeter passes.
I know I’m not alone in thinking this game is one-sided, and we know that Carolina’s objective is to develop their young talent. This looks like a good chance to do just that for the interesting prospect out of Holy Cross.
Xavier Legette, WR
I remain intrigued by the direction of things in Carolina, and Xavier Legette is a piece of that puzzle. He’s out-produced expectations in all three games with Bryce Young back under center, something that I think will be interesting to take a deep dive into this summer. But it’s not something I’m trusting down the stretch of this fantasy season, understanding that every matchup takes on increased importance.
Legette caught 5+ passes just once this season. While four touchdowns on 29 receptions is a fun rate to extend for a full season of regular looks, it’s not a rate I’m labeling as sustainable in this offense, and certainly not against the eighth-best scoring defense in the NFL.
Legette sits outside of my top 40 at the position this week, though I am keeping him rostered — a Cowboys-Cardinals-Buccaneers finish to the fantasy season is enough to have me holding onto my shares.
Ja’Tavion Sanders, TE
The Panthers are in the business of developing their young talent and Ja’Tavion Sanders certainly qualifies as such. The rookie averaged 13.1 yards per catch during his collegiate career (99-catch sample size), and for redraft purposes in a bottom-tier offense, I love that Carolina is leaning into his athleticism.
- Weeks 1-5: 1.5-yard aDOT
- Weeks 6-11: 6.6-yard aDOT
The inconsistent volume and lack of red-zone snaps are stopping Sanders from cracking my top 12, but by catching 13 of his last 14 targets, he’s a viable streamer for me — especially when you consider that Carolina will be operating in a pass-heavy script with regularity.