Fantasy Football Sleepers: 10 Players Flying Under the Radar in Week 12

With Week 12 approaching of the NFL season, some of you may have a solid fantasy team while others are scrambling to create the perfect one before the fantasy football playoffs. Deep into the season, there are some good players that have injuries that may affect some fantasy owners in the long run, such as Jay Cutler and Fred Jackson.

If you are struggling with your players or looking to get higher points this week, perhaps you should consider playing these ten fantasy sleepers.

Torrey Smtih, WR, Baltimore Ravens

Torrey Smith has been a bit of a sleeper since his amazing Week 3 where he caught three touchdowns, one that resulted off of a 74-yard catch.

This rookie wider receiver is facing the San Francisco 49ers this week, who are 27th in passing defense. He has been averaging 72.8 yards per game since the Ravens bye week.

Smith is bound to get up some receiving yards and touchdowns against the 49ers, resulting in some decent points for his fantasy owners.

Legedu Naanee, WR, Carolina Panthers

This Carolina wide receiver is averaging about 58 yards a games with an average of seven attempts. He has yet to catch a touchdown pass this season.

Naanee will be facing the Indianpolis Colts who are 22nd in the league in passing yards. The Colts may be focusing their attention on WR Stevie Smith, allowing Naanee to fly under the radar.

He might just be able to score a touchdown in this game.

Matt Leinart, QB, Houston Texans

With Houston quarterback Matt Schaub officially on injury reserve, Matt Leinart will take on his first NFL start since 2007 with the Texans.

While the Texans are known for their rushing yards and running game, they will be playing against Jacksonville, who has a pretty decent rushing defense. They will be able to limit most of the Texans running game. 

After years of sitting on the sidelines, Leinart might put up some good numbers.

Toby Gerhart, RB, Minnesota Vikings

With Adrian Peterson most likely out in Sunday's game versus the Atlanta Falcons, Toby Gerhart has the opportunity to step up.

Though the Falcons have a strong rushing defense, Gerhart has a big role to play to fill Peterson's shoes with an offense that tends to rely more on the running game. He faces a tough defense but count on him to carry 15 to 20 touches.

The Vikings will rely on Gerhart to rise up and use the running game against the Falcons.

Titus Young, WR, Detroit Lions

Titus Young has been starting to catch some passes of late for the Detroit Lions as their opponents have been double covering Calvin Johnson. He has scored two touchdowns in the past three games.

Young faces the Green Bay Packers whose passing defense is one of the worst in the league. With the Lions being forced to pass more of late, Young will be targeted a lot during this game. If he doesn't drop his passes like he has been earlier this season, Young will be racking up some points for fantasy owners this week.

Eric Decker, WR, Denver Broncos

Eric Decker's points have gone down since Tim Tebow started playing. He didn't even catch a pass last week against the NY Jets. Though when he does get the ball, he makes some solid plays.

San Diego has been allowing more passing yards the past few weeks. If Decker finds his way into the end zone, he'll be putting up some points. He may not get a lot of passes, but he can make plays to score the points as he did in the previous three games before the Jets.

Though Tim Tebow relies more on his running, when he does throw, Decker seems to be his main connection.

Matt Hasselbeck, QB, Tennessee Titans

Though Matt Hasselback injured his throwing arm in Week 11, expect him to play on Sunday versus Tampa Bay. He will be facing a team that has been ridiculous at defending the quarterback position; they are the fourth-worst in the league in passing defense. 

They have allowed up to 264.4 passing yards per game. Hassbelback will put up some good numbers this week against Tampa Bay. He'll be scoring at least two touchdowns in this game.

Heath Miller, TE, Pittsburgh

Pittsburgh quarterback Ben Roethlisberger has grown used to throwing short routes as the passing game is starting to fade. Over the past three games, Heath Miller has been targeted 20 times.

Kansas City is a team that doesn't guard the tight end position too well. They've allowed one tight end to score an average of one touchdown per game. 

Miller rarely drops his passes so he'll be a good pick for Week 12.

Calvin Johnson, WR, Detroit Lions

Megatron has been bit of a sleeper recently. He hasn't scored since the Lions' bye week, especially since getting off to a good first half start in scoring 11 touchdowns.

He might have a chance against the Packers, who have allowed 18 passing touchdowns and an average of 289.3 yards per game. He still catches some decent long yard passes and contributes in the game but fantasy owners and fans alike love it when he scores.

Count on Megatron to score a touchdown, or maybe two, against Green Bay.

Tim Tebow, QB, Denver Broncos

Maybe it's time for me to join the Tim Tebow craze. While it's painfully obvious that Tim Tebow cannot put up even a small amount of a decent passing game—he only threw for 173 yards in his last two games—he can take care of it with his legs.

He nearly overcame the Chargers with a failed Hail Mary when he replaced Kyle Orton halfway through the game versus San Diego a few weeks ago. Tebow might just be able to get in some passing yards against the Chargers, who has given up 273.3 yards per game since Week 8. 

San Diego is 23rd in the league in rushing defense. Tebow might struggle throughout the game on the passing yards but there may not be much of a struggle on his running game.

Even if he doesn't get high points, he'll put up some decent numbers with his running legs and his rise in the fourth quarter.

He'll still be Tebowing.