Week 12 Waiver Wire Quarterback Priority List | Picking Between Tim Boyle, Dorian Thompson-Robinson, Tommy DeVito, Jake Browning, Desmond Ridder, Will Levis and Aidan O'Connell

The 11th week of the NFL season is in the books, and it’s time to get your waiver wire priorities lined up. The 12th week of the season will have four games played before Sunday, so it’s important to get your roster lined up so that you aren’t scrambling to fill out your starting lineup on Thanksgiving.

As we have for the past several weeks, we will publish stories on waiver wire options at quarterback, running back, wide receiver and tight end and help you determine the best fantasy options for the upcoming week and rest of the season. Let’s kick things off with the quarterback position.

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The Top Quarterbacks on the Waiver Wire

For this series, we’ve been sticking with players with an own percentage of 50 or lower. So these stories are a bit more tailored to the fantasy owners in deeper leagues, or two-quarterback ones.

This week, we will be discussing New York Jets’ Tim Boyle, Cleveland Browns’ Dorian Thompson-Robinson, New York Giants’ Tommy DeVito, Cincinnati Bengals’ Jake Browning, Atlanta Falcons’ Desmond Ridder, Tennessee Titans’ Will Levis and Las Vegas Raiders’ Aidan O'Connell.

Boyle was named the Jets’ new starting quarterback after Zach Wilson produced another uninspiring performance in week 11. Boyle didn’t look all that good in relief, but the Jets are hoping a QB change can spark the team and keep them in the playoff hunt.

I wrote an entire story on Boyle on Monday, so I’ll just sum things up here. Boyle’s career numbers aren’t all that good, but he does have a little starting experience. New York has enough playmakers on offense that Boyle could be an average fantasy quarterback as long as he takes care of the ball.

Even though the Jets will be taking on a Miami Dolphins’ defense that is average in slowing opposing quarterbacks, and is quite good at stopping running backs, I still expect the Jets to lean heavily on their running game. 

For the Jets to pull the upset, Boyle will need to take care of the ball and make a few timely throws. If he can do that, he’s got the chance to be an average fantasy QB for week 12.

Thompson-Robinson helped the Browns to a win over the Pittsburgh Steelers in week 11. 

DTR was asked to throw quite a bit more than I expected, especially in a low-scoring, tight game. He completed 24-of-43 passes for 165 yards, no touchdowns and one interception. He was sacked just once and rushed for 20 yards on three attempts.

Next up for Thompson-Robinson is a matchup with the Denver Broncos, who are a below-average defense in many regards, but are trending upward in a hurry. They currently allow an average of 18 fantasy points to opposing quarterbacks.

DeVito was one of the surprise fantasy performers of week 11. He helped the Giants to an “upset” win over the Washington Commanders.

DeVito completed 18-of-26 passes for 246 yards and three touchdowns. He was sacked a whopping nine times. DeVito ran just once for 7 yards. 

Washington’s defense is the worst in the league when it comes to slowing opposing quarterbacks. In week 12, DeVito has a much tougher test against the New England Patriots defense that is a top-12 unit. The Pats also had an extra week to prepare for the Giants. 

Browning is the new starter for the Bengals after the season-ending injury for Joe Burrow. Browning was decent in relief on Thursday night against the Baltimore Ravens.

Browning completed eight of his 14 passes for 68 yards and a touchdown. He was sacked three times and rushed four times for 40 yards.

I wrote up a story on how the Burrow injury affected Cincinnati last week. To summarize, Browning is obviously not Burrow, and the Bengals have enough offensive playmakers to make any quarterback look good. Like in the case of Boyle, if Browning can take care of the football, he could be an average fantasy quarterback every week.

The Bengals have the Steelers in week 12. Pittsburgh has been tough on opposing quarterbacks, allowing just 14 fantasy points per week. 

Ridder is back as the Falcons’ starting quarterback after Taylor Henicke held that position for a bit. 

Ridder has had a couple great passing performances this season, but also several average or poor showings. He’s reached 200 passing yards in five of the nine games he’s played in. He’s got as many touchdowns (six) as interceptions.

The Falcons have the New Orleans Saints in week 12. The Saints’ defense is a bit above average against quarterbacks, allowing 15 fantasy points per contest. 

After a couple of so-so performances, Levis turned in solid numbers in the Titans’ week 12 loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars. He completed 13-of-17 passes for 158 yards and two touchdowns. He was sacked twice and didn’t do much on the ground. 

Even though the numbers don’t necessarily wow you, Levis did at least take care of the ball fairly well (losing a fumble and not throwing any interceptions). You’d like to see his yardage increase, but his completion percentage and couple touchdown passes were an improvement over his past two games.

Levis will go up against the Carolina Panthers in week 12. Carolina’s defense allows QBs to score 14 fantasy points on average per week.

O’Connell took a step back in week 12 in a loss to the Dolphins.

AOC completed 24-of-41 passes for 271 yards and a touchdown, but was picked off three times. He was sacked twice and only added 3 rushing yards.

While it was O’Connell’s best passing yardage game in his young career, his three picks matched his total for the season. He still hasn’t thrown multiple touchdowns in a contest and he’s now had back-to-back weeks with a completion percentage under 60%.

O’Connell will look to bounce back when the Raiders take on the Kansas City Chiefs in week 12. It’s a tough matchup on paper, as KC’s defense allows only 13 points to opposing quarterbacks.

The Priority List

As I mentioned before, we break this section down into two parts - the best streaming option for week 12 and then the best long-term fantasy options.

Many people would make the argument that every quarterback on this list isn’t a quality NFL starter, at least yet. That really doesn’t matter though, and you might be forced to play one of them depending on what kind of league you are in.

There’s some tough matchups ahead for these guys, so I would want to take the safest option of the bunch. I believe that’s Levis, so he’d be my top streaming option of this group.

I’d take the hot hand next and go with DeVito. I’d take my chances with Ridder next. I would take Browning next, followed by Boyle and then Thompson-Robinson. That leaves O’Connell - I simply don’t like his tough matchup coming off a poor game.

As for the best long-term options, Levis would also be my top pick here. He looks to have a firm grasp on the starting job and is playing well enough to continue holding that role, even if Tennessee continues to lose.

I don’t think any of the other quarterbacks have a super strong hold on the starting job, so it’s basically a toss up. You’re here for answers, so here is the order I’d take them in: DeVito, Browning, O’Connell, Ridder, Thompson-Robinson, Boyle.

If you need to roster and start one of these guys the rest of the season, I wish you the best of luck.