Week 12 is upon us, and you’d think it was already Thanksgiving considering how delicious this 11-game main slate is looking for the NFL DFS Week 12 D/ST Coach. This week delivers a combination of D/ST’s squaring off against rookie quarterbacks and some teams being forced to start their backup quarterback. The implied team totals are all over the place ahead of this week’s main slate. Let’s take a look at this week’s NFL DFS Week 12 D/ST Coach with the top plays on DraftKings and FanDuel!

NFL DFS Week 12 D/ST Coach for FanDuel & DraftKings Fantasy

The NFL DFS Week 11 D/ST Coach had some high points, most notably the Cleveland Browns in the value tier. The Browns returned 17 fantasy points against the Baltimore Ravens, even though they’re once vaunted run defense gave up 184 yards on the ground. But Week 11 was a pretty tough slate to read overall. The Houston Texans were the Play of the Week and allowed just 13 points and 229 yards of offense. But they only yielded nine fantasy points due to the lack of turnovers. But at least if you avoided paying up for the Packers, and maybe saved some salary with the Cleveland Browns, you may have done pretty well!

NFL Week 12 Defense/Special Teams

We have 11 games for this slate before another 10-game slate looms on Sunday of Week 13. No teams will be on Bye in Week 13 because of the Thanksgiving action, and there’s a game on Black Friday. So I’m enjoying the larger slate before endless NFL action in Week 13.

The Detroit Lions opened with the highest implied total of the slate at 30.5 points. The Tennessee Titans live at the other end of the spectrum at just 13.5 points, and I don’t recall seeing a lower implied total for a team this season.

Of the 11 games, four have implied game totals of 40.5 points or less. Five games have implied totals over 47.5 points, while two games are living right in the middle. There are some obvious spots when targeting our D/ST’s while there are also some great games to seek out our NFL DFS stacks. Here are the top D/ST’s to consider for the NFL DFS Week 12 D/ST Coach!

 

 


 

NFL DFS D/ST Top Tier Pick for Week 12

Seattle Seahawks – DraftKings: $4,000 | FanDuel: $5,000

The Seahawks are the latest “they’re playing the Titans” D/ST of the Week! The Titans enter this matchup with arguably the lowest implied team total we’ve seen this season at just 13.5 points. If there’s one saving grace for Tennessee, it’s that this game is in the early window and they have the advantage of playing at home against a West Coast team. But I highly doubt that’s enough to save them.

Cam Ward is being sacked almost once every quarter, and he’s only thrown SIX touchdown passes in his rookie season while completing less than 60% of his pass attempts. The Seahawks don’t even have the most proactive blitz at just a 20.1% rate, and yet they rank top 10 in sack rate (7.4%).

The Titans have scored 14 or fewer points in 6-of-10 games this season. And even if they wanted to take the ball out of Ward’s hands and try to stay competitive by running the ball, that may not work in their favor, as Seattle ranks 1st in defensive EPA/Rush (-0.18) according to Sam Hoppen. Overall, it’s just going to be another week we can pay up for the D/ST playing the Titans if you can afford them.

 

 


 

NFL DFS D/ST Mid-Tier Pick for Week 12

Las Vegas Raiders – DraftKings: $3,500 | FanDuel: $3,700

Truthfully, I was expecting the Raiders to be closer to $4,000 on DraftKings, so I’m not one bit bothered about them being priced in the mid-$3K range. But there is a cheaper D/ST on DraftKings you can go with that’ll save you $1,000.

The Raiders' defense isn’t great, and they just took a beating on Monday Night Football against the Dallas Cowboys. But they have the luxury of playing at home for a second straight week in Shedeur Sanders’ first career start for the Cleveland Browns.

In his first appearance in an actual NFL game last week, Sanders completed 25%(!) of his pass attempts while throwing a pretty bad interception. I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt because he stood in the pocket while taking a brutal hit on that pick, but at the end of the day, this is a rookie quarterback making his first start on the road.

The Raiders are only favored by four points, but the Browns have an implied team total of 16.25 points, so despite my concerns about this Raiders defense, there’s some huge potential in this matchup.

Cleveland Browns – DraftKings: $2,900 | FanDuel: $4,400

I thought about going with the Philadelphia Eagles, but didn’t want to get too cute. The Birds have played great against the Lions and Packers the last two weeks, but they draw the Dallas Cowboys in Week 12, and division matchups get a bit funky this time of year.

I’m going with the Browns, who are the opposing team of the D/ST we just discussed. We’ve said all year that the Browns are a better actual defense than fantasy football defense. But with that said, they have had two spike weeks in their last four games. In that span, they have 18 sacks with 10 defensive takeaways despite giving up 86 total points.

The presence of Myles Garrett is always comforting when rostering this D/ST on DraftKings or FanDuel. And the Raiders just played on Monday Night Football, where the offense scored just nine points through three quarters against the Dallas Cowboys. This is a great correlation play if you’re looking to also get exposure to Quinshon Judkins.

 

 

 

NFL Week 12 DFS D/ST Value Picks

New Orleans Saints – DraftKings: $2,500 | FanDuel: $3,200

The Saints are going to be the trendy value play this week. We’ve gotten this fringe “free square” a couple of times this season. The brief explanation is that we love when value D/ST’s can emerge as home favorites. And that’s what we have with New Orleans.

The Saints will host the Falcons this week, who have now lost five straight games, and Michael Penix is now done for the year, so Atlanta will go with Kirk Cousins as their starting quarterback. We’ve only seen a small sample size of Cousins in 2025. He did get one start a few weeks ago against the Miami Dolphins. But he only threw for 173 yards without a touchdown in a 34-10 loss.

The sportsbooks are only giving New Orleans an implied team total of roughly 19 points. Their pass rush is nothing special, but this team is sneaky at defending the run, which should be Atlanta’s bread and butter the rest of the season. The Saints rank 7th in defensive EPA/Rush (-0.11), and they’re 6th in yards after contact per attempt (2.59), so if you’re in need of a punt at D/ST, the Saints could manage seven or eight fantasy points for your NFL DFS lineups on DraftKings and FanDuel.

Indianapolis Colts – DraftKings: $2,400

I probably wouldn’t touch the Colts on FanDuel, but on DraftKings, I can handle the cheap price tag for a defense with some potential. And for the record, this is only a GPP recommendation because they do have to go on the road to face the Kansas City Chiefs, who can probably sense they aren’t a complete lock for the playoffs, given the current landscape of the AFC.

The Colts will have fresh legs, and they’ll have a full week of practice/prep with Sauce Gardner, but we can’t just highlight Gardner in this matchup. Indy’s other star defensive back, Charvarius Ward, has a revenge game narrative against the Chiefs, a team he won a Super Bowl with.

The Colts have forced a turnover in every game this season, and they’ve recorded at least three sacks in each of their last four games prior to the team’s Bye week. A concern is that they’ve given up a significant amount of points to opposing offenses of late. But with fresh legs and an improved secondary, I’m a bit bullish on them for tournaments, and they’re a cheap correlation piece if you’re looking to pay all the way up for Jonathan Taylor this week.

 

 


 

NFL DFS D/ST Fade for Week 12

New England Patriots – DraftKings: $3,800 | FanDuel: $4,800

This fade brings me no joy. If you know me, you’ll know I’m a Patriots fan. And I do believe New England wins this game. But I don’t think the NFL DFS return is great even if the Bengals will be missing Ja'Marr Chase because of his one-game suspension for expectorating in the direction of Jalen Ramsey’s face. Without Chase, I still believe the Bengals can put up points.

There have been some rumors that Joe Burrow was targeting a Week 13 return on Thanksgiving against the Baltimore Ravens. Those rumors heated up on Wednesday when the Bengals released their first injury report of the week. Joe Flacco was limited with a shoulder injury. Meanwhile, Joe Burrow was a full participant. Gulp!

The Bengals are potentially getting their franchise quarterback in an effort to save the jobs of the entire coaching staff. And the New England Patriots just placed Milton Williams on IR. The Bengals are still sizable underdogs by nearly a touchdown as of Wednesday. I expect some line movement if Burrow is declared the starter. And even if they hold him out until Thanksgiving, the Bengals still have an implied team total of 21.5 points. I’m out on the Patriots this week.

 

 

 

NFL DFS Week 12 D/ST Play of the Week

Baltimore Ravens – DraftKings: $3,900 | FanDuel: $4,600

If you can afford the Ravens this week, I’m slowly getting the sense that they might not garner a ton of ownership. Which sounds odd because they have a great matchup on paper. However, the Titans have one of the lowest implied team totals of the year against Seattle, so I’m sure NFL DFS players want exposure to the Seahawks. And both the Raiders and Saints are more affordable than Baltimore, with great matches in their own right.

Prior to Baltimore’s Bye week, the Ravens defense allowed 32.3 points per game and 380.3 yards per game with eight total sacks and three defensive takeaways in six games. In four games since their Bye week, they’re giving up 12.75 points per game and 314 yards per game with seven sacks and eight defensive takeaways. The presence of Roquan Smith certainly helps, and they’ve had some soft matchups.

But they get another soft matchup this week against the New York Jets, who have an implied team total of just 15.5 points. The downside is that Tyrod Taylor is getting the starting nod for the New York Jets. But given the trends of this defense, I feel good playing them at home as a pivot off the more expensive chalk. They’ve been trending in the right direction of late, and they’re due for a spike week.