Fantasy football Week 12: Which Arizona Cardinals WR should you use?

This post comes from Justin Becker of FantasyFootballOverdose.com. You can follow him on Twitter@NBAandNFLInfo or on the Fantasy Football Overdose Google+ Page, and for more Arizona Cardinals Rumors and News visit Fantasy Football Overdose.

If you’re rolling with Arizona Cardinals wide receivers in fantasy football these days, you literally don’t know what to do on a weekly basis. That was probably the case even when Carson Palmer was healthy, but now that Drew Stanton is running the show, the weekly guessing game has been made near impossible.

Throw in a week 12 matchup with the Seattle Seahawks, and you may want to avoid using them, altogether.

Of course, this is the 2014 fantasy football season we’re talking about. Thanks to a litany of injuries, a crazy snowstorm that may render New York Jets and Buffalo Bills players useless and your other wide receivers being terrible, you probably don’t have a choice.

For whatever reason, you’re staring at your lineup - specifically one or more wide receiver spots - and you need to pick between Larry Fitzgerald, Michael Floyd and/or John Brown.

So, who will it be? Let’s break all three down and see how they rank for week 12:

Michael Floyd

He lives. The man that was supposedly going to overtake Arizona’s passing game and morph into a legit WR1 this year has actually fallen in line as his own team’s third best fantasy receiver. He did bounce back in week 12, however, as he hauled in two touchdowns to show some serious life.

Arizona is going to need him to do something close to that again in week 12, as Seattle is not a good matchup in any way on the road. Even though the matchup stinks, Floyd carries immense upside and may be on to something when it comes to his chemistry with Drew Stanton.

Larry Fitzgerald

Fitzgerald isn’t healthy (knee), so right away you should be concerned about his status or using him in any manner. At this point, he’s probably shaping up as a desperation Flex play, although it’s absolutely worth noting that he’s had two huge performances in the last four weeks and Stanton has targeted him quite a bit in the past, as well.

Fitzgerald has been said to have lost a step, but I haven’t seen it. Perhaps the speed and separation isn’t exactly how it’s been, but he still retains the size, hands, ball skills and route-running ability to dominate. Dominating the Seahawks on one leg with Stanton throwing him passes, of course, is another thing entirely.

John Brown

Despite being a rookie slot receiver, John Brown currently is the best Arizona Cardinals wide receiver in fantasy football. Not necessarily on a weekly basis, but if you go look at wide receiver rankings, he literally is better than Floyd and Fitzgerald, ranking one spot ahead of Fitzgerald at 32, overall.

For one, this just shows how shaky this receiving corps has been to use in the fantasy realm. The fact that all three are inside the top-50 is somewhat encouraging, but the fact that none of them are inside the top-30 probably isn’t. Brown is a shifty guy that excels out of the slot, but also has elite explosiveness that offers up big play potential at anytime. Knowing when he’ll crack the big one is anyone’s guess, unfortunately.

The Pick

The moral here is that all three of these players are inconsistent and their surroundings certainly haven’t helped. Facing the Seahawks in week 12 won’t help, either. Ideally, you’re not using any of these guys. The matchup stinks, they’re on the road, they’re all hit or miss and their quarterback could easily have a terrible game.

That being said, you need to pick one, or possibly two. The beauty here is the decision might actually be made for you. Fitzgerald has a bum knee and should either be limited or may not even play. If he’s out, you get the easy call, but even if he plays he’s going to be awfully hard to trust with this matchup.

That leaves you with Floyd and Brown, either way you look at it. If you need to pick between those two, the pick is going to be Floyd. He finally went off last week and has had success with Stanton in the past. That leaves the door open for him to have the most upside, and if Fitzgerald isn’t around, he’s going to get even more chances to succeed.

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