5 Daily Fantasy Football Matchups to Exploit in Week 12

Although I'm writing this on Tuesday night, I can assure you that my pants have already been loosened in preparation of Thursday. That's when green bean casserole wiggles its way back into my life.

If you grew up in the Midwest, you're likely aware that green bean casserole is the greatest thing to grace this Earth. Comparing it to other mere mortal foods associated with Thanksgiving is blasphemous and grounds for dismissal from the premises. And it only comes out once a year.

For those of you who live elsewhere, I am willing to forgive you if this delectable dish hasn't crossed your lips. Just know that the experience of first tasting this combination of green beans, cream of mushroom soup, and fried onions is not one you should take lightly. It's a religious experience that will change your view of this cherished holiday forever.

The only downside of green bean casserole is that I can only have it once a year. Sure, I could whip it together some Monday in August, but separating it from a day of thanks seems unjust.

Because of this, I will take extreme measures to make sure I can consume as much as possible on Thanksgiving. If I'm only going to get it then, there will be no half measures. This includes fasting for the three weeks prior, foregoing all other foods that day, and running laps between mouthfuls to burn calories. I will do whatever it takes to get as much of this goodness in my system.

Elite wide receivers are the green bean casserole of Week 12 in daily fantasy football. I don't care what you need to do, but you need these bad boys in your life.

DeAndre Hopkins is facing the New Orleans Saints, the NFL equivalent of your hammered uncle. Odell Beckham Jr. goes up against a Washington secondary that is serving as the campaign manager for Cam Newton's 2015 MVP push. Julio Jones is paired with a Minnesota Vikings team with a dinged-up Harrison Smith and a disappointing Xavier Rhodes.

If I could fit all three on my roster, I would. That's not likely, but I'm spending down wherever possible in order to squeeze at least two of them. Therein lies the pretense of this week's matchups column: looking for value in other places.

I'm assuming most of you know that those three giants are all great plays this week. The question is where you can save some cash in order to fit all of them. Let's look.

In order to spot these matchups to exploit, we'll be using numberFire's Net Expected Points (NEP). NEP is the metric we use to measure the efficiency of both teams and players, with the team totals being adjusted based on strength of schedule.

In case you're new to the site, here's how NEP works. Prior to each play, there is an expected number of points that a team will score on a given drive. A positive play (such as a three-yard rush on 3rd and 2) will increase that, resulting in positive NEP. A negative play (such as a three-yard rush on 3rd and 4) will decrease that, resulting in negative NEP. The sum of the fluctuations of these expected points over the course of a season is NEP.

Now, let's dive into which areas you should be turning if you need to save some dough in Week 12.