Sterling Shepard Injury Update Creates Week 12 Fantasy Value for WR vs Bears

Sterling Shepard has struggled to stay on the field this season, but he's been pretty effective when healthy. He hasn't played since Week 5, but the wide receiver saw at least seven targets in each of his four healthy games this season, recording at least five catches in each contest.

After it looked like Shepard was trending toward playing this week, his fantasy football owners got a clearer picture of his status today when the wideout was removed from the New York Giants' injury report. Shepard is now in line to make his return against a stout Chicago Bears defense in Week 12.

While not quite as dynamic as last season, this Bears team is holding opponents to 17.4 points per game (PPG), which is the fourth-best mark in the NFL, and Chicago checks in as the sixth-best passing defense, according to Football Outsiders' DVOA rankings.

That could make life tough for Shepard's fantasy owners, as Chicago has allowed the second-fewest fantasy points per game (15.48) to opposing wideouts.

Shepard doesn't crack the top 36 in our Week 12 fantasy football PPR rankings, but he could be fantasy viable as a FLEX play if you're in a pinch, even in a tough matchup against the Bears.

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Max Staley is not a FanDuel employee. In addition to providing DFS gameplay advice, Max Staley also participates in DFS contests on FanDuel using his personal account, username mstaley1212. While the strategies and player selections recommended in his articles are his personal views, he may deploy different strategies and player selections when entering contests with his personal account. The views expressed in their articles are the author's alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of FanDuel.