DeAndre Hopkins makes surprise appearance on All-Bust Fantasy Team for Week 12

With just one week remaining in most fantasy regular seasons, players on this week’s All-Bust team could end up costing some owners a spot in the postseason.

Let’s dive into the biggest disappointments of Week 12.

Notes: Each week’s entries are determined by calculating the difference between the projected Yahoo point totals and the actual outputs of each player. PointAfter visualizations illustrate the players with the worst sums.

[Week 12's perfect fantasy lineup: Top scorers at each position]

QB: Drew Brees, Saints

Projected points (position rank): 22.4 (3rd)

Actual points (position rank): 7.6 (30th)

On Sunday, Drew Brees failed to throw a touchdown for the first game in exactly three years. The previous scoreless outing came against Atlanta in a five-pick horror show on Nov. 29, 2012. This outing (25-for-44, 228 yards, one interception) wasn’t nearly that bad, but it was indicative of the frustrating circumstances he’s had to endure this season.

Brees has had to work with arguably his weakest set of weapons since coming to New Orleans. As a result, he’s posted his worst touchdown rate (4.8 percent) since his second year with the Saints in 2007, and the club is all alone in the cellar of the NFC South at 4-7.

If you take out Brees’ 505-yard, seven-touchdown explosion against the Giants in Week 8, his touchdown rate dips to 3.6 percent. That would be his worst mark since 2003, when he was just a struggling third-year QB averaging 5.9 yards per throw in San Diego.

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RB1: DeMarco Murray, Eagles

Projected points: 15.5 (2nd)

Actual points: 3.0 (T-49th)

Detroit humiliated the Eagles 45-14 on Thanksgiving, and Murray was stuffed for just 30 yards on 14 carries. It’s officially a lost season for the former All-Pro, who has just one 100-yard effort to his name in 2015.

His decline isn’t all that surprising when you consider the fortunes of other running backs who shouldered similar workloads to Murray’s 392 carries in 2014. Of the other 22 tailbacks in NFL history to rush 375 times in one season, only six rushed for 1,000 yards the following year while averaging at least 4.0 yards per carry (Jamal Lewis, Walter Payton and Eric Dickerson four times).

Note: You can hover over each dot on the above visualization to see the player it corresponds to.

Eight of those 22 tailbacks suffered significant leg injuries during their follow-up campaigns, including three ACL tears. Murray can at least be thankful he’s stayed healthy.

RB2: Chris Johnson, Cardinals

Projected points: 13.1 (6th)

Actual points: 1.7 (T-59th)

A week after the 49ers run defense was ripped to shreds by Thomas Rawls (30 carries, 209 yards), the unit bounced back and forced Chris Johnson into his worst showing of the season (12 carries, 17 yards).

While Johnson left in the third quarter with what turned out to be a broken tibia, his bounce-back campaign had met a serious roadblock over Arizona’s last three contests. After the 30-year-old matched his 2014 total of 16 carries for 10-plus yards in his first eight games, his longest gain over the past three weeks went for nine yards.

WR1: DeAndre Hopkins, Texans

Projected points: 15.2 (1st)

Actual points: 3.6 (T-64th)

Once DeAndre Hopkins’ fantasy owners realized he’d be playing against a Saints secondary fresh off the firing of defensive coordinator Rob Ryan, visions of a multi-touchdown day likely started dancing in their heads.

Instead, in a game that Houston ended up winning rather easily over New Orleans, Brian Hoyer didn’t have to look to Hopkins that much. “Nuk” was targeted eight times for five catches and 36 yards – all season lows.

So, instead of occupying the WR1 slot on the week’s highest-scoring lineup as he was projected, Hopkins ends up on the All-Bust team for the first time this season.

WR2: Antonio Brown, Steelers

Projected points: 14.0 (3rd)

Actual points: 5.1 (T-53rd)

Ben Roethlisberger racked up more passing yards (456) on Sunday than any of Seattle’s opponents had in franchise history.

And yet, Antonio Brown only mustered 4.3 yards per target for a 6-51-0 line while being shadowed by Richard Sherman. Pittsburgh’s offense operated just fine with one of the league’s finest receivers largely neutralized by perhaps the NFL’s best corner, but Brown’s fantasy owners had to be disappointed he couldn’t haul in a touchdown in a high-scoring affair.

TE: Jason Witten, Cowboys

Projected points: 8.3 (4th)

Actual points: 3.6 (27th)

Jason Witten had a ho-hum 4-36-0 line against Carolina in a week when most of the league’s elite tight ends stuffed the box score, injured themselves, or, in the case of Rob Gronkowski, both.

With Tony Romo going down yet again -- this time, for the rest of the season -- Witten’s value will take a hit going forward. That’s not a good sign for a guy who’s gaining fewer yards per reception than ever before and hasn’t caught a touchdown since Week 1.

The 33-year-old might be the most-targeted receiver in the Dallas offense, but that’s not saying much with Matt Cassel at the helm of a 3-8 team.

FLEX: Todd Gurley, Rams

Projected points: 12.4 (8th)

Actual points: 3.0 (T-49th)

Todd Gurley hasn’t topped 100 rushing yards or averaged 4.0 yards per carry in a game since Week 8. It’s not as if the Rams have faced a string of elite run defenses during that four-week span. St. Louis’ opponents are simply keying on Gurley, since the NFL’s weakest aerial attack is scaring nobody.

It’d be crazy to bench Gurley, but he doesn’t have a great matchup next week against Arizona. If you already have a few dependable backs and absolutely need to win in Week 13 to sneak into the playoffs, you might have a tougher choice than you expect.

D/ST: Philadelphia Eagles

Projected points: 9.6 (2nd)

Actual points: -1.0 (31st)

For the second week in a row, Philadelphia’s defense is on the All-Bust team after allowing their opponents to dominate ball possession without forcing any turnovers. Detroit roasted, tarred and feathered the Eagles defense en route to a resounding 45-14 victory on Thanksgiving.

One week after Doug Martin ran roughshod over Philadelphia to complement Jameis Winston’s five touchdowns, the Eagles let Matthew Stafford complete 71 percent of his throws and five more scores to compensate for Detroit’s league-worst rushing offense. The fact that the Lions held possession for 62 percent of the game while rushing for just 108 yards on 3.8 yards per carry speaks volumes to how badly Philly’s pass defense is struggling.

The Eagles have given up 84 points over the past two weeks after holding each of their opponents below 28 points during their first nine games. The NFC East is still wide open, but is anyone really expecting Philly to make a run with this defense’s current form and Mark Sanchez as its quarterback?

Kicker: Josh Brown, Giants

Projected points: 8.7 (6th)

Actual points: 2.0 (T-28th)

New York’s offense was hamstrung by three interceptions from Eli Manning and didn’t score against Washington until the fourth quarter. By then, it was too late for Brown to make much of a difference for his team or in fantasy, as he was limited to a pair of extra points.

Will Laws is a writer for PointAfter, a sports data aggregation and visualization website that's part of the Graphiq network.