If you're consistently a step ahead of the competition in your fantasy football league, it can help you win a title, and this weekly piece will aim to help you stay ahead of the pack.

The goal here is to help you identify players who could be hot waiver adds down the road as well as to point out week-ahead pickups who could prove useful.

Here are some players to consider adding now and stashing on your bench for the future.

All NFL projections via our numbers at FanDuel Research, and NFL odds references are to FanDuel Sportsbook.

Fantasy Football Stash Candidates for Week 12

Roschon Johnson, RB, Bears

In the first game with Thomas Brown calling plays for the Chicago Bears in Week 11, we saw a shift in the backfield usage. Despite D'Andre Swift breaking off a long touchdown run, Roschon Johnson got more work in the running game than he did in previous weeks.

During Sunday's narrow loss to the Green Bay Packers, Swift had his lowest snap rate (54.4%) of the season since Week 3, per NextGenStats. Johnson finished with only seven fewer snaps (30) and four fewer carries (10) than Swift in Week 11, so Chicago could be splitting touches between Swift and Johnson moving forward.

Even though Johnson logged only 41 scrimmage yards on 11 touches, he also found the end zone once, and he handled four of the five red-zone rushing attempts. Besides earning a vast majority of the red-zone carries, Johnson had a 28.2% route rate (compared to Swift's 33.3%), proving that the Bears trust him on all three downs.

The schedule isn't very friendly for Chicago down the stretch as they'll face the Minnesota Vikings (twice), Detroit Lions (twice), San Francisco 49ers, Seattle Seahawks, and Green Bay Packers in the final seven weeks. That being said, Caleb Williams looked better in Week 11 -- which should help the rushing attack -- and if Johnson continues to carve into Swift's workload, he could be a viable flex play given his potential red-zone role.

Jermaine Burton, WR, Bengals

While the Cincinnati Bengals are on a bye in Week 12, this is a perfect time (again) to stash Jermaine Burton on your bench if you have an open spot. Time is running out for the Bengals to make a playoff push, and they continue to get little to nothing from Andrei Iosivas in the passing game.

Through 11 weeks of action, Iosivas is posting an underwhelming 1.8 receptions per game, 24.9 receiving yards per game, and 0.79 yards per route run on a 9.7% target share despite receiving a 79.1% snap rate and 77.7% route rate. Ja'Marr Chase and Tee Higgins are going to have plenty of targets funneled to them when they're healthy, but at least Burton could give the aerial attack another vertical threat with more playing time.

Just this past week, Burton produced just a 23.1% snap rate and 25.5% route rate, but he still accounted for 14.8% of Cincy's intended air yards. Given how well Joe Burrow is playing and the Bengals needing answers to avoid missing out on the postseason, it wouldn't come as a surprise if we saw Burton benefit from a post-bye rookie bump in Week 13.

Up to this point, Burton has registered 34.9 intended air yards per game with 1.2 downfield targets (targets of 10-plus yards) per game on a valuable 22.5-yard average depth of target. Cincinnati would be wise to insert Burton into the starting offense to give them another deep threat and to have a wideout who can clear things out for Chase and Higgins.

Jalen McMillan, WR, Buccaneers

Another first-year wideout who could see a post-bye rookie bump is Jalen McMillan of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The Bucs are exiting their bye week, and they're going to need some of their receivers to step up until Mike Evans is fully healthy and with Chris Godwin being out for the year.

McMillan was dealing with a hamstring injury before Tampa Bay's bye week in Week 11, but it doesn't appear to be anything that will prevent him from suiting up in Week 12. Even though McMillan is sporting a dismal 0.72 yards per route run, he is averaging 2.2 downfield targets per game on a team-high 13.8-yard average depth of target this season.

Once McMillan and Baker Mayfield begin connecting on some of these deep throws, the rookie receiver could begin having notable performances in fantasy. The remaining schedule for the Buccaneers is also one that favors McMillan as Tampa Bay will take on the New York Giants, Carolina Panthers (twice), Las Vegas Raiders, Los Angeles Chargers, Dallas Cowboys, and New Orleans Saints.

While the Bucs have deployed Sterling Shepard, Trey Palmer, and Rakim Jarrett in the absences of Evans and Godwin, none of them have done anything to earn the No. 2 role alongside Evans when he returns. Evans and Cade Otton figure to be the primary targets for Mayfield moving forward, but McMillan is seeing enough valuable downfield targets that he could have spike weeks in the right matchups.

Ja'Tavion Sanders, TE, Panthers

Recommending an offensive player from the Panthers seems foolish, but the offense showed some progress with Bryce Young under center before they had their bye week in Week 11. Even if there isn't much confidence in starting any pass catcher in Carolina's offense the rest of the way, I agree with FanDuel Research's Annie Nader that Ja'Tavion Sanders has done enough recently to be a streaming option in Week 12.

Young made three consecutive starts before Week 11 while the Panthers are currently on a two-game winning streak. Amid that streak, Sanders is recording an 86.1% snap rate, 73.2% route rate, 14.3% target share, 2 downfield targets per game, and a team-high 2.32 yards per route run.

In addition to that, Sanders paces Carolina in red-zone target share (40.0%) and end-zone target share (33.3%) over their last two games. Sanders has certainly made the most of his opportunities, and he could see his role grow as the Panthers use the final weeks to see if Young shows any signs of development.

Across his last four outings, Sanders has finished as the TE12 or better in three of those contests in half-PPR formats. While the upside could be lacking in certain weeks due to Carolina's inability to move the ball consistently, the Panthers should be in plenty of negative game scripts, which should lead to more volume for Sanders.

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The above author is a FanDuel employee and is not eligible to compete in public daily fantasy contests or place sports betting wagers on FanDuel. The advice provided by the author does not necessarily represent the views of FanDuel. Taking the author's advice will not guarantee a successful outcome. You should use your own judgment when participating in daily fantasy contests or placing sports wagers.