Last week was a phenomenal week for waiver wire pickups. Week 11 has some good players to use FAAB dollars on (Brian Hill, Darius Slayton, J.D. McKissic, etc), but they aren't superstars. We know the injuries are coming, so we don't want to spend too much of our FAAB budget on players who might have a big impact. We'll be conservative with our projections as we wait one more week before going all-in on waiver pickups ahead of the playoffs and we have to examine more players almost by default.
Let's get to this week's players worth a few dollars in your fantasy leagues.
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Week 11 Fantasy Football FAAB targets: Quarterback
Ryan Tannehill (TEN); FAAB Bid: 7-8%: Tannehill is strangely giving himself a decent floor on a weekly basis. It’s hard to believe it’s sustainable, but here we are for the fourth straight week that he’s delivered at least 18 points in four-point per passing touchdown leagues. The passing volume will fluctuate, but surprisingly he threw it just 19 times in a competitive game against the Chiefs. He’s on bye next week, but he’s worth adding now with nine total touchdowns in his past four games. The schedule isn’t terrible, and he’s continuing to put up decent numbers against the expectations of many, including yours truly.
Nick Foles (JAC); FAAB Bid: 7-8%: It was announced last week that Foles be the Jaguars starting QB upon his Week 11 return from Injured Reserve. Gardner Minshew did a decent enough job but looked awful in Jacksonville’s last game in London. Not to mention, the Jaguars paid Foles a lot of money in the offseason, so the Jaguars want him to be their starter. Foles may have to shake off a little rust, but the Jags are 4-5 and have an outside shot of making the playoffs. The upcoming schedule for Jacksonville is very friendly for fantasy owners. Through Week 16 Jacksonville will face Indianapolis, Tennessee, Tampa Bay, the Chargers, Oakland and Atlanta. Four of those six games are on the road, so it’s a lot of travel, but those could all be games where Foles puts up decent numbers.
Sam Darnold (NYJ); FAAB Bid: 6%: It happened. It finally happened. Weeks of touting and defending Darnold have finally been justified. In four-point per passing touchdown leagues, Darnold got you 21 points this past Sunday. But a chunk of that came on a two-yard touchdown run, which you can’t always plan for with him. In four of his past five starts he’s thrown 32 or fewer passes, which isn’t a promising volume. But the schedule is pretty good for the next four weeks (Redskins, Raiders, Bengals, Dolphins), so things could get better against some cupcake secondaries. The magic probably runs out in Weeks 15 and 16 when he goes up against the Ravens and Steelers, but in the short-term he’s playable as a bye-week fill-in or in Superflex formats.
WEEK 11 NON-PPR RANKINGS:
Quarterback | Running back | Wide receiver | Tight end | D/ST | Kicker
Week 11 Fantasy Football FAAB targets: RB
Brian Hill (ATL); FAAB Bid: 10-13%: If the foot injury to Devonta Freeman is severe, then Hill gets a big bump. Ito Smith is on IR with a concussion, so all it would take is a serious injury to Freeman for Hill to be a hot commodity on waivers. Once Freeman left the game, Hill rushed for 61 yards on 20 carries and scored a touchdown on a 10-yard reception. The volume in rushing attempts was largely due to the fact the Falcons were up big late in the game and just wanted to burn the clock. After facing the Panthers in Week 11, Hill has some tough matchups coming up against defenses that are pretty good against the run, but the workload alone would make Hill an attractive waiver option. At worst, he could be worth stashing. and if you’re a Freeman owner, you may need to pay a little more for his handcuff.
Peyton Barber (TB); FAAB Bid: 7-8%: We’ve seen this story multiple times this year from Tampa Bay. Ronald Jones II is still the lead running back in this backfield, but Barber shouldn’t be completely forgotten about as we saw on Sunday. Both Barber and Jones found the end zone and carried the ball 11 times. Barber actually rushed for more yards, but neither really lit up the stat sheet on the ground. This is a difficult backfield to read, but the general consensus is that Jones will still get more of the work overall, but Barber is worth a stash on the off chance something happens to Jones. The offense is finding its groove in the second half of the season, and the Bucs' backfield will continue to be frustrating at times, but Barber is worth rostering going forward.
J.D. McKissic (DET); FAAB Bid: 7-8%: Well, so much for what was spent on Ty Johnson. I’d still love to see the Lions give him an actual shot at a larger workload, but they just don’t have the faith in him (and now he’s in concussion protocol). Personally, I don’t have much faith in McKissic, but he’s never really been given a chance to be “the guy” with either the Seahawks or Lions. He led the team in touches this last week, although he didn’t do much with the workload. He finished with 16 total touches for 55 total yards. The upside lies in PPR formats where six of his touches were receptions. The Lions were without Matthew Stafford (back) on Sunday, and the struggles on offense were apparent. The Lions historically struggle to run the ball. But based on the workload we’ve seen lately, McKissic is worth stashing in deeper leagues especially with Johnson’s injury.
Derrius Guice (WSH); FAAB Bid: 5-6%: Guice should be ready to return this week against the Jets. He flashed some talent in the preseason, but he’s been dealing with serious injuries for a majority of his young career. The injuries may have caused people to sour on Guice a bit, but he’s still a talented running back if he can stay on the field. He won’t completely take the ball away from Adrian Peterson right away, but the Redskins haven’t had much of an opportunity to see what they have with him so there’s a chance they want to get him going without risking injury. But that’s a bit of a challenge in professional football.
WEEK 11 PPR RANKINGS: Running back | Wide receiver | Tight end
Week 11 Fantasy Football FAAB targets: WR
Darius Slayton (NYG); FAAB Bid: 12%: Slayton broke out with a monster game this past Sunday against the Jets. He led all Giants pass-catchers in targets by a wide margin with 14. The next closest was Golden Tate with eight. Overall, Slayton finished with 10 catches for 121 yards and a pair of touchdowns. He now has four touchdowns in his past three games. The downside is that the Giants are on bye next week, and when they return they play the Bears. But Slayton's schedule in the fantasy playoffs is shaping up to be quite promising with the Eagles, Dolphins, and Redskins on tap in Weeks 14-16. No need to go too crazy with the bid -- it’s just one game and he may not be productive for a few weeks.
James Washington (PIT); FAAB Bid: 6-7%: Washington has strung together back-to-back solid performances at the right time. He’s caught 10 of his past 11 targets for 159 yards and a touchdown, and that included a 90-yard outing this past Sunday against the Rams. Over the course of his next four games he’ll face the Browns (twice), Bengals, and Cardinals. Those secondaries don’t exactly strike fear in their opponents, so Washington becomes a decent FLEX play in 12-team leagues. The Steelers will also try and get JuJu Smith-Schuster going, but if Washington can continue to get six or seven targets, he could turn them into decent production.
Hunter Renfrow (OAK); FAAB Bid: 5%: The yardage has been minimal for Renfrow, but he’s been getting more offensive snaps, he’s running more routes, and you just get the sense there’s a desire to get him more involved. Tyrell Williams and Darren Waller have had to play second fiddle to the running game, but Renfrow has flashed some promise. He has two touchdowns in his past three games, with at least four receptions in each contest. That may not sound like a lot, but he has reliable hands, and he’s pretty elusive. He’s available in most leagues, but no need to go crazy with the FAAB bid if Slayton is also out there.
MORE WEEK 11:
Waiver wire | Trade values | Snap counts | Fantasy playoff SOS
Week 11 Fantasy Football FAAB targets: Tight End
O.J. Howard (TB); FAAB Bid: 8-10%: I’m hesitant to suggest going up to 10 percent of your FAAB for Howard because he’s had just one good game (which came this past Sunday), and even in that contest he finished with just 47 yards. But he did see seven targets, and he found the end zone for the first time this year. The tight end position has become more of a “flavor of the week” position to fill, and given that fantasy football is a highly reactionary game, we’ll give him some love. He came into this season with high expectations but quickly fell out of favor with the coaching staff. Perhaps he’s getting back in their good graces? Hopefully this is a sign of things to come.
Kyle Rudolph (MIN); FAAB Bid: 5%: It’s not the sexiest pick, unless you’re into tattoos, but Rudolph has been productive in deeper league formats. He now has scored in three of his past four games (with two touchdowns Sunday night) as he’s taken advantage of Adam Thielen (hamstring) being injured. The targets aren’t noteworthy, nor are the catch totals, but he’s getting looked at when the Vikings are closing in on the end zone. This is a trend, and a player, worth keeping an eye on in Minnesota. He hasn’t had many relevant fantasy seasons of late, but you could do worse at this position.
WEEK 11 DFS LINEUPS:
Y! cash | Y! GPP | DK cash | DK GPP | FD cash | FD GPP
Week 11 Fantasy Football FAAB targets: D/ST
MORE WEEK 11 DFS: Values | Stacks | Lineup Builder
Oakland Raiders: The Raiders are a great streaming option this week against the Bengals. It’s a home game (their third straight) and they’re high off a big division win against the Chargers last Thursday night. With Ryan Finley under center for the Bengals, there’s little optimism for Cincinnati. Are the Raiders a great defense? No, and it sucks that Karl Joseph is on IR. Regardless, this is a prime matchup for a streaking team against one of the worst offenses in the league. The Jets and Redskins play each other and both make for potential streamer pickups, as well.