Fantasy football rankings Week 11: Sleepers, starts, best high school athletes ever

It’s Week 11, which means we’re in the home stretch. Don’t give up the chase! That goes for everyone. You know you hate it when other managers go belly up and stop trying, as you watch other teams you’re in a playoff chase with get gift matchups because of that. Don’t be that manager! Also, make sure you’re checking out the Wednesday podcast for the buys and sells, and read all the notes for the starts, sits and information needed for your Week 11 rankings decisions.

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Week 11 Fantasy Football Rankings Notes, Starts, Sits

Running Backs

Bucky Irving, TB: Given the uncertainty around his health, even if Irving plays, he won’t rank as an RB1. Irving would be a mid-range RB2, and given the recent split between Rachaad White and Sean Tucker, both would be tough to use.

Christian McCaffrey, SF: For running backs with 50+ rushes, only Chuba Hubbard (2.38), Blake Corum (2.37), Saquon Barkley (2.26) and Tyrone Tracy (2.06) have lower yards after contact than CMC’s 2.39. The Cardinals allow the seventh-fewest YAC at 1.11. Brian Robinson could continue to eat into McCaffrey’s rush attempts.

D’Andre Swift, CHI and Aaron Jones, MIN: Despite both being injured (Swift missed Week 9, Jones got banged up), they were the clear leads. Swift had 72.0 RBTouch%, third-highest of the season and most since Week 4. Jones was 70.6%, his highest of the year, topping 50.0% in Week 9.

Isiah Pacheco, KC: Doesn’t sound as though he’ll play, but if so, Pacheco would be an RB3 with touchdown reliance.

Jacory Croskey-Merritt, WAS: With no Chris Rodriguez, JCM would be a high-upside RB3 gamble. Jeremy McNichols would be an interesting flier given the matchup.

Kyren Williams, LAR: Yes, the recent workload share is a tad concerning, but it’s not actually new. Williams sees 69.4% of the rushes and a 79.1 RBTouch% when the Rams are losing or up by less than six. When leading by at least six points, those drop to 48.8% and 60.0%, but even so, Williams is still sixth on the year for his team’s percentage of goal-line rushes (71.4%).

RJ Harvey, DEN: With no J.K. Dobbins, Harvey is a solid RB2, but he’s not without risk. Sean Payton loves multiple running backs (watch for Jaleel McLaughlin to be activated, and Tyler Badie to have Jeremy McNichols-like value), and while the Chiefs matchup isn’t as bad as last year, it’s still tougher than most.

TreVeyon Henderson, NE: If Rhamondre Stevenson returns, Henderson carries RB4 risk and will be more of a backend RB2.

Trey Benson and Co., ARI: If no Benson or Bam Knight, Emari Demercado is a fringe RB2/3, and Michael Carter an RB4. If no Benson but Knight plays, Demercado is an RB3 ahead of Knight, for more upside.

Tyjae Spears and Tony Pollard, TEN: The Texans are a tough matchup, and while the Titans could turn to Spears more out of the bye, it’s tough to trust either as more than a RB3.

Woody Marks, HOU: Season RBTouch% when down by 7+ points is 71.4%. Anything else, it’s 36.3%. The Texans were down by 10 before a single RB touch. I want to believe, but I’m still hesitant about ranking Marks too high.

Wide Receivers

Darnell Mooney, ATL: Since the Falcons’ bye, Bijan Robinson has lined up in the slot or out wide — yes, you read that correctly — 66 times. Including his routes out of the backfield, you get a 71.1% route participation, just behind Mooney at 75.0%. Mooney has also been targeted on a mere 14.1% of his routes — fourth behind Drake London (33.3%), Robinson (24.2) and Kyle Pitts (21.2%).

Davante Adams, LAR: If no Adams, there’s no chasing other Rams wideouts. They already had a three-tight-end usage so high that it made Arthur Smith blush.

Elic Ayomanor, TEN: Has flashed, but Chimere Dike is the top option for the Titans. Houston is a bad matchup for all Titans, especially receiving options, so if Calvin Ridley plays, he’s no more than a Hail Mary gamble, but it would also push Dike down, and Ayomanor would be buried.

Kayshon Boutte, NE: Assuming he’s out. If Boutte plays, he jumps back into the WR4 conversation, making all other Patriots WRs outside of Stefon Diggs unplayable.

Luther Burden, CHI: Ranked as though DJ Moore is out. If Moore plays, he’s a WR3, and Burden is down to the WR5 range — worth a flier in deeper leagues but extremely low floor against the Vikings. (See note below in quarterbacks section about Caleb Williams under pressure.)

Matthew Golden, GB: With Romeo Doubs reportedly good to go, Golden would merely take Dontayvion Wicks’ spot in the rankings if out there in Week 11.

Parker Washington, JAX: Brian Thomas isn’t ranked, but if Thomas returns this week, he’d be a WR2 with Jakobi Meyers only sliding a few spots and Washington falling into WR4/5 territory. Obviously, the risk/reward there is if Meyers isn’t fully incorporated yet.

Quentin Johnston and Keenan Allen, LAC: Since his Week 7 breakout, Johnston has lost some touchdown upside, and Allen’s Route% dropped from the mid-upper 70% range to 50%, 53.8% and 60%, respectively, in those past three games. In fact, it went from 53.3% to 80.0% after Oronde Gadsden left the game. Allen would be a WR3 without Gadsden, and Johnston would get a half-tier boost.

Rashid Shaheed, SEA: I’m buying low — maybe that means you should avoid it and trade him away instead #ICCU — as he ran one fewer route than Cooper Kupp in his first Seahawks game. Sure, there were only 13 routes due to the Seahawks obliterating the Cardinals from the start, but Shaheed has the Klint Kubiak familiarity and big-play upside.

Tez Johnson, TB: Chris Godwin is a mystery, but if he returns, Johnson will slide back a few spots, and Godwin wouldn’t be startable/trustable in his first game back.

Tight Ends

Cade Otton, TB: As long as Godwin is out, Otton is a fringe TE1. Add Godwin into the mix, and Otton is a mid-TE2 gamble.

Elijah Higgins, ARI: Super deep flier, but if you need a Hail Mary pick, Higgins could see plenty of work with Marvin Harrison out, and almost nobody behind Michael Wilson and Greg Dortch (even Simi Fehoko was put on IR after I recorded the podcast).

Greg Dulcich, MIA: It’s a long shot, but Dulcich had an 81.0 Route% in Week 10 after 47.6% in Week 9, and he’s been targeted 24.3% of the time while on the field.

Quarterbacks

Baker Mayfield, TB: It might sound crazy, but Mayfield actually has a higher percentage of throws going for a first down or touchdown when under pressure (34.0%) than with a clean pocket (31.1%). The Bills (43.2%) are second only to the Vikings (44.7%) in pressure rate.

Caleb Williams, CHI: Conversely, Williams has just a 24.7 FDTD% when pressured and 38.0% when clean, and you just saw the Vikings’ pressure rate. Rome Odunze sees the biggest drop-off when Williams is pressured, and Moore sees the biggest boost.

Marcus Mariota, WAS: Which quarterback has the third-highest designed rush rate, ahead of Lamar Jackson (9.0%)? Mariota at 10.2%, and the Dolphins allow the seventh-most rushing YPG, even after a “quiet” James Cook week.

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Week 11 Waiver Wire

Week 11 + Playoffs SOS Ranks

Fantasy 101 (weather, start/sit, trading, more)

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Fun With Ranks

Thanks to James Palmer for this one, as we were talking about the Derrick Henry situation last week, and I asked if he’s ever seen Jadeveon Clowney’s high school highlights. Insane! Watch him basically be a part of the backfield on every play… oh, and catch a few passes and look like a top-end RB, like at this point of the highlights. And that’s the origin of the list. The most insane high school “stats.” Feel free to share yours, because I’m certain I don’t know all of them — I used Google to search for a few I didn’t know about already.

Top 10 Most Insane High School Stats … I could find

Joe Mauer: Forget averaging 20 PPG as his team’s point guard, and throwing 3,022 yards and 41 touchdowns his senior year. How about hitting .605 with 15 home runs, including a home run in seven straight games and 54 RBI while striking out ONCE … his entire high school career.

Aaron Judge: In his senior season, he hit .500 with seven homers, 32 RBI, and was 9-3 with a 0.65 ERA and 65 Ks as a pitcher. Oh, he also had a receiving line of 54-969-17 in football and averaging 18.2 points and 12.8 rebounds in basketball.

Derrick Henry: We know he finally passed his high school rushing yards of 12,124 in his 10th NFL season, but it gets even crazier, and no, I don’t mean his 153 rushing touchdowns. Henry’s senior year? In 13 games, 4,261 rushing yards and 55 touchdowns … or, 327.8 yards and 4.2 touchdowns PER GAME!

Mike Hart: Holds the record for most rushing yards (11,045) and games with 100+ rushing yards (47). He also scored 67 touchdowns in one season, with 204 career touchdowns.

Cheryl Miller: Averaged 32.8 points and 15.0 rebounds, and she scored 105 points in one game, going 47-for-50 while also hauling in 27 rebounds plus adding 9 steals … and not playing the fourth quarter!

Kevin Garnett: Senior year, he averaged 25.2 points, 17.9 rebounds, 6.7 assists and 6.5 blocks, finishing his high school career with 2,553 points, 1,809 rebounds and 737 blocks.

Brendan Morrison: In BANTAM hockey, which is high school level (16-17 year olds), he had 126 goals, 127 assists for 253 points in … 77 games. Oh, he had another season of 117-72-189 in 60 games.

Clayton Kershaw: How’s this for a senior year? 13-0 record, 0.77 ERA and 139 Ks in 64 innings. He also Shohei Ohtani’d once, homering in the same playoff game that he threw a perfect game with 15 strikeouts.

Braxton “Maty” Mauk: Still holds the records for completions (1,353), attempts (2,110), passing yards (18,932) and total yards (22,681). His senior year included 5,670 of those passing yards.

Kazmeir Allen: He holds the record for touchdowns in a season with 72 (62 rushing, 9 receiving, 1 kickoff return) in 14 games (2017).

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Week 11 Fantasy Football Rankings

🚨 HEADS UP 🚨

There is no perfect widget out there, sadly, still. I know many view this on your phone, but 1) use the rankings widget on a PC/laptop/etc. if possible or 2) open in your phone’s browser, especially for Android users, to get the scrolling to work (or Android people can try a two-finger scroll).

ECR = “Expert” Consensus Ranking (which isn’t updated by everyone consistently, so take with a grain of salt).

Updated regularly, so check up to lineups locking.

Week 11 Fantasy Football Projections

🚨 HEADS UP 🚨 These can differ from my rankings, and MY RANKS are the order I’d start players outside of added context, such as, “Need highest upside, even if risky.” Also, based on 4-point TDs for QB, 6-point rest, and Half-PPR

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