Counting this week, there are only 3 more weeks of the fantasy football regular season. Where have the weeks gone?
If you have any of these players in year-long leagues or dynasty, then good for you, get excited for a great week. If not, then maybe you should hop on DraftKings and add some of them in your DFS lineup!
PREDICTION: Fantasy Football Week 11 Top 10 Performers
Quarterbacks
With Houston’s bye gone, we should hope that Watson’s abdomen injuries have come to an end. Of course, injuries linger but Houston was taking precautions to just get Watson from Houston to Denver not so long ago.
This week the Texans are at FedEx Field facing the Washington Redskins. Last week Tampa Bay lost to the Redskins 16 – 3, but that does not mean Ryan Fitzpatrick didn’t rack up some serious yardage. In total, Fitzpatrick threw over 400 yards and paired that with 35 rushing yards, and this is Ryan Fitzpatrick people. Currently, Washington ranks 24th in passing against opposing QBs and 23rd in receiving, averaging a 93.3 Passer Rating. This spells good news for Watson, making him a must play this week.
The Kansas City Chiefs are a high flying, high scoring, speed machine of a team that puts down points as quick as the football is snapped. Currently, KC ranks 2nd in points per game with 35.3, second only to New Orleans, who averages 36.7.
Speaking of rankings, the Chiefs rank in the bottom seven for Total Defense, Passing, Rushing and Receiving in defensive stats. KC allows an average of 410.7 yards to opposing quarterbacks, while Goff is averaging 313.4 yards a game. Goff has been hot as well with 22 TDs and only 6 picks; he’s not on the same streak as Patrick Mahomes but Goff has been consistent in his work. In the past 4 weeks, Goff’s passer rating has been over 110 with multiple TDs in all the games. His completion ratings aren’t as impressive but they still suggest that Goff has the accurate eye. With the game back at the LA Coliseum, expect Goff to have a big day at home.
Running Backs
Right now the Dallas Cowboys are ranked 29th in Total Offense, 29th in Passing, and 29th in Receiving. The only glimmer of light lies in their rushing game, ranked 6th in the National Football League. Yes, yes I know, Zeke is Dallas’ only weapon but this week’s matchup is what makes him even tastier of a play. Atlanta just got blown out by Nick Chubb and gave them their longest play from scrimmage this year (92 yards). To add, they are coughing up 5.2 yards a carry to opposing running backs and giving up 119.9 rushing yards a game.
With the amount of usage Zeke sees from the Dallas offense there is no way he should have an average game. To pair with Chubb, Duke Johnson, the change of pace back for Cleveland, got a receiving TD in their game last week against Atlanta as well. How superb; Zeke’s target average is 5.3 a game, plus 7.5 yards after the reception, with a pair of TDs. Everything seems to add up for Zeke this week.
Christian McCaffrey is a fantasy football coach’s dream. Well for us and the Panthers I suppose, he truly is the all-around running back. He’s averaging 4.7 yards a touch, 64.3 yards a game, with 13.7 attempts a game. Also, he has 54 receptions for 439 yards and 4 scores. After catching the ball he averages 8.1 yards and 48.8 yards a game. In the last 3 weeks Christian McCaffrey has scored 7 TDs, 4 Rushing and 3 Receiving, and in standard leagues, he has averaged 25.7 points a game and in PPR, 30.4.
This week the Panthers face the Lions at Ford Field in this favorable matchup. Currently, Detroit is ranked 24th in rushing defense allowing an average of 4.9 yards a carry and 132.7 yards a game to opposing running backs. Sit back and relax with whoever you’re going against McCaffrey owners, you’ve got another big scoring day ahead of you.
When it comes to rankings, offensive or defensive, Baltimore out ranks Cincinnati in literally every category. Without the ball they rank 30th in Total Defense, Passing, Rushing and Passing to opposing teams. Something even more eye-opening, they spit up an average of 141.2 yards to opposing running backs, paired with a 5.0 yards per carry average.
Baltimore is in the middle of the pack when it comes to rushing attempts making them right for the picking against the Bangles. The Ravens average 3.6 yards per carry and just under 93 rushing yards a game. In the past 3 weeks, Collins has been more involved with the passing game and scored two weeks straight on the ground. All these points conclude to Cincy tossing points out to Collins, making Collins our guy for the game.
We talked about the Chiefs problems on defense but I must have forgotten to mention the Rams issues on the other side of the ball. The Rams defense hands out 122.1 rushing yards a game to opposing backs. If Gurley were to face the Rams defense, he would probably have another 200-yard game as he did against Denver.
Kansas City isn’t ranked too much lower when it comes to their offensive rushing game either, right now they are at the 7th spot averaging 4.8 yards a carry and 117.6 overall rushing yards. Clearly, KC is a team that can take the ball and run it just as the Rams can, funny enough, Los Angeles is ranked 27th while KC rears 26th. Expect a monster game for Hunt.
Wide Receivers
To comment further on what has been said earlier in this article, Washington ranks 24th in passing defense and 23rd in receiving defense. Even with the addition of Demaryius Thomas, Hopkins will not skip a beat when it comes to fantasy relevance. In the past 4 weeks, Hopkins has scored 5 TDs, with 24 receptions, and 300 yards. Clearly, his production has been there and for PPR formats he has definitely been killing it. With the combination of Watson, Hopkins, Lamar Miller, and Thomas, there’s no shortage of talent to be unleashed on the Washington defense.
Odell Beckham Jr.
Right now, Saquon Barkley and Beckham have been keeping their team afloat and that’s with only two wins. I guess that accounts for itself, two good players, two wins under the belt, the math is there somehow I swear. Anywho, the Giants are actually ranked 15th in the passing offense, pairing Eli Manning with a 94.3 Passer Rating.
Against Tampa Bay, however, this passer rating could improve even more; to opposing QBs the Bucs let them walk away with a 122.3 rating, 8.7 yards per attempt, and almost 300 passing yards a game. These facts scream points for Beckham. Over the last 4 weeks of play, 3 for Giants players, Beckham has hauled in 20 receptions with 11 targets per game. That’s 11 targets per game, as in against Atlanta, Washington, and San Francisco, Beckham has been looked at the same amount of times, 11. In the game Beckham doesn’t get double-digit looks, he gets only mediocre yards, once he reaches those higher number of targets, his confidence builds and he builds onto your lead. The consistency for OBJ’s high fantasy output is growing.
The last mention of the Kansas City, Los Angeles game will conclude with Robert Woods. The interest in Woods increases with the unfortunate injury to fellow receiver Cooper Kupp but even if the injury hadn’t happened, Woods would still be a must play in this situation.
KC is last in both passing and receiving defense, as their high scoring offense seems to leave their defense left picking up the pieces. Naturally, if your opponent is down by a few TDs, of course they are going to air it out and of course you’re going to give up some big plays. I suppose it’s only human but when it comes to fantasy football, there is no human in my fantasy. Just scoring characters that I plug into my team to hopefully beat the dude I am going against doing the same. Right now LA actually out-averages KC when it comes to yards per attempt. The Rams go for about 9.4 while the Chiefs hit around 9.1. But for the remaining offensive stats, KC reigns supreme. Whoever may win this Monday Night, it will not matter. The only thing that does is playing Robert Woods.
Tight End
Zach Ertz
It ‘ertz’ me to leave Zach as the last player to bet on, but the man has been tearing it up when it comes to the PPR format of play. Not accounting the bye week, Ertz has been targeted 42 times the past 4 weeks, with 34 receptions. On receptions alone, Ertz could probably outscore several starting tight ends in lineups all along the fantasy realm and that’s why I am digging what Ertz is putting down.
When you look at his stats for PPR, his numbers are through the roof, 93.2 points averaging 23.3 a week. This, of course, helps when last week you get 40.5 points but you already know if you’re in a PPR league, you have already picked your poison. To calm some standard league owners, Philly faces New Orleans and their high powered offense. This offensive unit has been in sync scoring a ton of points each game. Whenever you see the Saints, you know those points are going to come marching in, so cash in on Zach Ertz as the Eagles play catch-up.