The Biggest Takeaways from Week 11 in Fantasy Football: Taysom Hill and Jauan Jennings Stock Up

The Houston Texans and Dallas Cowboys matchup on Monday Night is all that is left in Week 11. As always, there were eye-catching performances around the NFL for good and bad reasons in fantasy football. Let’s take a look at some of the biggest takeaways from Week 11.

Week 11 Takeaways

Taysom Hill is a Weekly Starter

Taysom Hill has always been a wild card in lineups with the ability to vulture goal-line touchdowns from Alvin Kamara. On Sunday he had a career day with 138 rushing yards and 3 touchdowns while hauling in 8 passes for 50 yards on 10 targets. He currently is the highest scorer this week with 42.5 PPR points winning matchups for a majority of people who started him. With the injuries at wide receiver, Hill has raised his floor by being able to play multiple positions.

He played 8 snaps at quarterback, 6 snaps at running back, and 18 snaps lined up at receiver. Klint Kubiak is finding a way to get the ball into the veteran’s hands at different positions making his usage as high as it has ever been. With the Saints not getting many of their receiver options back this season, Hill should be viewed as a weekly starter at tight end. No player can throw, run, and catch giving him a high ceiling weekly while also having the highest floor of his career.

Jayden Daniels is not a Lock in your Lineup

After the last few weeks post rib injury, it is safe to say that Jayden Daniels has not been performing at the level he did to start the season. In his last four games, he has three performances below 20 points and would have four if not for a Hail Mary in Week 8. In the last two weeks, he has combined for 23 points with only 1 touchdown and 10 rushing attempts. As good as Daniels was to start the season, it is becoming tricky with many viable streaming options this year at quarterback and playoff hopes on the line in the next three weeks.

One of my biggest takeaways with Daniels is that he will continue to see less volume on the ground with his rib injury hurting his floor. Despite only throwing 6 touchdowns in the first six weeks, Daniels was a top option in fantasy because he was averaging over 10 attempts on the ground and found the end zone 4 times. In the next two weeks, I expect him to have good weeks against favorable matchups in the Cowboys and Titans. The question for him the rest of the season will be can his passing numbers get him to 20 points weekly with less rushing volume?

Jauan Jennings = Brandon Aiyuk 2.0

Since returning from injury, Jennings has made a statement in his last two games without Brandon Aiyuk. He has led all 49ers players in snaps, routes run, targets, catches, and yards in the last two games resulting in 39.4 PPR points. This season he now ranks 8th among receivers in fantasy points per target which is higher than Justin Jefferson this season. In three games without Aiyuk he has a target share of 40%, 32%, and 39% averaging 29.3 points.

With the 49ers continuing to struggle on offense, Jennings has been a bright spot for this team and will continue to be valuable down the stretch. Teams will continue to key in on Christian McCaffrey, Deebo Samuel, and George Kittle leaving Jennings with the most favorable matchups every Sunday. Going forward we should view him as a high-end WR2 that should not leave lineups. Jennings has become one of the best waiver wire pickups this season.

Pass Catcher Notes

Amari Cooper returned to the Bills lineup and was expected to take on a bigger role with Keon Coleman missing this week due to injury. In Week 11, Cooper’s usage mirrored his Week 8 usage before the injury finishing fourth among Bills receivers in snaps played and routes run. He finished the game with 2 catches for 55 yards on 3 targets while the volume is still not there, Josh Allen has been giving him chances when he has a 1 on 1 matchup. I am not convinced that Cooper will be a consistent option down the stretch and the wide receiver to own in Buffalo is Khalil Shakir.

The Chiefs’ current wide receiver situation for the rest of the season is starting to take shape with the return of Juju Smith-Shuster. With his return, Hopkins snap share percentage stayed the same while Xavier Worthy and Justin Watson’s snap shares decreased. Juju will play more snaps as he gets more removed from a hamstring and operates as the primary slot receiver. Although the Chiefs consistently rotate receivers, DeAndre Hopkins and Xavier Worthy will operate as the primary outside receivers. Hopkins is the most valuable receiver with Juju and Worthy not worth rostering.

The Patriots have made it clear that Kayshon Boutte and Demario Douglas are their two best receivers. Both players finished first or second on the team in snaps, routes run, and targets this week. Since returning from injury Kendrick Bourne has been slowly making his way back into the Patriots’ offense. Bourne had his best game of the season with 5 catches for 70 yards and a touchdown while operating as the other primary outside receiver. I am not sure if he is worth a waiver claim though as Hunter Henry, Douglas, and Boutte are better options in a low-production offense.

For the first time, we have tight-end notes that are worth discussing! After Shane Waldron was fired, Cole Kmet played over 95% of offensive snaps for the first time this season. He was able to have more catches and receiving yards this week than he had in his prior two games. Kmet is worth stashing on your bench again and has streaming value.

Will Dissly was a favorite start of mine this week against the Chargers and finished with 4 catches for 80 yards with 1 touchdown. It is worth noting that Dissly only played in slightly over 50% of snaps this week and was not present on the field with a positive game script. He only has a 58.9 run-blocking grade this season which is going to result in him continuing to play around 50% of snaps going forward. He has some favorable matchups ahead, but I would temper expectations due to his limited snaps.

Running Back Notes

Coming out of the bye week, Nick Chubb was expected to take on more early-down work for the Browns and potentially have a nice day against a favorable matchup. Instead, Jerome Ford led the backfield with 41 snaps played despite the game being competitive throughout, meaning it was not game script related. Chubb was still able to take more snaps on early downs than Ford but the gap between these two backs on early downs is not enough to make Chubb valuable with no role on third down. Chubb is not the back to own in Cleveland, it is actually Jerome Ford.

The Raiders utilized Zamir White on 21 of 29 snaps on early downs in the first three quarters before leaving for injury. Alexander Mattison operated as the 3rd down back and mixed in some early downs before leaving for injury in the 4th quarter. The only back left in Las Vegas in the 4th quarter was Ameer Abdullah who finished with 22 snaps. This backfield is tough to read but any long-term injuries to Zamir White or Alexander Mattison are worth monitoring. If one or both of these guys are out Ameer Abdullah could be a good streaming option, this week.

After Tyjae Spears return last week resulted in close to a 50% snap share, the Titans backfield was worth monitoring this week. Ultimately, Tony Pollard still operated as the primary back playing 17 of 25 snaps before Spears took 11 snaps in the two-minute drill. Pollard had 13 touches in 37 snaps while Spears finished with 6 touches in 26 snaps. Spears did leave the game in the fourth quarter due to injury potentially leading to Tony Pollard getting his 80-90% snap share if Spears misses any time.

Well, the Audric Estime waiver claim was a complete miss by the fantasy community as Javonte Williams took back his lead role against the Falcons. The Broncos are truly riding the hot hand at running back. Last week they struggled to get anything going the first two drives, then Estime provided a spark that led to him taking over the backfield. This week, Williams opened the game as the starter and the Broncos scored on the first drive while Estime’s first drive was three and out. After that Williams operated as the primary back while Estime saw 14 snaps. Overall, it is hard to trust any Broncos running back if they deploy this strategy weekly.

The last notes from running back rooms around the NFL were that the Chargers utilized J.K. Dobbins more than they did last week with a healthy Gus Edwards. Dobbins once again had the upper hand on snaps played with 49 and ran 20 more routes than Edwards. Edwards role will be on early down for the Chargers and will split those early down snaps with Dobbins. Where Dobbins holds value still is on 3rd down and two-minute drill situations where he is constantly on the field. Dobbins will continue to produce like an RB2 with his current role in the Chargers offense.

Breakout Performances

Each Week I like to highlight three players whose stock is rising after a breakout performance. Jonnu Smith continues to be one of my biggest takeaways from this season as he continues to produce after his 6 catch, 101 yards, and 2-touchdown performance. Anthony Richardson is another guy who makes the list after 3 total touchdowns and 2 on the ground resulting in 28.1 points. Another one of my takeaways is Richardson is a good stash on your bench if he continues to play like this. Finally, we have to mention Taysom Hill as our last breakout performer with his 41-point performance.

Quarterbacks Shine

Quarterbacks got back on track after low-scoring performances around the board in Week 10. It was headlined by Jared Goff who threw for over 400 yards and 4 touchdowns in the blowout win. Bo Nix continued his stretch of hot play and might be working his way into a matchup-proof starter. Both Jameis Winston and Tua Tagovailoa cashed in on their favorable matchups resulting in 20+ point outings. Joe Burrow, Justin Herbert, and Josh Allen all continued to build on their impressive last few weeks. Below are the top ten quarterback scorers in Week 11.

1. Jared Goff (DET): 34.6 points
2. Joe Burrow (CIN): 29 points
3. Bo Nix (DEN): 28.8 points
4. Anthony Richardson (IND): 28.1 points
5. Matthew Stafford (LAR): 27.8 points
6. Jameis Winston (CLE): 26.6 points
7. Justin Herbert (LAC): 24.4 points
8. Josh Allen (BUF): 23.9 points
9. Sam Darnold (MIN): 23.6 points
10. Tua Tagovailoa (MIA): 23.5 points

Injury Notes

For the second straight week, there is a limited injury report around the NFL. Darnell Mooney is the headliner on this list and suffered a hamstring injury forcing him to miss the remainder of the game. Mooney was limited throughout the week with an Achilles injury and mentioned postgame that he would be okay. Gabe Davis suffered a meniscus tear likely ending his season. Tyjae Spears suffered a concussion and will be week to week. Meanwhile both Raiders running backs extent of their injuries is unknown right now.

Darnell Mooney WR (ATL): Day to Day

Alexander Mattison RB (LV): Week to Week

Zamir White RB (LV): Week to Week

Tyjae Spears RB (TEN): Week to Week

Gabe Davis WR (JAX): IR Candidate

For all of the Week 11 Reactions in Fantasy Football check out this YouTube Video