Week 11 Start/Sit/Grab/Drop

Welcome to Start/Sit/Grab/Drop for Week 11, where I not only take a look at which players you should start or sit, but identify players to grab from waivers and disappointing players you can safely drop.

START

Ben Roethlisberger (QB - PIT) @ JAX

Big Ben set the league on fire with his performance last week against the Cincinnati Bengals. He put up 333 yards and 4 TDs against the Pittsburgh Steelers’ division rival and next on the schedule is another juicy matchup against the Jacksonville Jaguars, who are allowing 22.9 FPPG to the QB position. Look for Roethlisberger to stay hot this week and feed his three hungry receivers early and often as the Steelers have struggled to run the ball in recent weeks.

Other QBs to start:

Cam Newton - NE (@ HOU)

Kirk Cousins - MIN (vs DAL)

D’Andre Swift (RB - DET) @ CAR

Swift was finally declared the starting RB for the Detroit Lions last week against the Washington Football Team and he quickly showed Matt Patricia and company that they made the right decision. Swift turned a season-high 21 touches into 149 total yards and a TD. As the unquestioned number one RB for the Lions moving forward, Swift is a must start fringe RB1 every week from here on out and faces the Carolina Panthers’ porous run defense, giving up 22.1 FPPG to the RB position. Expect more of the same this week from Swift.

Other RBs to start:

Antonio Gibson/JD McKissic - WAS (vs CIN)

Salvon Ahmed - MIA (@ DEN)

Clyde Edwards-Helaire/Le’Veon Bell - KC (@ LV)

Justin Jefferson (WR - MIN) vs DAL

Jefferson has only had one solid outing for fantasy since the Minnesota Vikings’ bye week, but I expect him to stay in the zone against the Dallas Cowboys. While the Cowboys defense has impressed in their last two games, it was against the Eagles’ Carson Wentz and Steelers backup QB Mason Rudolph who took over after Big Ben left with a knee injury, so I would expect Dallas to go back to allowing 30+ points per game again. The Cowboys defense gives up 30.6 FPPG to WRs so expect both Thielen and Jefferson to feast once again in this one.

Other WRs to start:

DJ Chark Jr. - JAX (vs PIT)

Marquise Brown - BAL (vs TEN)

Christian Kirk - ARI (@ SEA)

Logan Thomas (TE - WAS) vs CIN

When looking for a streamer at TE, it’s all about matchups and one of the best this week features Logan Thomas against the Cincinnati Bengals defense giving up 10.9 FPPG to the TE position. Logan Thomas has been a popular streamer all season and may have his best performance of the year against the Bengals this week. Alex Smith has thrown for 300+ yards for two straight weeks and could make it three in a row against the Bengals’ lackluster pass defense. That’s a lot of yards to go around, and Thomas is bound to get at least some of them with his 17% target share, making him a very intriguing start this week.

Other TEs to start:

Austin Hooper - CLE (vs PHI)

Hayden Hurst - ATL (@ NO)

SIT

Tom Brady (QB - TB) vs LAR

Brady went off this past week for 341 passing yards and 4 total TDs, but that was against the Carolina Panthers and their mediocre defense. Next up for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers are the Los Angeles Rams and their elite defense that just shut down Seattle Seahawks QB Russell Wilson. They’re a fearsome bunch, allowing only 14.2 FPPG to the QB position, so I expect this to be a down week for Brady and his myriad of weapons. I would recommend pivoting away from Brady in this matchup.

Other QBs to sit:

Joe Burrow - CIN (@ WAS)

Jared Goff - LAR (@ TB)

Jonathan Taylor/Nyheim Hines/Jordan Wilkins (RB - IND) vs GB

On paper, this looks like an incredible matchup for the Indianapolis Colts’ running game. The Green Bay Packers are giving up a whopping 25.6 FPPG to RBs and the Colts are a run first team. It sounds like a match made in heaven, until you remember that there isn’t a lead back in Indianapolis and those 25.6 points will most likely be spread amongst Jonathan Taylor, Nyheim Hines and Jordan Wilkins, making none of them solid starts this week for fantasy. Hines should be the guy this week, but you can’t start any Indy RB with even an ounce of confidence, so I would avoid this backfield completely.

Other RBs to sit:

Duke Johnson Jr. - HOU (vs NE)

Ronald Jones II/Leonard Fournette - TB (vs LAR)

Melvin Gordon III/Phillip Lindsay - DEN (vs MIA)

Travis Fulgham (WR - PHI) @ CLE

Fulgham burst onto the scene in Week 4 as a high-end WR3 and didn’t show any signs of slowing down until last week against the New York Giants. In that game, Fulgham only had a 13.5% target share and one catch for eight yards. It’s not a good look for the Eagles’ number one WR, especially when you consider the fact that this poor performance came right as Alshon Jeffery returned to the lineup. This offense looks really bad right now with Carson Wentz at QB and I don’t think even a solid matchup against the Cleveland Browns defense giving up 27.6 FPPG to the WR position is enough to turn things around for Fulgham. I would sit him, if possible.

Other WRs to sit:

DeVante Parker - MIA (@ DEN)

Jarvis Landry - CLE (vs PHI)

Antonio Brown - TB (vs LAR)

Noah Fant (TE - DEN) vs MIA

Noah Fant has a bright future ahead of him, but I don’t think the breakout is going to happen this year if it hasn’t happened already. Drew Lock doesn’t seem to be the answer at QB for the Denver Broncos and that’s bad news for all of the team’s pass catchers. Fant has a difficult matchup this week against a Miami Dolphins defense giving up a measly 6.3 FPPG to TEs, so if you could pivot to a TE in a better matchup, that would be ideal.

Other TEs to sit:

Robert Tonyan - GB (@ IND)

Trey Burton - IND (vs GB)

GRAB

Salvon Ahmed (RB - MIA) @ DEN

The Miami Dolphins are a RB machine for fantasy. They take RBs you’ve never heard of and turn them into usable fantasy players. It’s mind boggling, but rookie Salvon Ahmed has become the lead back for the Dolphins in Myles Gaskin’s absence and has been very impressive in that role. Ahmed only had 7 touches for 38 yards against the Arizona Cardinals, but it was his performance this past week against the Los Angeles Chargers that turned heads. A line of 22/90/1 is enough to make Ahmed the priority target this week on waivers, even if he may only have one more start against a solid Denver Broncos run defense before Gaskin returns from his knee injury.

Other players to grab from waivers:

Quarterbacks (QB)

Jameis Winston - NO

Kirk Cousins - MIN

Alex Smith - WAS

Running Backs (RB)

Kalen Ballage - LAC

Nyheim Hines - IND

Wide Receivers (WR)

Michael Pittman Jr. - IND

Jalen Raegor - PHI

Tight Ends (TE)

Logan Thomas - WAS

Austin Hooper - CLE

Defense/Special Teams (DST)

Los Angeles Rams

Miami Dolphins

Los Angeles Chargers

DROP

Carson Wentz (QB - PHI)

If you haven’t already, it’s time to cut bait on Carson Wentz. Plain and simply, he just hasn’t looked good at all this season. 2297 total yards, 17 total TDs and 16 turnovers through nine games just isn’t good enough for fantasy. Even with the majority of his weapons back last week in a smash matchup against the New York Giants, the Philadelphia Eagles’ QB fell flat with 212 total yards and no TDs. Wentz even struggled before the bye week against the Dallas Cowboys, a historically awful defense, where he didn’t even hit 150 passing yards. Wentz isn’t worth holding onto anymore and you’re better off streaming QBs ROS.

Other players to drop:

Mark Ingram II (RB - BAL)

James White (RB - NE)

Adrian Peterson (RB - DET)