Fantasy Football Week 11: Start Commanders Vs. Texans Run Defense

The fantasy football world was dealt arguably its biggest hit of the season with the injury and extensive absence of Los Angeles Rams wideout Cooper Kupp.

It goes without saying that no individual receiver will be able to make up for Kupp’s absence, which means fantasy football managers will look to their depth in hopes of piecing together the points Kupp, the fourth-highest scoring wideout this season, traditionally brings. (We’ve included a few receivers to target with Kupp being placed on injured reserve, too.)

With that, here are a handful of players who should be included as starts and sits entering Week 11 of the fantasy football season.

Starts
Jakobi Meyers, WR, New England Patriots
Meyers has made the most of the 2022 campaign as an impending free agent. The Patriots’ fourth-year wideout continues to be a trusted weapon for quarterback Mac Jones, as evidenced by nearly doubling the next-closest New England receiver in targets (52-28). Meyers is averaging a very respectable 14.66 points in full-point leagues, per Sportradar, with a team-high three receiving touchdowns in seven games. But the real reason we’re rolling with Meyers this week is because of his performance against the New York Jets just three weeks ago. Meyers was WR10 in Week 8, as he finished with 21 points on 13 targets, which were second in the league. The Jets’ defense is stingy — it ranks in the top 10 in both points and yards allowed per game — but given Meyers’ likely target share and recent output, managers should have confidence. Meyers is Yahoo’s WR19 entering Week 11.

Cole Kmet, TE, Chicago Bears
Kmet’s connection with quarterback Justin Fields has jumped off the page in recent weeks, prompting Kmet to now be owned in 82% of Yahoo leagues. Kmet was the highest-scoring tight end in Week 10 and is TE3 in average scoring since Week 7 (14.93 points per game), per Sportradar, behind only Travis Kelce and Dallas Goedert. The Bears pass-catcher has two touchdowns in each of his last two games and ranks in the top 10 in targets. Kmet will have a manageable matchup with the Atlanta Falcons ranking in the middle of the pack in points allowed to tight ends, but it really comes down to his recent outputs in what’s usually a very up-and-down fantasy position. Kmet is Yahoo’s TE6 entering the slate.

Washington Commanders running backs
We’d probably recommend starting Antonio Gibson over Brian Robinson if, for some reason, you have both Washington running backs. But if not, we’d recommend getting both into the starting lineup, seeing as the Houston Texans can’t stop anyone on the ground. Houston allows the most fantasy points to running backs. Saquon Barkley rushed for 152 yards in Week 10, Miles Sanders averaged 5.5 yards per carry in Week 9 and Derrick Henry recorded another 200-yard game three weeks ago. The Commanders split snaps between Robinson (52%) and Gibson (48%) evenly against the Philadelphia Eagles in Week 10, and it led to Gibson finishing as RB14 and Robinson concluding as RB15. Gibson is Yahoo’s RB22 while Robinson is RB26 entering Week 11.

Sits
Chuba Hubbard, RB, Carolina Panthers
This has a lot more to do with the fact Hubbard is behind D’Onta Foreman. Foreman has taken over the lion’s share of reps while playing 68% of snaps compared to Hubbard’s 18% in Week 10 against the Falcons. Foreman is just running way too hard right now, with three games of 118 yards of more in his last four contests. It’s tough to go away from someone putting up those numbers. Hubbard, meanwhile, averaged 2.8 yards per attempt against the Falcons, who haven’t been good against the run this season. Now, Hubbard will go up against a much better Baltimore Ravens defense that is allowing the sixth-fewest points to running backs. All told, Hubbard is viewed as Yahoo’s RB43 entering Week 11.

Parris Campbell, WR, Indianapolis Colts
We recommend seeking out Campbell on the waiver wire, if he’s still available in your league. The return of Matt Ryan gives Campbell’s fantasy stock new life, as he’s received 11, 12 and nine targets with three touchdowns in the last three games with Ryan behind center. In Week 10, Campbell finished as WR10 against the Las Vegas Raiders. With all that said, however, we’re going to proceed with caution in Week 11 given the Colts are going against a much better Eagles pass defense, a group that has given up the eighth-fewest points to wideouts. Campbell is viewed as WR40 on Yahoo entering the slate.

Dallas Cowboys defense
The Cowboys’ defense has been one of the best in the league — and one of the best in fantasy football through the first 10 weeks. However, after seeing what the Green Bay Packers were able to do last week and now facing the high-powered Minnesota Vikings, it might be best to keep the ‘Boys on the bench this week. After all, Vikings wideout Justin Jefferson has averaged the second-most points per game (23.25) among receivers and T.J. Hockenson has averaged nearly 14 points in each of the last two weeks after being traded to Minnesota. Yahoo ranks Dallas as the eighth-best unit in Week 11.