Fantasy football buy low, sell high Week 11: 10 players to trade this week
Week 10 of the NFL season had some of the highest highs and lowest lows we've seen in quite some time. Whether it was CJ Stroud proving his Week 9 performance wasn't a fluke, CeeDee Lamb and Keenan Allen carrying everyone to a win, Josh Dobbs going bonkers in Vikings purple for the second week in a row, or everyone putting their faith in Jahan Dotson just to see him drop a goose egg, Week 10 was an emotional rollercoaster.
With those emotions riding high, people aren't going to think rationally. Maybe someone in your league just dropped to 4-6 and they've started to give up on the season. Maybe someone who just vaulted to 7-3 and has an abundance of running backs will be more inclined to give you one on their bench for a low price.
The default trade deadline for Yahoo leagues is November 18, meaning now might be your last chance to add some league-winning players to your squad.
Here's who to add and who to ditch on your gullible adversaries.
Bargain shopping: Fantasy football waiver wire Week 11 adds: 5 players you need to consider picking up now
Buy low on these fantasy football players in Week 11:
Arizona Cardinals WR Marquise Brown
In Kyler Murray's first game back this season, many people were expecting his top receiver, Hollywood Brown, to break out for his first 20-point game of the season. He didn't.
In fact, despite Murray's presence under center, Brown had his worst day of the season, recording season-lows in receptions (1), targets (4), and PPR fantasy points (3.8). Better days are almost certainly ahead for Brown.
Remember , in six games without DeAndre Hopkins in the fold, Marquise Brown was a fantasy football monster, never failing to score fewer than 10 PPR fantasy points.
Yes, Brown was not even top-three on his own team in targets this weekend, but Rondale Moore and Michael Wilson have not proven themselves worthy of earning the passing volume they had this Sunday. I'd be willing to bet that the connection between Brown and Murray will return sooner rather than later. Scoop him up if you can while disgruntled Brown owners who were waiting on Murray's return for a breakout are disappointed.
2.7 PPR points is unforgivable, right? Especially on just four targets. Even worse, Green Bay's top cornerback Jaire Alexander didn't even play. Johnson's Week 9 performance was clearly a fluke.
I'd argue against being so hasty. Sure, Johnson was not good by any means, but even in a game where he couldn't get anything going, he still earned as many targets as his top competitor in the passing attack, George Pickens. Pittsburgh's game plan was to lean heavily into the run and rely on quick swing passes and short throws to dice up the Packers defense and control the clock.
Jaylen Warren and Najee Harris combined for 183 yards on the ground, their highest total of the season. Quarterback Kenny Pickett, meanwhile, only threw the ball 23 times, which was tied for the second-fewest attempts this season, behind only Week 8 against Jacksonville when Pickett got hurt halfway through the game. There is a chance that Pittsburgh could start leaning more heavily on the run for the remainder of the season, thus lowering Johnson's value, but I doubt it will be as heavy as we saw on Sunday.
The Steelers have just two games left against teams under .500. They will likely be playing from behind in a handful of those games. They will have to pass more. For the immediate future, a matchup against Cleveland in Week 11 isn't great, but Cleveland has given up five passing touchdowns over their last four games and is just two weeks removed from surrendering back-to-back 200-plus yard, two touchdown days from the Colts and Seahawks WR rooms.
Johnson is still the preferred target for quarterback Kenny Pickett. The potential return of tight end Pat Freiermuth from IR could put a hamper on his volume, but prior to his injury, Friermuth was given a surprisingly small role on the Steelers offense, earning just 13 targets in four games and failing to reach even ten receiving yards in three of those games.
Washington Commanders WR Jahan Dotson
Terry McLaurin is a great football player, but an inconsistent fantasy football player. Jahan Dotson was white hot entering Week 10 and then put up an astounding 0.0 points. That Washington wide receiver room is just really difficult to deal with.
That said, Dotson is worth taking another look at. Prior to Week 10, Dotson had put up three straight weeks with at least eight or more targets. As the season has gone on, Dotson has slowly become more involved in Washington's offense, the same offense that leads the NFL in pass attempts (397). Quarterback Sam Howell loves to spread the ball around, and with so many options at Howell's disposal, it's no wonder why guys like McLaurin, Dotson, and Logan Thomas have been inconsistent fantasy options.
Dotson has the highest ceiling of the three though. How do I know? Because we saw that ceiling no more than two weeks ago. Dotson's early season struggles may scare some people away from him. That's understandable, but the former first-round pick has shown fantasy championship potential and anyone with that potential is worth the low, low price that Dotson is going for.
Not to mention, the last time Dotson scored zero points this season, he went off for 9.3, 24.8, and 16.9 in his next three games. With how much Washington passes the ball, it'd be a foolish move not to consider someone with Dotson's potential as a WR3/4 option.
Chicago Bears WR DJ Moore
It may not seem like it, but Justin Fields will return to the Bears at some point. I know it seems like forever ago at this point, but when Justin Fields and DJ Moore were on the field together, Moore was one of the best, most consistent players in all of fantasy football. The duo were brought down at the height of their reign, fresh off an eight reception, 230 yard, three touchdown showing against Washington on "Thursday Night Football." Since then, Moore has been forced to rely on Tyson Bagent, but the pair's chemistry has been less than optimal.
Moore has now had five straight weeks with fewer than 15 fantasy points. From weeks 2-5, Moore had only one such week. Fields was questionable to return to the Bears in Week 10, but due to the Bears being scheduled for Thursday Night Football once again, he was forced to stay out. Moore produced another lackluster day on the stat sheet.
The memories of the Fields-Moore connection are almost a month and a half removed from our memories at this point. Many Moore owners who were counting on him to be their team's WR1 have become disenfranchised with his output. Now is the time to strike, probably the last time you'll have the opportunity to do so.
The Carolina Panthers are an absolute dumpster fire, but even dumpster fires can have some beauty in their aesthetic. In this case, it's Adam Thielen. From Weeks 2-8, Thielen was the WR2 in all of fantasy behind only Tyreek Hill. Now, he's suffered two straight weeks of 7.9 and 10.2 PPR fantasy points.
Don't worry about those though.
Volume is king in fantasy, and Thielen gets a whole lot of it. Thielen was up against one of the best cornerbacks in football on Sunday in Jaylon Johnson. Young kept throwing Thielen the ball though. Thielen earned ten targets. While it didn't lead to much success in the box score, it showed that Young trusts his veteran wideout more than anyone else on that team. Even when faced with incredible competition, Young made an effort to find Thielen.
The Panthers are bad and will continue to play from behind in a lot of games this season, meaning more pass attempts from Young and more potential receptions for Thielen. In the fantasy playoffs (Weeks 15-17), Carolina plays the Falcons, Packers, and Jaguars. None of those teams are great against opposing wide receivers. The Packers were good the last two weeks against Pittsburgh and Los Angeles, sure, but as stated earlier, that Pittsburgh game was an outlier because of the Steelers' game plan. The Rams game can't be counted either because they were rolling with Brett Rypien at quarterback.
Prior to those two games, the Packers had allowed 25, 20, 19, and 22 non-PPR fantasy points to opposing wideouts in four straight games. The Jags and Falcons have just been bad against fantasy wide receivers all year.
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Sell high on these fantasy football players in Week 11:
Seattle Seahawks RB Kenneth Walker III
Kenneth Walker scored 19.7 PPR fantasy points this week. 13.4 of those points came on one play. I'm not one to discredit players for singular big plays that save fantasy days, but without that 64-yard receiving touchdown, Walker would've scored 6.3 fantasy points, his third-straight contest with fewer than ten.
Second-round rookie Zach Charbonnet keeps eating into Walker's workload. The former UCLA Bruin has outsnapped Walker in three straight games and is seeing more work as a receiver than Walker. Charbonnet has also been the more efficient runner over the past three weeks, averaging seven yards per carry to Walker's four. Obviously, much of that has to do with Walker's workload being much greater. That may not last long if the pair's snap counts keep trending in the direction we've seen the last few weeks.
Take advantage of Walker's great point total from Week 10. If you can swap him for a more consistent RB2 like Jaylen Warren and a low-end WR2/high-end WR3 like Terry McLaurin, do it.
Las Vegas Raiders WR Davante Adams
Davante Adams is the WR14 in PPR fantasy leagues this year. He has two games with more than 20 fantasy points. Most of his production this season has come from one game - Week 3 v. Pittsburgh, where he scored 42.2 PPR points. Between Weeks 6 and 10, Adams has 41.7 PPR fantasy points. It's been so rough that the moment Adams earned 14.6 points this past week, I was ready to sell him to anyone who would take him.
Yes, Adams earned 13 targets, but the truth of the matter is that Adams' target quality is not where you want it to be for your WR1. His target quality rating (4.62) is 64th in the NFL, and while Adams does have potential for touchdowns, considering he leads the NFL in red zone targets (16), he still has only reached pay dirt on three occasions. He hasn't scored since Week 3.
Adams will have another big game at some point during the season. I'm sure that will happen, but nobody knows when it will be. With just four weeks left until the fantasy playoffs though, Adams will draw a matchup against Jalen Ramsey in Week 11, then a matchup against the always tough Kansas City Chiefs defense in Week 12. He is on bye in Week 13, and then he gets the Minnesota Vikings in Week 14. That's his only favorable matchup before the playoffs. That's not enough.
Oh, and to make matters worse, even if you've got a great record and are thinking of just holding onto Adams for the playoffs, the Raiders play the Chiefs again in Week 16. He has more unfavorable matchups left than favorable ones at this point, yet on name value alone, he can probably fetch you a pretty penny. Deal him before the deadline passes.
Chicago Bears RB D'Onta Foreman
Much like Justin Fields, there was a chance that the Bears would welcome back running back Khalil Herbert off IR ahead of their matchup against the Carolina Panthers on Thursday. They didn't. As soon as news dropped of Herbert's absence, Foreman became a viable starting option. With Herbert in the fold though, Foreman is nothing more than a committee back who doesn't catch passes.
If Herbert reaggravates his injury, Foreman is worth keeping around, but the Bears' insistence on keeping Herbert off the field for Week 10 tells me that they're playing it very cautious with Herbert. They want him to be fully healthy before he sees the field again, meaning re-aggravation is far less likely.
This is not an endorsement for Herbert by any means. Foreman has played well enough to earn a role in this offense, but he likely won't get the volume he's been getting the past few weeks. Furthermore, with Fields' return imminent as well, that only means fewer rushing attempts for all of Chicago's halfbacks.
Cooks used to be a model of consistency among NFL wide receivers. Now, we see him get 50 yards in a game and think it's a good day. His name value has likely kept him from hitting the waiver wire all year. People are just praying and hoping that his talent re-emerges as the WR2 on the Dallas Cowboys. Well, Cooks has now scored double-digit fantasy points in three of his last four games. Suddenly, people might actually start looking his way, and that's good news if you're looking to sell.
Despite Cooks scoring more than 10 PPR points in three of four, he relied on finding the endzone in two of those games to reach that figure. He also only earned four targets in each of those games as well. Week 10 was Cooks' first time earning more than four targets since Week 3, and it came in a game that got out of hand early. Unfortunately for Cooks owners, the Cowboys won't be playing teams as abysmal as the Giants every week for the rest of the season. Cooks will not get 10 targets every week because the Cowboys will need guys like Michael Gallup, Jake Ferguson, and CeeDee Lamb to be more involved in the final stretch of most games.
Week 10 was just a perfect situational storm for Cooks, who feasted on the Giants to the tune of 32.3 PPR fantasy points. He won't be doing that again this year.
This one hurts to say, but if you can get a good price on Olave, it might be time to let him go. Derek Carr was supposed to be an upgrade for the second-year wide receiver. Yet, through ten weeks, Carr's presence under center has only hindered Olave's production.
In Week 10, Olave finished with 21.4 fantasy points. It was his first time reached 20 PPR points all season. All of those points came in the second half. Only one of Olave's six receptions came with Carr as his quarterback. After Carr got hurt, Olave reignited his connection with Jameis Winston from a year ago, and we saw flashes of the player we knew Olave could be.
There is hope that the injury to Michael Thomas paves the path for Olave to earn more targets than he's had the opportunity for all year. That's true, but even with Thomas out, Olave's connection with Carr just doesn't produce the low-end WR1 numbers we were hoping for from him.
Carr's injury does not appear to be serious. Even if that meant there was a chance Carr could miss one week, the Saints are on bye in Week 11. If you believe the absence of Michael Thomas will burst Olave into superstardom like we all expected, I don't blame you for wanting to hold on. That said, Olave's value has never been higher and there's a lot of reason to want to ditch him.
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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Fantasy football Week 11: 5 trade targets to buy low, 5 to sell high
