Sneaky Week 11 Fantasy Football Starts: Derek Carr, Dede Westbrook, More

Players flying under the radar this week who might be able to help you win your fantasy game.

Darren Yamashita-USA TODAY Sports

The difference between good and great fantasy managers is the ability to overcome obstacles. Whether it’s bye weeks (the Giants, Packers, Seahawks and Titans are off this week), injuries or simply bad matchups, sometimes it’s just not as simple as playing the most talented players each week. Sometimes you need to dig a little deeper to uncover a few gems that others may overlook. That’s exactly what we’re doing here as we take a look at some sneaky starts for Week 11.

QUARTERBACKS

Derek Carr, Oakland Raiders

Don’t look now, but the Raiders have snuck up into the top half of the league in passing offense and have a chance to climb even higher this Sunday. The Bengals are a terrible team overall, but they’re particularly putrid against fantasy quarterbacks. The last time they didn’t allow at least 21 fantasy points to a QB was back in Week 4, in Mason Rudolph’s second start. Cincinnati has given up an average of more than 23 fantasy points per game to QBs this year, and no passer has accumulated fewer than 16.6 fantasy points. Carr is averaging nearly 18 fantasy points per game since Oakland’s bye with an 8:1 TD:INT ratio in those four games. Carr is a borderline QB1 this week with a great chance to reach the 20-point mark.

Jimmy Garoppolo, San Francisco 49ers

I’m going back to the Jimmy G well for the second week in a row. Hopefully it pays off more fruitfully this week. Given the fact he has a home matchup with the Cardinals, it should. There’s a strong chance that this is the final week fantasy managers in single-QB leagues will consider starting Garoppolo, given his low volume of passing and his 12 turnovers in nine games so far this season. But his best game of the season game on Thursday Night Football against the Cardinals two weeks ago. He threw for 317 yards and 4 TDs against what was and still is the worst defense in the NFL against fantasy QBs. The 49ers will be at home this time and angry after their prime time overtime loss to the Seahawks on Monday. With or without Emmanuel Sanders, anything less than a 20-point fantasy performance from Garoppolo would be a massive failure.

RUNNING BACKS

Kareem Hunt, Cleveland Browns

An all-time great DFS value for those in the know heading into Week 10, Hunt rewarded fantasy managers with a solid seven-catch, 74-total-yard performance in his season debut. He has a quick turnaround for an encore on Thursday Night Football against the Steelers. Pittsburgh has been pretty stout against fantasy RBs, which actually should help Hunt. If Nick Chubb can’t get going on the ground it will be tough for Cleveland to establish a lead and remain balanced on offense. Hunt should see a lot of work in the passing game if that’s the case, and the Steelers haven’t been anything special when it comes to defending pass-catching RBs. Hunt is a borderline RB2 this week in both half- and full-PPR formats.

Brian Hill, Atlanta Falcons

Hill was either the No. 1 or No. 2 waiver wire pickup depending on your league. If you claimed him, don’t be afraid to throw him into your lineup right away. You can absolutely run on the Panthers, who rank as the third-worst defense against fantasy RBs this season. They’ve allowed a whopping 39.2 fantasy points PER GAME to the position in the three games since their bye week and nearly 27 fantasy points per game overall this season. There’s really no one else in the Atlanta backfield to steal touches from him with Devonta Freeman out, as evidenced by Hill’s 20 carries in relief of Freeman against the Saints. He is a legitimate top 20 RB this week with a chance to be a matchup-winner.

J.D. McKissic, Detroit Lions

Much like the Falcons, the Lions are simply running out of players to give the ball to in their backfield. Ty Johnson left Week 10’s game with a concussion, an injury no one can ever predict an accurate return date for, and the Lions were already without starter Kerryon Johnson and Tra Carson. It also wouldn’t be a surprise if Matthew Stafford misses this game as well. All of those factors could set McKissic up to be a solid flex play this week. I expect the Lions to be playing from behind against the Cowboys, a team that has struggled to defend pass-catching backs so far this season. McKissic should receive enough check-down passes from Jeff Driskel to cross the double-digit fantasy point threshold.

Adrian Peterson, Washington Redskins

While I continue to advocate picking up Derrius Guice, expecting an immediate full workload from the oft-injured back would be foolish. Peterson has been extremely effective since head coach Bill Callahan took over for Jay Gruden in Washington. He has 233 total yards over the last two weeks and has a decent matchup against the Jets on tap. The matchup with New York—quietly one of the best rushing defenses in the NFL—isn’t ideal, but they allow enough yards overall to allow a high probability of a rushing touchdown in the red zone (they’ve allowed eight rushing scores in nine games this season). That’s what you’re shooting for with Peterson, who should be in flex consideration this week.

WIDE RECEIVERS

Dede Westbrook, Jacksonville Jaguars

A popular preseason sleeper in the wake of reports of his training camp chemistry with Nick Foles, Westbrook will get the opportunity to take the field with Foles for the first time since the first quarter of Week 1. Westbrook was heating up anyway with Gardner Minshew before getting injured, including a 6/103/0 performance in his last full game. The Colts secondary has been better the last three weeks against fantasy WRs, but they went up against Denver, Pittsburgh and Miami. Jacksonville has more weapons than two of those three and there should be enough offense to go around for both D.J. Chark and Westbrook, especially since the Colts have struggled to cover slot receivers this season.

Deebo Samuel, San Francisco 49ers

Samuel took full advantage of Emmanuel Sanders’s injury against the Seahawks by snatching eight of his 11 targets for 112 yards on Monday Night Football. It might have been his break-out game, but he was trending in the right direction anyway. He had five touches, including a rushing touchdown, in Week 8 against the Panthers and he was targeted seven times in Week 9 against the Cardinals, catching four of them for 40 yards. Arizona allowed 49ers receivers to catch 13 passes for 180 yards and three touchdowns in their previous matchup. That was in Arizona. If you expect more of the same in San Francisco, the production has to go somewhere with Sanders and George Kittle being likely game-time decisions.

Auden Tate, Cincinnati Bengals

Tate has been a target monster this season and has a great matchup against the Raiders coming up. Tate hasn’t had fewer than six targets since Week 2, and that includes his first game with new starting QB Ryan Finley. After having a brutal matchup against the Ravens last week, Tate and the Bengals draw an Oakland team ranked as one of the five worst defenses against fantasy WRs this season. If Tate continues to get his usual 6-10 targets against this secondary, he’ll be a solid WR3.

Cole Beasley, Buffalo Bills

Beasley is as solid as they come and has a great matchup this week. The Dolphins have struggled to contain slot receivers so far this season and I expect Josh Allen to take full advantage on Sunday. Beasley has been averaging between 6-7 targets per game this season, spiking up to double digits on two occasions. He has touchdowns in three of his past four games and has a chance to find paydirt again against a Miami defense that’s allowed seven receiving TDs in five games since the bye. His upside is capped, but he’s one of the highest floor players available in 70% of leagues.

TIGHT ENDS

Jack Doyle, Indianapolis Colts

Doyle has shown some chemistry with Brian Hoyer over these past two games. The Colts TE has back-to-back games with four targets, three catches and a touchdown. But he was starting to become more involved in the offense with Jacoby Brissett before the QB got hurt. Doyle had seven combined catches on 10 combined targets in Indianapolis’ first two games coming out of the bye. He’s averaging 8.3 fantasy points per game over the last four weeks, which isn’t blowing anyone away but is more than competent if you’re streaming the position. The Jaguars have allowed a TE touchdown in their last two games and five over their last six games. Doyle is a borderline TE1 this week.

Tyler Eifert, Cincinnati Bengals

It’s not just wide receivers taking advantage of the poor Raiders secondary, tight ends have had plenty of success as well. Oakland has allowed four touchdowns to TEs in four games since returning from the bye. Eifert should take advantage of a much easier matchup after finding the end zone against Baltimore. He should be a security blanket for rookie Ryan Finley this week and down the stretch and has as good of a chance as any TE outside of the top 12 at catching a touchdown.

More Advice from SI Fantasy:

—Week 11 PPR rankings from Shawn Childs of FullTime Fantasy: QB, RB, WR, TE

—Dr. Roto’s Start ‘Em, Sit ‘Em for your tougher lineup decisions

—Frank Taddeo’s streaming options if you’re dealing with injuries or bye weeks

—Tuesday’s Bull Market Fantasy show with Jim Cramer

—Jaime Eisner’s waiver wire pickups: Brian Hill, Darius Slayton and suggestions for deeper leagues

—Frankie Taddeo’s droppables, with some big-name players you shouldn’t feel bad about cutting

—Jaime Eisner’s stock watch can help you win a trade

—Bill Enright’s injury report has the impact on everyone who got hurt in Week 10