After ten weeks of football, we still get players that come out of nowhere to become fantasy relevant. We also see players who previously let us down come back and redeem themselves. Fantasy football is a long game but has a lot of weekly aspects to it. Seeing trends in real time can help you get an advantage. With that in mind, here are some players that saw their values change from last week and what I’m doing with them in my leagues.
Week 11 Value Risers
New Colts head coach Jeff Saturday made a big decision going back to Ryan over Sam Ehlinger in Week 10. Ryan was previously “injured,” but it was pretty clear that he was benched for performance reasons as well. In Saturday’s first game as a head coach (ever), he went with Ryan, and Ryan paid off. He completed 21 of 28 passes for 222 yards and a touchdown. He also rushed for a touchdown on 4 carries for 38 yards to boot. Ryan finished as QB4 on the week. Not too bad for an aging vet!
If you roster Ryan, sell him now. Immediately. Stop reading this article and send an offer to get rid of him before anyone realizes that his box score was misleading. The Colts are bad, and Ryan is also bad. The numbers in Week 10 look great, but it’s hard to imagine predicting that to happen again. Even if Saturday continues his perfect career as a head coach, the writing is on the wall for Ryan. His value went up, but I think it’s a mirage. I’d love to send him away for a bench RB in 1QB leagues or package him with a WR for a better QB in SueprFlex leagues.
That’s right, Taylor is back, baby! This is the guy we all drafted at 1.01 back in August! Unlike Ryan, his teammate, Taylor, is legit, and I think this is a sign of things to come. I think Taylor’s RB1 finish in Week 10 was not a fluke and is more indicative of the Colts’ future. I doubt you can really buy Taylor low any longer, but I’d be fine spending up if you need the RB help. Maybe you can send a package like Gibson and Cooper for Taylor in the right league. It might work if the other manager needs WR depth and has other RBs he can play over Gibson. Either way, see what the price for Taylor is, just in case the other manager is still out on him.
Another week where Ezekiel Elliott doesn’t play and Pollard is a top-10 RB. Who would have thunk it? Honestly, at this point, everyone knows that Pollard is the better back, and he just continues to prove it on the field. He got 22 carries for 115 yards and a touchdown in Week 10, along with 3 catches on 6 targets for 13 more yards through the air. I doubt you could trade for Pollard without sending the farm, but much like Taylor, I’m asking for a price. You never know if the other manager is low on someone you’re high on, right?
Welcome to fantasy relevance, rookie! Watson is officially on the map now that he broke out in Week 10. His WR3 finish surprised pretty much everyone, but it was buoyed by his 3 touchdowns on 4 catches for 107 yards. This is clearly a fluke week, no matter how you view it. I’m not adding him on waivers or trading anything of value for him. On the other hand, I’m selling as high as I possibly can to anyone who will take him. This is the prime case of a waiver claim that can turn into a starter due to one outlier week. I doubt I’ll ever feel confident starting him, so I might as well send him away for someone with a higher floor and feel better clicking submit on Sunday morning.
Week 11 Value Fallers
Before Week 10, I was adding Mills everywhere I could. I honestly thought that he was the real deal as a QB2 in most formats. In dynasty, he might be the QB for the Texans next year, or at least that’s what I was thinking. Now? Not so much. He finished as QB21 in Week 10 with a meager 14.76 points. Granted, the Texans are a trainwreck right now, but a fair amount of that is on Mills, in my opinion. Mills hasn’t scored more than 18.08 fantasy points in a week all season. He’s basically toasted for fantasy, but given his recent tanking, you can’t sell him right now. If you roster him, just hold on and try your best to enjoy the ride.
Dillon’s 6.5 PPR points in Week 10 align with his 7.7 points per game average. It’s also pretty blah in terms of running back scoring. He’s currently RB48 on the season in PPG and was RB36 in Week 10. I’m moving on. Maybe someone in your league is higher on Dillon than you are and will give you something for him. I’d probably try to package him with a bench WR to move up to a flex-worthy RB. I’m not confident about starting Dillon at all going forward, given his recent output. Time to move on.
Cooks finished Week 10 as WR50 in PPR scoring. That’s right where he’s at for the season as well, WR50. Technically he’s better in PPR points per game…at WR49. Clearly not starter worthy. You’re benching him in almost every situation, even with byes and injuries frustrating you. He’s only scored one touchdown on the season, and I just don’t see that changing (see Mills’ section above). No one will trade for him either, so Cooks gets to rot on your roster. In dynasty, I’d be happy with a late-round rookie pick, but in redraft, he’s almost droppable in all formats.
What the heck happened to Fant? Wasn’t he good at one point? Apparently, he’s not that good in Seattle. He finished as TE19 in Week 10, catching three of four targets for 34 yards. Yawn. If you’re starting Fant, either your league requires starting two tight ends, or something has gone horribly wrong with your roster. Drop Fant in redraft leagues. There are so many better streamable options week to week that won’t crater your team like Fant’s done multiple times this year.
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Andrew Hall is a featured writer for FantasyPros. For more from Andrew, follow him @AndrewHallFF.
