Welcome to Week 11! We have New Orleans, New England, Indianapolis, and Atlanta on bye this week. There is some relief in that since we don’t have to worry about what Arthur Smith is going to do with Bijan Robinson this week (I say while shaking my head and laughing.) The other three teams on bye are nothing special as far as fantasy points are concerned, outside of Indy’s run game, so we won’t really be missing much per se.
There are some great game environments to target this week, so I am excited about that, and I expect anyone who loves fantasy football to feel the same. The five teams on the main slate that stand out are Miami, Detroit, San Francisco, Houston, and Dallas. Within these games and others, we will need to find value at the wide receiver position to have that edge that wins us contests and matchups every week. I have a few that I think have the potential to be of great value this week.
Best Value Wide Receivers Week 11
Michael Wilson, Arizona Cardinals
I wrote Wilson up last week also, and while he did not give us the performance we would have liked to see, he saw six targets, and I think we are good going back to him this week. Jonathan Gannon has increased Wilson’s involvement over the past four weeks, and he has earned 15 first-read targets, putting him just four behind WR1 Marquise Brown.
Wilson lines up and runs routes from all over the field, so he can be dangerous to opposing defenses. He runs routes 37.9% from wide-right, 34.2% from wide-left, and 27.9% from the slot. This allows Wilson to attack the field from multiple angles and possibly be a diamond in the rough this week for DFS and fantasy managers.
Noah Brown, Houston Texans
On the other side of the ball, we have Noah Brown. Brown was held out of practice Wednesday and Thursday with a knee injury, but they say it doesn’t seem to be serious, so I think we’ll see him play this weekend against the Cardinals. Nico Collins may also be back from his two-week absence, but we are not certain of that either. I think if Collins is active, Brown’s ownership may come in lower than Collins and Tank Dell.
In the last two weeks, Brown has gone for 153 and 172 receiving yards. Facing the Arizona defense is a dream matchup, and I expect all of Houston’s pass catchers to do well. The Cardinals have the worst perimeter-WR coverage unit, ranking dead last in both catch rate allowed at 74.2% and yards allowed per coverage snap at 6.01. Of the Texans’ WRs, Brown is the most appealing to me and comes in as a great value with lower ownership.
Darnell Mooney, Chicago Bears
Mooney may not seem like someone that you would target, but playing the Lions with Justin Fields back gives him a boost. With Fields under center against single-high, Mooney’s target share increases to 11.8%. This works perfectly against the Lions, who have the twelfth-highest rate of single-high. Since Week 5, the Lions have also allowed the third-most PPR points per target and the second-most receiving touchdowns against slot receivers. Mooney will be up against Brian Branch, who has allowed the most receiving touchdowns and the sixth-highest passer rating.
Darnell Mooney sets up as a good WR3 or FLEX this week, but he has the potential to be a great value with Fields back. He is more of a dart than a lock, but he may be one of this week’s surprising big winners. D.J. Moore is the more targeted receiver, but Mooney is good and won’t see the shadowing Moore does.
Curtis Samuel, Washington Commanders
Samuel was out in Week 9 and returned last week in a game where not much happened with any of Washington’s receivers. In Week 7 against the Giants, Samuel saw a season-high eight targets. He only has two touchdowns on the season, but he has great upside against a Giants defense that allows an average of 17 points to opposing slot receivers. He is dirt cheap in DFS and should absolutely be in play for fantasy managers.
