10 RB sleepers to target for fantasy football Week 11
By Alex Wolfe
Giovani Bernard
RB, Bengals
Bernard is an imperfect option for weekly starting, but if you’re in a pinch this bye week, he might be your guy. With low ownership percentages in both ESPN and Yahoo! leagues, he’s almost definitely attainable for most fantasy players. And with a matchup against a Denver defense that has been torched by pass-catching backs lately (well, kind of just torched in general, but mostly by running backs), this could be the week to own the mercurial back.
Bernard’s role appeared to be tailing off as few as two weeks ago (two touches for -6 yards in Week 9), but he rebounded last weekend, tallying 10 yards on two carries and five catches on five targets for 38 yards against the Titans.
On the other side, we have the Broncos, who have been abundantly kind to opposing running backs lately. In Week 9, they surrendered 190 yards rushing and three touchdowns on the ground to the Eagles, as well as giving up a 15-yard passing TD to the aforementioned Corey Clement. Then last week, during primetime against the Patriots running backs*, they gave up 99 yards and a touchdown on the ground to go with 38 yards receiving and two scores.
So, even though Joe Mixon has a stranglehold on the Bengals running game, it stands to reason that more than one mouth could definitely be fed this weekend. If I was a betting man, I’d bet on Gio Bernard to score a surprise receiving touchdown and total around 45 yards from scrimmage.
*As an aside, I’ve been pushing Dion Lewis almost every week here for the last month-plus, and I felt very vindicated to see his ownership finally rise into the 60+ percent range after his two-touchdown effort last Sunday.