5 biggest Week 11 fantasy football sleepers: Aaron Rodgers, Mike Williams and more
Welcome to Week 11 of the NFL season. How are your fantasy teams?
Ahh, that's too bad.
Well, the fantasy playoffs aren't quite here yet, so there's still a little time left to turn things around, so let's do that — let's get your roster moving in the right direction.
Identifying top sleeper plays can be a great strategy, especially as bye weeks and injuries decimate your roster. Sometimes you need a guy you can plug in just to see what happens.
To count as a sleeper, quarterbacks and tight ends need to be ranked outside the top 15 at their position on FantasyPros’ weekly rankings, while running backs are ranked outside the top 20 and wide receivers are ranked outside the top 25.
Aaron Rodgers - QB - New York Jets
Week 11 ranking: QB20
Aaron Rodgers has been frustrating this season. His best weekly finish was QB10, which he's hit twice, and he has just one other game as a top 12 quarterback.
It's very clear that post-Achilles tear Rodgers is not the same player he used to be. At all. Not even close.
But he's also faced a pretty tough schedule. Things get easier from here, with FantasyPros listing the Jets as having the seventh-easiest quarterback strength of schedule going forward.
This week, Rodgers faces the Colts, who allow the ninth-most fantasy points per game to the quarterback position. and the sixth-most passing yards per game.
That doesn't mean Rodgers is guaranteed to have a strong game, but his ranking as the QB20 this week just feels a bit too low. He's a top 15 play for me in Week 11.
Audric Estime - RB - Denver Broncos
Week 11 ranking: RB28
Rookie running back Audric Estime continues to improve. Last week against the Chiefs, he played 45% of the team's snaps, a huge jump from his previous best mark of 10%. He had 14 carries for 53 yards in the loss.
The big thing here is that Week 10 signaled a major change in Denver. Javonte Williams, previously the starter, played a season-low 29% of snaps and had just one carry and two targets. Entering the week, he'd had double-digit carries in three straight games and had under 10 opportunities (carries + targets) just once.
This week's matchup against the Falcons isn't a great one, but Estime looks to be a player on the rise right now and should be in your fantasy lineups.
Marquez Valdes-Scantling - WR - New Orleans Saints
Week 11 ranking: WR51
When the 2024 season began, Marquez Valdes-Scantling was in Buffalo, where many thought he would play a key role in a rebuilt Bills receiving unit. Instead, MVS had just two catches in six games with the team and was released after Buffalo traded for Amari Cooper.
He wasn't a free agent long though as he landed in New Orleans. After catching one pass in his Saints debut, Valdes-Scantling had a big Week 10, catching three passes for 109 yards and two touchdowns.
What changed between Buffalo and New Orleans? It might be as simple as the fact that the Saints don't have experienced, healthy wide receivers on the roster. With the Bills, Valdes-Scantling wasn't ever going to be the best guy on the field, but in New Orleans he almost always will be.
This week, the Saints take on the Browns. Cleveland allows the secon-most fantasy points per game to the wide receiver position. There's definitely bust potential based on his career track record, but MVS should serve as the team's No. 1 receiver this week.
Mike Williams - WR - Pittsburgh Steelers
Week 11 ranking: WR54
From a guy facing the team allowing the second-most points to receivers to a guy facing the team who allows the most, we've got Mike Williams of the Steelers going up against the Ravens.
Like MVS, Williams started the season somewhere else, disappointed, lost his role after a trade, and moved on.
Williams opened his Steelers tenure with a 32-yard touchdown against the Commanders, though it's worth mentioning that was his only target and he played just 12% of snaps.
The hope here is that with another week to get ready, Williams will be more involved in this Steelers offense this week. He's a big-bodied target in the red zone so he can have value against this defense on limited snaps if it comes down to it, but he could be in line for this best game of the year if he even plays 40% of the game.
Dalton Schultz - TE - Houston Texans
Week 11 ranking: TE21
Finally. It took until Week 10, but Dalton Schultz finally finished as a top 10 tight end for the week in the team's loss to Detroit, catching three passes for 66 yards.
After a slow start to the season, Schultz has seen his role grow with Nico Collins sidelined, finishing with 50 or more yards in two of the last three games after not hitting that mark at all over the first seven weeks of 2024.
This week, he has a juicy matchup against a Cowboys defense that's been struggling, ranking 31st in points allowed and 26th in yards allowed.
Of course, it's not quite that simple, or Schultz would be ranked higher than TE21. Collins will likely be back this week, which complicates the picture. But with Stefon Diggs done for the year, Schultz should still maintain a fairly solid workload even with Collins back in the fold.