Fantasy Football fool’s gold: 3 players you should believe in, 2 players you shouldn’t in Week 11

The fantasy football regular season is coming down to the wire as just four weeks separate most players from the postseason. The race to snag one of the precious playoff spots is on and making the right pickups in a given week can make all the difference.

Whose Week 10 performance was a true breakout and which was simply a case of fool's gold? Read on to find out with a look at the latest fantasy football fool's gold report to find out who to trust and who will simply be a bust going forward.

Fantasy football fool's gold: Week 11 report

Audric Estime, RB, Denver Broncos

Any time we get a new starting running back emerge at this juncture of the season it is automatically attention worthy. Denver Broncos' head coach Sean Payton made a decision to change things up, making rookie Audric Estime his new RB1 at the expense of underachieving pair Javonte Williams and Jaleel McLaughlin.

Both incumbents were active for Denver's heartbreaking loss to the Kansas City Chiefs but they took a clear back seat to Estime, who recorded 14 carries for 53 yards on the afternoon, compared to a combined three carries for 13 yards for the Williams/McLaughlin pair. While Estime wasn't really involved in the passing game, he did earn the praise of Payton, who described the rookie as "a handful" for other teams to deal with.

The Broncos showed clear trust in Estime, leaving him on the field down the stretch with the game in balance instead of turning back to one of their more experienced backs. Estime is the unquestioned starter in a run-first attack and worth splurging for on the waiver wire.

Verdict: Trust

Tyjae Spears, RB, Tennessee Titans

After a few weeks on the shelf with a hamstring injury, Tyjae Spears finally returned to the Titans' lineup in Week 11. The results were encouraging for Spears, who carried seven times for 47 yards while adding three receptions for another four yards in Tennessee's 27-17 loss to the Los Angeles Chargers.

While it was encouraging for Spears to show some burst after dealing with the hamstring issue, it is important to remember that Tony Pollard remains the alpha of the Titans' backfield. Pollard has been Tennessee's most effective rusher this year and when both backs have been healthy head coach Brian Callahan has preferred to use Spears as a change of pace option.

The Titans do prefer to run the ball, which offers value to both Tennessee backs, but they are still a bad football team that will end up playing catch up in most of their remaining games. The next three weeks for Tennessee (Minnesota, at Houston, at Washington) don't offer much hope for competitive atmospheres for the Titans so Spears' best value right now is as a bench hold in the event Pollard goes down.

Verdict: Bust

Ricky Pearsall, WR, San Francisco 49ers

Eyebrows were certainly raised in April when the San Francisco 49ers selected Ricky Pearsall with their first round pick since the wide receiver was perceived as a luxury pick with both Brandon Aiyuk and Deebo Samuel locked in as the outside receivers. The start to Pearsall's season was delayed as he recovered from a gunshot wound and his return was beneficial for San Francisco, which lost Aiyuk to IR in the middle of the year.

Pearsall had his welcome to the NFL game in Week 10, catching four passes for 73 yards and picking up his first NFL touchdown in San Francisco's win at Tampa Bay. Head coach Kyle Shanahan has kept Pearsall heavily involved since his return from IR in Week 7, with the rookie averaging five targets per game over that span.

While Samuel and George Kittle remain the top targets for Brock Purdy, Pearsall has flex upside as a capable receiving threat in a Shanahan offense. With a slew of byes on tap over the next month, adding Pearsall could make a huge difference for fantasy players trying to navigate absences of top players from their receiving corps.

Verdict: Trust

Marquez Valdes-Scantling, WR, New Orleans Saints

Perhaps Pope Francis was on to something when he used the Saints' official Twitter hashtag in a message on X this week. New Orleans snapped a seven-game losing streak on Sunday with a 20-17 win over the Atlanta Falcons and the star performer was veteran receiver Marquez Valdes-Scantling, who caught three passes for 109 yards and a pair of touchdowns in the victory.

MVS is a name that has certainly been either on your fantasy roster or available on the waiver wire in leagues over the past few years thanks to his immense talent as a deep threat and his pairings with top quarterbacks like Aaron Rodgers, Patrick Mahomes and Josh Allen. Buffalo cut Valdes-Scantling earlier this season and he landed in New Orleans, where his field stretching style is a good fit with the long balls Derek Carr likes to chuck up.

While absences to Chris Olave and Rashid Shaheed open up a ton of targets in New Orleans, MVS only got three in Week 11 and is a clear boom-or-bust pick in the vintage of Desean Jackson in the late 2000s. While there will be blow up spots for Valdes-Scantling every now and then, he will leave you disappointed more often than not.

Verdict: Bust

Russell Wilson, QB, Pittsburgh Steelers

We've covered Wilson before in this space and at that point labeled him a bust, but it is fair to re-evaluate his situation in a new context. The Steelers have played two more games since Wilson's first start against the New York Jets and there has been little hint that Justin Fields could threaten Wilson's playing time, easing a concern we had about his grip on the starting job.

Another positive development for Wilson is Pittsburgh's move to acquire Mike Williams from the Jets at the trade deadline to give them another playmaker opposite George Pickens. Williams made just one catch in his Steelers' debut but it was a big one as he hauled in the go-ahead score in Pittsburgh's 28-27 nailbiting win over Washington.

Having a pair of deep ball threats certainly increases Wilson's upside as a fantasy starter and his strong performance since taking over for Fields can no longer be ignored. With a ton of underachieving big names still taking up roster space the argument can no longer be made that Wilson isn't in the QB1 conversation going forward.

Verdict: Trust