Week 11: Sneaky Starts

We are entering the last of the bye-weeks for the season. This should help with sit/start questions in all formats moving forward, but for this week, it's still pertinent. Between bye-weeks and injuries, it's making the landscape a bit rough for many teams.

Fantasy Football isn't won at the draft, it can be lost there, but it's not won there. It's won through roster management, whether that be trading for a slumping star, or getting rid of someone you know won't keep up a historic pace, *cough* Will Fuller *cough*. Waiver wire can be a solid place to find solid fill-in players. The deeper into the season we get, the less likely you'll find a solid week-to-week contributor, but we actually have one of those in this week's article.

Let's dive right in to this week's edition.

Week 11: Sneaky Picks for Fantasy Football 


Dontrelle Inman - Wide Receiver - Chicago Bears 

Dontrelle Inman joined the Chicago Bears and made an immediate impact after barely getting a peek at the playbook, or getting more than a few practices with rookie Mitch Trubisky. In his first game with the Bears, Inman reeled in six-of-eight targets for 88 yards. With Zach Miller out for the year and Kendall Wright being a disappointment, Inman is going to be in for some targets. This late in the season, it's rare to find a player on the waiver wire that can be a weekly contributor to fantasy lineups. Inman is it. Trubisky is throwing more, and Inman should receive a healthy number of targets. He's in the WR4/Flex conversation for this week. 

My projection: Ten targets, 7 receptions for 89 yards. 

DeVante Parker - Wide Receiver - Miami Dolphins 

DeVante Parker has been a fairly solid fantasy play all season. The problem, is he struggles when Jay Cutler struggles, which is often enough to make people miss Ryan Tannehill, but not enough to mention the name Matt Moore again this season. 

Parker has had under 5 receptions only twice this season. This week, playing a Buccaneers team that's been beatable, Parker should see a healthy amount of targets. He's a mismatch against their undersized corners and could be in a big game. 

My projection: Nine targets, seven recpetions for 110 yards and a touchdown. 

Keelan Cole - Wide Receiver - Jacksonville Jaguars 

Who? Yeah, I'm digging deep on this one, but hear me out. I know there's nothing remotely close to a warm-and-fuzzy feeling by starting any receiver associated with Blake Bortles. Keelan Cole has sneakily been working his way into fantasy relevance lately. The rookie has some serious athletic talent that could turn him into a big play threat. 

Here's his stats over the last three games. 2/64, 3/47, and 3/8/61. 

With Allen Hurns all but ruled out for this week, Cole's workload is set to increase. I know fantasy Twitter has been raving about Dede Westbrook being activated this week. Temper expectations for Westbrook, and take a look or a stash for Cole. Westbrook looked good in the preseason, but has yet to play an NFL game at full speed against a non-vanilla defense. Westbrook is a someone to watch and stash, but Cole may be relevant immediately. 

Note: I'm willing to bet that Westbrook falls very short of his claim to get 200 yards against Cleveland this week. 

Tyler Kroft - Tight End - Cincinnati Bengals 

Tyler Kroft has been vaulted into fantasy relevance by two major things. The first, is a season-ending injury to a Tyler Eifert. The second is a really pukey list of tight ends this season. Let's face it, once you get passed the top three tight ends, they're all the same and we're just praying for touchdowns. Kroft has been among those of the "everybody-else" club. This week, the Bengals face off against the Denver Broncos. If the Broncos have one major weakness on their defense, it's the defending the tight end position. 

Kroft should put up solid numbers and has been a decent red-zone target for Andy Dalton. 

My projection: Five receptions for 64 yards and a touchdown.  



If you enjoyed this article, please +1, leave a comment, or subscribe. If you're looking for more fantasy advice, information from experts, or start/sit advice, here's a couple of places to find me:

Twitter: @john_hesterman
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 http://lastwordonprofootball.com/author/johnhesterman/

 Thanks for stopping by and good luck in your matchups! 




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