Fantasy Football Week 11: Rankings, Stat Projections and Top Waiver-Wire Adds

What a strange week.

Week 10 of the NFL season came and went amid a flurry of surprises. Up was down. Left was right. Kirk Cousins had a perfect passer rating while Peyton Manning got benched for Brock Osweiler.

It seemed as if every game Sunday either came down to the final possession or was a complete blowout. There were also not nearly as many points scored this week overall.

One thing fantasy owners can hang their hats on is that it was a relatively injury-free slate of NFL action, which is great news for owners, but horrible news for me since I'm truly scraping the bottom of the barrel coming up with solid waiver-wire pickups for you!

As always, we will provide you with full stat projections, rankings and top waiver-wire targets for Week 11. First, here is this week's upcoming game action.

Thursday, November 19
Sunday, November 22
Monday, November 23
Tennessee at Jacksonville	8:25 p.m.
Oakland at Detroit	1 p.m.
Indianapolis at Atlanta	1 p.m.
N.Y. Jets at Houston	1 p.m.
Tampa Bay at Philadelphia	1 p.m.
Denver at Chicago	1 p.m.
St. Louis at Baltimore	1 p.m.
Dallas at Miami	1 p.m.
Washington at Carolina	1 p.m.
Kansas City at San Diego	4 p.m.
Green Bay at Minnesota	4:25 p.m.
San Francisco at Seattle	4:25 p.m.
Cincinnati at Arizona	8:30 p.m.
Buffalo at New England	8:30 p.m.

Quarterbacks

Rank	Player	Projection
1	Tom Brady NE	23.3
2	Derek Carr OAK	21.7
3	Carson Palmer ARI	20.7
4	Aaron Rodgers GB	20.5
5	Andy Dalton CIN	20.5
6	Matthew Stafford DET	20.4
7	Cam Newton CAR	19.6
8	Philip Rivers SD	19.5
9	Blake Bortles JAX	18.9
10	Brian Hoyer HOU	18.7
11	Matt Ryan ATL	18.6
12	Ryan Fitzpatrick NYJ	18.5
13	Russell Wilson SEA	17.8
14	Matt Hasselbeck IND	17.7
15	Tyrod Taylor BUF	17.1

Boom: Tony Romo, Dallas Cowboys

Brian Blanco/Associated Press

Projected as Yahoo's No. 16 quarterback for Week 11, Tony Romo of the Dallas Cowboys is set to make his heroic return when his crew battles with the Miami Dolphins. I can already envision Romo walking out of the tunnel engulfed in a sea of fireworks with a suited Jerry Jones by his side.

Cue the music.

The Cowboys have lost seven straight without Romo, but are still just 2.5 games back of the 5-5 New York Giants in the NFC East. I think that two months of Matt Cassel and Brandon Weeden will have the Boys throwing all over the place simply for fun. They'll air it out just to remember what it felt like.

The Dolphins don't scare anybody. Their pass rush isn't the same without Cameron Wake, and because of that you can expect Romo to be one of the five highest-scoring QBs in Week 11.

Bust: Aaron Rodgers, Green Bay Packers

Morry Gash/Associated Press

So, uh...what's going on here?

That's three losses in a row for the Packers, and Rodgers hasn't looked too great in any of them. Of course, he was able to rack up some fantasy points over the past two games while fighting from behind, but there's not a ton of value here until his receivers can find some breathing room.

Do you really trust this offense on the road against the 7-2 Minnesota Vikings? Minny hasn't given up more than 18 points at home all season.

It'll be hard to bench Rodgers in a standard redraft league, but you can definitely pass on him in DFS games. He is likely to be one of the two or three most expensive quarterbacks and won't provide much wiggle room at his price. Be sure to do your research or us a tool like DraftCrunch's lineup optimizer before setting your lineup to ensure you make the right choice.

We're not hitting the panic button just yet, but it is a legitimate concern how shaky the Packers offense has looked. Without a reliable running game, Rodgers is even more susceptible to average performances. Pass on him this week.

Running Backs

Rank	Player	Projection
1	Devonta Freeman ATL	19.9
2	Darren McFadden DAL	17.1
3	Adrian Peterson MIN	15.7
4	Marshawn Lynch SEA	15.3
5	DeMarco Murray PHI	15.2
6	Todd Gurley STL	14.9
7	Jonathan Stewart CAR	14.1
8	Chris Ivory NYJ	13.6
9	Lamar Miller MIA	13.4
10	Latavius Murray OAK	13.4
11	Justin Forsett BAL	13.4
12	Charcandrick West KC	13.1
13	LeGarrette Blount NE	12.7
14	Frank Gore IND	11.2
15	T.J. Yeldon JAX	10.9

Boom: Charcandrick West, Kansas City Chiefs

Joe Mahoney/Associated Press

West is the real deal. He proved just that Sunday against the Denver Broncos, arguably the best defense in the NFL, by ripping off 161 total yards and a pair of touchdowns.

The Chiefs' faith in him was perplexing at first, but now we see that he can fill in admirably for Jamaal Charles without the team missing a beat. West has rendered Knile Davis a complete nonfactor and has Kansas City fighting back into the playoff race. His emergence has absolutely saved their season, and he is doing the same for plenty of fantasy owners who were snakebitten by Charles or Le'Veon Bell injuries.

A tasty matchup with a San Diego Chargers defense that is being held together by Elmer's glue and duct tape should result in another monster game for West, who has found the end zone in three consecutive games and has rapidly become one of the league' few reliable bell cow running backs. Lock and load.

Bust: Devonta Freeman, Atlanta Falcons

Ben Margot/Associated Press

I'm not picking Devonta Freeman this week in DFS or any other platform. He's too mainstream now.

But really, he has slowed down a bit. After scoring 10 touchdowns over a five-game span, Freeman has found the end zone just once in three contests since. Following a bye, Freeman has a nice matchup with the Indianapolis Colts, but I'm not on board.

Indy's defense gives up a surprising 4.0 yards per carry, good for 12th in the league. Matt Hasselbeck will also be under center, which changes the Colts' entire scheme. Don't expect them to air it out. They will be focusing more on ball control and keeping this game low-scoring and more manageable for their old-timer.

I'd expect a heavy dose of Julio Jones with a little Tevin Coleman sprinkled in this Sunday. Freeman should do reasonably well, but he won't explode.

Wide Receivers

Rank	Player	Projection
1	DeAndre Hopkins HOU	14.6
2	Julio Jones ATL	14
3	A.J. Green CIN	13.7
4	Calvin Johnson DET	13.7
5	Michael Crabtree OAK	12.8
6	Larry Fitzgerald ARI	12.5
7	Randall Cobb GB	12.1
8	Dez Bryant DAL	11.9
9	Demaryius Thomas DEN	11.7
10	Brandon Marshall NYJ	11.6
11	Alshon Jeffery CHI	11.1
12	Amari Cooper OAK	11.1
13	Allen Robinson JAX	11.1
14	Mike Evans TB	10.9
15	Emmanuel Sanders DEN	10.7

Boom: Amari Cooper, Oakland Raiders

Ben Margot/Associated Press

Amari Cooper has a stupid trend going where he has scored a touchdown every other game. It's gone on the entire season, so this means he is scoring next week against the Detroit Lions. It's science, just deal with it.

Obviously, one of the most important aspects to starting wide receivers in fantasy is having guys who play with reliable quarterbacks. There are few more trustworthy options right now than Derek Carr. He and Cooper have been on the same page all year and will only continue to improve.

It's now three weeks in a row with at least nine targets, and there's little reason to believe a porous Lions defense will be able to keep him in check.

Bust: Randall Cobb, Green Bay Packers

Mike McCarn/Associated Press

It's safe to say every fantasy owner pounced on Cobb this year in the wake of Jordy Nelson's season-ending torn ACL. We all thought he would catch 200 passes as Aaron Rodgers' only reliable target.

The exact opposite has happened. Cobb has been a little dinged up, and without Nelson to stretch the field, Cobb has much less room to operate.

Yahoo's No. 7 wideout for Week 11 hasn't gone over 100 yards since Week 2. A matchup with the Vikings is not the cure to that illness. No, thank you.

Tight Ends

Rank	Player	Projection
1	Rob Gronkowski NE	10.9
2	Greg Olsen CAR	8.9
3	Tyler Eifert CIN	8.8
4	Antonio Gates SD	7.7
5	Jason Witten DAL	7.7
6	Jimmy Graham SEA	7.5
7	Martellus Bennett CHI	7.4
8	Jordan Reed WAS	7.3
9	Zach Ertz PHI	7.3
10	Travis Kelce KC	7.2
11	Coby Fleener IND	7
12	Richard Rodgers GB	7
13	Delanie Walker TEN	6.8
14	Eric Ebron DET	6.8
15	Jacob Tamme ATL	6.7

Boom: Delanie Walker, Tennessee Titans

Butch Dill/Associated Press

It's unlikely that Kendall Wright will be ready in time for Thursday night's battle with the Jaguars, so that leaves Marcus Mariota without his top receiver once again. He will also be without Justin Hunter, who had been turning a corner over the past few weeks. He broke his ankle after getting rolled up during a block in Week 10.

See where I'm going with this? Who's a rookie quarterback's best friend? None other than a reliable tight end.

The Titans are now down to Harry Douglas and rookie Dorial Green-Beckham after keeping just four receivers coming out of training camp. DGB is sure to see more action, but Walker will be eating a seven-course meal on Thursday. We all know how Blake Bortles likes to get in shootouts, and Mariota will have to look for Walker 10 to 15 times to keep up.

That conservative projection is sure to be broken. Roll the dice on Walker this week.

Bust: Tyler Eifert, Cincinnati Bengals

Frank Victores/Associated Press

If you look at Eifert's overall numbers, he is certainly having an outstanding season. However, he leaves a bit to be desired in the yardage department.

Eifert loves to feast in the red zone, and a matchup with the Arizona Cardinals at home doesn't exactly ignite a ton of optimism. This should be a low-scoring affair without many big plays in the passing game.

The problem with Eifert is that when he isn't finding the end zone, he offers little value. He isn't like Walker, who can rack up a bunch of yards without scoring to salvage an afternoon. If Eifert only sees four or five targets Sunday without netting a touchdown, don't be too surprised.

Waiver-Wire Options

Get Danny Amendola

Gary Hershorn/Associated Press

Sadly, Julian Edelman is likely done for the remainder of the season with a broken foot, per ESPN's Adam Schefter. As always with the New England Patriots, it's next man up.

Amendola was the immediate beneficiary of Edelman going down, racking up 10 catches on 11 targets for 79 yards against the New York Giants.

We've seen Amendola play this role before with the St. Louis Rams. He is sure-handed and has no problem handling a boatload of targets, provided he stays on the field. Do everything possible to get him on your roster immediately. He should become an immediate WR2 in this offense without both Edelman and Dion Lewis.

Ignore the Tight Ends

Morry Gash/Associated Press

On Sunday, we inexplicably saw big games from Zach Miller and Brent Celek, like it's 2009 or something. Rhett Ellison, Ed Dickson, Crockett Gillmore, Clive Walford, Jermaine Gresham and Maxx Williams all found the end zone as well.

And don't even act like you know who Justin Perillo was before Sunday.

This was an unprecedented day for under-the-radar tight ends. Stalwarts like Gary Barnidge and Rob Gronkowski scored touchdowns, too. But who cares. We're partying like it's 2009, remember?

Consider this a blip on the fantasy radar. As fun as it would be to throw any of these tight ends into your lineup and ride them to the championship, it's just not worth it.

Move along, nothing to see here.

All stats courtesy of ESPN and Yahoo.