Fantasy Football Week 11: Deep Sleepers Who Can Help Win Your Matchup

If you’re still in the playoff hunt, the Week 11 byes might be causing some major headaches when it comes to setting your lineups. Many, including myself, are doing their very best to scrape by without the Pittsburgh Steelers, New York Giants and New Orleans Saints, but it’s not easy. That’s why I’m reaching extra deep for this week’s sleepers.

Streaming quarterbacks is a great way to test your waiver wire skills, especially when you have others entering the fray. Those without Ben Roethlisberger, Drew Brees or Eli Manning join those of us who hit the waiver wire every week in search of a QB to start. That means a battle for a player like New York Jets quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick. Yikes.

The running back position has been tough enough to deal for yet another season, and the pickings are very slim late in the week. Keeping an eye on injury situations can give you the jump on the need to find replacements and/or those who could see a bump in touches, like Philadelphia Eagles running back Darren Sproles, if Ryan Mathews (concussion) isn’t cleared to play.

Owning tight ends like Rob Gronkowski, Greg Olsen and Tyler Eifert means you’re not worried about who’s starting for you on a weekly basis, but that’s the exception rather than the norm for most fantasy owners. The less fortunate ones are trying to figure out if they should give Chicago Bears tight end Martellus Bennett another shot or hit the Atlanta Falcons for Jacob Tamme. 

Surviving this week means you made it through the bye weeks and most of the ugliness on the waiver wire should be over. It also means there won’t be many reliable contributors to grab, meaning this deep sleepers could be even tougher to determine. For now, let’s take a look at the Week 11 six-pack that can help lead you to victory.

Mark Sanchez

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Some of you are clicking right through Mark Sanchez because you either don’t need a quarterback or can’t bring yourself to consider he’s a legit starting option in Week 11. Get over it, because you’re looking at a pretty solid streamer, and there are some big-name QBs on the bye.

Sanchez is in line to start following the non-throwing shoulder injury and concussion Sam Bradford suffered last week in the loss to the Miami Dolphins. Can Sanchez handle the offense? He had fantasy relevance last season when he took over for Nick Foles and wound up with a career-high four 300-yard games in just nine appearances.

What Sanchez has going for him is the matchup against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Over the last four weeks, quarterbacks have thrown for 1,113 yards and seven touchdowns against the Bucs, so the matchup is favorable from the passing side. On the flip side, they’ve held running backs to just 289 rushing yards and zero touchdowns in the last four weeks, so it won’t be easy to run on them.

The necessity for Sanchez to throw it in a good matchup coupled with a solid run defense by the numbers gives him hope to produce for fantasy, as we saw on multiple occasions last year. It’s hard to have a lot of faith in anyone associated with the team’s passing attack, but the matchup and situation are strong enough to consider Sanchez.

Jay Ajayi

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With just two games to his name after a late start to his season (and career) following a rib injury, Ajayi has seen his stock rise rather quickly. If you own Miami Dolphins running back Lamar Miller, Ajayi should be a priority to add since he’s clearly the handcuff for Miller.

But the question is whether or not Ajayi has value independent of being Miller’s handcuff, and I’m leaning toward yes based on talent and opportunity.

In his first two games, Ajayi has 89 yards on 11 carries, which comes out to 8.1 yards per carry. That’s a very small sample size, but it’s done enough to make the coaching staff notice, Per James Walker of ESPN, Dolphins offensive coordinator Bill Lazor said Ajayi has been good enough to earn more playing time and touches.

Miller’s maintained an active role as a runner, but it was Ajayi who outproduced him last week, racking up 48 yards on six carries to Miller’s 43 rushing yards on 16 carries. While Miller is a very good pass-catcher, the door seems to be open for Ajayi to carve out a bigger role.

He’ll have a good chance to do so against the Dallas Cowboys. In the last four weeks, Dallas has given up 471 rushing yards and three touchdowns, which puts it at 11th in terms of most fantasy points involved to running back during that span.

Based on those numbers and the fact the Cowboys have held opposing quarterbacks to just 939 yards and three touchdowns, Ajayi has a chance for fantasy production with the matchup in his favor.

Jacob Tamme

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I’ll make it very simple.

Atlanta Falcons tight end Jacob Tamme is one of the most obvious deep sleepers of the week, but you may need some convincing to use him since he’s far from a household name. This argument may not need to be dripping in persuasion because many are begging for help at tight end with or without the bye weeks.

Why is Tamme worth a shot? Well, he’s actually been involved as the second option in the receiving corps behind wide receiver Julio Jones. In the last two games (before the Week 10 bye), Tamme posted 16 receptions for 164 yards and a touchdown on 22 targets. That last number may be the most convincing since it’s been so hard to find tight ends with such big roles. 

The other key is the best possible matchup for a tight end. Tamme’s former team, the Indianapolis Colts, have allowed the most fantasy points to tight ends over the last month. That includes 22 receptions for 284 yards and three touchdowns in their last three games.

With a lack of reliable options at the position, Tamme is not only a sleeper, he's also a tight end you may be able to keep around and continue to use after Week 11. However, if you’re just looking for a good, possibly great option for Sunday, Tamme is set up to deliver.

Ryan Fitzpatrick

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Do you believe in revenge games? It’s a pretty dumb narrative to me based on the idea of a player facing his former team, the Houston Texans, with extra motivation to do well in an effort to prove them never should have let him go in the first place. The biggest motivation for New York Jets quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick is to play well and win to stay in the playoff hunt.

In his last five games, Fitzpatrick has thrown for two touchdowns in each of them—other than Week 8 against the Oakland Raiders when he was injured and played just a short time. He topped 250 yards three times during that span and 270 yards twice. Fitzpatrick also ran for at least 10 yards in six games, and that’s always a bonus for any quarterback.

With the Texans coming off a strong performance, at least by the numbers, against quarterback Andy Dalton and the Cincinnati Bengals, quarterbacks have scored the seventh-fewest fantasy points against them in the last month. In the last two weeks, they faced a discombobulated Bengals offense and an equally unimpressive Tennessee Titans, so they didn’t get major challenges from those opponents. 

However, they allowed almost 300 passing yards, four passing touchdowns and one rushing touchdown to Ryan Tannehill and the Miami Dolphins in Week 7 and more than 330 passing yards and three touchdowns to Blake Bortles and the Jaguars in Week 6. This is a vulnerable defense when tested, and Fitzpatrick should be able to go after them, especially with how well wide receivers Brandon Marshall and Eric Decker are playing.

I’m well aware of Fitzpatrick’s recovery from thumb surgery that took place last Friday, but it hasn’t been a problem, as he’s done everything in practice this week, according to offensive coordinator Chan Gailey, per Manish Mehta of the New York Daily News. Fitzpatrick is a solid sleeper play for Week 11.

Darren Sproles

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A busy and productive start to the season for Philadelphia Eagles running back Darren Sproles has turned quiet in a hurry, but that may not last much longer. With Ryan Mathews battling back from a concussion, his status is in question for this weekend’s matchup with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Could Sproles get rolling again?

Sproles told Jeff McLane of the Philadelphia Inquirer, “I’m not getting enough chances.” Other than the 11 carries he got in Week 2, Sproles hasn’t had more than five carries in any other game, and he’s hit that number just four times. He’s eighth among running backs with 45 targets, according to FantasyPros, which he’s turned into 29 receptions for 199 yards. Still, it hasn’t been enough to boost his fantasy value.

If Mathews is out, Sproles would be second to DeMarco Murray for the Eagles taking on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. In the last four weeks, the Bucs have given up the third-fewest fantasy points to running backs. However, the 22 receptions they’ve allowed over that time period is tied for sixth-most, so the Eagles could test that vulnerability a little more with Sproles, especially if they’re having trouble running it. 

When stuck on a lineup spot, I’ll often fall back on a player who always has a chance to make a big play, regardless of the matchup. Sproles fits that mold this week and could get the chances he’s looking for if Mathews can’t play. That’s a deep sleeper-rejuvenation story to watch this weekend.

Crockett Gillmore

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The same week the St. Louis Rams had no answers for Chicago Bears backup tight end Zach Miller was the same week Baltimore Ravens tight end Crockett Gillmore had one of his better fantasy performances of the season.

The Rams gave up eight receptions for 125 yards and a pair of touchdowns to Miller and the Bears tight ends. Meanwhile, Gillmore caught all four of his targets for 42 yards and a touchdown in a loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars. Worlds collide on Sunday when the Rams visit the Ravens.

For the season, the Rams are average against fantasy tight ends, but in the last four weeks, they’ve given up the 10th-most fantasy points to the position. The Ravens need to get others involved in their offense, and as we saw last week, both Gillmore and Maxx Williams got into the mix and scored, so it would be wise to do more of he same in this exploitable matchup.

In the last month, Gillmore has the 12th-most fantasy points at the position and has a chance to emerge as a consistent threat for quarterback Joe Flacco. Last week was a good start, and this week’s game against the Rams has a chance to be more of the same. If you’re streaming tight ends, he’s worth a look.