Fantasy Football Week 11: Sleeper Picks

The injury bug seems to be the only way to find viable running backs these days. If Felix Jones hadn’t gone down, we never would have seen the revelation that is DeMarco Murray. Michael Bush wouldn’t be burning up daylight if Darren McFadden weren’t hobbled by foot issues.

Are Lance Ball and Kendall Hunter the next breakout backs or just week-to-week placeholders? In Week 11's sleeper report, we’ll find out as well as look at a few other options to make your fantasy rosters pop. As always, my criteria for weekly sleeper selection are players owned in 50 percent or less of leagues on Yahoo! who look interesting for the week ahead as well as some long term plays.

RB Lance Ball, Denver Broncos

Tim Tebow is one of the most interesting forces of nature to ever hit the NFL. The Broncos coaching staff entered a time warp on Sunday to construct a game plan that featured only eight passing plays to 55 running plays—fifty friggin’ five.

The crazy thing is it worked. Tebow notched his third win in four starts.

The fallout is Willis McGahee and Knowshown Moreno were injured in the process. Moreno looks to have torn his ACL and looks to be out for the remainder of the season, and McGahee is day-to-day with his hamstring injury.

Broncos third-stringer Lance Ball looks to be the lead back in this rushing attack. He posted 96 yards in Sunday’s game to prove that he’s more than capable of carrying the rock. The only real issue here is, if the Broncos plan to run the ball every play, Ball may be heading back to the locker room on the cart by game's end.

The Broncos brass need to go ahead and sign a half dozen backs and approve the medical crew's overtime pay for the remainder of the season. This is going to get interesting. 

Owned in 6 percent of Yahoo! leagues—5 percent change from last week.

RB Kendall Hunter, San Francisco 49ers

Frank Gore entered Week 10 with a gimpy ankle and added a knee tweak for good measure. He warmed the bench for most of the second half after running for an ineffective zero yards on six carries. Jim Harbaugh has already announced Gore would be in the lineup Week 11, but with his laundry list of injuries you have to imagine the 49ers will lean heavily on rookie backup Kendall Hunter.

Hunter had a solid day against the Giants, coming in for relief for 40 yards and a touchdown. Hunter is one of those solid backups, like Ben Tate, who could really take over if anything happened to Gore. Hunter looks to get a solid slice of the workload in Week 11, and could become a pivotal part of the Niner offense if Gore’s injuries take on a second life. 

Owned in 19 percent of Yahoo! leagues—6 percent change from last week.

WR Earl Bennett, Chicago Bears

Bennett was on the cusp of making the sleeper list in Week 10 based on his nice Week 9 return to action (95 yards receiving, 1 touchdown). I wanted to give him another week to simmer to see if the chemistry between he and Vandy quarterback Jay Cutler was the real deal.

Week 10 did nothing to convince me otherwise as Bennett added another 81 yards receiving, netting the most receptions of any Bears receiver (6). It looks like he is Cutler’s new go-to-guy so future weeks of solid numbers seem to be in the cards for Bennett.  

Owned in 33 percent of Yahoo! leagues—29 percent change from last week.

QB John Skelton, Arizona Cardinals

I have to say I make this pick without a whole lot of conviction behind it. The simple fact is Kevin Kolb is the starting quarterback for the Cardinals and is hobbled by turf toe for what looks to be the third week straight. So Skelton, though he’s posted impressive numbers the past two weeks, is probably only a one or two week solution at best.

With that caveat out of the way, he was one of the more prolific passers of Week 10, posting 315 yards passing and three touchdowns with two picks. So if you need a short-term fill-in, Skelton looks to be a good fit. I’d first look to see if Carson Palmer (37 percent owned in Yahoo! leagues) or Tim Tebow (an inexplicable 60 percent owned in Yahoo! leagues) are still available on your league’s waiver wire before pulling the trigger on Skelton.  

Owned in 2 percent of Yahoo! leagues—0 percent change from last week.

DEF Cleveland Browns

I wouldn’t exactly call the Browns a defensive powerhouse, but they get the fortunate Week 11 draw of the Jacksonville Jaguars. Besides the obvious struggles they’ve had backing rookie QB Blaine Gabbert, if you take a look at their opponents to date their strongest defensive performances came at the expense of the Jags. I think Cleveland finds enough offense to pull out the win and defensively smother Jax.  

Owned in 10 percent of Yahoo! leagues—5 percent change from last week.

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