Week 11 Fantasy Football Sneaky Starts & Sleepers

Nov 13, 2024

Jeff Lange / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

All but the luckiest fantasy owners at some point need to find the proverbial diamond in the rough—a waiver wire or bench player capable of putting up some points in a pinch. This weekly feature is dedicated to that part of fantasy football. It's not pretty, but it's part of the game.

I’ll put the defense’s aFPA (adjusted fantasy points allowed) rank in parentheses below. As of Week 4, we are now using only 2024 data for our signature strength of schedule metric, which makes it a great apples-to-apples comparison of each defensive matchup.

Last week’s Sneaky Starts included Russell Wilson (QB10), Daniel Jones (QB13), Tyrone Tracy (RB10), Jauan Jennings (WR17), Quentin Johnston (WR28), Mark Andrews (TE2), and T.J. Hockenson (TE6). Not going to lie–it was a rough week for Sneaky Starts, but it was a down week in general for scoring around the league.

Let’s see if we can get back on track this week.

Quarterbacks

Bo Nix, Broncos (vs. ATL, 24)

It’s safe to say that Nix is one of the biggest surprises at the quarterback position this season. He’s currently the fantasy QB9, thanks in large part to his ability to run. He’s averaging 29.0 yards and 0.40 touchdowns on the ground. Throw in decent passing numbers (197/1.0) and you have a low-end fantasy QB1. He’s been even better lately–he’s the QB5 since Week 5. The Falcons have yielded the third most rushing yards to enemy quarterbacks, and have given up an average of 225/1.7 through the air.

Justin Herbert, Chargers (vs. CIN, 29)

The Bengals are allowing an average of 230/1.7 to opposing quarterbacks this season, so it’s a good matchup. Herbert is a good quarterback, but the Chargers were extremely low volume through the first four weeks, so he failed to score 12+ fantasy points in any game before the team’s Week 5 bye. Since Week 6, Herbert is the fantasy QB7 and he has scored at least 19.5 fantasy points in three straight games.