Fantasy Football Busts Week 11: Patrick Mahomes, Aaron Jones, Drake London among potential underperformers | Sporting News

In fantasy football, nothing’s worse than a player going out and being a liability in your lineup. There’s not a whole lot you can do when a superstar underperforms, but it’s infuriating when one of your fringe starters is one of the reasons you lost a matchup. Fantasy managers should look to avoid these disappointments at all costs.

Last week, we gave you names like Caleb Williams, J.K. Dobbins, Jameson Williams, and Jake Ferguson as players to consider benching. If you started any of these four, chances are that you were left wishing you had made a different decision. Thankfully, Week 11 is a clean slate with new matchups to analyze. It may be a new week, but the goal remains the same – avoid the lineup landmines.

We’ll be using a roundtable style article for our Week 11 fantasy football busts. Three of our fantasy football analysts will be taking a look at the slate and covering one player who they will be shying away from at each position. Fantasy managers could be in line for a frustrating Sunday afternoon if they choose to start any of these players.

WEEK 11 FANTASY FOOTBALL RANKINGS
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Fantasy QB Busts Week 11

Michael O’Hara: Patrick Mahomes, Kansas City Chiefs — The Bills’ defensive philosophy this season has been centered around limiting explosive plays. They utilize two high looks at the 4th-highest rate in the league and refuse to be beaten deep. Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs’ offense will have to dink and dunk their way down the field to move the ball against the Bills. Mahomes is more than fine doing this, but it’s not an offensive approach that leads to big days in fantasy. Expect Mahomes to have yet another pedestrian day in fantasy lineups

Ed Williams: Sam Darnold, Minnesota Vikings — Sam Darnold started the season as one of the most unlikeliest MVP candidates in recent memory. But while the Vikings continue to rack up wins, Darnold’s performance has taken a step backwards. After starting the season with 11 touchdowns to just three interceptions over the first four games of the season, he now has just six touchdowns to seven picks over his last five games. While the Titans aren’t the scariest of opponents, they give up the 13th-fewest fantasy points to the quarterback position. Darnold’s struggles could easily continue this Sunday. 

Vinnie Iyer: Kirk Cousins, Atlanta Falcons — It’s difficult to expect a good game from Cousins on the road in Denver with the Broncos’ pass defense playing so well and Atlanta capable of pivoting to a run-heavy attack with Bijan Robinson and Tyler Allgeier.

Fantasy RB Busts Week 11

O’Hara: Najee Harris, Pittsburgh Steelers — One rule of the 2024 fantasy season is that you don’t start your running backs against the Ravens unless they are an All-Pro talent or play a significant role in the passing game. Najee Harris checks neither of these boxes and belongs on the bench this week. Baltimore is the only team allowing fewer than 75 rushing yards per game, and just one running back has hit 50 rushing yards against the Ravens this year. Harris is in for a day of tough sledding on the ground and should be kept out of lineups if possible.

Williams: Rico Dowdle, Dallas Cowboys — The Cowboys are a complete mess right now. Dak Prescott is now out for the rest of the season, and Dallas appears to be sticking with Cooper Rush for now. Rush passed for a measly 45 yards against the Eagles last week, so it would make sense for the Texans to stack the box and force Rush to beat them through the air. It should be tough sledding for Rico Dowdle and the Dallas running backs this week.  

Iyer: Aaron Jones, Minnesota Vikings — The Titans have been tough on running backs in fantasy and contained J.K. Dobbins last week. Jones had an injury scare in Jacksonville, but on top of that, Cam Akers has seen more work behind him of late. The Vikings should go pass-happy again and leave Jones with limited work to produce what’s needed in non-shallow leagues.

WEEK 11 WAIVER WIRE ADVICE
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Fantasy WR Busts Week 11

O’Hara: Calvin Ridley, Tennessee Titans — Calvin Ridley’s calling card throughout the year has been generating chunk plays while periodically finding the end zone. Ridley was successful on both of these fronts last week, but this is not a matchup where Ridley will be able to connect with Will Levis on a deep ball. The Minnesota defense has created serious issues for opposing passing attacks. This largely stems from the fact that they generate pressure on 36 percent of dropbacks. Ultimately, the Vikings have held three different offenses to fewer than 200 passing yards, including an 87-yard performance from Mac Jones last week. Brian Flores is primed to put another subpar quarterback into a blender.

Williams: Jakobi Meyers, Las Vegas Raiders — The Raiders are coming off their bye, but the bye week can’t cure a lack of talent at the quarterback position, so look for Meyers to struggle comparatively to other teams’ WR1s. While Meyers should continue to see a promising target share, the number of catchable balls he sees may not be as promising. Plus, Miami is strong against outside receivers with Jalen Ramsey and company. 

Iyer: Drake London, Atlanta Falcons — The Broncos have stopped big outside targets well this season and had trouble with faster, quicker options who work the middle. Only Zay Flowers has been able to break free for a big game vs. this secondary, and he’s built differently from London.

Fantasy TE Busts Week 11

O’Hara: Jake Ferguson, Dallas Cowboys — We all knew the Cowboys’ offense would be worse with Cooper Rush taking the reigns, but nobody thought it would be 45 passing yards and six points. It goes without saying that 45 passing yards is not enough to sustain meaningful fantasy production. It’s unfortunate because this fade has nothing to do with the talent of Jake Ferguson. Until we see life from this offense, it’s hard to feel comfortable rolling him out in lineups. 

Williams: Kyle Pitts, Atlanta Falcons — While Kyle Pitts has rebounded enough to make fantasy managers reasonably confident in a safe floor, we still haven’t been seeing many ceiling games from him. While he’s been at 55+ yards in five of his last six games, he’s only scored three touchdowns over that span, including two coming in Week 8 against the Bucs. The Broncos, meanwhile, are giving up just 7.7 fantasy points per game to the tight end position. Pitts may be able to achieve a decent floor this week, but don’t expect one of those ceiling games from him. 

Iyer: Evan Engram, Jacksonville Jaguars — The Lions have been extremely stingy in covering tight ends with players such as Alex Anzalone and Brian Branch as part of their coverage in the middle of the field. Engram is not being helped by the injury-prompted QB change from Trevor Lawrence to Mac Jones, and the Jaguars should feel more comfortable using the wide receivers more in favorable cornerback matchups.

Fantasy Defense Busts Week 11

O’Hara: Pittsburgh Steelers — For a second consecutive week, the Steelers will square off against one of the league’s most potent offenses. The Baltimore Ravens have been a nightmare for opposing defensive coordinators, and the Steelers are the next victim in their path of destruction. The Steelers will have their weeks in fantasy lineups, but this is not one of them.

Williams: Atlanta Falcons — I picked on Atlanta last weekend with a tilt against the Saints and new head coach Darren Rizzi. Sure enough, the Saints did come up fired up and pulled off a surprising 20-17 in over the Falcons. While the Saints didn’t exactly light it up, the offense put up much more of a fight than many expected. Marquez Valdes-Scantling proverbially came back from the dead last week for 100+ yards and two touchdowns. The Broncos are another offense that doesn’t strike fear into the hearts of opposing defenses, but Bo Nix is looking better each week. If he has time to operate, the Broncos could be very effective on the offensive side of things.   

Iyer: Los Angeles Chargers — They’ve been on a heater and have dominated some lesser offenses for a high-scoring standard, but the Sunday night home date with the Bengals figures to feature a lot of points between two hot quarterbacks.