We're into the latter half of the season, and Freedman is here with his best wide receivers for Fantasy Football Week 11:

It's Week 11.

Just four weeks left in the typical fantasy regular season.

Are you 0-10? So what?! There's still time for you to go on a run so that you don't finish with the worst record in your league. You still have the opportunity to lose with dignity.

Are you 5-5? Great. With just four more wins, you'll almost certainly make the fantasy playoffs.

Are you 10-0. Perfect … but stay humble. Stay focused. Don't let up. In many leagues, you still have time to swing an opportunistic trade with a desperate team that can make your squad better.

Four weeks left.

Let's make the most of them.

As of Tuesday evening, here's an early look at my (preliminary) favorite Week 10 fantasy plays—the guys who (in some combination) …

  • Might be high in my fantasy rankings relative to the industry consensus.
  • Need to be started in most season-long leagues.
  • Must be added if they are on waivers.
  • Possess underappreciated upside.
  • Have advantageous matchups.
  • Should be considered in daily fantasy.
  • Make for desirable dynasty acquisition targets.
  • Are on teams with player-friendly betting odds.
  • Stand out in our Fantasy Life Player Prop Tool.

Some customary notes.

Updates: After I submit this piece, any changing opinions I have will be reflected in my rankings and NFL player projections (accessible with a FantasyLife+ subscription), which I will update throughout the week.

Scoring & Ordering: All fantasy points are half-PPR scoring unless otherwise stated. Players are ordered within position roughly (but probably not precisely) according to my rankings.

Abbreviations: Check out the end of the piece for abbreviations I might use.

Bye Week: This week, the Cardinals, Buccaneers, Giants, and Panthers are on bye.

Sports Betting Data: Odds are as of 6:30 p.m. ET on Tuesday, Nov. 11, and based on the consensus lines in our Fantasy Life Odds Page.

Freedman's Favorites: Although we publish this piece as four separate articles broken out by position, I think of it as one cohesive whole and write it as such. With that in mind, please be sure to check out the rest of my favorite Week 11 fantasy football plays in the other positional previews.

Best WRs for Fantasy Football Week 11

Ja'Marr Chase (Bengals) at Chargers

  • Bengals: +2
  • O/U: 47
  • TT: 22.5

Ja'Marr Chase started the season slowly with 10-97-0 receiving on 11 targets in Weeks 1-2, but he has looked like the league's best pass catcher since then with 56-884-10 receiving (and 1-11-0 rushing) in eight games. 

We'll see if Chase can keep up his current pace and maintain his lead through the Week 12 bye, but right now he's No. 1 in each of the Triple Crown categories with 66-981-10 receiving, and he's just 19 yards away from joining Randy Moss, A.J. Green, Mike Evans, Michael Thomas, and Justin Jefferson as one of the few NFL players to open their careers with four straight 1,000-yard receiving campaigns.

No. 2 WR Tee Higgins (quadricep) is uncertain to play this week, and without him, Chase over the past three games has seen 39 targets, which he has translated into 27-361-4 receiving. 

With three extra days off Thursday Night Football, Chase should be rested and ready for the Chargers, who will be without No. 1 CB Asante Samuel (shoulder, IR) and also perhaps No. 2 CB Kristian Fulton (hamstring), who has neither practiced nor played since exiting Week 8 early with a soft-tissue injury.

A.J. Brown (Eagles) vs. Commanders

  • Eagles: -3.5
  • O/U: 48.5
  • TT: 26

If we remove an injury-impacted Week 9, which he exited early (47% snap rate), we're left with five full games for A.J. Brown. In those contests, he has 26-517-3 receiving on 37 targets.

On the one hand, there's nothing special about that volume. On the other hand, Brown's efficiency this season (13.5 yards per target) and for his career (10.2) is elite and reliable enough to minimize usage concerns.

Although road underdogs tend to be the sharp side in betting markets, the Eagles with QB Jalen Hurts have notably exceeded expectations as home favorites.

  • Hurts ATS as Home Favorite: 14-8-1 | 20.7% ROI | +2.37 Margin
  • Hurts ML as Home Favorite: 20-3 | 19.7% ROI | +9.83 Margin

Last year Brown went off with 117-305-4 receiving on 21 targets in two games against the Commanders. Sure, the chef is different, but some of the ingredients are the same.

The Commanders are No. 29 in defensive pass DVOA against No. 1 WRs (24.6%) and could once again be without recently acquired No. 1 CB Marshon Lattimore (hamstring), who last played in Week 8.

Cedric Tillman (Browns) at Saints

  • Browns: +1.5
  • O/U: 44.5
  • TT: 21.5

One of my favorite Week 11 bets (logged in our free Fantasy Life Bet Tracker) is the Browns +110 to beat the Saints. Despite being market underdogs, the Browns are small favorites in our Fantasy Life Game Models.

I have the Browns and Saints power rated evenly, and the home-field advantage for the Saints is offset by the fact that the Browns are coming off a bye.

So much of this projection comes down to health … and the Browns I expect to be almost fully healthy out of the bye, whereas the Saints are significantly depleted, especially in the secondary, where they are without No. 1 CB Marshon Lattimore (traded) and No. 2 CB Paulson Adebo (leg, IR) and might be missing their top backup perimeter defender in CB Kool-Aid McKinstry (hamstring), who has been out since Week 9.

And then (of course) there's the dynamic of QB Jameis Winston returning to New Orleans for a #RevengeGame against the Saints, whom he left this offseason as a free agent after leading a lowkey authority-agnostic de facto lockerroom mutiny in Week 18 against recently dismissed HC Dennis Allen.

Winston is a bit of an infamous gunslinger anyway, and against his former team in the Superdome, it's not hard to imagine him leaning all the more into his tendency to air it out and attack downfield.

And that should benefit Cedric Tillman. Since the team traded away No. 1 WR Amari Cooper in Week 7, Tillman has emerged as the team's top playmaker with 21-255-3 receiving (plus a two-point conversion) on 32 targets in three games.

With a 91% route rate, 21% target rate, and 24% target share in the post-Cooper era, Tillman has the look of a true alpha receiver.

Calvin Ridley (Titans) vs. Vikings

  • Titans: +6
  • O/U: 40
  • TT: 17

I go back and forth on whether Calvin Ridley is a good NFL player at this point in his career. Is he better than … I don't know … DJ Moore, for instance? Maybe, maybe not. (Probably not.)

But that might not matter, because right now Ridley has the volume and production.

Since the Week 5 bye Ridley has had 49 targets in five games with at least eight in each, and since the Titans traded away No. 1 WR DeAndre Hopkins in Week 8 Ridley has 20-300-2 receiving on 32 targets in three games.

Unfortunately for Ridley, the team went back to second-year QB Will Levis last week, and we have him projected as -3.1 points against the spread worse than veteran backup QB Mason Rudolph (per our Fantasy Life QB ATS Value Chart).

But with his steady volume—and especially his matchup—I'm not worried this week about the potential negative impact Levis might have on Ridley.

The Vikings are No. 3 in largest fantasy boost allowed to WRs (+3.9). 

The Deep Route

Amon-Ra St. Brown (Lions -12.5, TT: 29.75) vs. Jaguars: After a disappointing Week 1 (3-13-0 receiving), St. Brown has gone on a legendary streak with either 100 yards or a TD in every subsequent game. In the slot, St. Brown should have no problem exploiting rookie CB Jarrian Jones (62.6 coverage grade, per PFF).

Nico Collins (Texans -7.5, TT: 25) at Cowboys: Collins (hamstring) sat out Sunday Night Football after a Friday downgrade from full to limited practice, but I tentatively expect him to return to action after exiting Week 5 early with a soft-tissue injury. In Weeks 1-4, Collins had an elite 30-489-2 receiving on 43 targets, and I expect him—as long as he closes the week with a full practice—to pick up where he left off against the Cowboys, who could be without CB DaRon Bland (foot) yet again.

George Pickens (Steelers +3, TT: 22.75) vs. Ravens: Ever since the team installed QB Russell Wilson as the starter, Pickens has been a fantasy WR1 (14-276-2 receiving, 13.1 yards per target). A straight-up highlight merchant, Pickens ranks No. 4 with a 74% WOPR, and he has an excellent chance to go off against the Ravens, who are No. 1 in most fantasy points allowed to WRs (38.0).

"WOPR" stands for "weighted opportunity rating," and it measures the overall quality of a player's aerial role in his offense by considering his share of targets and air yards.

Jakobi Meyers (Raiders +7.5, TT: 18.25) at Dolphins: Despite dealing with a suboptimal QB situation, Meyers has impressed with 14-157-1 receiving on 18 targets in two games without former No. 1 WR Davante Adams (traded) since returning from an ankle injury that sidelined him for Weeks 6-7. Coming off the bye, Meyers should be fully healthy and ready for his matchup against the Dolphins, who are No. 31 in defensive pass DVOA against No. 1 WRs (34.3%).

Josh Downs (Colts +4, TT: 20) at Jets: Downs has 37-349-2 receiving on 49 targets in his five games with QB Joe Flacco as the primary passer, and WR Michael Pittman (back, finger) is uncertain to suit up against the Jets after neither practicing nor playing last week. He has an advantageous matchup in the slot against CB Michael Carter, who has a career-worst 51.4 PFF coverage grade.

Khalil Shakir (Bills -2.5, TT: 24) vs. Chiefs: Shakir missed Week 5 with an ankle injury and played limitedly in Week 6, but since returning to his usual slot role in Week 7 he has 28-280-0 receiving on 33 targets (plus a two-yard carry) over the past four weeks, and I expect him to have comparable usage and production this week given the potential absence of WRs Amari Cooper (wrist) and Keon Coleman (wrist) and TE Dalton Kincaid (knee). Against the Chiefs last year Shakir had 7-44-1 receiving on nine targets in the postseason.

Abbreviations

  • Fantasy Points per Game (FPPG)
  • Against the Spread (ATS)
  • Over/Under (O/U)
  • Team Total (TT)
  • Moneyline (ML)
  • Return on Investment (ROI)
  • Adjusted Yards per Attempt (AY/A)
  • Expected Points Added (EPA)
  • Success Rate (SR)
  • Completion Percentage Over Expected (CPOE)
  • Defense-Adjusted Value Over Average (DVOA)
  • AirYAC (Air Yards + Yards After Catch)
  • Weighted Opportunity Rating (WOPR)
  • Average Depth of Target (aDOT)
  • Short Down and Distance (SDD)
  • Long Down and Distance (LDD)