Were Week 11 Fantasy Showings from Stefon Diggs and A.J. Brown Outliers, or Reason for Concern?

When perusing the week 11 target, touch, snap and redzone leaders page, two big-time fantasy wide receiver’s games stood out to me.

Buffalo Bills’ Stefon Diggs and Philadelphia Eagles’ A.J. Brown both had surprisingly poor games. They happen to be part of the same game in week 12, so I thought this was a perfect opportunity to discuss what happened in week 11 and then whether or not there’s reason to be concerned at all with either guy.

Explore the best in-season tool to manage lineup/start decisions including predictive waiver analytics to help prioritize waiver pickups, projections, auction values, trade suggestions, trade value charts, rest of season rankings, power rankings, and tons more with Fantasy Assistant. Use our fantasy football trade analyzer to break down trade scenarios.

Week 11 Showings

In the Bills’ rout of the New York Jets, Buffalo threw for 275 yards and three touchdowns. Diggs only had 27 yards on four catches and eight targets, while also failing to score.

Diggs was still the team leader in targets, but finished behind Khalil Shakir, Ty Johnson, James Cook and Dalton Kincaid in receiving yards. He also was behind Kincaid in receptions.

Diggs played 61 offensive snaps, only trailing Gabe Davis. Diggs had one of the team’s two red zone targets, but failed to make the catch.

Brown only had one catch for 8 yards across four targets in the Eagles’ big win over the Kansas City Chiefs. Philly only threw for 150 yards on the night.

Brown finished behind DeVonta Smith and D’Andre Swift in receiving yards. Those two and Julio Jones all finished with more catches.

Brown played the same amount of snaps at Smith. Brown also was targeted once in the red zone, but failed to make the catch.

It’s crazy to even be questioning talented receivers like Diggs and Brown, but when they put together statlines like they did, it’s fair.

Stefon Diggs Fantasy Outlook

The Bills played week 11 under a new offensive coordinator, so maybe that played a bit into Diggs’ down game. In time, he could be back to his old ways.

But, Diggs has been struggling a bit over the past five games, at least when you consider the lofty expectations that go with his name.

Diggs caught just 3-of-5 targets for 34 yards in week 10. He scored and went for 86 yards on six grabs and seven targets the previous week, so the touchdown turned an solid fantasy showing into a good one.

The previous game, Diggs had nine grabs on 12 targets for 70 yards. He caught half of his 12 targets for 58 yards and a score the week before that, so again, a touchdown turned an OK performance into a good one.

I don’t think we are to a point where you should be benching Diggs, but in non-PPR formats, some fantasy owners are probably at least considering it. I’m not to the point of benching him, but one more down showing would get me there. We are still talking about one of the best receivers in the game, so it'd have to be a really poor showing.

Thankfully, the Eagles’ defense struggles to slow opposing wide receivers. Philly is actually the worst in the league, allowing 47 fantasy points per week. That matchup alone means you should be starting Diggs, and you should be feeling pretty confident about it even after some recent down performances.

A.J. Brown Fantasy Outlook

Brown’s down game was easily his worst showing of the season, but it’s been a long time since he had a bad outing.

Brown has only failed to reach 100 receiving yards in four contests. Two of those happened in weeks 1 and 2, and the other was in the team’s most recent game before week 11. He still had 66 yards and a touchdown on seven grabs and nine targets in week 9, so it was still a good fantasy showing.

In the team’s other six games, Brown had at least six grabs and 125 receiving yards, scoring five touchdowns over that span. The Chiefs’ defense is a strong one, so this looks more like a one-week blip than a trend (like in Diggs’ case). 

Brown doesn’t have a favorable matchup if he hopes to get back on track. The Bills’ defense only allows 29 fantasy points to receivers per week.

Given the Eagles’ passing game is typically dominated by Brown and Smith, I’m still starting both guys this week. I’m not super confident in Brown having a monster showing, but I do believe he will bounce back and be a top-15 fantasy wideout for week 12.

Final Thoughts

While the fantasy performances from Diggs and Brown were definitely surprising and annoying for the fantasy owners that played them, these truly poor showings are rare occurrences. Even their “down” matchups from earlier in the season are solid fantasy outings in PPR formats.

Don’t try to be bold and bench one of them this week. Trust in your highly-drafted player and expect a much better outcome than last week.

Just remember that most down games for Diggs and Brown are still average fantasy outings. Don’t leave them on your bench ever, or you might just play yourself into a loss and have your season ended.