Fantasy Football Week 11 Wide Receiver Start/Sit: Jauan Jennings, Jayden Reed, Jakobi Meyers, Josh Downs

Welcome to FantasySP’s Week 11 fantasy football wide receiver Start/Sit breakdown! After a few weeks of hitting on either Start or Sit picks, I finally put it all together last week. All three of my Sit picks finished with fewer than 25 receiving yards and 10 Half-PPR points, with Quentin Johnston having the best game of the group with just two catches for 24 yards and a touchdown. D.J. Moore and Xavier Worthy combined for just 5.8 points. 

Meanwhile, all three of my Start picks were solid. Josh Downs was the worst of the bunch with seven catches for 72 yards (and dropped a walk-in TD), while Jauan Jennings (seven for 93) and especially Calvin Ridley (five for 84 and two touchdowns) had great outings. Hopefully, we can keep that momentum rolling in Week 11! Let’s get started! 

For more help with your toughest Week 11 Start/Sit decisions, check out FantasySP’s NFL Start/Sit tool!

Fantasy Football Wide Receivers To Start Week 11

Jauan Jennings, San Francisco 49ers vs. Seattle Seahawks

Jennings hit big for me last week, and he is still being started in just 42% of leagues, so I am going right back to the well. Last week, Jennings was unambiguously the 49ers’ WR1 in terms of usage. He led the team in route participation rate at 88% and racked up 11 targets for a 31% target share. Of those 11 looks, 10 of those were also first-read targets, giving him a 39% first-read target share.

This wasn’t a one-time fluke, either, as Jennings has consistently been great when on the field this season. He ranks seventh among qualified receivers in PFF Receiving Grade, fifth in yards per route run, and eighth in Fantasy Points Data’s Route Win Rate. Kyle Shanahan has also confirmed that Jennings will play the X-receiver role originally intended for Brandon Aiyuk in the 49ers’ offense going forward. There’s a reason our Week 11 projections have him ranked as the WR8 overall. 

This matchup against Seattle is also a good one, as the Seahawks rank seventh in schedule-adjusted points given up to receivers lined up out wide (where Jennings ran 73% of his routes in Week 10). Although the crowded nature of the 49ers’ offense always brings some variability, I am starting Jennings with confidence as a WR2 this week. 

Jakobi Meyers, Las Vegas Raiders @ Miami Dolphins

Davante Adams last suited up for the Raiders in Week 3. Since then, Jakobi Meyers has played in four games. Over those four games, he has a 29% target share and a 38% air yards share. To put into perspective how great those numbers are, here is a list of players with at least a 29% target share on the season: Malik Nabers, Justin Jefferson, and A.J. Brown … and I had to round up to even include AJB.

To be fair, Gardner Minshew targets are probably not worth as much as your average look. That is probably why Meyers is still being started in just a third of fantasy leagues. But that level of volume is simply too elite to ignore, even with bad quarterback play. 

This matchup with the Dolphins also isn’t as bad as it first seems. Although Miami ranks 10th-worst in terms of adjusted fantasy points allowed to WRs, that number is depressed by the weeks in which they were the worst team in the league without Tua Tagovailoa. If we look just at their defensive performance against the pass, they rank exactly average in terms of dropback EPA per play allowed. Start Meyers with confidence this week, especially in Full PPR leagues. 

Brian Thomas Jr., Jacksonville Jaguars @ Detroit Lions

A few weeks ago, Brian Thomas Jr. looked like a potential league winner. Now, coming off back-to-back terrible outings and with Mac Jones as his QB for the foreseeable future, he is being started in under 50% of leagues. However, I am here to say that the rookie is still worth playing, at least for this week. 

Yes, Mac Jones was terrible in his first Jacksonville start in Week 10. But that was against a very tough Vikings defense. Detroit’s defense is also good, but they rank as the second-softest schedule-adjusted matchup for fantasy WRs. This may be mostly giving up garbage time points when their offense already has them up by three scores, but points scored in garbage time count just the same as regular points. BTJ is an explosive playmaker who only needs one big play to have a productive day. Hopefully, he can give us one this week.

Fantasy Football Wide Receivers To Sit Week 11

D.J. Moore, Chicago Bears vs. Green Bay Packers

Once again, I’m going back to a pick that worked last week. With 4.2 last week, Moore has now failed to score more than 5.3 Half-PPR points in each of his last four games. He also has just one weekly finish inside the top 30 receivers. That he is still being started in 56% of leagues seems inexplicable.

To be fair to those 56% of managers, there are some reasons to like Moore. He still has a solid 22% target share for the season, as well as a 30% air yards share. His team-high 28% first-read target share is also a good sign that he is still the first option in this Bears passing game. But at a certain point, all those targets have to turn into points, and they simply haven’t been so far this season. 

We can blame the Bears’ coaching staff, who just fired their OC; we can blame Caleb Williams, who has a truly awful 67% catchable throw rate; or we can blame Moore himself, who has seemed checked out at times this season. At the end of the day, things aren’t working. In a below-average matchup with a Packers defense that gives up the 11th-fewest adjusted points to WRs, I’m leaving DJM on my bench again this week.

Jayden Reed, Green Bay Packers @ Chicago Bears

Let’s stick in this divisional matchup for a second, as we have another underperforming receiver in a tough spot. Overall, Reed is the WR10 for the season, but he has been inconsistent, with just one top-24 finish in his last five weeks (to be fair, that top-24 cutoff is particularly harsh as he does have two WR25 finishes in that span). Reed is still a talented, explosive young player, so I see why 50% of managers are trusting him for this week.

The issue, as it has always been with Reed, is that he only plays in three-receiver sets. That reduces his chances to earn targets, meaning he has just a 17% target share for the season despite very solid per-route numbers. The last time he reached a 20% target share was back in Week 5, a week in which both Romeo Doubs and Christian Watson were inactive.

Making matters worse for Reed, this matchup is particularly bad for him. The Bears are the second-toughest schedule-adjusted matchup for slot receivers, giving up just 5.2 points per game to players lined up in the slot. That’s where Reed runs 80% of his routes, so he may find tough sledding this week. The Packers being 5.5-point favorites doesn’t help, either. Reed has proven me wrong before, but I’m sitting the sophomore this week.

Josh Downs, Indianapolis Colts @ New York Jets

Anthony Richardson is off the bench for the Colts, which means Josh Downs needs to go back on fantasy football benches. In games where Richardson was the Colts' primary quarterback, Downs has averaged just 2.7 receptions for 45 receiving yards and 8.2 Half-PPR points per game. If we take away his blown-coverage 69-yard TD against Houston in Week 8, he falls to just 3.8 points per game. 

Downs’ skill set couldn’t possibly be a worse fit with Richardson, who is the only passer ranking worse than Caleb with an inconceivably bad 61% catchable target rate. Downs also has the same issue as Reed, where only playing in 11 personnel limits his total route participation. On low route volume, he needs to dominate when he is out there, and playing with Richardson does not give him that opportunity. Combine that with a matchup against a Jets defense that ranks as the sixth-worst adjusted matchup for WRs (and eighth-worst for slot WRs), and I recommend benching Downs this week if you have any other options.   

Ted Chmyz is a fantasy football contributor for FantasySP. Find him on Twitter @Tchmyz for more fantasy content or to ask questions.