The Report: Game-by-Game Breakdown for Week 11

Handcuffing is a widely used strategy in fantasy football, but rarely is it used correctly. We often hear about handcuffing during fantasy draft season. People prioritize handcuffs in the late rounds, and what typically ends up happening is they drop these players three weeks into the season.

Sure, if you drafted James Conner six years ago or Austin Ekeler in 2019, the strategy worked like gangbusters. But those are the exception, not the rule. So, the advice I gave back in August, and will continue to give, is don’t handcuff on draft day unless you plan on committing to the ‘cuff. Instead, spend those late-round picks on high upside wide receivers and late-round quarterback options.

But that’s not to say that I’m against the idea of handcuffing. In fact, it’s the exact opposite. Handcuffing is an excellent strategy, especially as we reach mid-November. If you have a top running back option who isn’t cuffed, you leave yourself vulnerable.

Now, not every top back has a clear handcuff. Derrick Henry and Saquon Barkley don’t. Their teams would almost certainly deploy a committee if either player went down. However, most of the other top backs do have a clear cuff. If you have more than five bench spots and roster and every-week RB1, it’s wise to handcuff your top guy. However, it’s also a waste of a bench spot to cuff more than one back at this time of year. Focus on using your remaining bench spots to roster players who could actively start for your roster if you need them to.

Each week in The Report, I’m going to go through every game and give you the information you need to make the most informed decisions possible for your fantasy football rosters. I’ll provide some key about matchups, trends and anything else we need to know about each contest.

Note: The Report will be updated as I finish writing up each game, so be sure to check back throughout the end of the week. Games will be periodically added until Friday afternoons.

Washington @ Philadelphia

Jayden Daniels has joined elite company, becoming only the second quarterback since the 1970 NFL merger to average 200 passing yards and 45 rushing yards over his first 10 career games. The only other player to achieve this milestone was Robert Griffin III in 2012. Daniels hasn’t posted a top-five fantasy finish since Week 3, but he has been top 12 in five of his last seven games. He remains a high-ceiling QB1 play.

Terry McLaurin is coming off his fourth 100-yard receiving game of the season. That’s an impressive feat considering he only had one such game all of last year. McLaurin has also been a key scoring threat, with six receiving touchdowns, putting him just one shy of his career-high of seven set in 2019. McLaurin is a front-end WR2.

Brian Robinson Jr. has been sidelined for the past two games with a hamstring injury but is set to return for this one. He’s already set a career-high with six rushing touchdowns this season in just seven games. We’re sliding him right back in RB2 territory. As for Austin Ekeler, he’s coming off his seventh career game with two or more rushing touchdowns. Of course, that production came without Robinson on the field. With Robinson back, Ekeler is more of a flex play.

Jalen Hurts recently joined an exclusive group as the third quarterback in NFL history to reach 50-plus career rushing touchdowns, alongside Cam Newton and Josh Allen. Hurts also had his second career game with two or more passing touchdowns and two or more rushing touchdowns. Perhaps even more impressively, he’s finished as a top-five fantasy quarterback in each of his last four games.

Saquon Barkley is on pace to make history, projecting to finish the season with 1,872 rushing yards. That would surpass the Eagles’ single season record of 1,607 set by LeSean McCoy in 2013. Barkley leads the league in scrimmage yards per game with an average of 127.7, while his 110.1 rushing yards per game rank second in the NFL.

A.J. Brown has also been a reliable contributor, averaging 92.2 receiving yards per game, placing him fourth in the NFL. Brown is healthy and ready to roll as a WR1 play. Likewise, we’re good to go with both DeVonta Smith and Dallas Goedert. Smith is more boom-or-bust than Brown but should be considered a fringe WR2. As for Goedert, he found the end zone last week, but only caught two balls. He’s really only a tight end streamer option in this one.