Fantasy Football Week 11 Hot Takes: Travis Kelce Will Score the Most Fantasy Points by a Tight End of All-Time
Good morning, FAmily! How did your fantasy teams fare this weekend? Did they come out on the sunny side of the fence, or did they end up buried under six feet of snow like Orchard Park, New York? The weather affected several teams this weekend, but that led to a couple of running backs having HUGE days. Jamaal Williams and Samaje Perine added their names to the list of running backs with hat tricks this season, but for some, fantasy points were harder to come by than Taylor Swift concert tickets. Saquon Barkley inexplicably finished with a whopping seven PPR points against a Lions run defense that’s as soft as baby poo, averaging just 1.47 yards per carry. Brian Robinson and Antonio Gibson also disappointed, despite having a positive game script the entirety of the game against the worst run defense in football. Sometimes, things just don’t make sense.
But, life would be pretty boring if everything worked out just the way we planned, right? Plus, you wouldn’t be able to chat with me every week about these hot takes! Consider this your appetizer before we roll into a fully-loaded Thanksgiving day slate. Cleanse your palette, and let’s dive into some juicy hot takes from Week 11.
Travis Kelce Has a Historically Best Fantasy Season
After Sunday night’s game against the Chargers, there’s no denying that Travis Kelce is the best tight end in the game right now. I’m going to take it a step further and say that he will finish the year with the most fantasy points by a tight end of all-time. The record is currently held by Rob Gronkowski from his 2011 season where he finished with 330.9 PPR points and averaged 20.8 fantasy points per game. Through ten games this season, Kelce already has 223 PPR fantasy points, at an average of 22.3 per game. Kadarius Toney went out Sunday night with a hamstring injury, joining Mecole Hardman and JuJu Smith-Schuster on the injury report, so Kelce will remain Patrick Mahomes’ primary target in the coming weeks. The Chiefs upcoming schedule may sway people away from Kelce, but he’s a generational talent who is impossible to stop. Don’t be surprised if he smashes Gronk’s record by the end of Week 15.
Brett Maher is a League-Winning Kicker
Yes, I know that people typically don’t care about kickers, but Brett Maher’s performance today was EPIC. Going into the final stretch of the season, Maher is a league-winner at his position. The Cowboys absolutely annihilated the Vikings today, so that helped Maher rack up over 20 fantasy points, but with the weather becoming more of an issue in the late part of the season, many of the kickers you’ve relied on all year will be in literal hit or miss situations. The Cowboys play four of their next six games at home within the comfy confines of AT&T Stadium, giving Maher an edge over other kickers like Justin Tucker who play in the elements. Dallas’ schedule is also mashed potato soft, with upcoming games against the Colts, Texans, and Jaguars, all of which are in domed stadiums or fair-weather venues. Don’t miss out on Maher when your waivers run this week.
Najee Harris is a Must-Start the Rest of the Season
It’s still a little early for a Christmas miracle, but we got a little pre-holiday magic from Najee Harris in Week 11. He almost cracked the 100-yard mark last week, but this week, he tacked on, not one, but two touchdowns, on top of his 90 rushing yards. In fact, over the past two weeks, Najee has once again landed in RB1 territory, currently ranking as RB5 in half PPR leagues. With Jaylen Warren going down with a hamstring injury against the Bengals, Harris is once again the bell-cow back on this offense with little to no competition for snaps. The Steelers have a few favorable matchups in the upcoming weeks against the Falcons, Panthers, and Raiders, and now that Harris and the offense is finally getting into a rhythm, those of you who held onto him have a solid RB1 going into your championship run.
Jacoby Brissett Should Keep the Starting Job When Deshaun Watson Returns
Maybe it’s the cold weather in the northern US, or maybe it’s the impending return of Deshaun Watson, but something has lit a fire under Jacoby Brissett. In the two weeks since their bye, Brissett is the overall QB4 in fantasy, and the chemistry (and resulting fantasy production) he’s developed with both Amari Cooper and Donovan Peoples-Jones can’t be ignored. Why mess that up when they’re not in playoff contention by making a switch in Week 13? Cleveland has a very winnable schedule for the rest of the season, with games against the Texans, Bengals, Ravens, and Saints, and Brissett just dismantled a much better Buffalo offense on Sunday, finishing with over 300 yards and three touchdowns. Starting a quarterback who hasn’t played all season (and played poorly in the preseason) is a recipe for disaster for every fantasy-relevant piece in Cleveland. We know that the NFL doesn’t care about our fantasy teams, but in this case, they should take notes.
The Atlanta Falcons Will Win the NFC South With Marcus Mariota’s Legs
Going into this season, and even throughout the season, no one expected the Falcons to perform well. They refused to throw the ball despite having a Maserati and a Ferrari at their disposal in Kyle Pitts and Drake London, but they have still managed to win games. Atlanta can’t keep getting away with this, can they? They must have Heisenberg on the payroll because it’s starting to look like they can. Despite making some truly atrocious throws, Marcus Mariota has kept the Falcons in these games with his legs, and his rushing ability has him sitting at QB9 on the year. Yes, that’s not a typo…QB9. The next few weeks have very winnable games against the Commanders, Steelers, Saints, and Ravens, and while these games will likely be close, Atlanta somehow finds a way to eke out wins in the most unlikely of circumstances. They’re locked up in a tight race for the division with the Buccaneers, but don’t be surprised when Mariota somehow keeps the magic going and takes the Falcons to the top of a winnable division.
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The Commanders will play the Dolphins in Madrid, Spain on November 16.
The NFL appears keen on spotlighting Jayden Daniels and the Commanders after their stunning run to the NFC title game last season. Daniels will lead the hyper-efficient Washington offense into Madrid for the last of the seven 2025 international regular season games. It could be an exciting back-and-forth affair between a high-powered Commanders offense — now with Deebo Samuel — and a Miami offense led by Tua Tagovailoa, De’Von Achane, and Tyreek Hill.
The Vikings in 2025 will have back-to-back international games in different countries.
They will be the first team to play back-to-back weeks in different countries outside the United States. The Vikings will face off against the Steelers in the first-ever NFL regular season game in Dublin on Stepember 28, then play the Browns in London the following weekend. It could be a tough travel schedule for the Vikings, though the Jaguars have played back-to-back international games in recent years. Those games were in the same country, however. The Vikings-Steelers game could be intriguing if Aaron Rodgers is under center for Pittsburgh after trying and failing to generate interest for his services in Minnesota this offseason.
The Athletic’s Ted Nguyen believes Cowboys WR George Pickens could see a “huge uptick” in single coverage this season.
Pickens, who was traded from the Steelers to the Cowboys last week in exchange for draft pick compensation, won’t function as the primary wideout in Dallas. Pickens’ ability to challenge secondaries deep is something the Cowboys have “sorely missed” in recent seasons, Nguyen said. “In Pittsburgh, opposing defenses often doubled Pickens or shaded a safety to his side,” he said. “With the Cowboys, if defenses choose to put a safety over the top of Pickens, Lamb will have more space to work with in the middle of the field. You would expect teams to continue doubling Lamb, which means Pickens could see a huge uptick in one-on-one coverage.” Pickens, according to Nguyen, will only improve the Dallas passing attack if he gives consistent effort. The moody Pickens became widely known for taking plays off — and sometimes giving little effort for an entire game — during his three years with the Steelers. More single coverage, however, could mean more explosive plays for the new Cowboys WR2. In the Steelers’ run-first scheme last season, Pickens was third in targets of more than 20 yards downfield and second in receiving yards on downfield receptions. Pickens had just one drop on 30 downfield looks in 2024.
ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler reports Saints hosted free agent CB Asante Samuel for a visit Monday.
Samuel, fresh off offseason neck surgery, visited with the Saints Monday as he pursues his next playing opportunity. He has clear connection to the franchise after they hired Brandon Staley to fill their defensive coordinator position, for whom Samuel played under with the Chargers. Fowler adds that Samuel has another doctor visit scheduled for early July, during which time he hopes to gain clearance to resume football activities.
ESPN’s Adam Schefter reports Packers met with WR Jayden Reed’s agent, Drew Rosenhaus, to clarify his status with the team.
The meeting comes after the Packers selected a wide receiver in the first round for the first time since 2002 in this year’s draft. Schefter added that the team emphasized Reed’s status as the top option at wide receiver after the selection of Matthew Golden and Savion Williams. “Green Bay’s top receiver” means far less for fantasy than it does in other places around the league considering Reed led the team with just 62.6% of the team’s offensive snaps played in 2024. Reed in 2024 accounted for 16 percent of the Packers’ targets and 16 percent of the team’s air yards. He was targeted on just 19 percent of his pass routes after seeing a target on 23.4 percent of his routes in 2023.
Saints signed QB Hunter Dekkers.
Dekkers spent three seasons with the Cyclones of Iowa State before stepping away from football following an indictment surrounding charges related to sports gambling. He then played his final collegiate season at Iowa Western before being invited to Saints camp. Dekkers spent his redshirt season backing up Brock Purdy at Iowa State.