With the Tennessee Titans and Jacksonville Jaguars kicking off the Who The Hell Cares Bowl Thursday, we are officially in Week 11. Time moves way too fast. Let’s go back to Week 6 when Peyton Manning still had a foot and the New Orleans Saints actually inspired hope for the future.
But I digress. Go set your lineups, non-Yankees. Here’s a little bit of help for both your main league and your Draft Kings leagues:
Fantasy Football Pick Him Up—Brandon LaFell, WR, New England Patriots: Julian Edelman broke his foot this past weekend against the New York Giants, so the odds are he’ll be out for the rest of the season. That’s ten targets a game to be dispersed amongst the rest of the Pats receiving core—mainly Danny Amendola and Brandon LaFell. The majority of the hype seems to be around Danny, so he’s probably already gone in most leagues. LaFell could easily play a bigger role, however.
He may be looking for his first touchdown of the season this weekend against the Buffalo Bills, but since LaFell returned from the PUP list, he’s had a consistent six targets per game. Just two more a week would be huge.
LaFell had 167 yards and two touchdowns against the Bills in 2014, so Bill Belichick just may give him a few more nods this weekend. Either way, he’s worth a shot until we know who on that team will step up for the injured Edelman.
Fantasy Football Don’t Bother—Brock Osweiler, QB, Denver Broncos: Okay, yeah I’m upset that Peyton has to miss the first game of his career outside of 2011. That doesn’t change the fact that Osweiler has shown absolutely nothing to justify the claims that he’s the future of the Broncos franchise.
I could rant for days on why I think Osweiler is overrated, but at the end of the day this is a legitimately tough matchup for Brock. The Chicago Bears aren’t exactly known for their defense anymore, but playing his former head coach John Fox and his former offensive coordinator Adam Gase won’t be easy. These guys already know Osweiler’s style.
If that isn’t enough for you, the Bears haven’t given more than 17 fantasy points to a quarterback since Week 6 against Matthew Stafford of all people. That includes limiting Philip Rivers, Russell Wilson, Aaron Rodgers, and Carson Palmer. So if you actually think Osweiler is better than them for your fantasy footbal game, don’t say I didn’t warn you.