Fantasy Football Start ‘Em, Sit ‘Em Running Backs: Week 11

Getty Brian Hill of the Atlanta Falcons

Welcome to our Fantasy Football Start ‘Em, Sit ‘Em for Week 11 of the NFL season. In this week’s column, we feature a rookie out of Atlanta primed to take on a heavy workload with the incumbent starter out with an injury.

* Reminder: Start ‘Em, Sit ‘Em is intended to present you with the non-obvious choices for your fantasy lineup. We dig deep into player matchups, scoring trends, and other factors to best help you with your fantasy decisions. Superstars such as Christian McCaffrey and Saquon Barkley will not be found in this column. If you’re looking for players of their caliber check out our weekly fantasy football running back rankings.

Start-Sit [QBs | RBs | WRs | TEs | DEF | Ks]

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RB: Start ‘Em

Start of the Week: Josh Jacobs vs. CIN

Jacobs has become essentially an RB1 over the first 10 weeks of his rookie season. The running back has scored the 10th most fantasy points by a player at his position. Jacobs has been a workhorse of late, averaging 22.7 touches per game from Week 4 on. Cincinnati allows the second-most rushing yards per game (116.4), the third-most rushing touchdowns per game, and the fourth-most fantasy points to opposing running backs this season.

Melvin Gordon vs. KC

After a slow start to his season, Gordon has seemingly refound his former Pro Bowl form. Gordon is RB4 over the last two weeks with an average of 23.1 points. No team has allowed more fantasy points to the running back position than the Chiefs this season. Derrick Henry just gashed KC to the tune of 188 rushing yards. They’ve also allowed an eye-popping seven total touchdowns to the position over their past three games.

Brian Hill at CAR

Hill was the must-add waiver-wire pickup of Week 11, he’s also a highly viable starting option for your Week 11 lineup, with fellow Falcons running back Devonta Freeman likely out with an injury. The former Wyoming Cowboy has now scored in back-to-back weeks, and is fresh off a 21-touch performance. Since Carolina‘s Week 7 bye, opposing starting running backs have averaged an absurd 30 fantasy points per game against the Panthers.

Todd Gurley vs. CHI

Yes, it’s gotten to this point. Gurley is no longer a must-start fantasy option. However Week 11’s matchup with the Chicago Bears may actually be exactly what the former Offensive Player of the Year needs to get back on track, as odd as that may sound. Prior to a matchup with the Kerryon Johnson-less Detroit Lions a week ago, the Bears had allowed three of the four most recent starting running backs they’ve faced off with to average 125.3 total yards against them.

Sleeper: JD McKissic vs. DAL

Speaking of the Kerryon Johnson-less Lions, JD McKissic essentially locked down the starting gig at running back for Detroit in Week 10. McKissic led the team in rush attempts, and more importantly, tacked on six receptions to his stat line. McKissic is an intriguing PPR-play against a Dallas team who has allowed opposing starting running backs to haul in at least seven receptions in each of their past two games.

RB: Sit ‘Em

Sit of the Week: Phillip Lindsay at MIN

Lindsay averaged a staggering 10.2 yards per carry last time we’d seen him play. However, he also just carried the ball a meager nine times in that game. Lindsay has been out-snapped by fellow running mate Royce Freeman in six straight games. Minnesota allows the fifth-fewest fantasy points to running backs this season. The Vikings are coming off a game where the held Ezekiel Elliott to 47 rushing yards on 20 carries, a ypc average of just 2.4.

Jordan Howard vs. NE

Howard has scored a touchdown in each of his past two games. However, the likelihood of him hitting paydirt for a third consecutive week is highly unlikely. The New England Patriots defense has allowed just one rushing touchdown all season to the running back position. With Howard’s limited usage in the passing game, his fantasy outlook seems somewhat bleak heading into Week 11.

David Montgomery at LAR

Montgomery‘s performance a week ago was beyond disappointing. In a matchup that seemed destined to allow Montgomery to produce at a high-level, he racked up just 60 rushing yards and failed to find the end zone. If you eliminate the 125 rushing performance in Week 8 from his resume, the rookie has averaged just 41.4 rushing yards per game. Starting running backs have averaged just 39.75 rushing yards against the Rams over their last four games.

Buyers Beware: Ronald Jones vs. NO 

RoJo is all the hype in fantasy circles at the moment. After being named the team’s starter in Week 10, the running back went out and racked up 22+ fantasy points on his way to being the fifth-highest scoring player at his position for the week. However, he carried the ball the same amount of times as “backup” Peyton Barber, while accumulating just 29 rushing yards on the day. He has now averaged 3.9 ypc or less in all but one game this season. New Orleans surrenders the third-fewest fantasy points to running backs in 2019.

READ NEXT:  Fantasy: Running Back Rankings Week 11