Daily fantasy (DFS) brings a breath of fresh air to the industry, with an emphasis on the excitement of drafting a new team every week. We all know that the late summer drafts and the thrill of analyzing the weekly matchups are the best part of playing fantasy football. The daily game merges those two together to form the newest wave rocking the fantasy world.
Here in the weekly daily fantasy roundup column, we'll break down everything you need to know to pick the best plays on the Week 11 slate. If any of the terminology goes over your head. Please refer to the "what you need to know" preview of the roundup.
Top quarterback plays
Matthew Stafford, QB, Detroit Lions - The Jaguars visit to Detroit should bring us one of the highest scoring games of the week, provided the guest team and their quarterback play cooperates. The Jaguars have a solid pass defense, but playing at home should help Stafford immensely. In his own building this season Stafford has a 7.1 touchdown rate compared to just 4.6 on the road.
Russell Wilson, QB, Seattle Seahawks - He's back. In the last two weeks Wilson has a 5-0 touchdown to interception ratio and completed 72.3 percent of his passes. He's out of all lower body braces and the like. The Eagles cornerback play is really beginning to fall apart despite their pass defense still holding strong overall rankings. Over the last two weeks opposing quarterbacks have stung the Eagles for five touchdowns at a 7.8 yards per attempt clip.
Kirk Cousins, QB, Washington Redskins - The Green Bay at Washington game looks as likely as any to be a shootout this week. Cousins has been a solid option all season outside of Week 1. He averages 301 passing yards per game, despite only having two games over 350 yards to tip the scales, and hasn't had a multi-interception game since the season opener. The Packers continue to suffer injuries in the secondary and just got ripped apart by Marcus Mariota. The additional benefit of Cousins is that because his distribution is so widespread you can use him unstacked with a teammate.
Top running back plays
Spencer Ware, RB, Kansas City Chiefs - The Bucs are a far better run defense than they are at halting passing games. However, Ware is a workhorse playing on a favored home team. The game where he suffered a concussion against the Colts was the only contest where he saw fewer than 14 touches and collected less than 70 total yards. Tampa's run defense may be starting to crack anyways, as they let up 418 yards to running backs on the ground at 4.75 on average per attempt in their last four games.
Frank Gore, RB, Indianapolis Colts - Taking a stab at Gore might be the most contrarian move in the likely shootout between the Colts and Titans. Gore has found the end zone four times in the last three weeks, and was held out of the paint in just three spots all season. The Titans give up 4.8 yards per carry over the last month.
C.J. Prosise, RB, Seattle Seahawks - He's the clear value play at running back this week. Prosise should remain the lead back in this game. Thomas Rawls has suffered multiple injuries since we last saw him play effectively in an NFL game on December 13th, 2015. The Eagles are a tough front seven, so it makes sense to get him out in space, a dimension the Seahawks clearly like having.
Top wide receiver plays
A.J. Green, WR, Cincinnati Bengals - The Bills are really struggling with their cornerback play, and even benched 2015 second-rounder Ronald Darby in their last game for oft-burned veteran Corey White. Stephon Gilmore has been no better on the other side. Green isn't getting a ton of buzz as a popular DFS play this week, but this is without question an explosive spot for him.
Stefon Diggs, WR, Arizona Cardinals - Bruce Arians indicated that Patrick Peterson will shadow Stefon Diggs, even into the slot. While that's intimidating, Diggs runs such shallow routes since Pat Shurmur took over that he should still have a solid reception floor. Diggs has 13 catches in back-to-back games, and went downfield more often in Week 10 as opposed to the week prior.
Randall Cobb, WR, Green Bay Packers - If Jordy Nelson is tangled up with Josh Norman, which is looking likely, Cobb would see a ton of opportunities out of the slot. He's been disappointing of late, after leading the NFL in targets over a three-game stretch before his hamstring injury. You should get Cobb at low ownership this week.
Top tight end plays
Eric Ebron, TE, Detroit Lions - The Lions starter had 18 targets in the two games after he returned from a multi-week injury absence. He appears to have the clearest role out of any Detroit pass-catcher at the moment.
Martellus Bennett, TE, New England Patriots - This one is pretty easy. With Rob Gronkowski out, Bennett is in line for a sizable role in the offense as the starting tight end. The Patriot will threaten for one of the highest individual team scores of the week facing a moribund 49ers defense while coming in off a loss.
Top defense plays
Seattle Seahawks DEF - Carson Wentz faces a tough test going to Seattle to take on this defense. Even though there are holes in Seattle's stop unit at the moment, Wentz and company likely don't have the horses to exploit them. Either way, sacks and turnovers should be on their way.
Kansas City Chiefs DEF- Marcus Peters not practicing all week is a concern, but the Kansas City defense should be in solid position for a strong outing to force Jameis Winston into mistakes. They will not have the turnover upside or ceiling if Peters is out, however.
Miami Dolphins DEF - The Rams are welcoming No. 1 overall pick Jared Goff to the lineup this week. Let's take our chances here and say this isn't going to go well.
Stack(s) of the week
Andrew Luck/Donte Moncrief/Delanie Walker - Eventually Donte Moncrief is going to have an explosive game, and this looks like as a good a spot as ever. He is on a 12-touchdown season-end pace over his last 11 games played with Andrew Luck. Bringing it back with Delanie Walker for the game stack makes the most sense, as the Colts bleed tight end production to the opposing team, giving up the third-most yards per game to the position. Indianapolis allows the fourth-most yards to tight ends out of the slot and the 10th-most yards to tight ends lined up out wide. Delanie Walker is one of the biggest threats as a move tight end in the NFL. So far this season Walker accumulates 47 percent of his yards when lined up out of the slot and 11 percent out wide.
Blake Bortles/Allen Robinson, Jacksonville Jaguars - The Lions should allow Blake Bortles to have a game where he doesn't throw up on his shoes right from the start. Detroit gives up an NFL-high 74.1 completion rate and a 20-4 touchdown to interception ratio. Allen Robinson has target totals of 15, 12 and 13 in his last three games and is picking up his individual play. This is another bust-out spot for him. If you wish, you can chase the opponent's potential high-score by stacking Golden Tate here, as well. Tate's lowest target total of the last four weeks is nine.
Best contrarian play
LeSean McCoy, RB, Buffalo Bills - Of all the high-end running backs the public is likely to chase this week, it feels like there is just no buzz on LeSean McCoy. The Bengals allowed the ineffective Giants to run for 4.9 yards per carry on them and wore down late in the game. On the season they are just the 20th-ranked run defense in Football Outsiders' DVOA metric. The Bills erred by trying to run McCoy back in Week 7 despite having a hamstring injury. Now with several weeks in the rearview mirror and sitting during their bye week, McCoy should be ready to roll. Week 7 was the only game this season where he had fewer than 19 touches.
Best obvious play
LeGarrette Blount, RB, New England Patriots - Let's not overthink this one. Despite the return of Tom Brady, Blount hasd been one of the best backs in fantasy the last few weeks. Not only does he lead the NFL in rushing touchdowns, he has 18 or more carries in all but one of Brady's five games played this year. The Patriots take on the 49ers, who just bleed rushing yards, this week. San Francisco gives up 160.3 yards per game to running backs on the year, almost a fell 60 yards more than the Raiders, who give up the second-most in the NFL.
Near 100 percent exposure player
Mike Evans, WR, Tampa Bay Buccaneers - Regardless of whether Marcus Peters plays or not, Evans is in a prime spot to produce massive numbers against Kansas City. So far, the X-isolated receiver on the left side of the field has crushed Kansas City each and every week. Mike Evans takes 50 percent of his snaps at left wide receiver, making him and obvious candidate to join this group:
Top receivers' production lined up at left wide:
Kelvin Benjamin - 60 percent of his yards
Allen Robinson- 63 percent of his yards
Donte Moncrief- 44 percent of his yards
Michael Thomas - 93 percent of his yards
Amari Cooper- 73 percent of his yards
Antonio Brown - 94 percent of his yards
DeAndre Hopkins - 63 percent of his yards
If you can get Evans at depressed ownership after last week's slow game, even better. Evans still leads the NFL in targets per game, and is in a screaming bounce-back spot in Week 11.
Cheat code of the week
Tyler Lockett, WR, Seattle Seahawks - Normally we like to go with even more value at this cheat code spot, but there are no obvious candidates this week. It's been a painfully slow year for those, including yours truly, who believe Tyler Lockett was in line for a big breakout second season. However, he looks explosive once again with his PCL injury in the rear-view mirror. He totaled 72 yards and hauled in some downfield targets in Seattle's upset of the Patriots last week. The Eagles suffocate tight ends and slow down slot receivers, which is where the Seahawks offense has their two most important receivers. With Leodis McKelvin, Jalen Mills and the other Eagles cornerbacks regressing, Lockett could finally explode.
Matt Harmon is an associate fantasy writer/editor for NFL.com, and the creator of #ReceptionPerception, who you can follow on Twitter _@MattHarmonBYB_ or like on Facebook.
