For most fantasy leagues, there are only three more weeks of football before the playoffs including this weekend. Now where you stand in your league may differ, but we all face tough start/sit decisions (unless you’re in a 6-team league), especially when bye weeks are still involved. With that in mind, getting an edge in any way possible is what we’re striving for.

To help, we asked the featured experts below to tell us who they believe could outperform their rank and on the flip side, who could end up ruining your week despite their higher ranking.

If you don’t see any of your players listed below, be sure to check out our Who Should I Start? tool. You can also import your team into My Playbook for instant advice specific to your team.

Q1. Give us a player outside of our top 100 Flex that represents a deep sleeper start and tell us why you think he has upside this week.

Keelan Cole (WR – JAC): at CLE
“Looking at a deep sleeper, the Jaguars’ Keelan Cole is in play this week. Not only has he seen 13 targets the last two weeks, but he’s going to get an even bigger bump with Allen Hurns slated to miss this contest against a Browns team that has allowed multiple passing touchdowns in all but one of their games this year. While Marqise Lee gets all the love from analysts this week, don’t forget about Cole.”
– Mike Tagliere (FantasyPros)

“With Allen Hurns unlikely to play Sunday, Keelan Cole, the Jags’ exceptionally talented rookie out of Kentucky Wesleyan is expected to fill the gap. Despite playing just a portion of the snaps, Cole has managed at least 47 yards in each of his last three contests. Last game, Bortles continued to force the ball his way, giving him 8 targets for a whopping 166 air yards. If he gets even half of that opportunity against the Browns this week, he should prove well worth the start.”
– Bobby Sylvester (FantasyPros)

Bruce Ellington (WR – HOU): vs. ARI
“Ellington has seen eight targets in each of the past two games and scored last week. He’s looking at an even bigger opportunity Sunday with Will Fuller out, Patrick Peterson mostly shadowing DeAndre Hopkins, and Arizona possessing a strong run D. The setup is there for Ellington to see double-digit targets this week.”
– Dalton Del Don (Yahoo! Sports)

Kenny Stills (WR – MIA): vs. TB
“Jarvis Landry, Devante Parker, and Kenny Stills, who is outside the top 100 Flex, were viable fantasy options last week against Carolina with each reaching double-digit fantasy points in PPR scoring. Last week they were all viable thanks to volume as Miami threw it 37 times playing catch up in an eventual 45-21 loss. This week they can all be viable thanks to efficiency in a much better matchup against the Buccaneers. who rank 28th in Football Outsider’s pass defense DVOA compared to ninth for Carolina. Stills has sneakily been consistent lately with at least 65 yards or a touchdown in four of his last five games.”
– Brett Talley (Fantasy Alarm)

Kenny Golladay (WR – DET): at CHI
“Golladay returned last week and while he didn’t have a big fantasy impact, earning just 11 snaps, he had two receptions for 64 yards. He should see more snaps this week. Yes, there are lots of mouths to feed in the Detroit offense, but Golladay has a chance to do damage in this offense whenever he’s on the field and could become a key red zone target for Stafford down the stretch.”
– Sablich Brothers (5th Down Fantasy)

Q2. On the flip side, what player inside the top 40 Flex is likely to disappoint fantasy owners this week?

Doug Martin (RB – TB): at MIA
“Since topping 14 standard points in each of his first two games back, Doug Martin hasn’t had more than 8 since. Over the last two games, he has just 58 total rushing yards. Things are not getting any better for the Bucs’ offense overall either, with Ryan Fitzpatrick showing us last week why he’s an NFL backup quarterback. I don’t see Martin doing much this week, even in a favorable matchup against the Dolphins.”
– Sablich Brothers (5th Down Fantasy)

“It’s time to give up on Doug Martin. Dating back to last season, in his last 237 carries he’s averaging 3.06 yards per carry. Volume is about the only reason to consider Martin at this point given he has at least 18 carries in three of his last four games, but he runs the risk of not getting his touches if Tampa falls behind. He has just five receptions in six games, so if Tampa, who is a road underdog this week, gets behind in the game by any significant margin, Martin won’t see the field much later in the game. Perhaps you could argue the matchup is good against a bad Miami defense, but they’re worse against the pass than they are against the run.”
– Brett Talley (Fantasy Alarm)

“Even as a flex, it’s hard to trust Doug Martin right now. Miami has the No. 31 ranked defensive DVOA, so the matchup is right, but Martin has gotten just 3.3 YPC on the year, including an anemic 1.9 against base fronts. He has five catches total on the season and hasn’t scored in more than a month. The Over/Under for this game is just 40 points. Martin will disappoint yet again in Week 11.”
– Dalton Del Don (Yahoo! Sports)

Orleans Darkwa (RB – NYG): vs. KC
I’ve been one to recommend Orleans Darkwa the last two weeks, as he was playing against two of the league’s worst run defenses, the Rams and 49ers. I also expected the Giants to keep the game close against the 49ers, which gave a little more confidence inserting him into fantasy lineups. That won’t be the case against the Chiefs in Week 11. Not only that, but they’re an above-average run defense. Unless Darkwa will be in the game when they’re down 10-plus points, he’s going to disappoint fantasy owners.
– Mike Tagliere (FantasyPros)

Chris Thompson (RB – WAS): at NO
“Thompson is averaging just 7.2 fantasy points per game over the last six weeks and 6.0 over his last three. While the big-play upside will always be there with Thompson, he just doesn’t get enough touches to warrant his auto-play status during this prolonged slump. While he may see an extra 3 or 4 touches with Rob Kelley expected to miss this week’s games, it certainly doesn’t help that he will be going against a Saints defense who is among the top quadrant of run-units this year.”
– Bobby Sylvester (FantasyPros)

Thank you to the experts for naming their sleeper starts and sits. Be sure to give them a follow on Twitter if you’re not already doing so and check out our latest podcast below for more great advice.

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