When someone asks you what it’s like to play fantasy football, just show them the results of Week 11 of 2023.
Week 11 featured quintessential examples of when fantasy managers say, “he only does well when benched him.” Let’s dig into why the stat sheet doesn’t tell the whole story for Week 11.
- Weekly Fantasy Football Expert Rankings
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- Fantasy Football Trade Tools
Fantasy Games Won (FGW)
I go over the FGW statistic in Week 8’s article. For a deeper dive, check out my blog. TL;DR: 0.15 = 15% increase in your chances of winning a fantasy matchup.
The Hacker Named Achane
De’Von Achane hurt his knee again in Week 11. While we hope he heals quickly, fantasy managers who had him in their lineups this past week had to try and overcome his one-point outing.
Even with the one-point game, Achane is averaging 19.6 half-PPR points in games where he scores fantasy points. That is the type of average you usually see from a first-round fantasy draft pick. However, since he was started by almost nobody in Week 3, and started by almost everyone in Week 11, his only +0.06 in Fantasy Games Won this season.
| De’Von Achane | Points | % Start | FGW |
| Week 01 | 0.0 | 0% | 0.00 |
| Week 02 | 1.4 | 0% | 0.00 |
| Week 03 | 49.3 | 0% | 0.00 |
| Week 04 | 25.5 | 51% | 0.13 |
| Week 05 | 21.0 | 96% | 0.16 |
| Week 06 | 0.0 | 0% | 0.00 |
| Week 07 | 0.0 | 0% | 0.00 |
| Week 08 | 0.0 | 0% | 0.00 |
| Week 09 | 0.0 | 0% | 0.00 |
| Week 10 | 0.0 | 0% | 0.00 |
| Week 11 | 1.0 | 93% | -0.24 |
Achane wasn’t the only player to have a week that makes cynical fantasy managers say “of course” on Sunday. Trevor Lawrence made his fantasy managers question their sanity, too. Lawrence scored his best point total on the week his percent started rate dropped from 58% to 14%.
| Trevor Lawrence | Points | % Start | FGW |
| Week 01 | 19.74 | 88% | -0.03 |
| Week 02 | 9.24 | 86% | -0.22 |
| Week 03 | 15.36 | 77% | -0.10 |
| Week 04 | 17.48 | 64% | -0.05 |
| Week 05 | 16.70 | 54% | -0.05 |
| Week 06 | 16.74 | 73% | -0.07 |
| Week 07 | 19.06 | 68% | -0.03 |
| Week 08 | 15.68 | 69% | -0.08 |
| Week 09 | 0.00 | 0% | 0.00 |
| Week 10 | 2.10 | 58% | -0.21 |
| Week 11 | 34.18 | 14% | 0.04 |
When fantasy managers reflect on what it was like to have Achane or Lawrence in 2023, their tortured faces will tell a story of trials and tribulations that pure fantasy point totals could never evoke.
Let’s see which other players had the biggest impact on week 11 fantasy manager facial expressions.
Who Won Week 11?
| # | Player | Pos | Pts | %St | FGW |
| 1 | Saquon Barkley | RB | 28.0 | 95% | 0.28 |
| 2 | Tyreek Hill | WR | 25.6 | 100% | 0.28 |
| 3 | Dallas D/ST | DEF | 21.0 | 100% | 0.28 |
| 4 | Buffalo D/ST | DEF | 21.0 | 92% | 0.25 |
| 5 | Brandon Aiyuk | WR | 24.1 | 89% | 0.23 |
| 6 | Keenan Allen | WR | 22.6 | 97% | 0.22 |
| 7 | George Kittle | TE | 18.9 | 92% | 0.20 |
| 8 | Tank Dell | WR | 24.9 | 72% | 0.19 |
| 9 | Tyler Bass | K | 17.0 | 92% | 0.18 |
| 10 | Calvin Ridley | WR | 27.6 | 56% | 0.17 |
| 11 | Justin Herbert | QB | 27.7 | 90% | 0.13 |
| 12 | DJ Moore | WR | 19.1 | 82% | 0.13 |
| 13 | Amon-Ra St. Brown | WR | 17.7 | 99% | 0.13 |
| 14 | Christian McCaffrey | RB | 18.8 | 100% | 0.12 |
| 15 | Davante Adams | WR | 17.7 | 96% | 0.12 |
- Saquon Barkley barely wins the week with his best score since Week 1 of 2022. Your first instinct might say this is because Barkley tends to miss time, but he’s actually played in 23 of 27 possible weeks since then.
- Tyreek Hill had a great week again. He is now 0.18 FGW ahead of Christian McCaffrey in the MVP race (using total FGW as the measurement), at 1.84 for the season. This is actually only Hill’s fourth-best week of the season, and it was barely above Week 6 for that spot.
- After an unremarkable Week 10, the Dallas Defense returns with a usual strong performance in Week 11. The Dallas defense has been performing at a level no fantasy defense has any business performing at for a full 2.5 seasons now. They’re 13th on the All-Time-FGW-Since-2021 list and have performed as something like a second-round pick in each of the last three seasons. The age-old advice of not taking a defense or kicker until the end of your snake drafts is starting to get questioned by the new fantasy managers on the block who only know of a world where the Dallas defense dominates fantasy.
- Brandon Aiyuk is back with his second 20-point game of the year. In week 1, I thought he had just scored his allotment of touchdowns for the first half of the season. Pardon me while I victory lap that one and point out he’s now in the second half of the season, so he’s free to score again.
- Tank Dell comes in with what is undoubtedly the first of many appearances on the Fantasy Games Won leaderboards. This was his first week above 50% started, and he rewarded his fantasy managers with his second-best scoring week of the year. I can’t wait to see where all the up-and-coming Texans get drafted in redrafts next year.
Who Lost Week 11?
| # | Player | Pos | Pts | %St | FGW |
| 15 | Mark Andrews | TE | 3.3 | 96% | -0.12 |
| 14 | Najee Harris | RB | 4.1 | 61% | -0.12 |
| 13 | Javonte Williams | RB | 6.3 | 79% | -0.12 |
| 12 | Travis Etienne | RB | 7.4 | 97% | -0.13 |
| 11 | Stefon Diggs | WR | 4.7 | 97% | -0.16 |
| 10 | Austin Ekeler | RB | 6.0 | 99% | -0.16 |
| 9 | Derrick Henry | RB | 4.9 | 88% | -0.16 |
| 8 | Josh Jacobs | RB | 5.6 | 98% | -0.17 |
| 7 | Joe Burrow | QB | 9.7 | 76% | -0.18 |
| 6 | Aaron Jones | RB | 2.2 | 85% | -0.20 |
| 5 | Cooper Kupp | WR | 1.6 | 95% | -0.21 |
| 4 | Kenneth Walker | RB | 2.1 | 89% | -0.21 |
| 3 | Garrett Wilson | WR | -0.1 | 85% | -0.21 |
| 2 | A.J. Brown | WR | 1.3 | 96% | -0.22 |
| 1 | De’Von Achane | RB | 1.0 | 93% | -0.24 |
- Travis Etienne had his second bad week in a row. He’s still the RB2 by FGW, with 0.57 for the year, just ahead of Alvin Kamara‘s 0.50. The fact that he’s holding on to RB2 after this stretch says more about the banality of 2023 RBs in 2023 than it does about Etienne.
- Kenneth Walker actually held the RB2 belt (not that nice of a belt, comparatively speaking) for Weeks 4 and 5, before Raheem Mostert took it in Week 6. Etienne has had it since Week 7. It’s time for K9 to “sit,” so Zach Charbonnet can go for a walk.
- Fantasy managers got negative points from Garrett Wilson. I don’t know what to say, really. We’re about to watch Tim Boyle boil a turkey on Black Friday, which is the wrong day to boil a turkey in the first place. I don’t know how much better it will get for Garrett.
- A.J. Brown also comes in with a bad week. We had gone eight weeks without a bad week from Brown. This beats the seven-week stretch at the end of last season as the longest stretch of no-bad weeks for him since I started tracking FGW in 2021.
- For those that didn’t do the math on the intro tables, Achane’s season-long FGW is down to 0.06, good for 54th overall and RB11.
Week 11 Junior Varsity All-Stars
| # | Player | Pos | Pts | %St | bFGW |
| 1 | New York Giants | DEF | 23.0 | 2% | 0.30 |
| 2 | Trevor Lawrence | QB | 34.2 | 14% | 0.23 |
| 3 | Wil Lutz | K | 17.0 | 0% | 0.19 |
| 4 | Cairo Santos | K | 17.0 | 1% | 0.19 |
| 5 | Khalil Shakir | WR | 19.0 | 0% | 0.15 |
| 6 | Calvin Ridley | WR | 27.6 | 56% | 0.14 |
| 7 | Jaylen Warren | RB | 22.0 | 38% | 0.12 |
| 8 | Brock Purdy | QB | 29.7 | 37% | 0.12 |
| 9 | Gus Edwards | RB | 20.0 | 29% | 0.11 |
| 10 | Tommy DeVito | QB | 25.5 | 0% | 0.10 |
| 11 | Jayden Reed | WR | 17.2 | 17% | 0.10 |
| 12 | Darius Slayton | WR | 16.2 | 0% | 0.09 |
| 13 | Josh Oliver | TE | 12.7 | 0% | 0.08 |
| 14 | Tank Dell | WR | 24.9 | 72% | 0.08 |
| 15 | Stone Smartt | TE | 11.6 | 0% | 0.06 |
*bFGW is the FGW total lost due to low percent started numbers. Essentially, points scored on fantasy benches or free-agent lists.
- Last week, I was a bit surprised at how many readers didn’t appreciate my indifference towards “Remember the Titans” as a movie. I just think it’s too predictable to be a great movie. Meanwhile, Trevor “Sunshine” Lawrence isn’t nearly predictable enough to be a great fantasy quarterback.
- A name that I haven’t seen come up enough in 2023 is Jayden Reed. His 17% started in Week 11 was easily his highest of the season. Expect that number to take a jump in Week 12.
- Stone Smartt with his first appearance on an FGW top list. He took some of the production that was expected of Donald Parham. It is a stone-smart decision to start Smartt in your fantasy lineups. I am certain of that.
Leaderboard Updates
- Justin Jefferson is still 11th on the MVP list as he starts deliberating when to return.
- Keenan Allen is not quite there for best value, but it’s close.
- Burrow almost became the worst investment again, but he threw a TD on the play he got hurt.
- Trevor Lawrence has a bigger lead in the Least Valuable Player discussion than disappearance of investment.
- Again, Dallas is up to 13th on the All-Time-Since-2021 list. Nothing makes sense anymore.
The More Things Change, the More They Stay the Same
As you’re writing what you are thankful for on the side of a decorative pumpkin this Thanksgiving (that’s not just a Cobalt family tradition, right?), Trevor Lawrence might not be the first name that comes to mind.
What you can always inscribe on that pumpkin is that fantasy football will always keep you on your toes. We can be thankful for the excitement that comes with a game you can always get better at but never master. If we could predict the ending, nobody would watch the movie.
Hopefully, the movie that is your 2023 season is still in theaters. Good luck in Week 12, happy Thanksgiving and see you back here next Wednesday.
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