Fantasy Football Week 11 Wide Receiver Preview: Start Puka Nacua and Cooper Kupp with confidence

Despite the fact that we're over halfway through the season, I am still not sure we have a good grip on exactly what the Rams passing game is going to look like with Matthew Stafford, Cooper Kupp, and Puka Nacua all healthy. Hopefully, we'll get more clarification in Week 11 when they face off against the Seattle Seahawks. One thing we should feel confident in is that Stafford is going to pepper the duo with targets. Since Kupp returned he's earned 33.3% of the targets, Nacua is right behind at 32.5%. But the results have been mixed.

The first time we saw all three on the field together was in Week 5 against Philadelphia. Stafford threw 37 times with 12 targets going to Kupp and 11 to Nacua. Kupp had more catches, and yards, but Nacua scored a TD and more Fantasy points. The following week the Rams beat the Cardinals easily and Stafford only threw 24 passes. Nine went to Kupp, seven to Nacua, but Kupp thoroughly dominated with 27 fantasy points while Nacua struggled to six. One week later, in another low-volume game, Nacua dominated volume and production while Kupp scored 4.9 PPR Fantasy points. Finally came a blowout loss to the Cowboys when both were miserable.

Like I said, we know nothing, other than they are going to dominate targets. For that reason, I am ranking both as must-start, top-12 wide receivers in Week 11. But I am certainly open to more information that might clarify things.

• More Week 11 previews: QB | RB | WR | TE

You can find more in my weekly projections over at SportsLine. Now here is the rest of the Week 11 WR Preview:

Week 11 WR Preview

Who's Out

Numbers to Know

Matchups That Matter

Waiver Wire Targets

DFS Plays

Projections

WR Preview

Who's Out

The following players are not being projected to play Week 11 at this time. Here's what it means:

Tee Higgins WR

CIN Cincinnati • #5
Age: 25 • Experience: 5 yrs.

Tyler Boyd is a borderline WR2 and Trenton Irwin is a flex.

WR Preview

Numbers to Know

• 63.8 -- Tank Dell's 63.8 yards per game is the third-best mark ever for a Round 3 rookie behind only Keenan Allen and Terry McLaurin. Cooper Kupp was fourth at 57.9.
• 33% -- Garrett Wilson now ranks No. 1 at wide receiver with a 33% target share.
• 15.4 -- Amari Cooper's 15.4 ADOT is by far the highest of his career and second only to Rashid Shaheed this season.
• 2.89 -- Noah Brown's 2.89 YPRR ranks sixth behind only Tyreek Hill, Brandon Aiyuk, CeeDee Lamb, and A.J. Brown.
• 69% -- Marvin Mims played a career-high 69% of the snaps in Week 10. I'd like to hold him for at least one more week.
• 55.6% -- Courtland Sutton has seen more than half of Russell Wilson's end zone attempts, and he's cashed in more often than not.

WR Preview

Matchups that matter

Matchups that matter

Diontae Johnson WR

CAR Carolina • #5
Age: 27 • Experience: 6 yrs.

Weekly Breakdown

@ CLE CLE -4 O/U 36.5

OPP VS WR 16th

PROJ PTS 10.7

WR RNK 25th

YTD Stats
REC 24	TAR 39	REYDS 319	TD 1	FPTS/G 12.4

Noah Brown WR

HOU Houston • #85
Age: 28 • Experience: 8 yrs.

Weekly Breakdown

vs ARI HOU -4 O/U 47.5

OPP VS WR 22nd

PROJ PTS 11.6

WR RNK 28th

YTD Stats
REC 21	TAR 28	REYDS 439	TD 1	FPTS/G 14.2

Chris Godwin WR

TB Tampa Bay • #14
Age: 28 • Experience: 8 yrs.

Weekly Breakdown

@ SF SF -11.5 O/U 41.5

OPP VS WR 25th

PROJ PTS 12.6

WR RNK 32nd

YTD Stats
REC 44	TAR 68	REYDS 522	TD 1	FPTS/G 11.7

Gabe Davis WR

JAC Jacksonville
Age: 25 • Experience: 5 yrs.

Weekly Breakdown

vs NYJ BUF -7 O/U 40

OPP VS WR 18th

PROJ PTS 9

WR RNK 34th

YTD Stats
REC 33	TAR 55	REYDS 490	TD 5	FPTS/G 11.2

DeVonta Smith WR

PHI Philadelphia • #6
Age: 25 • Experience: 4 yrs.

Weekly Breakdown

@ KC KC -3 O/U 46

OPP VS WR 19th

PROJ PTS 10.9

WR RNK 12th

YTD Stats
REC 42	TAR 60	REYDS 533	TD 4	FPTS/G 13.3

WR Preview

Waiver Wire Targets

Week 11 Adds (WR Preview)

Michael Wilson WR

ARI Arizona • #14
Age: 24 • Experience: 2 yrs.

Weekly Breakdown

@ HOU HOU -5 O/U 49

OPP VS WR 14th

WR RNK 45th

ROSTERED 28%

YTD Stats
REC 28	TAR 39	REYDS 435	TD 2	FPTS/G 9.3

Wilson saw a 19% target share in his first game with Kyler Murray and is currently averaging a remarkable 11.2 yards per target. He'll be on the other side of that shootout with the Texans so there should be plenty of pass volume to go around. View Wilson as a boom/bust WR3 with room to grow.

Stashes (WR Preview)

Demario Douglas WR

NE New England • #3
Age: 23 • Experience: 2 yrs.

Weekly Breakdown

@ NYG NE -5.5 O/U 35

OPP VS WR 28th

WR RNK NR

ROSTERED 51%

YTD Stats
REC 30	TAR 46	REYDS 361	TD 0	FPTS/G 7.4

Douglas is actually my favorite waiver wire wide receiver rest of season, but he's on bye in Week 11 so you'll have to wait a week to use him. Since Kendrick Bourne went down, Douglas leads the Patriots with a 23.8% target share and has averaged 12.5 PPR FPPG in those two games. I like him as a solid WR3 rest of season. He'll be slightly better in full PPR.

WR Preview

DFS Plays

Top DFS Play (WR Preview)

Tyreek Hill WR

MIA Miami • #10
Age: 30 • Experience: 9 yrs.

Weekly Breakdown

vs LV MIA -12 O/U 46.5

OPP VS WR 21st

PROJ PTS 23.6

WR RNK 1st

YTD Stats
REC 69	TAR 97	REYDS 1076	TD 8	FPTS/G 24.9

The Dolphins are coming off a bye, at home, against a terrible Raiders team. I would not be surprised at all if they hang 50 on Las Vegas this week and I project Tyreek Hill for a ridiculous 21.8 FanDuel points. Start your cash games with him and find value elsewhere.

Contrarian DFS Play (WR Preview)

Adam Thielen WR

CAR Carolina • #19
Age: 33 • Experience: 11 year

Weekly Breakdown

vs DAL DAL -10.5 O/U 42

OPP VS WR 4th

PROJ PTS 13.6

WR RNK 14th

YTD Stats
REC 68	TAR 86	REYDS 652	TD 4	FPTS/G 17.8

Thielen is trending in the wrong direction, and it can be dangerous to catch a falling knife, especially against this Cowboys defense. Still, he is down to $7,000 on FanDuel and he still has double-digit target upside every week. Betting on the No. 10 wide receiver in Fantasy at a discounted price and roster rate is a sneaky way to get ahead of the field.

WR Preview

Heath's Projections

My full set of Week 11 Fantasy Football projections for every position are now available on SportsLine. Find out which of my favorite plays are projected to score higher than consensus rankings and which don't live up to their draft hype, at least in Week 11. Projected stats for all starting quarterbacks are available, so be sure to check out the full set of projections at SportsLine.