The fantasy football landscape shifts each week, bringing fresh opportunities and unexpected challenges that separate the prepared from the pretenders. Savvy managers know that last week’s performance tells only part of the story, and diving deeper into the underlying metrics reveals the accurate picture.
This week presents some intriguing decisions. Here’s insight about key Pittsburgh Steelers players heading into their matchup with the Chicago Bears to help you craft a winning lineup.
Mason Rudolph, QB
Aaron Rodgers wasn’t in MVP form, but this system as a whole isn’t exactly built for fantasy production, so expecting Mason Rudolph to unlock options like Jacoby Brissett has done in Arizona or Joe Flacco in Cincinnati simply isn’t wise.
Rudolph has never cleared 20 fantasy points in a start, and he has at least as many interceptions as touchdown tosses in four of his past five starts. This is a cautious offense that now welcomes an even lower-upside QB than they’ve had up to this point.
The matchup with Chicago is obviously a good one, but unless they are required to defend with fewer than 11 players on the field, I’m not looking at Rudolph in any format.
Jaylen Warren, RB
A third-quarter ankle injury in Week 11 has Jaylen Warren’s Week 12 status up in the air for this picture-perfect matchup.
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Regardless of who is under center, this system is as conservative as any in the league, and that’s resulted in him hauling in multiple passes in every game this season.
Kenneth Gainwell looked good last week, and that was the case prior to Warren leaving the game. I think it’s fair to pencil in more of a split this week, presuming health, but not a change in terms of the overall hierarchy.
Warren has six finishes this season as an RB2 or better, and he’s a great bet to increase that number this week if he’s as healthy as he suggested in the post-game. These are two of the six worst defenses in terms of yards allowed per game, giving this game a little more fantasy appeal than I think is being assumed across the industry.
DK Metcalf, WR
This situation is getting murkier before it gets clearer.
Last week, DK Metcalf had 21 first-half yards and was one of eight Steelers to see a target in the first 30 minutes. This isn’t an explosive offense in the least, and that requires plus-volume to make things work, so that was disappointing to see.
Add in the Aaron Rodgers wrist issue, and a boring passing game could graduate to unusable in relatively short order. I’ll wait to drop Metcalf out of the lock starter conversation one more week, if for no other reason than they face the seventh-worst scoring defense in the league.
MORE: Free Fantasy Waiver Wire Tool
You’re playing Metcalf, but I can’t imagine you’re excited about it.
Jonnu Smith, TE
Shame on you if you’re scanning the waiver wire and Jonnu Smith’s name still catches your eye.
Week 11: Steeler TE ParticipationÂ
- Darnell Washington: 44 snaps, 20 routes, 5 targets
- Smith: 33 snaps, 18 routes, 2 targets
- Pat Freiermuth: 27 snaps, 14 routes, 1 target
If that’s the case, and the same goes for Freiermuth, it’s simply because you’re familiar with the name.
Shake that off and trim these two off your list of streamable options, regardless of who is under center in Pittsburgh. Smith hasn’t reached 30 receiving yards in a contest this season, and with him averaging just 6.3 yards per grab, the athletic profile that seemed to connect all the dots last season in Miami clearly isn’t at work this year.
