The Washington Commanders will face the Philadelphia Eagles in Week 11. Here’s the latest fantasy football news and advice to help you with your lineups this week and moving forward, especially regarding TE Zach Ertz.
Is Zach Ertz Playing in Week 11?
Ertz is not listed on the injury report this week, so barring any setbacks, he is on track to play on Thursday.
We’ll continue to monitor the Commanders’ injury report. You can also visit and bookmark our NFL Injury Tracker and Fantasy News Tracker for the latest updates.
Should You Start or Sit Zach Ertz in Week 11?
Zach Ertz played a season-high 79.7% of Washington’s offensive snaps on his birthday last week and hauled in four passes for the fourth time in his past five games. The per-catch upside is very much capped, but volume talks, especially when tethered to a top-10 offense.
The veteran tight end has been targeted on over one-quarter of his routes in three of his past four, a usage pattern that has him flirting with my top 15 this week. By no means is he a must-start, but if you’re piecing together the position every week, I think you can get away with Ertz this weekend next in a pair of divisional games.
Are you looking for start/sit advice for other players in your lineup? Read our Week 11 Fantasy Start-Sit Advice Cheat Sheet for every fantasy-relevant player in every game.
Zach Ertz’s Fantasy Points Projection in Week 11
As of Thursday, Ertz is projected to score 8.3 fantasy points in PPR formats. This includes 3.7 receptions for 33.4 yards and 0.2 touchdowns.
Check out the free PFN Fantasy Start-Sit Optimizer for the latest projections and advice for your lineups this week.
PFN Insight on the Eagles’ Defense
We have not talked much about the Philadelphia Eagles’ defense, but it has been somewhat quietly excellent this season. In Week 10, they were ranked as the best defense in the league by Defense+, marking their fourth top-10 finish in the last five weeks and their third inside the top two in that span.
The Eagles’ numbers are solid across the board, but there are some red flags. In games with Green Bay, Tampa Bay, Atlanta, and Cincinnati, they have ranked in the bottom half for those weeks. Those are the best offenses they have faced this year, while they have dominated against the New Orleans Saints, Cleveland Browns, New York Giants, Jacksonville Jaguars, and Dallas Cowboys.
This week’s match against the Washington Commanders will be a huge test for this defense. Based on the trends we have seen this season, it would not be a surprise to see them rank in the bottom half of teams in Week 11.
For more insight on all other team defenses, head to our PFN Defense+ Metric Analysis.
Zach Ertz’s Fantasy Ranking
Our Weekly Consensus PPR Rankings are below — both positional and overall. They were last updated at 11:45 PM ET on Saturday, January 25.Â
Conference Championship TE PPR Rankings
1) Travis Kelce | KC (vs. BUF)
2) Dallas Goedert | PHI (vs. WAS)
3) Dalton Kincaid | BUF (at KC)
4) Zach Ertz | WAS (at PHI)
5) Noah Gray | KC (vs. BUF)
6) Dawson Knox | BUF (at KC)
7) John Bates | WAS (at PHI)
8) Grant Calcaterra | PHI (vs. WAS)
9) Ben Sinnott | WAS (at PHI)
10) Quintin Morris | BUF (at KC)
11) Peyton Hendershot | KC (vs. BUF)
12) E.J. Jenkins | PHI (vs. WAS)
13) Anthony Firkser | NYJ ()
Trends and Insights: Commanders vs. Eagles
Washington Commanders
Team: Washington has seen three straight games decided by five or fewer points (just two of their first seven games were decided by five or fewer points).
QB: Jayden Daniels ranks sixth in the league in terms of pressure rating when pressured (for reference, Caleb Williams ranks 26th and Bo Nix 28th).
Offense: The Commanders’ 45.8% of drives reach the red zone, the highest rate in the league and more than 10 percentage points ahead of the Eagles (35.7%).
Defense: Washington owns the third-highest pressure rate when not blitzing (38.2%) through 10 weeks.
Fantasy: Terry McLaurin has cleared 95 receiving yards or scored multiple touchdowns in eight straight games.
Betting: Four straight short rest spots involving the Commanders have come in over the total (this season: 42-14 win in Arizona with a 48.5-point over/under).
Philadelphia Eagles
Team: The Eagles are riding their third win streak of at least five games since the beginning of last season (they, of course, dropped five of six games to close last regular season).
QB: Jalen Hurts has seen his average depth of throw increase in each of the past three weeks (Week 10 at Dallas: season-high 10.9 yards).
Offense: Philadelphia ranks sixth in yards per completion this season (they ranked 15th a season ago).
Defense: Through 10 weeks this season, only the Bears and Chargers have a better red zone defense than the Eagles.
Fantasy: On Sunday, for the third time in four games, Hurts ran for multiple scores while completing 70% of his passes. He’s normalized something that is a unique occurrence for all other human beings.
Consider this: the rest of the NFL has three such games this season.
Betting: Six straight Eagle home games played on short rest have gone over the total (average over margin: 18.2 PPG).
