Cooper Kupp is Injured... Again. 🫤

Convinced that players wait until they see that they’re benched in most fantasy leagues to produce (looking at you, Calvin Ridley and Christian Watson). 👀

What’s in store:

• Devon Achane is fast, but he left the game on Sunday faster. The dynamic Dolphins rookie exited the game against Las Vegas in the first quarter.

• Cooper Kupp is injured… again. 🤕 Could it be Puka SZN again moving forward for the Rams?

• Faraz delivers his top takeaways from Sunday. See what to expect moving forward with analysis from Faraz on Week 11’s top developments.

• Garrett Wilson couldn’t defy the odds any longer. When the Jets have 16 receiving yards from WRs, it’s clear that Wilson is just stuck in a terrible situation.

• Dolphins rookie RB Devon Achane has very short-lived return, exits game early with knee injury in Week 11

  • After handling just two touches on the day against the Raiders, Achane’s day was essentially finished before it started as he exited the game just minutes into his return from IR. He had missed four games after being placed on IR ahead of Week 6 and missed an additional week for fantasy managers with Miami’s bye falling in Week 10 – so having Achane’s day cut short to injury after he scored just 1.5 PPR points was a total kick in the you-know-what for those who started him this week. With Achane out, Mostert took control of the rushing attempts in the backfield and can be returned to low-RB1 status should Achane miss another extended period of time. As for Achane, there’s no word on the severity of his injury as of the writing of this article, but the fact that he was unable to return to the contest suggests that this could be an injury that has implications down the stretch of the fantasy regular season.

• Packers RB Aaron Jones goes down with apparent knee injury in Week 11 vs Chargers

  • Green Bay’s top ball carrier went down late in the second quarter of Sunday’s game against the Chargers and needed plenty of assistance to get him off the field, where he was then carted off and quickly ruled out for the rest of the day. The injury, which appeared during the game to be serious, still remains to be diagnosed as of the writing of this newsletter, but Packers HC Matt LaFleur said in a postgame press conference that the belief is that the injury Jones sustained is not expected to be a long-term one, per Ian Rapaport. Of course, information regarding his injury is hard to come by just hours after the game concluded, but the encouraging news about Jones’ health is about as good a development fantasy managers could hear about given the way things looked in real time. In his relief, A.J. Dillon was his usual inefficient self and should not be prioritized in start/sit decisions moving forward should Jones miss any time.

• Rams WR Cooper Kupp suffers ankle injury in Week 11 game vs Seahawks, status moving forward unclear

  • The injury happened partway through the first half and caused him to limp his way into the locker room. He wouldn’t return on the day, finishing the game with one catch on his lone target for the afternoon for 11 yards. Kupp’s absence opened the door for Puka Nacua to take over the game late in the second quarter when he reeled in a touchdown in the red zone while finishing with a respectable 18 PPR points on the day. As of the writing of this newsletter, there’s been no word on the exact extent of Kupp’s injury, but given that he was not able to return to a close game, fantasy managers should be prepared heading into Week 12 to be without the Rams No. 1 receiver. Should Kupp miss any time, Puka Nacua would likely be restored as a fantasy WR1 in a Rams passing offense that has run exclusively through their top two weapons.

The Steelers are barely an NFL Offense right now

• Jaylen Warren has another big game despite Najee Harris out snapping him again. Warren has made his case as to why he’s the best RB in Pittsburgh - he’s gone over 100 yards from scrimmage in three straight games, and he’s averaging 14.3 touches per game over this 3-game stretch. It’s not enough for him to sustain that production, but here’s the thing - he gets Cincinnati next week in a good matchup, then Arizona the week after, New England, Indy, Cincinnati, Seattle… the schedule for RBs is pretty good overall the rest of the way. Pittsburgh cannot depend on this passing game right now, so he’s proving that he’s playable as maybe more than a flex play moving forward.

  • Also worth noting: extremely disappointing couple of games from Diontae Johnson after a solid three game stretch upon his return. Pickett has been absolutely brutal - unfortunately Johnson has to overcome this offense, and it’s going to be rough at times, but I’m not panicking just yet. It was obviously a tough matchup for Diontae, but for some reason I just thought he might be able to overcome it.

Kenneth Walker leaves the backfield to Charbonnet

• Kenneth Walker got hurt early in the game with an oblique injury - it’s got the potential to be a similar injury to the one that CMC had about a month ago when we initially thought he’d miss time but he actually didn’t miss any games. The difference here is that Walker has had a bit of a history with core injuries, so it’s possible he does end up missing some time. Pete Carroll called it “legit”.

• If he does miss time, Zach Charbonnet gets a big increase in work - he was already the passing down back and was working in on early downs a bit so I can see him being a RB2 next week. The Seahawks play the 49ers on Thanksgiving - not the best matchup - the Cowboys the following Thursday night, and then the 49ers once again. I still think Charbonnet will be startable because of the fact that he’ll likely play a big role in all situations - he ended up seeing 94% of the team’s remaining RB carries and 86% of the team’s remaining RB receptions… he’s the guy. 21 total touches in this game… even in tough matchups he’s a good start because of that role in the receiving game, a role that Kenneth Walker dind’t have. Charbonnet would be safe in any type of game script because of it.

The Texans Continue to Roll in All Phases

• Tank Dell - wow - 8 catches on 10 targets for 149 yards and a TD - what a run he’s on right now. He’s now got three straight games of 10+ targets - this kid is good, and Sunday was Dell’s third game this season with 100+ receiving yards and a TD… and he has a great matchup next week against Jacksonville. Nico Collins was back and he had 11 targets himself, which led the team, but he finished with one less catch than Tank. Tank was the one with the huge plays - CJ Stroud had some bad interceptions in this game, but this entire offense is one you want to have in your lineup.

• Devin Singletary came through again in a big way - 22 carries for 112 yards and a TD on 87% of snaps, 73% route participation, and 92% of RB opportunities - ridiculous usage. The big question is what happens when Dameon Pierce is back… Pierce got a limited practice in on Friday, and it’s possible he’s back next week… but with the way Singletary is playing, I can see them sticking with him a little bit.

• Singletary might not stick to the type of role he’s been seeing without Pierce, but Pierce hasn’t had any games like Singletary just had this year, and all of a sudden the Texans have an effective running game with Singletary.

It was an absolute disasterclass for Zach Wilson and the Jets in the second of their two matchups against the division rival Bills, with New York’s offense mustering a mere 6 total points while being trounced in every facet of the game Sunday afternoon. While the Jets were able to end one streak – they scored for the first time in over 40 offensive possessions against Buffalo – another streak ended that the Jets, and fantasy managers, would have very much liked to have seen not come to an end in Week 11.

The product of QB Zach Wilson’s bench-worthy 81 passing yards on the day was the first true dud of a performance by WR Garrett Wilson in the 2023 season. Despite logging eight targets on the night, Wilson was able to corral just two of them for a pitiful nine yards receiving, while also failing to find the end zone and losing a fumble in the process. Wilson’s nine yards receiving were more than half of the Jets’ team total in receiving yards for the game (16), and his 0.9 PPR points were easily his worst mark on the season.

The letdown performance by Garrett Wilson comes on the heels of four-straight top-20 weekly finishes from the former 2022 first round pick - games in which he had caught at least seven passes in each contest. The Jets’ 16 receiving yards by wide receivers on the night marked a new low for the New York offense, with more than half of Zach Wilson’s passing yards coming from RB Breece Hall extending plays down the field. While Garrett Wilson is unlikely to have such drastically bad performances down the stretch, fantasy managers should temper their expectations regardless of who is under center for the Jets.