If you drafted Tony Pollard in Round 1 or Round 2 you never thought you'd be seriously contemplating benching your RB1 in Week 11. But it's not a hard case to make. Pollard is RB26 on the season and hasn't topped 70 yards from scrimmage since Week 6. It is completely understandable to think about benching him, but I'm waiting one more week.
In Week 11 Pollard gets the Carolina Panthers, who have allowed the second-most Fantasy points per game to running backs this season. This is a matchup too good to pass up. Pollard did just face the Giants, so a matchup won't necessarily fix everything, but the Panthers are even worse and Pollard is still averaging 18 touches per game.
Where things get really interesting is if Pollard is bad again this week. He'll have a short week to get ready for the Washington Commanders on Thanksgiving. I'll probably rank him as a top-24 back in that game, but not as a must-start. In the next two weeks, he faces the Seahawks and Eagles, we could be in full-on bench mode by then.
The second question is if the Cowboys consider sitting Pollard a little more. Rico Dowdle has shown some juice this year and is my favorite stash candidate just in case. Hopefully, Pollard makes it a moot point against the Panthers this week.
Ty Chandler is expected to lead a committee if Mattison is out.
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Numbers to know
3.86 -- Amongst backs with at least 45 rush attempts, Raheem Mostert's 3.86 yards after contact per attempt ranks No. 1.
13 -- Tony Pollard's 13 goalline rushes rank second only to Ken Walker. He's getting the opportunities, he just can't punch it in.
46.4% -- 46.4% of James Conner's carries have gone for at least five yards, the best mark amongst running backs with at least 45 carries.
38% -- Jaylen Warren's 38% avoid rate leads the league. No wonder the Steelers named him the starter.
23.5 -- De'Von Achane scored at least 23.5 PPR Fantasy points in each of his last three games before going on injured reserve. We expect him back in Week 11.
38% -- David Montgomery's 38% snap share was well below his rate before his injury. I would be selling off the one long run he had in Week 10.
If you missed Devin Singletary and Ty Chandler, Antonio Gibson is likely your best shot left at running back in Week 11. He has three straight games with at least five targets and nine PPR Fantasy points. That makes him a fine option as a flex.
We're approaching the point in the season where McKinnon generally starts making his presence felt. Considering how bad the wide receivers have been, it makes all the sense in the world for McKinnon to start seeing more targets, especially against an Eagles defense that may be the league's best against the run.
Dowdle is mostly just playing in blowouts right now, but he's been more efficient than Tony Pollard this year and could see an uptick in his touches if Pollard struggles again in Week 11. At the very least, Dowdle should get more looks inside the five yard line, where Pollard has struggled the most.
Conner shook off the rust in Week 10, now I expect him to work back into his bell cow role in Week 11. In his lst 12 healthy games before Week 10 Conner averaged 19 touches and 93 yards per game. That's a steal at $6,800 on FanDuel. My expectation is that this is the last chance you'll get this year to play Conner at a price below $7,000.
The discourse around Pollard this week is entirely negative and for good reason. But this Panthers defense allowed 17 points to D'Onta Foreman, 12 to Salvon Ahmed, and two touchdowns a piece to Tony Jones and Tyler Allgeier. If Pollard is ever going to get going, this is the week.
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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.
