NFL Week 11 inactives and fantasy tips: CeeDee Lamb, Nico Collins active for MNF

Welcome to the Week 11 NFL fantasy and betting cheat sheet, a one-stop-shop for The Athletic’s game previews, injury and weather updates, and expert analysis. Bookmark this page and check back often, as we offer regular updates to assist with fantasy lineups and betting decisions. Player rankings referenced in this article are current as of 8 a.m. ET, Nov. 17. For updated rankings, see the “Fantasy football player rankings” section. Nico Collins, WR, Texans (hamstring) — Active Collins is active for Monday night’s matchup with the Dallas Cowboys. Collins is a no-brainer every-week fantasy starter when healthy, and with Stefon Diggs out, Tank Dell is a viable flex option each week. CeeDee Lamb, WR, Cowboys (back) — Active Lamb was added to the injury report on Saturday but is officially active tonight. Prescott is on IR and underwent surgery for a partial avulsion of his right hamstring, according to Dallas Morning News. With Cooper Rush or Trey Lance under center, Dallas receivers outside of Lamb are very hard to trust, though newly acquired Jonathan Mingo has been impressive in practice. Find out Jake’s top QB, RB, WR and TE for the week! • There is no perfect widget out there, sadly, still. I know many view this on your phone, but 1) use the rankings widget on a PC/laptop/etc. if possible or 2) open in your phone’s browser, especially for Android users, to get the scrolling to work (or Android people can try a two-finger scroll). • ECR = “Expert” Consensus Ranking (which isn’t updated by everyone consistently, so take with a grain of salt). • Updated regularly, so check up to lineups locking. Get Ciely’s full Week 11 analysis. Plus sleepers and projections. Game-specific previews and live updates are available on the day of the game. C.J. Stroud has struggled since Nico Collins got injured, but Houston’s contest against Dallas is the perfect opportunity for the Texans to get their groove back. Heavily favored, Houston and Stroud should take down the ailing Cowboys with ease, especially with Collins’ return in Week 11. Without Collins, Stroud has not exceeded 13 fantasy points in any game and had a 5.3-point performance in Week 7. Prior to losing Collins, Stroud averaged 16.8 points per game. Dallas is absolutely flailing right now and surrendering 362.9 yards per game, 152.1 of them rushing (31st). The Cowboys are also ranked last in opponent net yards per pass attempt, which gives Stroud the opportunity for redemption and to rebuild confidence in Week 11. While Tank Dell has seen a lot of targets (26) in Collins’ (and, in the last two weeks, Stefon Diggs’) absence, he is not a WR1 and can benefit from a defensive focus on Collins. Dell’s sweet spot may come with Collins in (diverting coverage) and Diggs out (relinquishing air yards and red zone targets). As always, Joe Mixon is an every-week fantasy RB1 and Ciely’s RB2 this week. It’s hard to muster excitement for Dallas in this one. The only viable fantasy starts on this team are Rico Dowdle (Ciely’s RB28) and CeeDee Lamb (WR30 — 30!), with Cooper Rush under center. In Dak Prescott’s absence, Dowdle had 8.6 PPR points, Lamb had 8.4, and kicker Brandon Aubrey was third on the team with 7.0. What else is there to say? Literally, nothing. I know that Mike Tomlin is a great coach and the Steelers have a good defense. But the way they shut down Lamar Jackson year after year with all different players while no one else can do it is just absurd. Jackson couldn’t even complete half his passes. So it wasn’t shutting down his running. The Steelers have a culture and veteran leadership, and they are just able to seamlessly pass down the Steelers defense from year to year. The less said about Pittsburgh’s offense on Sunday, the better. I was joking all week about all the QBs I would play Bo Nix over, not as a slight to Nix, but as an indictment of fantasy QBs in 2024. But Nix has turned a corner where it’s not just running juice that’s sustaining him. For the season, he’s one of the best QBs in QBR when not facing pressure. That’s viewed as the true measure of quarterbacks because most plays are non-pressure and pressure stats tend to be very random. I did expect — or at least didn’t severely discount the odds that — Sean Payton would throw us another curveball with his running game and come out with Javonte Williams as his starter. That indeed happened. John Laghezza uses a patented, data-backed, formulaic approach to get ahead of next week’s waivers. Suboptimal RB options are the new norm if you whiff on the first waiver run this year. That said, it’s par for the course at this stage of the season, when it becomes more about identifying the crop of “next men up.” With RB committees as the new standard, you’ll be hard-pressed to find immediate production. If I had to pick my favorite combination of payout for now and later, at only 25 percent rostered, I would go back to the well (again) to stash Bills backup Ray Davis. I still think Buffalo’s fourth-round rookie out of Kentucky represents the best case for a stash — standalone fantasy floor with league-winning upside in the case of a serious injury to James Cook. For managers with immediate needs who were left empty-handed with their starting RB on the bye, check the availability of Tennessee backup Tyjae Spears. At only 40 percent rostered on Yahoo, Spears returned from injury to handle 43 percent of the Titans’ RB opportunities. He’s skilled as a pass-catcher and could see an expanded role in negative game scripts as a perennial underdog.