Yahoo Daily Fantasy Football Primer: Week 11

Welcome to the weekly Yahoo NFL DFS Primer! This will be a weekly piece where I analyze high-dollar and value plays at each position across Yahoo’s NFL main slate. The focus will be on both tournament and cash game options as we try to unlock slate-breaking upside in Yahoo's unique DFS game.

Quarterback

Ben Roethlisberger ($31) - A curious thing happened with the Pittsburgh Steelers over the last three games. Despite three wins (including games against defensive doormats like the Dallas Cowboys and Cincinnati Bengals), the Steelers have the third-highest pass rate during that stretch.

James Conner has led the team in rushing in each of those contests but has never topped 47 rushing yards. He looks decidedly washed, so Mike Tomlin and company have taken to the air for their offensive attack.

Roethlisberger (69.6 points) actually has more total fantasy points than even Kyler Murray (68.8) in that span and ranks only behind Aaron Rodgers and Josh Allen in total points since Week 8.

Ben's reward in Week 11 is a date with the Jacksonville Jaguars, who allow the third-most fantasy points to quarterbacks and fifth-most passing yards. With so many pass-catching options at his disposal (including one value play below), look for Big Ben to continue the offensive onslaught through the air.

Running Backs

Alvin Kamara ($34) - We normally would look past running backs with rushing totals that have fallen off a cliff the past six weeks (19, 11, 14, 12, 9, 8), but Alvin Kamara is clearly not a normal case.

Not only does Kamara lead all running backs in target share this season (26.1%, next-closest is Mike Davis at 18.6%), but that number is better than all but nine wide receivers. The Atlanta Falcons rank inside the top-10 for most receptions and receiving touchdowns allowed to the position.

I would have expected Kamara to get the typical Falcons; salary bump this week to about $37-$38, but his salary remains the same as when he destroyed a tough San Francisco 49ers defense last week. That in and of itself is enough for us to lock in Kamara at a 15% discount off of Dalvin Cook ($40). The Falcons now rank as a top-five rush defense by our Adjusted Defensive Rushing Net Expected Points (NEP) per play metric, but they continue to be the worst pass defense in the league, giving up 10% more NEP per target than the next team on the list.

This gives all pass-catchers on the New Orleans Saints a boost in Week 11, and Kamara tops that list.

Kalen Ballage ($16) - In what was a clear indication of the Los Angeles Chargers plans without Austin Ekeler and Justin Jackson available, Ballage received 73% of the team's snaps on Sunday, a number no Chargers running back had matched this year.

Is this the next example of a player leaving the tyrannical grasp of Adam Gase's playbook and finding success elsewhere? It certainly looks like Ballage will get his shot, and he also has the revenge narrative going for him this week as he will square off against Gase's New York Jets. The J-E-T-S are allowing the eighth-most fantasy points to running backs this year, including 4.4 yards per carry and 6.7 yards per reception to the position.

If Ballage gets another 24 opportunities (rush attempts plus targets) as he did in Week 10, we are likely looking at the best value play on the Week 11 slate.

Wide Receivers

Terry McLaurin ($25) - Whether it has been Dwayne Haskins, Kyle Allen, or Alex Smith under center, McLaurin has remained a model of consistency in 2020, only dropping below a 21% target share in one game this season. Scorin' McLaurin also checks in sixth among wide receivers in total targets and receiving yards per game through 10 weeks.

McLaurin's salary has also remained surprisingly consistent, as he has hovered between $22-$26 all season, despite scoring fewer than nine fantasy points in just one contest.

He now faces a Cincinnati Bengals team that allows the seventh-most fantasy points per game to the wide receiver position and was just torched for 52 fantasy points by the Steelers. If Alex Smith can shift his eyes away from J.D. McKissic and aim just a couple extra passes McLaurin's way, this has the potential to be a smash spot for the talented wide receiver.

Diontae Johnson ($18) - The knock on Johnson this year is that he just can't seem to string together healthy games. But in the five healthy games he has played in, Johnson has been nothing short of spectacular.

In his healthy games, he has never seen less than 10 targets, and if you take away Weeks 3 and 5, Johnson (10.6) ranks second only to Davante Adams (11.6) in targets per game.

Coming off three healthy games and facing a leaky Jaguars secondary, Johnson should continue to play a massive role for a team with a total that has crossed 28 implied points.

Tight End

Travis Kelce ($33) - If this was any other DFS site, we would not have Kelce on the slate, as he and the Kansas City Chiefs battle the Las Vegas Raiders on Sunday Night Football. Yahoo includes that game, however, so it immediately elevates the available tight end plays from putrid to tolerable.

Kelce has the highest salary I have ever seen at the position, and it is 10% higher than at any other point this season. But the salary is warranted in this tight end wasteland of a season. His 139.9 total fantasy points in half-point per reception (PPR) leagues is 48.3 points more than the second-highest scorer this year (Darren Waller). In context, those same 48.3 points are the same as the difference between the 2nd-ranked Waller and 23rd-ranked Anthony Firkser.

With so much value available on this slate at running back and wide receiver, dumping Kelce into your lineup won't keep you from assembling a strong roster. In fact, if you just drop in each player from this column into a dummy lineup and add a random $13 defense, it leaves you with $18 per player for two receivers and a flex.

With the report that most of the Raiders' starting defense is going on the COVID list, Kansas City stacks -- plus individual plays from this game in cash -- are looking extremely appealing. Kelce is the best of that bunch.