Some solid early-season fantasy performers returned to action this past week, making huge impacts for their respective teams.
From a quarterback set to return in Dallas to a wide receiver in New England looking to fill in for his injured teammate, here are a few players you should target when you place waiver bids in your fantasy football leagues heading into Week 11.
Based on allocated blind-bid funds of $100, here are those free agents you should target heading into Week 10. Keep in mind, this is looking at the situation through the lens of an owner that has yet to dip into his/her funds this year.
Tony Romo, Quarterback, Dallas Cowboys ($35)
Spend as much of your remaining budget on Romo as possible. That's pretty much the best analysis we can offer up here. Romo has finished as a top-12 fantasy quarterback in each of his past five full seasons heading into 2015. This makes him one of the most consistent players at his position in recent history.
While we aren't 100 percent sure Romo will play Week 11, there's a darn good chance he will suit up on Thanksgiving. With Dallas at 2-7 and in need of a massive winning streak, it will most likely be relying on Romo to shoulder the load here. That only magnifies the impact Romo makes when he does return from the collarbone injury he suffered back in Week 2.
Matt Jones, Running Back, Washington Redskins ($10)
If you were burned attempting to stream Redskins running backs earlier this year, we fully understand your hesitation here. And in reality, a stellar performance against the hapless New Orleans Saints defense likely isn't an indication of success moving forward.
What we do know is that the Redskins are a half game out of first place in the NFC East after their running backs racked up 403 total yards of offense on Sunday. That's beyond ridiculous.
Considering what we saw from Alfred Morris prior to Sunday (56 rushing yards previous four games), the hesitation has to be real there. Instead, why not nab a high-upside rookie that can help drive the Redskins into a potential playoff spot? With an average of 5.6 yards per touch this season, Jones is a solid get.
David Cobb, Running Back, Tennessee Titans ($5)
Here's someone worth taking a chance on if you are planning away from allocating a large sum of your remaining funds to one single player. Cobb, a physical fifth-round pick from Minnesota in this year's draft, was activated from short-term IR last week and will likely be a go Thursday night.
With the Titans' struggles in the running game (24th in the NFL), anything here from Cobb would be huge. In this, Tennessee will likely look to catch lightning in a bottle here.
Jay Ajayi, Running Back, Miami Dolphins ($4)
Unlike Jones and Cobb, there is a real handcuff for Ajayi in Miami. The rookie was out-touched by Lamar Miller 22-6 in Sunday's win over the Philadelphia Eagles. And until we are told otherwise, that's likely going to remain the case.
What we do know here is that Ajayi has been super impressive in his limited playing time since being activated from short-term IR prior to Week 9. He's averaging 8.1 yards per attempt on 11 rushes during this span.
Much like Cobb, maybe take a minimal risk and add Ajayi to your roster in hopes that he can catch lightning in a bottle here.
Shaun Draughn, Running Back, San Francisco 49ers ($4)
It really is hard to even consider picking up a player from the 49ers' offense for your squad during the stretch run. If you were, Draughn has to be the guy.
He's coming off a near 100 total-yard performance against the Atlanta Falcons and will likely be San Francisco's primary ball carrier moving forward, especially with the injury to Carlos Hyde and season-ending injuries to Reggie Bush as well as Mike Davis. Any time a running back can put up 15-plus touches on a consistent basis, he will make a fantasy impact more times than not. That's the situation Draughn is in right now.
Danny Amendola, Wide Receiver, New England Patriots ($20)
Tom Brady has attempted 370 passes thus far this season, 88 of which have gone in Julian Edelman's direction. With the latter likely out for the remainder of the regular season, someone is going to have to pick up the slack here.
It was Amendola last week against the New York Giants. He caught 10 of the 11 passes thrown in his direction for 79 yards. Overall this year, Amendola has caught 40 of the 48 passes thrown in his direction for a ridiculous 83 percent catch rate. With increased targets, the expectation here has to be that this veteran will be a huge fantasy asset.
Kamar Aiken, Wide Receiver, Baltimore Ravens ($8)
After receiving 14 targets on Sunday against the Jacksonville Jaguars, it's becoming readily apparent that Aiken has taken over as the Ravens' top receiver with Steve Smith lost for the season. Even with a relatively low 55 percent catch rate, Aiken's pure volume of targets will make him fantasy relevant.