Rest-of-Season (ROS) Fantasy Football Rankings: Parker Washington Rises, Matthew Golden Falls

We’re more than halfway through the NFL regular season, but the grind for hardcore fantasy players never truly stops. New leagues are still forming, and we need to be vigilant on waivers and trades to constantly upgrade our existing rosters.

That’s where our Rest of Season Fantasy Football Rankings come in handy. They can help highlight which players have risen and fallen in the ranks since the start of the year, and hopefully, help you identify some undervalued targets.

Let’s dive into a few interesting players from the updated ranks.

Updates To The Rest-of-Season Fantasy Football Rankings For Week 11

The New WR1

Jaxon Smith-Njigba, WR, Seahawks (ADP: 32.4, ROS: 4)

Smith-Njigba had his string of four straight games with at least 100 yards snapped in Week 10. That said, it was still an extremely impressive performance. He “only” tallied 93 yards and a touchdown, but he fell victim to an extremely poor game script. The Seahawks ultimately led by 35 points in the first half, so the team didn’t need to throw the ball all that often.

When the game was competitive, there was no stopping JSN. He tallied 82 of his receiving yards in the first quarter alone, including 51 yards (and a touchdown) on the first drive. If the Cardinals held up their end of the bargain, Smith-Njigba could’ve been looking at a monster performance.

He remains the clear top receiver from a utilization standpoint. He leads all players with a 39% target share, and his targets are not of the low-value variety. His Average Depth of Target (aDOT) checks in at 13.0 yards, and he leads the league with an average of 12.2 yards per target.

Ultimately, no receiver in football is combining volume and efficiency like JSN at the moment. There are some other great fantasy receivers, but it’s hard to take any of them over Smith-Njigba for the time being.

Fk the Big Three, It’s Just Big Me**

Jonathan Taylor, RB, Colts (ADP: 16.9, ROS: 1)

Our rankers currently have three RBs listed in Tier One for fantasy purposes: Taylor, Christian McCaffrey and Bijan Robinson. That said, it’s hard to say that Taylor isn’t in a tier of his own at this point. He has been the top RB in fantasy this season, and it hasn’t been particularly close.

While McCaffrey and Robinson both excel as pass catchers, Taylor gets it done in more traditional ways. He leads the league with an average of 113.9 rushing yards per game, and his 17 touchdowns are first by a mile. Josh Jacobs is the only other player with more than 10 this season, and he’s all the way back at 11.

Taylor’s upside is simply unmatched. He’s finished as a top-three scorer at the position in six of 10 games, including four finishes as RB1. That’s in PPR formats, which is not his best scoring system. In standard and 0.5-PPR leagues, the gap between Taylor and the rest of the position is massive.

The only thing Taylor doesn’t have going for him is his schedule. The Colts have the third-hardest remaining schedule in terms of fantasy points allowed to RBs, with two matchups vs. the Texans’ elite defense still looming. Still, it’s hard to imagine anyone stopping Taylor at this point. He already has five games with at least three touchdowns, and he’s averaging an absurd 6.0 yards per attempt. In any Week 11 startups, snap him up with the first pick and don’t think twice about it.

Wide Receivers on the Rise

Parker Washington, WR, Jaguars (ADP: 358.3, ROS: 111)

The Jaguars have been hit hard by injuries at receiver. Travis Hunter was placed on IR and will miss the rest of the season, while Brian Thomas Jr. missed last week’s game vs. the Texans. It’s possible that he returns in Week 11, but he is reportedly dealing with a low-grade high ankle sprain. That means it’s possible he’s out for the second straight game.

Those absences have allowed Washington to step into a meaningful role. He’s posted a 24% target share over his past three outings, and he’s coming off a season-high 94% route participation in Week 10. He finished with 11.9 PPR points against a tough Texans’ secondary, his third straight game in double digits.

The Jaguars did add Jakobi Meyers before the trade deadline, and he was limited to just a 50% route participation in his first game. He should take on a larger role moving forward, and Thomas will be back eventually. Still, it’s hard to imagine Washington not maintaining a role in this passing attack. He has some WR3 potential in the short term, and that could be longer than expected if Thomas is more hurt than we realize.

Tez Johnson, WR, Buccaneers (ADP: 305.8, ROS: 92)

The Bucs are another team that is banged up at receiver. Mike Evans is expected to miss most of the rest of the season, while Chris Godwin was unable to suit up in Week 10. Jalen McMillan has yet to play this season, leaving the team without three of their top pass-catchers from last year.

Johnson has stepped up in their absence. He has four touchdown catches over his past four games, including two last week vs. the Patriots. His role in the offense has also steadily grown, with his route participation spiking to 90% over his past two contests. Johnson had a 26% target share in Week 8 before falling back to just 12% last week.

With Baker Mayfield playing at a high level, there’s no reason he can’t support two pass-catchers for fantasy purposes. Emeka Egbuka is the team’s locked-in WR1, but Johnson seems to have the No. 2 spot locked up for the time being.

Abandon Ship

T.J. Hockenson, TE, Vikings (ADP: 75.9, ROS: 142)

If you gave the Vikings’ front office and coaching staff truth serum, they’d almost certainly say that they regret letting Sam Darnold walk out the building. Darnold expertly operated Kevin O’Connell’s offense in Minnesota, and now he’s doing the same thing in Seattle. J.J. McCarthy has some upside, but things haven’t gone nearly as smoothly with him under center.

Hockenson has become completely irrelevant for fantasy purposes. He has just five total targets over his past two games, and he’s TE28 for the year in PPR points per game. He’s being asked to chip as a blocker very frequently, which has limited his aDOT to just 4.9 yards for the year.

With almost no upside in terms of air yards, Hockenson needs much more target volume to get back into the circle of trust for fantasy purposes. He also needs the Vikings’ passing attack as a whole to be more productive, and that doesn’t seem to be in the cards in 2025-26.

Matthew Golden, WR, Packers (ADP: 93.3, ROS: 171)

It’s pretty ironic that the Packers finally decided to use a first-round pick on a wide receiver, and it’s looking more and more likely that he’s going to be a bust. That might not be the case in the long term, but it’s definitely the case this season. Golden was expected to take over as the Packers' top receiver from Day 1, and that has simply not happened. He owns just a 13% target share for the year, despite the Packers dealing with a host of pass-catcher injuries.

Now, Golden is dealing with an injury of his own. He missed Week 10 with a shoulder injury, and who knows what kind of workload he’s looking at when he eventually gets back. Romeo Doubs, Christian Watson and Dontayvion Wicks are all seemingly ahead of him in the pecking order, and Jayden Reed should be back at some point.

Golden can still provide some real-life value with his deep speed, but he’s simply impossible to trust for fantasy purposes. After all, if he couldn’t provide value when the team was missing players, how is he going to do it as they get closer to full strength? Let someone else deal with that headache.

Don’t Forget About Me

Trey Benson, RB, Cardinals (ADP: 138.0, ROS: 113)

Benson has missed the past six weeks with an injury, so it’s possible that he was dropped at some point along the way. If he’s out there, don’t be afraid to take a swing on his upside.

Benson has the potential to be the Cardinals’ workhorse back down the stretch. Benson has averaged 5.5 yards per attempt this season, and he’s racked up a 12% target share in part-time duty. With a full-time workload, he has the potential to be a low-end RB1 for fantasy purposes.

The cherry on top is his closing schedule. He gets two above-average matchups to end the fantasy playoffs, including a juicy matchup vs. the Bengals in Week 17. It’s worth stashing him on your bench for his upside in that game alone.

Players Mentioned in this Article

ParkerWashington
WRJAC
PPG
9.95
TezJohnson
WRTB
PPG
4.42
JonathanTaylor
RBIND
PPG
15.91
JaxonSmith-Njigba
WRSEA
PPG
11.78
Proj
15.67