Week 11 Fantasy Football Start 'Em & Sit 'Em: Drake Maye Vs. Baker Mayfield
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The quarterback position has provided fantasy football lineups with significant production through the first 10 weeks of the NFL season. In Week 11, two MVP candidates could bring about difficult decisions for fantasy owners this weekend: Baker Mayfield and Drake Maye. Maye and the New England Patriots defeated Mayfield’s Tampa Bay Buccaneers, but both quarterbacks shined with stellar individual efforts. Fantasy owners could be forced to pick between Mayfield and Maye for Week 11 fantasy lineups. Here’s who makes the more compelling case to start:
The Case For Drake Maye
Through the first half of the season, Maye leads the MVP race with his stellar play under center for New England. In 10 games, the second-year signal-caller has completed nearly 72% of his passes for 2,555 yards and 19 touchdowns with five interceptions, adding two touchdowns on the ground. Entering Week 11, Maye ranks third in the league in passing yards and is tied for third in passing touchdowns.
In fantasy, Maye leads all quarterbacks in fantasy production, and is second in overall scoring to Indianapolis Colts running back Jonathan Taylor. Matched up against the New York Jets on Thursday Night Football, Maye’s stellar production projects to continue, and potentially even elevate.
The Case Against Maye
There’s always a possibility New York could cause the Patriots’ offense to sputter, but that doesn’t serve as much of an argument at this point of the season. The real argument is brought about in the head-to-head matchup versus Mayfield. The Buccaneers’ MVP hopeful outplayed Maye despite Tampa’s loss, notching 22.9 fantasy points.
Mayfield and the Buccaneers will go on the road to take on the Buffalo Bills in Week 11, looking to bounce back from their loss to New England last week.
The Case For Baker Mayfield
As previously noted, Mayfield pieced together a stellar display versus one of the better defenses in the NFL in Week 10. Tampa Bay’s signal-caller completed 65% of his passes for 273 yards and three touchdowns without a turnover versus the Patriots in Week 10. Mayfield has protected the ball as well as anyone throughout the NFL, completing 64% of his passes for 2,192 yards and 16 touchdowns with just two interceptions.
Though his fantasy production hasn’t been as consistent as Maye, Mayfield makes an equally compelling case versus the Bills this weekend. Buffalo’s defense has endured its share of struggles over the past few weeks, allowing 51 points and 552 passing yards over their last two games.
The Case Against Mayfield
While Mayfield has performed as one of the top quarterbacks in fantasy, he hasn’t sustained the same level of consistency as Maye. Mayfield enters Week 11 ranked as QB11 in fantasy, while Maye has performed as the top quarterback throughout fantasy.
In Weeks 7 and 8, Mayfield’s production took a notable dip. The star quarterback mustered just 16.2 total points between the two games, enduring his worst stretch of the season prior to bouncing back in Week 10.
The Final Verdict
It’s hard to argue against Maye’s consistency through 10 games this season. It’s even harder to argue against a matchup against the 26th scoring defense in the NFL. I’m going to pick Maye in a far more favorable matchup, despite Mayfield’s high level of production throughout this fantasy season.
Both quarterbacks make quality start options for Week 11 lineups and I’m quite bullish on both players’ ability to break out this weekend. The discrepancy in matchup tips the scale in Maye’s favor in this one.
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Ethen Hutton is a MLB, WNBA, College, and Fantasy contributor at On SI. Previously, he's covered the NBA, WNBA and NFL for Sportskeeda. Hutton is also a passionate fantasy football player and an immense music lover.