Fantasy Football: Will T.J. Hockenson bounce back in Week 11?
After a dud week in Week 10, will Lions tight end T.J. Hockenson bounce back for his fantasy managers this week?
The Detroit Lions only threw the ball 25 times in Week 10 against the Pittsburgh Steelers, with bad weather, a productive running game and an injured Jared Goff combining to create the situation. Tight end T.J. Hockenson finished with zero catches on one target, with a second target wiped up by a penalty.
Hockenson literally had more penalties (two) than targets that counted against Pittsburgh. He had at least nine targets in each of the previous three games (31 total), which led to some optimism he could deliver in a fairly tough matchup against the Steelers. So much for that.
On 97.1 The Ticket’s “Stoney and Jansen Show” Tuesday, Lions head coach Dan Campbell said he wasn’t totally disappointed about Hockenson’s lack of involvement in Week 10.
“No, I wouldn’t be disappointed,” “We tried to get him the ball a number of times. Some of those (calls) had kills in them. They’re giving us the run look so we kill it. But some of those, man, it didn’t work out.”
Fantasy Football Week 11: Will T.J. Hockenson bounce back?
It’s fair to say some effort to get Hockenson the ball will come Sunday against the Cleveland Browns, and if Campbell calls offensive plays again he’ll be front-and-center to that effort. The question marks are the quarterback for the Lions, with Tim Boyle or David Blough to start in Goff’s place if he can’t play, and the matchup.
Through Week 10, the Browns are in the top half of the league in fantasy points allowed to tight ends (9.9 per game; Yahoo! 0.5-point PPR). The quality of the tight ends they’ve faced range from Travis Kelce to Drew Sample, and they’ve allowed double-digit PPR points to the position in four of their last six games. Widen to 8.5 PPR points, and it becomes five of six with Noah Fant in Week 7 (five catches for 39 yards). So a mid-pack matchup doesn’t look too bad for Hockenson, and it’s not as if anyone replacing Goff would be much worse than he’s been.
Even after last week’s catchless dud, Hockenson is still a top-10 fantasy tight end (TE5 in full PPR). So it’s fair to assume you’re starting him if you have him, and there’s nowhere to go but up this week–a double-digit PPR week is not out of the question.
T.J. Hockenson Week 11 Projection: 5 receptions for 49 yards
