Sean Tucker’s Rise in Tampa Bay: Is a Revolutionary 1A-1B Backfield Split About to Shake Up Fantasy Football?

When the dust settled on Week 11, some performances didn’t just catch my eye—they grabbed it and shook it. From breakout backs forcing their way into the spotlight to receivers reminding us exactly who rules their offense, the week’s action was a blend of clutch moments and game-changing plays. Injuries shuffled the deck, giving rise to new fantasy goldmines and challenging conventional wisdom. Whether it was Sean Tucker’s relentless shift in Tampa Bay or the resurgent Brock Purdy running the 49ers’ show, the narratives shaped the fantasy landscape in ways you can’t ignore. Trust me, you want the lowdown before making your next move—this week was packed with potential game-winners and caution flags alike. LEARN MORE

Fantasy football analyst Ray Garvin shares his thoughts on Week 11s most noteworthy action.

Sean Tucker forces the issue in Tampa Bay

All week, the question was, would Bucky Irving play? He practiced, then the team ruled him out well before kickoff, which left the door cracked for Sean Tucker. I told y’all in bold predictions he’d score this week. But I’ll be real with you; early on, I was a little nervous about that call, because Rachaad White came out cooking. He ran well. He looked explosive. The offense flowed through him to start.

Then, Tucker touched the ball and the whole thing felt different.

He brought a different gear to the field. You could see it live and you can see it again on the highlights. He hit creases with urgency. He finished runs. He changed how Buffalo had to fight the run game. And he wasn’t just a slam-it-up-the-middle hammer. The Bucs used him in the passing game, too. He gave them 34 receiving yards and a touchdown, kept drives on schedule and made the Bills think twice about loading up inside.

The rushing line speaks loud enough. Nineteen carries, 106 yards, two touchdowns with a long of 43 yards. That’s the home run I expected from the same athlete we saw at Syracuse before medical concerns pushed him down draft boards. The talent never changed. Tampa finally leaned into it.

This shouldn’t be a one-off. When Irving returns, the best version of this backfield looks like a true 1A and 1B. Keep Irving fresh. Let his vision work. Then let Tucker put pressure on second-level defenders and finish games. He just hung 33 half-PPR points on the day and sits at the top of the RB board heading into Sunday night. You don’t stuff that back in the bottle. And with Carolina stacking wins, Tampa Bay has to keep its foot on the gas. That means a steady diet of Sean Tucker, even when Irving is back in uniform.

Instant reaction: Even when Bucky Irving returns, Tampa needs a 1A and 1B, with Sean Tucker locked in as weekly flex.

Tetairoa McMillan reminds everyone who WR1 is in Carolina

I expected Carolina to lean on the ground game in this matchup and let Rico Dowdle salt away drives. Atlanta had other plans. Dowdle finished with 19 carries for 45 yards and the Panthers put the ball in Bryce Young’s hands — and he was surgical.

Young went 31 of 45 for 448 yards with three touchdowns and no interceptions, and Tetairoa McMillan was the clear engine of the passing attack.

We talked about this on the Yahoo Fantasy Forecast Data Dump show this past week. T-Mac’s usage has looked elite all season; the production just hadn’t matched because the quarterback play hadn’t been there. On Sunday, it all synced up. McMillan commanded 12 targets and turned them into eight receptions for 130 yards with two scores, pacing the room in a way that looked effortless.

The numbers back up what the eyes saw. McMillan was open early and often, then he made good after the catch. When Carolina needed a play, he was the first read, the hot route, the shot downfield. Xavier Legette chipped in and that’s great for the offense, but you knew No. 4 was the best option on every critical snap. This is exactly why the Panthers have to keep funneling volume his way. When they do, the entire operation looks functional and Young looks like a former No. 1 pick, instead of a caretaker.

McMillan rolled into Sunday night sitting as the WR1 in half-PPR with 29 fantasy points. Carolina is above .500 and just a half game back in the NFC South with trips to San Francisco, the Rams and the Saints on deck. That’s not a cakewalk, but volume travels. Keep trusting the role, keep trusting the talent and let the spikes come.

Instant reaction: T-Mac will live on heavy targets and give you WR1 spikes even through a tough three-game stretch.

San Francisco’s band gets back together — and it’s the same old fireworks

The 49ers had the full crew again and the offense looked exactly how Kyle Shanahan drew it up. As good as Mac Jones had been holding the fort, Brock Purdy stepped back in and they didn’t miss a beat while dismantling Arizona, 41-22. Purdy was efficient and calm, dealing on time and taking the freebies the Cardinals kept handing him. He finished 19 of 26 for 200 yards with three touchdowns and no interceptions, which put him at QB3 coming out of the afternoon slate. When Purdy plays point guard like that, the stars eat. George Kittle turned six targets into six for 67 and two scores. Christian McCaffrey handled 13 carries for 81 yards with two rushing touchdowns, then added five receptions for 40 yards and another touchdown. That’s three total scores and RB2 on the week behind Tucker. This is the machine humming.

You can see the comfort right away. Kittle was a tone setter over the middle. McCaffrey was efficient and dynamic as always, proving that even at this stage of his career, he’s still one of the best backs in the league. Ricky Pearsall was back but clearly not all the way right, which made it even more impressive that San Francisco kept piling on chunk plays without forcing the ball outside. It gave up some stuff on the other side of the ball but offensively, the 49ers looked dangerous every time they crossed midfield. Without Jones, they were just fine.

Moving forward you feel good about streaming Purdy whenever this group is intact. The processing, plus these playmakers, gives him a bankable floor with a weekly path to ceiling games. Kittle looks back in full — usage was up, red-zone looks were there and he finished through contact like old times. McCaffrey is the ultimate problem solver. If you waited out the quieter stretch of the 49ers season, this was the payback game across the board.

Instant reaction: Brock Purdy is on the weekly streaming radar.

Denver gets statement win over Kansas City

The Broncos are sitting in pole position for the first-round bye in the AFC and they earned it with a last-second kick to beat the Chiefs, 22-19. This was a tough one. Both teams traded blows all afternoon. Patrick Mahomes finished with 276 passing yards. Bo Nix answered with 295. The difference was the throw that mattered most. With the game on the line, Nix ripped a perfect corner route to Troy Franklin to set up the winner. That’s a big-time rep from a second-year player in a pressure spot and it capped a drive that felt like the arrival moment for this passing game.

Denver did it without J.K. Dobbins, who is on IR with a foot injury. If you thought it’d grind it out, you weren’t alone, but the ground attack gave it just 59 yards on 21 attempts at 2.8 a carry. So Nix spread it. Pat Bryant went for 82 yards. Franklin stacked 84. Courtland Sutton added 59. It was all hands on deck and it needed to be, because Kansas City didn’t fold. Travis Kelce posted nine for 91 and a score on 13 targets. Still, the Broncos limited the splash opportunities from Rashee Rice and Xavier Worthy and made Mahomes work for every yard.

Mahomes was a tick off early. He missed a would-be touchdown to Worthy, then airmailed another that would’ve hit Tyquan Thornton in stride. Those points left on the field proved costly. Kareem Hunt found the end zone again, which keeps him firmly in the flex mix, but this was Denver’s night. Jaleel McLaughlin punched in a score and with Dobbins done for the year, he’s the back to stash if he’s sitting on waivers. RJ Harvey didn’t do enough to take command in front of McLaughlin.

Denver has the look of a team that can win different ways, but the headline is simple: When it needed a big play, the ball found Franklin and he delivered. That’s the type of trust that turns into a weekly option for us.

Instant reaction: Troy Franklin is startable moving forward; treat him as a viable WR3.

Christian Watson’s big-play valve is open again

Christian Watson goes into Sunday night as a top-five WR in half-PPR after turning five targets into four receptions, 46 yards and two touchdowns against the Giants. He and Jordan Love also just missed on a deep shot that could’ve blown this open even more. The headline isn’t complicated: When No. 9 gets chances, this Packers offense changes.

The context around him pushes his stock up. Romeo Doubs led the team with eight targets and 53 yards but had multiple critical drops that killed momentum. Matthew Golden tried to give it a go, yet didn’t look all the way right. Josh Jacobs left with a knee injury, which means Green Bay may need more explosives through the air if one of the best running backs in the league misses time. That’s where Watson can shine. Even coming off ACL surgery, his vertical speed, deep dig and crosser work force safeties to back up and open windows for everyone else.

Love was checked out in the game and Malik Willis had to play for a bit. If that situation changes going forward, it would change how I feel about Watson, but I still think he should be prioritized. Get Watson the ball. He has always profiled as a big-play, touchdown threat who can flip drives with one snap. In an offense light on healthy playmakers, he is the cleanest way to manufacture chunk gains while they navigate injuries.

This was a big win for Green Bay at 6-3-1 and it doubles as a reminder of how it needs to play down the stretch. Push it with Watson. Keep him in motion. Make defenses turn and run. If you drafted him and stashed him on an IR spot in fantasy, you did it for the big plays and the spike weeks. We just saw one with room to spare — consider it a spike week and a blueprint for what’s next.

Instant reaction: Prioritize Christian Watson. He’s a weekly start for spike-week upside.

Josh Allen puts the league on notice again

Rough start. Josh Allen opened with a rushing score then threw an awful pick. First quarter felt choppy. Then he did what MVPs do: He settled in and took the game over.

From there, it was a clinic. Allen accounted for six touchdowns against Tampa Bay — three passing, three rushing — and stacked 357 total yards while playing through two interceptions. Next Gen Stats noted it’s only the second time in the Super Bowl era a quarterback has both passed and rushed for three or more touchdowns in a game — the other time was also Allen in 2024, at the Rams. There are only a few quarterbacks even capable of this kind of takeover and Allen keeps proving it because he’s done it twice. At 42.68 fantasy points, it stands as the best QB game of the season — QB1 domination.

What makes it louder is how he did it. The Bills didn’t ride a hot ground game. James Cook gave them 48 rushing yards. They benched Keon Coleman. Allen’s leading receiver was Tyrell Shavers with four for 90 and a touchdown. Ty Johnson ripped a long score. Cook chipped in a receiving touchdown. When it was clear the run game wasn’t going to carry the load, Allen said, “If we can’t get it going on the ground, I’ll handle it.” Then he buried Tampa with power red-zone keepers.

This is why he’s the MVP. Since 2020, Allen has owned four of the 11 highest single-week fantasy QB scores and he just posted the top mark of this season. He dragged an offense that was piecing it together at receiver and turned a shaky opening into a blowout. When he plays like this, there isn’t a defense that can keep pace — and there isn’t a fantasy matchup he can’t win by himself.

Instant reaction: Pick up Tyrell Shavers as a dart throw.

Davis Mills Feeds Nico Collins

Houston went into Tennessee with Davis Mills back at the controls and the mission was obvious: Get Nico Collins the ball and live with the results. Collins delivered again, stacking a second straight big game with Mills under center. He posted 10 targets, nine receptions, 92 yards and a touchdown against Tennessee, right after dropping seven for 136 on Jacksonville. He goes into Sunday night as the WR3 in half-PPR, which tracks with how this passing game looks when Mills doesn’t overthink it.

Collins handled at least seven receptions in back-to-back games. His biggest and third-biggest yardage days of the season have come with Mills. It’s not an accident. This is Houston doing a great job keeping it simple for Mills — identify your best option on a down-to-down basis and get him the rock.

Collins is that dude. He’s winning early, finishing plays and rewarding every target with efficient production.

The rest of the script told the same story. The rushing game tried to get going with Woody Marks but it wasn’t successful. Dalton Schultz worked as the complementary answer on key downs. When the Texans needed a play, Mills looked for Collins and he was awesome. Nine catches on 10 looks is not just volume, it’s trust — and that trust will travel week-to-week.

There are already early rumblings that C.J. Stroud could be uncertain for Week 12. If Mills gets another start, I’m not changing a thing. Keep Collins high in the fantasy ranks and start him with full confidence. The usage is secure, the rapport is clear and Houston has shown it knows where the offense should flow when the game tightens up.

Instant reaction: Keep Nico Collins locked in as a strong WR1 who can pop whenever Mills is the starter.

Sam Darnold drags the passing game

Let’s not forget, the Rams were the same group that ended Sam Darnold’s Vikings run last year. They got him again here. Darnold looked confused from the jump and tossed an interception on the first series. He never settled in from there. He finished 29 of 44 for 279 yards with no touchdowns and four picks. The explosives weren’t there. He even missed Rashid Shaheed on what should’ve been a walk-in deep shot. Seattle lived underneath instead, and A.J. Barner soaked up 11 targets right behind Jaxon Smith-Njigba’s 12. JSN still gave us nine for 105 but his long was 28 on a one-handed snag that needed every bit of body control he had.

This makes two straight rough outings from Darnold. I know last week he didn’t have to throw much against Arizona, but the process hasn’t looked right. The Rams had him guessing early and often. He stared down reads. He forced throws late. Going into Sunday night, the only quarterbacks scoring lower on the week are Justin Herbert and Dillon Gabriel. That tells you where this day fell on the spectrum.

More Fantasy Football analysis

Week 11 Fantasy Football Booms and Busts Josh Allens Superman act on full display in 6touchdown game

The ripple for JSN is obvious. The volume remains strong, the ceiling gets capped when the quarterback misses layups and can’t hit the verticals. If Darnold plays even halfway decent we’re probably talking about an even bigger day from JSN. The schedule offers get-right chances with the Titans, Vikings and Falcons on deck. But Seattle needs cleaner answers on first down and it needs the explosives back to their best separator.

One bright note was Kenneth Walker III. It felt like the first time the Seahawks really committed to him over Zach Charbonnet. Walker turned 16 carries into 67 yards and a touchdown with three catches for 44 yards. He goes into Sunday night as the RB10 in half-PPR with 18.6 points. That balance will help, but the passing game has to follow.

Instant reaction: Sam Darnold has to play better for fantasy — for himself and for Jaxon Smith-Njigba.

Michael Wilson steps into the WR1 role — and smashes

Sometimes the door opens and a player kicks it off the hinges. That was Michael Wilson on Sunday. With Marvin Harrison Jr. sidelined after an emergency appendectomy, Wilson walked into a massive opportunity — and he did everything with it. He wasn’t on enough radars this week, which probably means he is sitting on a lot of waiver wires. That’s about to change.

Arizona QB Jacoby Brissett set an NFL record today with 47 completions. That won’t happen again for Brissett. Nonetheless, in this one, he found the hot hand and fed him all day long. Early in the game, it was clear Wilson was going to be a big part of the plan. The volume was real, not a fluke or a broken-play mirage. He commanded 18 targets and turned them into 15 receptions for 185 yards. No touchdown, but he still goes into Sunday night as the WR2 in half-PPR. That tells you how dominant the usage was. He looked comfortable working the intermediate windows and kept stacking layups into chunk gains whenever Brissett gave him a chance.

What I loved most was how steady it felt. Brissett put the ball in spots where Wilson could win and Wilson kept rewarding him. When Arizona needed a play, it didn’t hunt for a gadget look or force something to the boundary. It went right back to Wilson and moved the chains again. Trey McBride got his, too, but the clear focal point without Harrison was Wilson. That’s the kind of signal we chase in fantasy when roles change and a depth chart resets on the fly.

The Cardinals are not in the business of protecting leads right now. They have Jacksonville next, then Tampa Bay and the Rams. If Wilson is going to keep operating like the one and see this type of target load, he belongs on rosters and in the flex conversation immediately. Don’t let someone else get this kind of end-of-season gift.

Instant reaction: Michael Wilson is a priority pickup going into Week 12.