Fantasy football projections, Week 11: Bears-Giants featuring Jordan Howard, Cameron Meredith, Odell Beckham, more

The Week 11 matchup between the Chicago Bears and the New York Giants should features one team writing off the season while another tries to stay in contention for a playoff spot. We’ve got the fantasy projections courtesy of numberFire.

Wide receiver Alshon Jeffery is going to miss the next four games thanks to a suspension related to performance-enhancing drugs. That means Cameron Meredith becomes the team’s No. 1 receiver. He was the top receiver acquired via the waiver wire heading into Week 11 for that very reason. Meredith’s production levels have calmed down considerably since he took over a starting job from rookie Kevin White, who is on injured reserve thanks to a season-ending injury. Meredith has just three catches in the last three weeks combined after catching 20 passes for 243 yards and two touchdowns in his first two starts of the season. Now quarterback Jay Cutler will have no choice but to get him more involved against the Giants. Week 11 is going to be tough however. The Giants’ secondary unit is one of the best in the league.

That fact may force the Bears to lean heavily on running back Jordan Howard. Howard has been very in impressive in back-to-back games now. He’s rushed the ball 31 times for 253 yards and a touchdown. Teammate Jeremy Langford has taken a clear backseat to Howard and has certainly lost his starting job due to injury. Howard practiced in full on Wednesday despite apparently suffering an injury in Week 10, which he vehemently denies. Nevertheless, he’ll be a focal point of the Bears’ offense against the Giants and should rise above his projected totals for the third week in a row.

Quarterback Eli Manning was able to squeeze out a 21-20 win over the Cincinnati Bengals in Week 10 despite the fact that he threw two interceptions in the game. That’s because he also completed 28 passes for 240 yards and three touchdowns. He now has 10 touchdown passes over his last four games. Manning should be leading a pass happy offense for the remainder of the season as the Giants continued to struggle running the ball as they have all year long. The Bears gave up 312 passing yards last week, so Manning will rise above his projections due to sheer volume in Week 11.

That will directly benefit fantasy owners of wide receiver Odell Beckham. Beckham caught 10 out of 11 passes for 97 yards and a touchdown against the Bengals last week. After being held out of the end zone for the entire month of September, Beckham has managed to score six times in the last five games. He should be all over the Bears in Week 11, a team that ranks dead last in the NFL at defending opposing fantasy wide receivers. Start him if you have him.