Fantasy Football: 5 Things We Learned in Week 11

Don't Forget About Tre'Quan Smith

As a big-time Tre'Quan Smith truther, the last few weeks have been a little difficult to stomach. Since Smith's incredible breakout game in Week 5, he's been more than just a little lackluster for fantasy. Between Weeks 7 and 10, he averaged just 3.3 targets and 21.3 yards per game. Some of his peripheral numbers -- like snap share and target share -- were there, but he just wasn't getting it done for fantasy.

That downward trend culminated in his Week 10 catastrophe. Drew Brees didn't throw a single pass Smith's way in the Saints' 51-14 destruction of Cincy. It seemed like a final nail in the young receiver's coffin for 2018 after he'd seen his total targets decrease in each of the three previous weeks.

But fortunately, Week 11 happened.

The whole Saints' offense took advantage of an extremely banged up Eagles defense, and they were led by none other than Tre'Quan himself. Smith paced the team with a whopping 14 targets, and he converted 10 of them into 157 yards and a score.

Going forward, we obviously can't expect this kind of game from Smith every week. Brees attempted 30 passes in this game, making Smith's 14 targets even more ridiculous, considering they accounted for almost 50% of the team's total targets. Those 30 passes are just about what we can expect from Brees on a weekly basis as he's averaged just under that mark (29.3) in the team's last seven games. Most weeks, though, Smith will have to rely on efficiency, not volume, for fantasy production.

Of course, when you're relying on efficiency, it helps when you have the most efficient passer in the league on your side. Smith probably won't be seeing 14 targets again any time soon, but in this offense, we should be on the lookout for more blow-up spots for the young receiver -- his upcoming matchups with the Atlanta Falcons and Tampa Bay Buccaneers can be just that.