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Fantasy Football Week 11 Start or Sit: Rashad Jennings

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By @SicEm18

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Seeing Rashad Jennings‘ name might surprise a lot of people in fantasy talk. He hasn’t played since Week 5, and with the New York Giants struggling, his name has only been brought up as a what-if scenario. Well, after a delay in his return, it appears that Jennings is ready to go once again this week against the San Francisco 49ers.

But should he be starting for fantasy owners who have held on to him?

Before getting sidelined, Jennings was one of the league’s leading rushers with nearly 400 yards rushing in just five games. That’s an impressive 80 yards per game, but he only topped 60 yards once this season; he had one game with 176 yards that pushed his average over the top — on 34 carries. If Jennings had seen a typical touch count, his average would be closer to 55 yards a game. Now, do you trust him with that figure?  I’m not sure you can.

The 49ers are not the defense they were touted coming into the season, losing the likes of Patrick Willis and NaVorro Bowman so far. Yet with those missing playmakers, the defense allows the seventh-fewest points to running backs this season. If you’re expecting another big game from Jennings for a rebound performance, don’t hold your breath.

The most yards they’ve allowed this season came last week to Mark Ingram with 120 yards on 27 carries (and 118 yards to the record-paced DeMarco Murray on 22 carries). The trend here is that if you give 20-plus carries to your running back, he’ll get over 100 yards. But those RBs are the only ones teams have invested that many carries in against the 49ers. Don’t expect Tom Coughlin to test that trend this week with Jennings fresh off an injury.

Maybe he’ll get lucky with a goal line carry and score a touchdown, but the 49ers haven’t allowed a rushing TD since Week 7. With the emergence of Odell Beckham‘s connection with Eli Manning, I expect this to be primarily a passing affair for the Giants. If Jennings is available in free agency, I’d pick him up for later, but if he’s on your roster right now, leave him on the bench.

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