Welcome to the Fantasy Football Waiver Wire for Week 11. The fantasy football playoff push is here, and hopefully all of your teams are still in the hunt.
It took a while, but we’ve finally got a week with
little to choose from on the Waiver Wire. But even with slim pickings, free agent pickups can offer needed help as fantasy managers continue to work through the Bye weeks, injuries, and players who, to put it nicely, aren’t living up to expectations. Let’s take a look.
The Process: Each week, I try to identify the top Waiver Wire targets and evaluate the short- and long-term prospects of those players. I also do my best to reveal which players who are coming off a big week are fool’s gold. Finally, I look at streamers who might help you in a pinch.
Note that I’m writing this column BEFORE the Week 10 Monday night game (PHI@GB).
Some players discussed won’t be available in your league. I try to list players who are available in more than 50% of leagues. But what does that even mean? A 10-team league with six bench spots will have a much larger Free Agent pool than a 14-team league with eight. Most leagues fall somewhere in between. This isn’t “one size fits all.” By way of example, I won’t list R.J. Harvey, Troy Franklin, Jerry Jeudy, Jakobi Meyers, Christian Watson, or Colston Loveland, among others who probably aren’t available in any of your leagues.
WEEK 11 BYES: IND, NO
Week 11 Waiver Wire
Quarterback:
Quarterback availability varies widely between 1-QB and Superflex/2-QB leagues.
I’m going to assume that none of Sam Darnold, Joe Flacco, or Jaxson Dart is available on your Waiver Wire, in any format. If they are, they’re the top choices. Note that Dart is in the concussion protocol and in danger of missing at least this week’s game.
Tua Tagovailoa, Jacoby Brissett, Trevor Lawrence, and C.J. Stroud won’t be available in most Superflex leagues, but they’re the obvious places to start if you need long-term help, a streamer, or an injury replacement in a 1-QB league. They’re all decent options if needed. Tua (vs. WAS, Spain) has a particularly attractive Week 11 matchup.
Aaron Rodgers is starting to look like he did for most of last season – old, and afraid of getting hit. Still, he’s an attractive streamer for Week 11, as he’ll be at home facing the Bengals, who he completely lit up a few weeks ago (pretty much every Quarterback lights them up).
In addition to Rodgers, Michael Penix, Jr., J.J. McCarthy, Geno Smith, Justin Fields,and Marcus Mariota are a step below the group above, but capable of a big game here or there when the matchup is right. Mariota and Fields have rushing upside. Fields may not be long for the starting job in New York, although the team has won back-to-back games.
Mac Jones has been serviceable, and it’s still unclear if or when Brock Purdy will return, making this a tricky situation week-to-week. There is upside for whoever is under center.
Running Back:
There isn’t much to recommend at RB this week beyond the usual list of stashes who are one play away from major fantasy relevance.
With that said, check to make sure Trey Benson wasn’t dropped in your league. He should return soon.
Devin Singletary is getting enough work to be serviceable if you’re stuck at running back. I don’t like the Week 11 matchup (vs. GB) and especially with Jaxson Dart possibly out.
Sean Tucker is proving to be a more effective runner than Rachaad White. Strange but true: He’s the only running back to rush for 50 yards against New England this season. He’s worth a roster spot for as long as Bucky Irving remains out.
Of all the “backup” RBs, Tyler Allgeier continues to show that he has significant stand-alone value on top of handcuff worth. He gets plenty of run, including at the goal line. Tyjae Spears is a player I’d like to have on my roster down the stretch, as he should continue seeing a significant portion of the work, albeit on a bad offense.
Depth adds: Tank Bigsby, Blake Corum, Bhayshul Tuten, Brian Robinson, Jr., Kenneth Gainwell, Emari Demercado, and Emmanuel Wilson.
Wide Receiver
There are a couple of decent choices here.
Alec Pierce has averaged almost nine targets per game over the last month, and leads the NFL in yards per catch, at 20.9. He’s more than just a deep threat and should be rostered in all formats.
Tez Johnson has been mentioned here for several weeks running, and he rewarded fantasy managers on Sunday with two TD catches. The speedy rookie is a WR3/Flex consideration for as long as the Bucs are down multiple starting receivers.
I’ve been banging the drum for two Washingtons the last few weeks. Parker Washington and Malik Washington both caught TD passes this week. Both appear to have pretty reliable “slot” roles, on decent passing offenses, and if your league rewards return yards, they’re that much better.
Others to consider for depth: Mack Hollins, Darius Slayton (Jaxson Dart looked his way a lot on Sunday), and Keon Coleman (is it finally starting to happen?).
Deeper depth: Demario Douglas, Roman Wilson, Adonai Mitchell, Jayden Higgins, Calvin Ridley, Andrei Iosivas, Marvin Mims, and Tre Tucker.
Tight End:
Cade Otton is another regular listing in this column who had a big game in Week 10 (9-82 on 12 targets). I’ll say it until I’m blue in the face: He should have a nice target share going forward with so many injuries to the receivers, just like last season when the top two options got hurt.
Theo Johnson and Juwan Johnson are two more players who I keep listing, and both keep getting targeted a lot by their rookie quarterbacks. They’re both fringe TE1s at this point, and should not be sitting on waiver wires.
I’ll list Dalton Schultz again, and I’ll add another Dalton: Dalton Knox. He’s an attractive option if Dalton Kincaid misses time.
I’m curious to see what kind of game Luke Musgrave has on Monday night. He was a hot pickup last week, and will be a much hotter one this week if he has a good game.
PK and D/ST Streamers, Week 11: (ranked outside the Top-12 for the week):
PK: A. Borregales (vs. NYJ), T. Loop (@CLE), C. Santos (@MIN)
D/ST: CHI (@MIN), ATL (vs. CAR), MIA (vs. WAS, Spain)
Good luck with your waiver claims!
***This column appears each Monday right here at Big Blue View. Each Thursday, my weekly fantasy preview with my rides, fades and sleepers (start/sit) appears here, and on Fridays you can find my weekly Giants Props of the week, also right here. ***
