9 Fantasy Football Waiver Wire Pickups: Deep Leagues (Week 11)

Posted by Admin November 11, 2024 Football

Doing your weekly waivers in fantasy football can be more stressful than performing life-saving surgery on a loved one without any professional tools or medical knowledge. While that might be a slight exaggeration, deciding which players to add off the waiver wire each week can be stressful.

Finding and adding the right guys in shallow leagues is simple, as there are plenty of appealing options, and the waiver wire is full of talent. Unfortunately, making your waiver wire claims in deeper leagues can be a massive pain in the neck.

I’m here to help by offering fantasy players nine waiver wire targets they should add in deeper leagues in Week 11.

Fantasy Football Waiver Wire Pickups: Week 11

All the players in this article are rostered in fewer than 20% of ESPN leagues.

Trey Lance (QB – DAL): 0.2% Rostered

Trey Lance came off the bench in the Dallas Cowboys’ Week 10 blowout loss to the Philadelphia Eagles, totaling 0.5 fantasy points. The fourth-year pro completed four of his six pass attempts for 21 yards, totaling three rushing attempts for 17 yards and a fumble in limited action. Cooper Rush struggled, as the Cowboys’ offense finished the game with 32 net passing yards. While Jerry Jones will never admit it, Dallas’ season is over.

Therefore, they have no reason to keep playing Rush over Lance. The former North Dakota State star has been solid for fantasy players in his limited action as a starter. Lance has averaged 201.7 passing yards, 0.7 touchdowns, 12.3 rushing attempts for 58 yards and 14.6 fantasy points per game in three career starts he didn’t leave early with an injury. Furthermore, running quarterbacks are cheat codes in fantasy football. He is worth adding in deeper Superflex leagues.

Cam Akers (RB – MIN): 16.4% Rostered

Fantasy players nearly had a heart attack after seeing Aaron Jones leave the team’s Week 10 win with an injury. Thankfully, the star running back returned to the contest, meaning he should be fine for the Week 11 matchup against the Tennessee Titans. However, Jones is an older running back and has missed time the past two years with injuries. While Cam Akers has only been with the Vikings for a few weeks, he is clearly the top handcuff to Jones.

The former Florida State star has had more rushing attempts than Ty Chandler in back-to-back weeks. After outrushing him 6-0 in Week 9, Akers had 13 attempts compared to four for Chandler on Sunday. Meanwhile, the veteran has averaged 4.4 yards per rushing attempt and 0.52 half-PPR fantasy points per touch over the past two weeks. While Akers has limited standalone fantasy value, he is a handcuff worth adding off the waiver wire.

Trey Benson (RB – ARI): 15.9% Rostered

No one expected the Cardinals to sit atop the NFC West division with a 6-4 record heading into their bye week. However, that’s the case for Arizona. While James Conner has played well this year, the veteran running back has never played an entire season in his career. When he misses time with an injury, Trey Benson should see the bulk of the work. The rookie running back accounted for 35.7% of the backfield rushing attempts in Week 10.

Benson had 10 rushing attempts compared to six combined for Emari Demercado and DeeJay Dallas. More importantly, the former Florida State star has been productive with an expanded workload. He averaged 4.4 rushing attempts per game over the first eight weeks. By comparison, Benson has had at least eight rushing attempts in back-to-back games, averaging 5.5 yards per attempt. Furthermore, he has scored 9.7+ half-PPR fantasy points in back-to-back games.

Audric Estime (RB – DEN): 1.1% Rostered

Head coach Sean Payton told the media last week Audric Estime would see more playing time in the second half of the season. The rookie running back missed four weeks with an injury. He had averaged three rushing attempts and 1.5 half-PPR fantasy points per game over the first nine weeks, totaling five or fewer attempts and under 3.6 fantasy points in every contest. However, Estime had the best performance of his NFL career against the Kansas City Chiefs.

Despite facing arguably the NFL’s top run defense, the former Notre Dame star had 14 rushing attempts for 53 yards and 5.3 fantasy points, all career highs. More importantly, the Broncos made him the featured running back. Javonte Williams averaged 11.3 rushing attempts per game before Week 10. However, he and Jaleel McLaughlin combined for three rushing attempts on Sunday, totaling as many as Marvin Mims Jr. had against the division rivals.

Rashod Bateman (WR – BAL): 13.9% Rostered

Someone might want to let the Ravens know they traded for Diontae Johnson a few weeks ago. The veteran wide receiver has two targets in two games with Baltimore and appears frustrated with his role. Meanwhile, Rashod Bateman has 12 targets over the past two weeks, including a team-high eight in the Week 10 win over the Cincinnati Bengals. The former Minnesota star had eight targets in a game for the second time this season.

Bateman doesn’t need a significant target share to be fantasy-relevant. Bateman has averaged nine half-PPR fantasy points per game this year. Furthermore, he has averaged 10.5 fantasy points per game over the past four weeks, totaling 14.4+ twice. Bateman can score double-digit fantasy points with only four targets. Until Johnson is playing enough snaps to make him go away, Bateman is a boom-or-bust WR3 for fantasy players in deeper leagues.

Marquez Valdes-Scantling (WR – NO): 0.6% Rostered

Raise your hand if you started Marquez Valdes-Scantling in Week 10. Now, put it down because you’re clearly lying. The Saints’ wide receiver core has gotten obliterated by injuries. Chris Olave (concussion) likely won’t play again this season, Rashid Shaheed (knee) is out for the year, Bub Means (ankle) is on injured reserve (IR) and Cedrick Wilson Jr. (shoulder) missed Sunday’s win over the Atlanta Falcons, leaving Derek Carr with extremely limited options in the passing game.

Valdes-Scantling stepped up and filled the Shaheed role as the downfield threat. The veteran wide receiver had only three targets against the Falcons, catching all three for 109 receiving yards and two touchdowns. He scored 24.4 half-PPR fantasy points. More importantly, Alvin Kamara (six) was the only Saint to see more targets than Valdes-Scantling. While he won’t score two touchdowns on three targets every week, Valdes-Scantling could become a high-upside boom-or-bust fantasy start sit Flex option.

Devaughn Vele (WR – DEN): 0.4% Rostered

While the Kansas City Chiefs managed to win on Sunday, the Broncos pushed them in Week 10. Bo Nix has been a significantly better passer, totaling at least 215 passing yards in three consecutive games after struggling earlier this year. More importantly, the rookie has made Courtland Sutton a borderline must-start wide receiver lately, as the veteran has averaged 10 targets and 16.3 half-PPR fantasy points per game over the past three weeks.

However, Sutton isn’t the only fantasy-relevant wide receiver on the team. DevaughnVele has had fewer than four targets in half the games. By comparison, the rookie wide receiver has averaged 52 receiving yards and 9.9 fantasy points per game in the three contests with four or more targets, including in Week 10. Vele had the second-most targets on the team last week (four), scoring his first NFL touchdown and a career-high 11.9 fantasy points.

Theo Johnson (TE – NYG): 2.9% Rostered

Unfortunately, the Giants’ passing attack has looked awful the past few weeks outside of the second half against the Washington Commanders in Week 9. While the team has shown no signs of benching Daniel Jones, the veteran quarterback has started to lean on his rookie tight end. Theo Johnson averaged 2.5 targets and 2.8 half-PPR fantasy points per game over the first eight weeks, totaling four or fewer targets and under 4.6 fantasy points in all but one contest.

By comparison, his 12 targets over the past two weeks are the second-most on the team behind Malik Nabers‘ 21. Johnson has caught seven of his 12 targets for 88 receiving yards and a touchdown, averaging 9.2 fantasy points per game over the past two weeks. New York has their bye in Week 11, giving them two weeks to further work the rookie into their offense before his excellent fantasy matchup against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Ja’Tavion Sanders (TE – CAR): 0.8% Rostered

I mentioned Ja’Tavion Sanders in this article a few weeks ago. While the rookie tight end plays for one of the worst offenses in the NFL, he has been solid lately. Sanders has averaged 4.2 targets and 7.2 half-PPR fantasy points per game over the past five weeks, totaling 7.4+ points in all but one contest. Furthermore, the former Texas star should continue to see more work with the Panthers playing for the future.

Last week, Sanders had only two targets in the win over the New York Giants in Germany. However, Bryce Young had only 25 pass attempts in the overtime victory. More importantly, the rookie tight end had 7.8 fantasy points, scoring his first NFL touchdown. Furthermore, he nearly had a second touchdown against the Giants. Sanders’ 26 targets over the past six weeks lead the team. Expect his role to continue to grow following the Panthers’ Week 11 bye.