Fantasy Football Week 11 Waiver Wire Pickup Advice

Is your fantasy team in need of new blood? Each week I’ll bring to you the best pickups to make ahead of the waiver deadline. All the players I list will be owned in fewer than 50 percent of leagues, with the ownership percentage coming from Yahoo.com.

Quarterbacks

Dak Prescott, Cowboys (35% Owned): Prescott has not been the stat stuffer this year that he was as an electric rookie, but his performance Sunday night vs. the Eagles was encouraging. While most of us laughed at Dallas’ decision to cough up a first-round pick for WR Amari Cooper – and I still think that was an exorbitant price – Cooper’s presence seems to have helped Prescott in the passing game. He threw for 270 yards and a touchdown Sunday night, and racked up 243 yards with two scores in the previous game. These are passable numbers when you factor in his rushing upside; last week he only tallied nine yards on the ground, but he registered six carries and found the end zone. In many games, six rushes for Prescott can mean 40-50 yards and a touchdown. With Atlanta’s soft defense up next on the schedule, Prescott is a sneaky good fill-in if you’re a Tom Brady owner, or if you’ve just committed to streaming all year.

Marcus Mariota, Titans (30% Owned): Mariota is in a similar boat as Prescott. He has spent most of the season disappointing us with low passing yardage and weak touchdown totals, while providing a bit more stability on the ground. Sunday’s performance was hardly a breakout, but the two touchdowns were a welcome sight, as was the heavy usage of WR Corey Davis. The Patriots aren’t any kind of juggernaut pass defense, but he’s thrown for two scores in back-to-back weeks. If he can maintain that as a baseline, his rushing work gives you QB1 upside, especially with a nice matchup against the Colts in Week 11.

Nick Mullens, 49ers (11% Owned): Mullens cooled off considerably from his red-hot debut, and it wasn’t great that this drop-off came against a depleted and demoralized Giants secondary. With that said, Mullens was still able to throw for 250 yards and a score, and he clearly has great chemistry with TE George Kittle. Mullens isn’t an ideal streaming option, but he is very playable against the Buccaneers’ horrible defense.

Running Backs

Derrick Henry, Titans (48% Owned): The worst of Derrick Henry may be behind us. His usage still means there’s a cap on his value, and he hasn’t set the world on fire with his yardage. Henry is mostly a bust as a second-round draft pick, but he’s plowed into the end zone four times in the last three games, and been given double-digit carries in two of them. Henry is not the preferred Tennessee back, and he’s not much more than a deep-league FLEX or emergency RB2 play, but he is playable.

Jalen Richard, Raiders (48% Owned): It’s probably not advisable to own or play any Raiders RB, but someone’s got to get work. Oakland’s season has been super ugly, and without Khalil Mack the defense is basically made of sticks and duct tape. That’s going to put this team in pass-heavy game scripts for the rest of the year, meaning Richard is going to touch the football more than Doug Martin. In PPR leagues, Richard is a solid RB2, and in half-PPR or standard formats he’s still going to see a useful share of targets from Derek Carr, who is dead last in the NFL in yards per attempt. That number is what it is because he likes dumping it off to Richard, who unfortunately isn’t quick enough to break those off for big plays. Volume is Richard’s friend, and you can use him, even if you’d like to have higher-ceiling options.

Doug Martin, Raiders (45% Owned): Martin has been better than anticipated, averaging a healthy 4.3 yards per carry this season, and 4.67 since assuming the early down role from Marshawn Lynch. The problem is that Oakland is so terrible that they fall behind too quickly for Martin to get the volume he needs to offer value. Martin has weekly TD upside, but his yardage is going to be uninspiring most weeks because the score dictates he be subbed out for Jalen Richard.

Elijah McGuire, Jets (18% Owned): McGuire has gotten six carries in back-to-back weeks, and 11 combined targets in the two games since he returned from injury. The results have not been spectacular, but his 117 yards from scrimmage in limited work shows he can be fantasy relevant. As the Jets’ season spirals out of control, it’s likely that McGuire will start leading the backfield in touches so that the front office can decide if they have a viable franchise RB here, or need to splurge on Le’Veon Bell in the offseason. McGuire has passing game chops, and he looks like he can bust off big plays. He’ll be cheap with a Week 11 bye week, and I believe he’s a sneaky good stash for playoff contenders; an injury to Isaiah Crowell propels him to instant, high-end RB2.

Ty Montgomery, Ravens (14% Owned): “Montgomery is no superstar, but when given enough opportunity he can be a valuable fantasy contributor. The Ravens’ usage of Alex Collins is weird and unpredictable, and they would often – frustratingly – use Javorius Allen just as much as Collins. Collins’ usage has been ticking up lately at Allen’s expense, but now Collins is also banged up in addition to being a mediocre receiver. Montgomery was likely added to completely erase Allen from the game plan, so he can be expected to catch the ball quite a bit. Montgomery also may be an option for Baltimore at the goal line, as Collins has fumbled three times in 2018 and fumbled four times last season.” This is what I wrote last week, and it still applies.

Frank Gore, Dolphins (27% Owned): Gore carried the ball 13 times for 90 yards last week, once again out-touching Kenyan Drake. Gore will be a free pickup because Miami is off this week, and when he comes back he’ll get the Colts. Gore’s explosiveness is gone, so I can’t sit here and call him an RB2, but his workload warrants FLEX consideration in the right matchups. I’d say he’s a must handcuff for Drake owners, but he’s probably a better option than Drake despite his low ceiling.

Giovani Bernard, Bengals (25% Owned): Bernard is nothing more than a handcuff at this point to Joe Mixon, but he’s among the best handcuffs you can own. Mixon owners really should pick up Bernard, because if Mixon goes down again, Bernard is a low-end RB1.

LeGarrette Blount, Lions (11% Owned): Blount’s standalone value is completely gone, but he remains an important handcuff to Kerryon Johnson. If Johnson goes down, Blount slides into a high-volume RB2 role.

Wide Receivers

Chris Godwin, Buccaneers (44% Owned): Godwin didn’t disappoint last week despite the Bucs putting up a pathetic three points. Godwin hauled in all seven of his targets and rewarded his believers with 103 yards. Ryan Fitzpatrick loves throwing to him, and he has beautiful matchups with the Giants and 49ers next on his slate. Go pick him up if he’s available, as he’s in the fantasy WR2 mix.

Josh Doctson, Redskins (10% Owned): Doctson’s usage is a recurring issue, but with the Redskins’ WR corps all banged up, Doctson is the guy in the red zone. Alex Smith has found him for touchdowns in back-to-back weeks, and Washington may be forced to throw a ton in Week 11 when they face off with the Texans’ NFL-best run defense per FootballOutsiders.com. It may be time to give up on Doctson evolving into a fantasy WR1 like his draft position would indicate, but for now he can slide into your FLEX or WR3 spot comfortably.

Anthony Miller, Bears (13% Owned): This rookie receiver is finding his way, and he’s primed to thrive if he has Allen Robinson attracting the primary focus of opposing secondaries. Miller feasted on a weak pass defense this past week, roasting the Lions for 122 yards and a touchdown. I’m not reacting to that outsized production though; Miller has seen six or more targets in four consecutive games, and scored twice in that span. He’s begun to render Taylor Gabriel a big obsolete, and that’s a plus for the Bears offense, and QB Mitch Trubisky. We still can’t trust Miller on a weekly basis yet, but he’s now certainly an option when the right matchup presents itself. This week against the Vikings, however, is probably not the time to start putting Miller in your lineup.

Danny Amendola, Dolphins (44% Owned): Amendola has continued to be a model of safety for fantasy owners, particularly in PPR formats, with Brock Osweiler under center. Amendola turned 10 targets into seven catches and 72 yards in an ugly loss to the Packers. As long as Osweiler is throwing the passes, that’s about what you should expect from Amendola. He may mix in a touchdown here and there, but he’s essentially become a reliable FLEX.

Adam Humphries, Buccaneers (16% Owned): Humphries took a big old dump on all the excitement the previous few weeks had garnered for him, which is great for you and me. He’ll go back to being ignored, while we get him for free. Last week Jacquizz Rodgers led the team with 108 receiving yards; that’s an utter fluke, and after averaging nine targets a game for three weeks, his reduction to three targets seemed like an unfortunate blip. With upcoming games against the Giants and 49ers, I would expect Humphries to return to a Danny Amendola-esque role.

Tight Ends

Jonnu Smith, Titans (1% Owned): The tight ends worth owning appear to be scooped up, but Smith is interesting. He’s a very physically gifted player, and he’s scored in back-to-back weeks. TE is an extremely volatile position, so he could VERY EASILY turn around and turn in a doughnut this week vs. the Colts—it wouldn’t be the first zero he recorded this year. But if you’re really desperate, and your trade deadline has passed, then Smith has a chance to produce.