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Fantasy Football Waiver Wire Pickups: Week 11

By Matt Schauf | Updated on Wed, 15 Nov 2023 . 12:35 PM EST

Waiver Wire Targets 

• 12-Team Leagues
• Deep Leagues
• Streaming Options
• Drop Candidates
• Grab This Guy

12-Team Leagues

Ty Chandler, RB, Minnesota Vikings

Rostered: 8%
Blind-bid recommendation: 10-25%
The second-year back led Minnesota’s rushing with 15 carries for 45 rushing yards and a TD in Week 10. Alexander Mattison leaving early with a concussion certainly helped, but Chandler matched him at 8 carries even before the starter left.

Now Mattison’s likely to miss at least one week, which should make Chandler the backfield leader against Denver. The Broncos have improved on defense but remain the friendliest RB defense in the league. That included allowing 177 yards to Buffalo’s James Cook and Latavius Murray on Monday night.

If you’re in need of a Week 11 option, then Chandler’s basically worth whatever you need to spend. Just don’t overrate his usefulness the rest of the way. The second-year player remains an unknown quantity who never got more than 6 touches in a game before last week.

Rico Dowdle, RB, Dallas Cowboys

Rostered: 4%
Blind-bid recommendation: 5-10%

Dowdle compiled season highs in carries (12), rushing yards (79), and carry share (38%) in Sunday’s win over the Giants. 

The lopsided nature of that game played a big part. Tony Pollard led 11-4 in carries at halftime, then watched Dowdle lead 8-4 the rest of the way. The latter portion included Dowdle’s 1-yard TD late in the fourth quarter.

But Dowdle also averaged 6.6 yards per carry and ranked eighth among all Week 10 RBs in rush yards over expected per carry.

He entered the Giants matchup averaging just 4.4 carries per game and will need to prove he can get more work in non-blowout situations before we can consider using him. But consider stashing Dowdle now if you have a spot, in case Dallas gives him more work or Pollard goes down.

Noah Brown, WR, Houston Texans

Rostered: 25%
Blind-bid recommendation: 5-15%

Brown delivered a second straight monster game in Sunday’s win over the Bengals. He’s now averaging a league-best 20.9 yards per catch.

This probably isn’t a career breakout for a 27-year-old who has been in the league since 2017. But Brown opened this season as a top-3 WR for the Texans, and his recent surge should be enough to make coaches favor him over plodding veteran Robert Woods.

WR Nico Collins should return soon after missing Week 10 with a calf injury. That could leave Brown as just the team’s fourth target. But the quick maturation of QB C.J. Stroud makes even that version of Brown an attractive bench stash.

And if Collins remains out, Brown just might him your lineup for a high-ceiling matchup with the Cardinals.

Detroit Lions DST

Rostered: 30%
Blind-bid recommendation: 5-15%

We mentioned this defense in last week’s waiver-pickups article because of the schedule run that begins this week. Just check this out, Weeks 11-16 from our DST strength-of-schedule page:

That’s the third most favorable schedule among fantasy defenses over that span, trailing only the Saints and Dolphins. And New Orleans’ run includes the Week 11 bye and a Week 13 avoid against the Lions. Miami sits 22nd in defensive DVOA, compared with Detroit at No. 9.

Deep Leagues

Jameis Winston, QB, New Orleans Saints (Superflex)

Rostered: 0%
Blind-bid recommendation: 3-5%
Derek Carr (shoulder, concussion) is expected to play following the Saints’ Week 11 bye. In case he doesn’t, though, Winston makes sense as a stash for QB-needy teams. 

Upside matchups await following the bye (Atlanta, Detroit). And Winston showed his usual aggressiveness in relief on Sunday, firing off a 15.5-yard aDOT and 2 scores.

D'Ernest Johnson, RB, Jacksonville Jaguars

Rostered: 0%
Blind-bid recommendation: 0-1%

Are you looking for the next RB handcuff to stash before he becomes relevant? That could be Johnson.

Sunday marked a season high in snap share (21%) for Johnson, tying his season highs in total snaps (12), carries (3), and targets (2) from Week 3. That was also the only other time this season that Johnson played more snaps than rookie RB Tank Bigsby.

This might be nothing. But Johnson's first four touches came in succession on the same drive, and all before Bigsby's first touch (later on the same drive).

We're not betting any Jacksonville RB takes meaningful work away from Etienne at this point. But the Jaguars need someone else to work in at least a little. And an Etienne injury would open the door to a backfield supplying 22.0 RB carries and 3.9 RB receptions per game.

Jayden Reed, WR, Green Bay Packers

Rostered: 21%
Blind-bid recommendation: 5-8%

Reed paced the Packers with five grabs for 84 yards in Week 10. He has now hit 80 yards in two of his past three matchups. 

The rookie’s usage remains middling – he hasn’t topped 6 targets since Week 3 – but it’s clear he’s benefiting from an ineffective Christian Watson. 

Reed has two straight positive matchups – vs. the Chargers and at the Lions – before a tough Chiefs matchup that could turn up boosted pass volume.

Rondale Moore, WR, Arizona Cardinals

Rostered: 9%
Blind-bid recommendation: 3-5%

Moore recorded a season-high 5 catches (and 8 targets) in Kyler Murray’s 2023 debut. We came away encouarged by Murray’s play, especially on scrambles.

Moore went without a carry for the first time since Week 4 – no real surprise considering RB James Conner suited up for the first time since Week 5. But we’d rather have Moore catching passes than taking handoffs anyway. The former produces much more efficient fantasy scoring.

There’s not a particularly high ceiling here, but Week 11 at least turns up a potential shootout at Houston.

Jalen Guyton, WR, Los Angeles Chargers

Rostered: 1%
Blind-bid recommendation: 2-4%

Guyton’s 6 targets from Week 10 ranked third on the team behind Keenan Allen (14) and Austin Ekeler (7). He saw 2 red-zone targets – including one in the end zone – and scored a TD.

The Chargers’ upcoming WR schedule looks tough, but Guyton’s current role alongside Justin Herbert gives him a chance at future spot-start value. 

Any missed time for target hog Keenan Allen would likely have Guyton approaching WR3 range.

Marvin Mims, WR, Denver Broncos

Rostered: 11%
Blind-bid recommendation: 0-1%

If you want someone who might be worth starting Week 11 in your deep league, then go for one of the previous WRs. If you're fishing for higher upside to stash down your bench, though, Mims' case just got stronger.

Yes, we know he logged 0 catches and just 1 target Monday night, coming off the bye. But Mims also more than doubled his previous high in routes. He ran one on 75.7% of Russell Wilson's dropbacks, trailing Jerry Jeudy by just 2 routes for third on the team.

And the targets? Well, only Courtland Sutton drew more than 4 among Broncos for the game.

We've been waiting for Mims to get on the field more. That finally happened coming out of the bye. So stash him for cheap and see if targets follow. If they don't over the next week or two -- or if you suddenly need that spot for something more useful -- dump him.

Week 11 Streaming Options

Luke Musgrave, TE, Green Bay Packers

The Packers have showed us just about every week that theirs isn’t a passing game to bet on consistently. That has include just 11 total targets and seven total catches for Musgrave over the past three weeks.

But the rookie TE has also racked up 115 yards on just 5 receptions over the past two games. That athletic upside plus a QB plenty willing to throw deep (fifth-highest rate) – even if he’s not very good at it (25th in adjusted completion rate) – gives Musgrave enough upside to play at a streaming level.

This week finds Green Bay hosting the Chargers, who rank:

• Third-easiest on TEs by our adjusted fantasy points allowed
• Worst in total passing yards allowed
• 25th in pass-defense DVOA

Tyler Conklin, TE, New York Jets

Conklin has caught 13 passes over just the past two weeks, snagging all of his targets over that span. We can’t count on a 100% catch rate continuing, but Conklin has caught 78.6% of his looks for the season.

We can also probably count on the Jets falling behind at Buffalo next Sunday. The Bills open as 6.5-point favorites. And Bills opponents have passed at the league’s sixth-highest rate over expected for the season.

Buffalo also ranks just 28th in TE-coverage DVOA and seventh-most friendly to TE scoring by our adjusted fantasy points allowed.

Jacksonville Jaguars DST

The Jags just finished allowing 34 points to the 49ers. But they still rank fifth in total DVOA for the season; sixth against the pass and third against the run.

Jacksonville also sits 11th in fantasy points per game by ESPN scoring. And the Jaguars get a chance to add to that against Tennessee this Sunday. The Titans just finished supplying 4 sacks and 1 INT to the Bucs while scoring just 6 offensive points.

Washington Commanders DST

Washington’s not a good defense and recently traded away both edge starters. But the Commanders get a Giants offense this week that’s probably even more not-good.

The Giants have allowed the league’s most sacks for the season, including 4+ in each of the past four games. And they’ve topped 17 points in a game just once all year – back in Week 2 against the Cardinals.

Drop Candidates

These aren’t necessarily players you need to drop, but rather non-obvious candidates who can be dumped for better options.

Panthers WRs not named Adam Thielen

The Week 8 win over Houston fresh off the bye looked encouraging, but the offense hasn’t gotten much (any?) better since changing the play caller.

Carolina has now gone four straight games without reaching 190 passing yards. Thielen sports nearly three times as much receiving yardage (652) as his nearest teammate (D.J. Chark, 229).

There’s just nothing worth clinging to here for 2023.

Joshua Kelley, RB, Los Angeles Chargers

If you really want to keep Austin Ekeler’s handcuff, then you certainly can. Especially if there’s nothing too interesting on the waiver wire.

But Kelley has spent the past five games showing us he’s not usable when Ekeler’s healthy. Even the week Kelley found the end zone, he did so from 49 yards out among just 7 carries.

Of course, we’re really just holding the handcuff until the starter goes down, right? Well, Kelley finished RB49, RB63, and RB32 in the three games Ekeler missed earlier this season.

If you’re wanting to pick someone up but afraid of dropping Kelley to get the new guy – don’t be.

Justice Hill, RB, Baltimore Ravens

We included Hill in this space last week, but he remained rostered in 37% of Sleeper leagues as of Monday. That’s too much.

Hill faked his way to the team carry “lead” in Week 9, claiming the final 5 carries after Baltimore pulled starters. Week 10 found him touching the ball just twice. And Hill has finished three of his past four games with 1 reception or fewer.

Will Levis, QB, Tennessee Titans

You’re not dropping Levis from a superflex roster, of course. But he did a pretty good job Sunday of showing us we probably shouldn’t bother with the rookie in 1-QB leagues of fewer than 14 teams.

Levis managed just 199 yards, 0 TDs, and 1 INT on 19-of-39 passing against the Bucs. That was the same Bucs D that allowed C.J. Stroud 470 yards and 5 TDs the week before. Actually, it was that D minus lead CB Carlton Davis.

Levis might well have another useful fantasy outing or two. But he has followed the 4-TD breakthrough with a pair of bad stat lines. It’s getting a little late in the season to wait for the rookie to prove himself startable.

Grab This Guy

It’s getting a little late in the season to stash an upside type and wait for him to break out. So instead, let’s look back on the first 10 weeks of picks and whether they’re worth keeping around …

There are leagues in which keeping Mingo makes sense, but he's certainly not a must-hold -- as explained earlier in this article. And he's basically the line here.

The point here all season has been to stash a "maybe" player in case he turns into something. Moore has a chance with Kyler Murray's return.

Dulcich is still expected to return from his hamstring injury at some point. If you've been struggling to find a usable TE and have space to be patient, he remains an upside talent.

Dynasty Stash of the Week

It’s never too late to work on your dynasty roster for next year (and beyond). So we’ll be highlighting a player a week in this section the rest of the way that you might be able to stash for 2024 value.

A.T. Perry, WR, New Orleans Saints

The TD against the Vikings on Sunday was nice. But what caught our eye was the rookie playing two more snaps than any other skill-position player on the team and matching WR Chris Olave for the lead in routes.

Remember, the Saints traded up to select the 6’5, 205-pounder in Round 6. Most sources – including The Athletic’s Dane Brugler – labeled him a third- or fourth-round pick. Perry suggested his draft fall could be traced to "character stuff."

The key now is a growing opportunity following Michael Thomas’ knee injury. Thomas, 31 in March, isn’t guaranteed to return to New Orleans in 2024.

The Saints also aren’t flush with cap space. Teams can work around that, but it lowers the chance of New Orleans spending big in free agency. The Saints also currently lack third- and fourth-round picks.

So Perry, a junior-year breakout at Wake Forest (71-1,293-15 receiving), could join Olave and Rashid Shaheed among the top three at WR.