Fantasy
11/11/24
3 min read
Fantasy Football 2024: Week 11 Waiver Wire Targets
We’ve got some good news and some bad news.
Starting with the positive, only four teams are on the bye in Week 11:
- Arizona Cardinals
- Carolina Panthers
- New York Giants
- Tampa Bay Buccaneers
It’s not as though there aren’t impact fantasy assets on those rosters, but once you consider that Week 12 and 14 have six teams apiece on their rest period, it’s not so bad in context.
Shifting toward the negative part, this week’s waiver wire is about as uninspired as it’s been of late.
Of course, this is how fantasy tends to go by this time of year. Most of the “surprises” have already shown themselves. The best that most managers still in contention can do is either continue to roster handcuff running backs or stash multiple D/STs with good matchups later in the schedule.
I say all that with the understanding that most of the audience reading this information doesn’t include people aggressively out in their leagues. We all know people who bail or express dampened interest by November, and that’s just the reality of it all.
But as long as you’re still pushing, I’ll keep putting together actionable content to help you. With that, here are the best five adds you can make off the Week 11 waiver wire:
Week 11 Fantasy Waiver Wire Targets
Russell Wilson, QB, Pittsburgh Steelers
- ESPN Rostership: 40.2 percent
- Yahoo Rostership: 21 percent
In the interest of variety, I won’t recommend picking up Denver Broncos QB Bo Nix again.
This is not to say that he shouldn’t be a top target on waivers, but the arguments for the rookie’s fantasy viability have been made ad nauseam in different articles here in the past few weeks. If you don’t know by now, then I don’t know what to tell you.
As for Russell Wilson, he’s been a quality addition to the Steelers’ offense since becoming the starter in Week 8. Justin Fields’ maverick element paid dividends in its way, but the increased passing efficiency in Pittsburgh is markedly relevant for real-life football and fantasy.
Wilson is averaging 245.7 passing yards and two touchdowns per game during his past three games, amounting to 18.9 fantasy points per game in four-point per passing touchdown scoring, per FantasyData. For those keeping score, that 18.9-point average ranks tied for 11th-best among all fantasy quarterbacks this season, and that fact deserves some notice.
It is worth cautioning that the Steelers’ schedule becomes more challenging as the remainder of the season unfolds. Their future includes multiple games against the Cleveland Browns and Baltimore Ravens and a Christmas Day matchup against the defending Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs, none of which present favorable matchups.
Still, as long as the veteran can continue placing deep-field shots to WR George Pickens well and keep the chains moving, Wilson is worth considering as a fantasy option. We’ve seen him ball out as a superstar in the past, and he deserves a certain level of deference for his prior achievements.
Audric Estime, RB, Denver Broncos
- ESPN Rostership: 1.1 percent
- Yahoo Rostership: 3 percent
Here, we find a player suggested in a relatively weird circumstance.
Broncos head coach Sean Payton suggested early last week that Audric Estime would see a bump in workload as the season unfolds, but statements like that can be challenging to trust once we see the results.
As it turns out, the rookie did secure a team-leading 14 carries for 53 rushing yards in Sunday’s divisional bout against the Kansas City Chiefs. No other Broncos' runner came close to that level of involvement in Week 10:
The issue with Estime is that he hasn't received many opportunities as a pass-catcher, meaning that whatever contributions he makes to fantasy lineups will be primarily predicated on the ground and, therefore, somewhat touchdown-dependant as well.
We also don’t know if teammate and regular contributor Javonte Williams will disappear after leading the backfield for much of 2024. Those unknown elements make assessing Estime’s value somewhat murky, so fantasy managers shouldn’t feel overly confident about picking up the former Notre Dame bruiser.
Regardless, he’s worth taking a stab at if Payton is serious about integrating Estime into the offense with more regularity. Finding a team’s potential starting back on the wire at this stage in the season is incredibly rare or due to an unfortunate injury.
Strike while the iron is hot.
Gus Edwards, RB, Los Angeles Chargers
- ESPN Rostership: 20.6 percent
- Yahoo Rostership: 17 percent
Welcome back, Gus Bus!
Gus Edwards made his way into the lineup on Sunday for the first time after a four-game injured reserve stint due to an ankle injury. In his return, the veteran seized 10 of the backfield’s 27 carries against the Tennessee Titans en route to amassing a team-leading 55 rushing yards.
Granted, Edwards still received fewer touches than teammate J.K. Dobbins (18), although it’s notable that head coach Jim Harbaugh and company immediately trusted him with a hefty workload.
While Edwards’ value is capped because of Dobbins, we are looking at a back who carries some potential standalone value in addition to the handcuff value should injury befall the latter.
Any rusher who can put together a double-digit touch workload will also be extremely helpful once Week 12’s bye week tornado hits rosters abroad, too. You’re going to need players who have enough volume to get you over the hump.
Edwards falls into that category.
Khalil Herbert, RB, Cincinnati Bengals
- ESPN Rostership: 13.9 percent
- Yahoo Rostership: 22 percent
The argument here is all based on contingent upside.
Aside from an uncredited fumble in the second quarter of Thursday night’s contest vs. the Baltimore Ravens, we didn’t see anything from the former Chicago Bears running back in his debut with a new team. Khalil Herbert had less than three days to join the Bengals and acclimate before suiting up on a short week.
As such, we don’t have anything to draw from his first game, but we can theorize about Herbert's potential value.
Cincinnati ran somewhat of a committee backfield for most of this season between incumbent Chase Brown and Zack Moss, whose season-ending neck injury necessitated the trade for Herbert. Before picking up various injuries, including a separate ankle injury, Moss led the Bengals in carries share (50.9 percent) while maintaining an 11 percent target share as a receiver.
That’s the theoretical high-end outcome role that Herbert could walk into once he’s settled in, but it’s probably safe to assume that Brown continues to lead the way at this point.
Brown has averaged 80.4 scrimmage yards and 16.4 fantasy points per game in point-per-reception (PPR) scoring in the past five games with a diminished or absent Moss anyway, so let’s just say that Herbert is more realistically an early-downs complement or a handcuff without standalone value.
Is that not something you’d want to invest in? Especially in one of the NFL’s highest-powered offenses?
For as many fantasy mysteries have been solved to this point of the season, Herbert stands alone as a curious puzzle piece with enough potential to be worthwhile.
Ricky Pearsall, WR, San Francisco 49ers
- ESPN Rostership: 25 percent
- Yahoo Rostership: 37 percent
We close with a rookie who’s made a notable impact on the 49ers since debuting in Week 7.
Ricky Pearsall concluded Sunday’s game vs. the Tampa Bay Buccaneers with four catches on six targets for 73 receiving yards and a touchdown. In fantasy terms, the former Florida wideout racked up 17.3 PPR points, ranking 10th-best among wideouts entering Sunday night.
I’ll be interested to see some of the more refined advanced metrics once that data becomes available, but for now, we can appreciate that Pearsall is averaging five targets, 44 receiving yards, and 11.4 PPR points per game through his first three weeks in the NFL.
That’s, at minimum, flex-worthy output.
The only hesitation is that Pearsall is competing to be third or fourth in line for targets at best. Superstars like WR Deebo Samuel Sr., TE George Kittle, and the recently returned RB Christian McCaffrey will all command significant attention from Brock Purdy, making it difficult to anticipate how helpful the rookie will be.
Additionally, Pearsall still has teammate Jauan Jennings to worry about after leading the team with eleven targets, seven catches, and 93 receiving yards on Sunday.
Regardless, we’re talking about taking a flyer on a broadly available piece of one of the NFL’s best offenses. You might as well stick Pearsall on your bench and see if he can keep it up.
