Bjorn Yang-Vaernet examines which players on the waiver wire are worth prioritizing for Week 11 and highlights others to preemptively stash.

Week 10 of the NFL is in the books and the waiver wire has never felt thinner. While there are a few players that should definitely be rostered heading into next week, many of the players in this article are valuable stashes. As I mentioned a few articles ago, these types of weeks are where managers can get a huge advantage. Stashing the right player before the trigger event (e.g. injury or coaching change) is how to win a league. For example, I’ve been holding on to Elijah Mitchell in my oldest home league for weeks because I want to stash players that have huge ceilings if in the right role. Who are those guys? Let’s dig in.

The waiver wire is one of the most important pieces of season-long draft leagues. It is the easiest way to acquire new players and every year there are gems to be found. The goal of this article will not only be to highlight which weekly breakout players to prioritize but find others to preemptively pick up before the breakout happens.

This article will only reference players that are less than 50% owned in ESPN leagues. The players are categorized by position group and within each group is the order of how I would prioritize them. 

Quarterback

Josh Dobbs (Available in 61% of ESPN leagues)

Josh Dobbs is one of the best QB adds for Week 11 and is possibly an every-week starter for managers who need QB help. The main reason Dobbs is great for fantasy football is his rushing ability. Combining his 10 games between the Cardinals and the Vikings, Dobbs has five or more rushing attempts in seven games. He has run for 40 or more yards in six of those seven games. Those rushing attempts provide a nice weekly floor. That he rushes near the goal line is an added bonus (five rushing TDs on the season).

With Dobbs moving from Arizona to Minnesota, he not only gets a personnel upgrade, but also a team that prefers to pass the ball at a high rate. Dobbs has a much safer floor and access to a higher ceiling in the passing game. Altogether, Dobbs is the best QB add at a position where finding upside on the waiver is a hard thing to do.

In the next two weeks, the Vikings play Denver and Chicago. These two teams have given up big games to competent offenses and would be considered average matchups at worst. I would be surprised if Dobbs doesn’t put up at least 15 points in both of these weeks with upside for more. The RotoViz strength of schedule streaming app ranks the Vikings’ QB matchup in these two weeks as the tenth best.

Jameis Winston (Available in 100% of ESPN leagues)

In much deeper or 2-QB leagues, Jameis Winston is an interesting stash candidate. In Week 11, Derek Carr suffered an upper body/head injury in the third quarter and didn’t return. Winston took over for Carr and provided a classic Winston game. Playing from behind, Winston threw 25 times (in a quarter and a half of play) for 122 yards, two TDs, and two interceptions. One of his TDs was a play only Winston would ever consider throwing.

THE ROOKIE A.T. PERRY ON THE DOT FROM JAMEIS.

📺: #NOvsMIN on FOX
📱: Stream on #NFLPlus https://t.co/kECSNGbyLL pic.twitter.com/fivPmao94Q

— NFL (@NFL) November 12, 2023

While Winston’s real-life football value can be debated, his aggressiveness can lead to strong fantasy performances. When given the chance to start in New Orleans the previous two years, Winston produced a few very strong fantasy scores. Of course, that also came with just as many poor performances.

With the Saints on bye in Week 11, Carr may ultimately be able to suit up and play in Week 12. However, Winston is worth holding on to in deeper leagues as the Saints play Atlanta in Week 12 — a team that funnels opponents to the air.

Running Back

Ty Chandler (Available in 93% of ESPN leagues)

Following Cam Akers’ season-ending Achilles injury, Ty Chandler stepped in and became the 1b to Alexander Mattison. Prior to Mattison’s late-third quarter concussion, Chandler received eight opportunities (rush attempts and targets) to Mattison’s 10. Chandler even got a goal-line rush attempt, which he converted for the TD. After Mattison’s game-ending injury, Chandler received seven touches to two for Kene Nwangwu. Based on this usage, Chandler should be the lead RB for the Vikings if Mattison can’t clear concussion protocol by next week — not many players have successfully done so within seven days.

Chandler is a second-year RB out of North Carolina. Chandler is best known for his speed (4.38 40-yard dash at the 2022 combine) versus his lateral agility. After four good-not-great seasons at Tennessee, Chandler finished his college career at North Carolina and put up over 1,000 rushing yards and caught 15 passes. I wanted to touch on all this background to say: nothing about his athletic profile screams that he will be exceptionally better than Mattison. However, I think the speed he brings to the offense could translate into more explosive plays for the run game.

The Vikings play Denver in Week 11, a defense that has been relatively stingy to the RB position in recent weeks (albeit after spending the early part of the season as one of the easiest rushing matchups). Before James Cook on Monday night, Denver had not allowed an RB to top 65 yards in the prior three games. In spite of the matchup, Chandler carries a lot of value if Mattison ends up missing. I’d expect Chandler to handle at least 60% of the rushing work and most of the red-zone work. With another set of bye weeks coming up (i.e., Alvin Kamara, Bijan Robinson, and Jonathan Taylor are all out in Week 11), Chandler could be an excellent fill-in.