Week 11 Quarterback Waiver Wire Adds and Pickups

It was a good week for post-hype quarterbacks, as several former high draft picks or one-year sensations had nice games around the NFL. Dak Prescott leads the way, but there are multiple strong options for streaming on waivers this week.

Six teams are on bye this week, but Tom Brady is the only widely-owned quarterback that has a bye in Week 11. The other teams on bye are the New York Jets, Cleveland, Miami, San Francisco, and Buffalo. Sorry Matt Barkley believers, you'll have to wait until Week 12 to unleash the Trojan.

In standard one-quarterback leagues, the waiver wire is usually pretty rich with talent at the position, unless the league is full of owners that like to hold backup quarterbacks. In two-quarterback leagues, nearly every starter is rostered and the waiver wire tends to be quite barren for quality arms. That’s why a few quarterbacks owned in 15% of leagues or less have been included, so even owners in deep leagues have someone to consider. Ownership is based on Yahoo leagues and is current as of November 11.

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Week 11 Waiver Wire Quarterbacks

Dak Prescott - DAL @ Atlanta Falcons – 35% Owned

Prescott has been playing much better as of late, averaging 21.57 points over his last four starts. He has eclipsed 20 points in three of those four games and had another solid showing Sunday night against Philadelphia. This week Dak faces the porous Atlanta Falcons secondary, who have allowed 23.66 points per game to opposing quarterbacks, making them a bottom-five unit. Atlanta has also allowed at least 250 passing yards in all but two games this season. The only worry about streaming Dak Prescott in this matchup should be Atlanta’s awful run defense. In addition to their struggles against quarterbacks, Atlanta has also been a bottom-five defense against running backs this season. They just allowed Nick Chubb to explode for 199 total yards, and Ezekiel Elliott could dominate this game for Dallas. Prescott still had a fine performance despite a commanding performance from Elliott against the Eagles, so this concern shouldn’t be a major deterrent, rather a possibility to consider when using Prescott this week.

Prescott not only has a great matchup this week, but he has an amazing schedule to finish the season. Save for a Week 12 clash with Washington, Prescott faces some soft secondaries down the stretch. His playoff matchups are Indianapolis and Tampa Bay; owners couldn’t ask for a better pair of opponents in crunch time. Between his schedule, improved performance, and the addition of Amari Cooper, Prescott is the number one quarterback to add this week.

Marcus Mariota - TEN @ Indianapolis Colts – 30% Owned

Mariota and the Titans shocked the Patriots this week with a commanding 34-10 win at home. Mariota put up 21.82 points in the victory, making it his second straight game with greater than 20 points. Before the bye week, Mariota had been struggling to reach double digits, doing so just twice in six games. He was dealing with a nerve injury which affected his ability to throw deep, a skill that is already not Mariota’s strong suit. It’s unclear how much the injury affected Mariota’s fantasy production, but he was just the 27th highest scoring quarterback coming into this week, averaging 13.64 points per game. However, Mariota appears healthy and has a great matchup in Week 11 against Indianapolis.

The Colts are allowing 18 points per game to opposing quarterbacks, which slightly below average, but that number is inflated thanks to facing Derek Anderson. Anderson scored minus one point against the Colts, and if we remove that clear aberration Indianapolis is allowing 20.7 points per game to quarterbacks, making them a bottom-five defense. It can sometimes be disingenuous to remove a good or bad performance from a team’s overall numbers, but Anderson played so poorly that the opposing defense hardly mattered in that game. Mariota is a much better quarterback than Anderson, and seems like a good bet for at least 20 points this week.

Blake Bortles - JAX vs. Pittsburgh Steelers 22% Owned

Bortles had a solid fantasy day in Week 10, putting up 21.6 points in a loss to Indianapolis. He draws another good matchup in Week 11, taking on Pittsburgh at home. The Steelers have allowed 20.2 fantasy points per game to opposing quarterbacks this season, sixth-most in the NFL. Bortles, for all of his struggles, has a decent fantasy floor thanks to his volume and legs. Excluding the game Bortles didn’t finish, has had more than 30 passing attempts in all but one start. Bortles only rushed for eight yards this week against the Colts, but he has chipped in at least 22 yards in every other game. Perhaps with Leonard Fournette back Bortles won’t rush as much, but even last season Bortles averaged 20.13 rushing yards per game. It may not seem like much, but Bortles can easily add 2-5 points to his total through scrambles, which make a big difference when streaming quarterbacks. Dak Prescott will be the big prize of the quarterback position this week, but Bortles isn’t a bad consolation prize with a home matchup against Pittsburgh.

Deeper League and Two-QB League Options

Lamar Jackson - BAL vs. Cincinnati Bengals – 7% Owned

Jackson was added in some leagues ahead of Sunday’s action as it was revealed that Joe Flacco might miss Week 11. Flacco was on crutches during the bye week, and as of writing, this has not received an official timetable for return. It sounds like Flacco could end up playing in Week 11 or could end up missing more than just one week. We’ll know more once a diagnosis is revealed, but Flacco should be considered questionable at best until more information is revealed. That makes Jackson an interesting spot starter in deep leagues, especially considering his matchup.

Going into Week 10 Cincinnati was allowing the fourth most points to opposing quarterbacks, and New Orleans hung 51 points on the Bengals in Cincinnati in their last game. Drew Brees had as a many touchdown passes (three) as interceptions. Lamar Jackson is no Drew Brees, but he still is facing a terrible defense. If Jackson has to start the Ravens would probably focus on the run, but as a one-week deep league streamer Jackson isn’t a bad option.

Josh Rosen - ARI vs. Oakland Raiders – 4% Owned

Rosen was a little disappointing in Week 10 against the Chiefs, but in a week where many two-quarterback league types are on bye Rosen could make for a solid desperation streamer. Rosen has had exactly one good game this year, in Week 9 against San Francisco, but gets an equally bad opponent this week against Oakland. Arizona learned last week that they need to feed David Johnson, and new offensive coordinator Byron Leftwich is making sure Johnson is heavily involved in the passing game. Rosen could hopefully benefit from short passes to Johnson, as well as consistent targets to Larry Fitzgerald and Ricky Seals-Jones. Rosen likely won’t have an explosive, week-winning performance, but he can get owners through a bye week in deep leagues.

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