Good morning.

How was your weekend? Did you lose because Nico Collins was ruled out at the last minute, or was it just me?

Win or lose, we have to move on. So today we turn the page to Week 11 with some waiver wire targets, including a loaded deeeeeep dives section for you true degenerates.

DEEP DIVES 🤿

50 Shades of Trey

Stash these players on your bench before they blow up. Last week, the perfect pickup was Audric Estime. (Roster %’s courtesy of Sleeper)

Cowboys QB Trey Lance (1%) saw some action in Sunday’s blowout loss, completing four of his six pass attempts for 21 yards, while totalling three rushing attempts for 17 yards and a fumble. Cooper Rush will reportedly remain the starter, but after he put up 45 passing yards against the Eagles, don’t be surprised if they make the switch to Lance sooner than later.

Giants QB Drew Lock (2%) could start in place of the struggling Daniel Jones as soon as this week. The Giants are a dumpster fire, so don’t expect much, but in Superflex leagues, a starting QB is a starting QB.

Patriots WR Kayshon Boutte (2%):

Broncos WR Devaughn Vele (3%) has averaged 52 receiving yards and 9.9 fantasy points per game in the three games he’s had four or more targets, per FantasyPros’ Mike Fanelli. And this past week, the rookie had the 2nd-most targets on the team (four) and scored his 1st NFL TD, putting up a career-high 11.9 fantasy points. Look for him to continue building momentum as the year goes on.

Saints WR Marquez Valdes-Scantling (2%) put up 109 yards and two TDs on three catches while leading all Saints WRs with 18 routes run on Sunday, per J.J. Zachariason. Don’t expect that kind of efficiency every week, but he’s filling the Rashid Shaheed role well.

Bills WR Mack Hollins (3%) and Texans WR John Metchie III (3%) put up solid performances thanks to injuries to key starters (Amari Cooper and Nico Collins, respectively). Although Cooper and Collins should return this week, Hollins is still seeing a ton of snaps and Metchie has always been an intriguing prospect. They’re worth a dart throw (especially Metchie), but don’t go all-in.

Bills TE Dawson Knox (4%) will see more work if Dalton Kincaid’s knee injury forces him to miss any time. Don’t forget he was the TE8 in 2021.

Lions TE Brock Wright (0%) could be worth a spot-start as well if Sam LaPorta misses time with his shoulder injury. He’s more TD-dependent than Knox, but any piece of the Lions starting offense is valuable in deeper leagues.

WAIVER WIRE 🧐

Running Back

Broncos RB Audric Estime (7%) led the way in Denver’s backfield on Sunday. He out-snapped, out-touched, and out-gained all other backs, finishing with 53 yards on 14 carries. He didn’t blow up the stat sheet, but he’s clearly the more explosive back. Five of his 29 carries have gone for 10 or more yards this year per PFF, while Javonte Williams only has eight on 103 attempts.

Chargers RB Gus Edwards (19%) “returned from injury on Sunday and immediately relegated Kimani Vidal to the inactive list. Edwards rushed 10 times for a respectable 55 yards against the Titans, reestablishing himself as his team’s unrivaled No. 2 rushing option.” — Yahoo’s Andy Behrens

Titans RB Tyjae Spears (46%) is finally healthy again and is cutting into Tony Pollard’s workload:

Spears is your typical “FLEX with benefits” — he’s a top tier handcuff with some stand-alone value as well.

Vikings RB Cam Akers (20%) has leapfrogged Ty Chandler as the RB2 in Minnesota. Aaron Jones got banged up on Sunday, but managed to return to the game. Should he get hurt again, Akers is the next man up.

As always, be sure to look for other top tier handcuffs as well, such as:

• Trey Benson, ARI (25%)

• Tyler Allgeier, ATL (49%)

• Justice Hill, BAL (35%)

• Keaton Mitchell, BAL (15%)

• Ray Davis, BUF (36%)

• Blake Corum, LAR (23%)

• Braelon Allen, NYJ (42%)

• Zach Charbonnet, SEA (50%)

Wide Receiver

49ers WR Jauan Jennings (68%) should be on a roster already, but it doesn’t hurt to check. In his first game back from injury Sunday, he led the Niners in routes run, targets, receptions, air yards, and receiving yards, per Jacob Gibbs. HC Kyle Shanahan also noted in his postgame presser that it was Jennings’ first time playing the X position, which he’ll be doing for the rest of the year.👀 He’s a rare FLEX with top-12 upside.

49ers WR Ricky Pearsall (55%) had the best stat line of his career this week, posting four catches for 73 yards with a TD and 17.3 fantasy points in a win over the Buccaneers. He’ll still have to contend with all of San Fran’s weapons, but the rookie clearly has some talent. Plus, his PFF run-blocking grade in Sunday’s game was even higher than his receiving grade, which is sure to earn him some brownie points with Shanahan.

Ravens WR Rashod Bateman (32%) has averaged double-digit fantasy points over the last four weeks, and seems to be holding off Diontae Johnson for now.

Colts WR Adonai Mitchell (17%) played 94% of the offensive snaps with Michael Pittman Jr. nursing a back injury. The rookie finished with a 17.1% target share and 71 scoreless receiving yards. If Indy decides to shut Pittman down, Mitchell — a 2nd round pick — could explode in his next two games against a Detroit defense that has allowed the 9th-most receiving yards per game to perimeter WRs, and then New England, who checks in at 13th-most, per Fantasy Pros.

Panthers WR Jalen Coker (13%) had the 9th-highest first-read target share (36%) among all WRs last week, per CBS Sports’ Jacob Gibbs, and he might just be the best rookie WR on the team…

Steelers WR Mike Williams (20%) and Russell Wilson are a match made in heaven. Williams caught what could be the first of many moon ball TDs last week, essentially winning the game for the Steelers. He’ll likely be TD-or-bust as usual, but once he gets acclimated to the offense, he could be a fun FLEX play.

Browns WRs Jerry Jeudy (62%) and Elijah Moore (17%) have some life now that Jameis Winston is under center. In his last two games, the first two with Winston starting, Jeudy is 10th in targets (19), 13th in catches (12), and 30th in FPG, per Fantasy Points. Meanwhile, Moore has 27 targets over his last three games and runs the majority of his routes from the slot (a profitable position for fantasy football).

QB & TE

Steelers QB Russell Wilson (28%) has been a solid QB2 this year, and it should only get better. Mike Williams is a nice addition to the WR corps and Wilson has one of the better schedules for fantasy QBs down the stretch with games against Baltimore (two), Cleveland (two), Cincinnati, and Philadelphia between Weeks 11 and 16 (pointed out by RotoBaller’s Dan Fornek).

Browns QB Jameis Winston (13%) shouldn’t be trusted as your primary starter, but he’s a fun low-end QB2. He remains one of the most aggressive downfield passers in the game, as his average depth of target (10.9) ranks 2nd among all QBs, behind only Anthony Richardson (13.3) and just ahead of Brock Purdy (10.0), per Andy Behrens.

Patriots QB Drake Maye (24%) and Broncos QB Bo Nix (44%) didn’t have their finest fantasy performances, but they continue to impress on film. Scoop them up as solid backups on upward trajectories.

Bengals TE Mike Gesicki (55%) still has value, despite the down week. He’s averaging 13.8 fantasy points per game in the five games that Higgins has missed compared to 3 FPPG in the five games that Higgins has played, per Fantasy Points. He’ll be difficult to trust when Higgins returns, but there could be some sort of reasonable role for Gesicki in this high-powered offense.

Dolphins TE Jonnu Smith (36%) is averaging 6.2 targets in his last five games, and in Week 11 he takes on a Raiders secondary that has allowed the 6th-most fantasy points per game to TEs, per FantasyPros.

Panthers TE Ja’Tavion Sanders (10%) ran a route on 89% of Carolina's dropbacks vs the Giants (a career high), and his 26 targets over the past six weeks lead the team, per Mike Fanelli. Look for the rookie to continue to get more work as the season progresses.

D/ST

The Green Bay Packers (21%) entered their Week 10 bye with 22 sacks and a league-leading 19 takeaways, per Andy Behrens. And this week they get the Bears, whose offensive line has been leaving Caleb Williams out to dry.

The Houston Texans (28%) just picked off Jared Goff five times, and now they get to play Cooper Rush and the Dallas Cowboys. Dallas’ 18 turnovers are 2nd most in the NFL, and their 24 sacks surrendered has them tied for 11th. They’ve given up over eight PPG to opposing D/STs, the 8th highest mark in the league, but that number has been even higher in recent weeks as Prescott has gone down and the wheels have really started to fall off, per Roto Street Journal’s Sean Keegs.

The Miami Dolphins (15%) defense is ass, but next week they take on the Raiders, who are mega ass.

POLL 📊

QUICK SLANTS 👀

📖 Read the Week 11 Market Report from the staff at Fantasy Points for an in-depth look at the biggest fantasy takeaways from last week’s games, like how Deebo Samuel surprisingly saw a season-low 16.7% of the team’s targets on Sunday.😕

📖 Read Ten Things We Learned in Week 10 from Dan Lovi of the Fantasy Footballers, where he digests the action from this past weekend and notes some lessons to apply to the rest of the fantasy football season.

📖 Read Dalton Del Don of Yahoo’s Week 10 Wrap, where he notes his biggest takeaways from every matchup

🎙️ Listen to The Ringer Fantasy Football Show’s Week 10 Recap, where the guys go through categories like “Who Won Week 10?,” a Jon Gruden-inspired “FEELING NICEY,” and everybody’s favorite segment: “Fart or Shart?”

📺 Watch Deebo Samuel grab long snapper Taybor Pepper’s throat and shove him after Jake Moody missed three kicks on Sunday.😳 Surprised this isn't getting more headlines tbh...

TWEET OF THE DAY

Before we go, send your well wishes to Lions LB James Houston, who may have had the shittiest night of anyone:

Good luck on the waiver wire. See you Thursday.

- Marcus