5 players to prioritize on the waiver wire for Week 11

It’s often easy to find yourself overwhelmed each week as you look at the waiver wire, wondering which player—or players, mind you—you should be adding to your fantasy football roster and spending your precious FAAB money on. All I hope with this article is that I can help you step away from the crippling panic you may find yourself in, and offer some clarity as to who deserves your FAAB money and attention this week on waivers.

Here are my top five waiver priorities for Week 11, in order, along with what percentage of your FAAB I think you should be directing towards them (percent rostered in Yahoo leagues, under 50% rostered).

1. Jakobi Meyers (48% rostered, 15% FAAB budget)

Meyers is quite literally the only person catching passes for the Patriots. If you think I’m exaggerating, I’m not. Meyers has seen at least 40% of Cam Newton’s targets the last two games which ranks second in the NFL with only A.J. Brown seeing a higher target share. At this usage, Meyers is a lock to be at least a WR2 every week in PPR leagues. With the Texans and Cardinals next on the docket, we may see Meyers even enter WR1 territory.

2. Kalen Ballage (20% rostered, 10% FAAB budget)

Ballage has now seen at least 17 touches in back-to-back games for the Chargers, coming off his best game in which he carried the ball 18 times for 68 yards and caught the ball five times for 34 yards. He has firmly supplanted Joshua Kelley and Troymaine Pope as the Chargers main back with both Justin Jackson and Austin Ekeler out. Get Ballage on your roster and fire him up again this week as the Chargers take on the hapless Jets in Week 11.

3. Salvon Ahmed (8% rostered, 10% FAAB budget)

What was once a crowded, confusing backfield has now become a whole lot clearer. Matt Breida is still dealing with his hamstring injury and the Dolphins released Jordan Howard this week, opening up the backfield yet again for Ahmed to see 20+ touches. Against the Chargers Sunday, Ahmed carried the ball 21 times for 85 yards and a touchdown while also catching the ball once for five yards. He now gets to face the Broncos in Week 11. Quick word of caution: treat Ahmed as a streamer as Myles Gaskins is expected to return in Week 12, so don’t worry too much if you lose out on him to a league mate.

4. Michael Pittman Jr. (10% rostered, 10% FAAB budget)

I loved seeing Pittman Jr. ball out Thursday night and I’m sure Philip Rivers loved seeing it too as the Colts have been desperately trying to find a reliable number one receiver. Against the Titans, Pittman went 8-7-101 and added 21 yards on the ground. The Colts remaining schedule is ULTRA cushy and if Pittman really has established himself as the No. 1 option in Indy, he could be just the type of player that helps lead your team on a late season run up the fantasy leader boards. Besides, we know Rivers has a rich history of taking full advantage of 6-foot-4 plus wide receivers.

5. Nyheim Hines (42% rostered, 10% FAAB budget)

The only reason Hines is number five instead of number one is because he’s a part of this Colts’ backfield. Were it any other backfield, he’d be THE top waiver priority given the fact that he’s scored two touchdowns in two out of his last three games. However, in between those two games, he did post a disappointing two rushes for 18 yards and two catches for 20 stat line in Week 9. When Hines hits, he’s a RB1 in fantasy, but he hasn’t proven to reliably even be a RB2 week-in and week-out. You should add him, but he’s certainly not a clear must-start until we see consistency out of his performances.