Fantasy football Week 11: Add and drop

Each week I’ll list the best widely available free agents for fantasy football — I define “widely available” as being owned in around half of all ESPN or Yahoo leagues — and some guys who are probably better off in the free agent pool than collecting dust on your roster.

Follow me on X (formerly known as Twitter) @UTEddieBrown if you have questions throughout the week.

Here’s my NFL Week 11 waiver wire cheat sheet for all league sizes and formats, with players you need to add, drop and stream in your fantasy football league:

ADD

— QB Joe Burrow, Bengals (ESPN: 63%; Yahoo: 62%): Two months after suffering a turf toe injury that required surgery, Cincinnati opened Burrow’s practice window on Monday, which means he has 21 days to be activated. He told Fox Sports’ Jay Glazer that he expects to back by Week 13, which is a prime-time matchup on Thanksgiving night at Baltimore. Stash him immediately if he’s available in your league. The risk is Burrow doesn’t return at all because the Bengals are officially out of the playoff race by the time he’s ready, but the AFC North is currently wide open with Cincinnati at division-leader Pittsburgh this week.

— WR Luther Burden III, Bears (ESPN: 5%; Yahoo: 6%): D.J. Moore missed some time with a shoulder injury against the Giants on Sunday. Burden stepped in to catch three balls for 51 yards. The dynamic rookie will have flex appeal if Moore misses any time. Burden doesn’t need a lot of volume to have an impact.

— RB Trey Benson, Cardinals (ESPN: 50%; Yahoo: 61%): Benson could return as early as this week, but it wouldn’t surprise me if he misses another week or two. His original timetable was 4-6 weeks. He’ll likely get an extended run with the lion’s share of touches once he’s healthy. Bam Knight suffered an ankle injury against the Seahawks, which means Emari Demercado (ESPN: 19%; Yahoo: 37%) would have flex appeal if both Benson and Knight are out against a 49ers’ defense that has been decimated by injuries.

— TE Juwan Johnson, Saints (ESPN: 35%; Yahoo: 47%): Johnson is the overall TE9 in standard formats (TE7 in PPR) through 10 weeks, and has at least five receptions or a touchdown in four straight games. Johnson joins Chris Olave as a primary focal point in New Orleans’ pass attack with Rashid Shaheed now in Seattle.

— WR Tre Tucker, Raiders (ESPN: 44%; Yahoo: 41%): Tucker is Las Vegas’ WR1 with Jakobi Meyers in Jacksonville, even though it didn’t look like it against Denver. Through 10 weeks, he’s the overall WR27 in standard formats (WR31 in PPR). Tyler Lockett (ESPN: 2%; Yahoo: 1%) doubled Tucker’s three targets against the Broncos, but even Brock Bowers only received three targets in a terribly boring Thursday night matchup. Both receivers are viable this week against the Cowboys who are allowing the most fantasy points to wide receivers this season.

— WR Alec Pierce, Colts (ESPN: 37%; Yahoo: 43%): I’ve been raving about how Pierce eats against single-high coverage the last couple of weeks, and he just keeps feasting. In Week 10 against the Falcons, the team that utilizes single high the most in the NFL, he popped off for 84 yards and a TD on four receptions. Pierce has at least 67 receiving yards in six of his last seven games, and leads the league in receiving yards with 366 since Week 7. Indy is on a bye this week, but I’d stash him considering the only defense that doesn’t deploy single-high on 50% of their snaps (or more) remaining the Colts’ schedule is Seattle.

— QB Aaron Rodgers, Steelers (ESPN: 34%; Yahoo: 37%): Pittsburgh’s entire offense laid an egg against the Chargers at SoFi on Sunday night, but Rodgers’ matchups are juicy the next two weeks. He faces the Bengals and Bears, who are currently third and fourth in allowing the most fantasy points to quarterbacks this season.

— TE Colston Loveland, Bears (ESPN: 42%; Yahoo: 46%): Cole Kmet was back against the Giants, but Loveland still had four receptions for 55 yards and played more than 60% of the offensive snaps for the fourth straight game. He has back-to-back premium matchups against the Vikings this week and at home against the Steelers in Week 12.

— RB Tyler Allgeier, Falcons (ESPN: 28%; Yahoo: 33%): If Will Smith told me to keep Allgeier’s name out of my mouth, I’m not sure who I’d write about. At least it feels like I include the hard-nosed runner in this space most weeks. He’s one of the few premium handcuffs who actually has flex appeal most weeks. Allgeier had 57 yards and two TDs on 11 carries against the Colts in Berlin, and has hit paydirt in four of the last six games.

— WR Tez Johnson, Buccaneers (ESPN: 28%; Yahoo: 33%): Before Tampa Bay’s bye, Johnson was the overall WR17 in standard formats (WR25 in PPR) since Week 5 with at least five receptions or 59 receiving yards or a TD in four straight games. He produced four receptions for 42 yards and two TDs against the Patriots on Sunday. Mike Evans won’t be back until mid-December at the earliest, and Chris Godwin might be diminished even after he returns.

— TE Dalton Schultz, Texans (ESPN: 27%; Yahoo: 34%): Schultz is the overall TE8 in standard formats (TE3 in PPR) since Week 7 with at least six receptions, eight targets, 77 yards or a TD in three of the last four games.

— QB Jacoby Brissett, Cardinals (ESPN: 17%; Yahoo: 20%): Brissett has produced at least 258 passing yards and two TDs in all four of his starts this season, while only throwing one interception.

— RB Blake Corum, Rams (ESPN: 9%; Yahoo: 11%): Corum has 13 touches in three straight games. He’ll be a viable flex play most weeks if this continues for one of the NFL’s best offenses. Like Allgeier with Bijan Robinson, Corum is also a premium handcuff behind TD-machine Kyren Williams.

— WR Calvin Austin III, Steelers (ESPN: 14%; Yahoo: 12%): Austin has had at least six targets in all three games since he returned from a shoulder injury that he suffered against the Vikings in Week 4. If you’re in search of a sleeper flex play with upside this week, Austin gets a matchup with a historically bad Bengals’ defense, and DK Metcalf will likely draw coverage from D.J. Turner, Cincy’s one good cornerback.

— TE Isaiah Likely, Ravens (ESPN: 6%; Yahoo: 6%): Likely deserves streaming consideration in deeper leagues on a weekly basis with Lamar Jackson healthy. From Weeks 13 to 17, all five matchups are against teams in the bottom half of the league at preventing fantasy points to tight ends, including two games against the woeful Bengals.

— QB Joe Flacco, Bengals (ESPN: 33%; Yahoo: 52%): Flacco is the overall QB2 in four games since being traded to Cincinnati with 1,254 passing yards and 11 TDs against only two interceptions. He’s worth streaming until Burrow is ready to return.

— WR Adonai Mitchell, Jets (ESPN: 1%; Yahoo: 1%): Mitchell was traded to New York in the Sauce Gardner blockbuster with the Colts. Mitchell was underutilized during his time in Indy, but the one thing he proved he could do was stretch the field. The one thing Justin Fields has proven he could during his time in the NFL, besides producing explosive runs, is throw the deep ball. Fields’ deep pass (20-plus air yards) completion rate of 64.1% is actually above his overall completion rate of 63.5% this season, and well above a league average typically in the range of 40% to 45%.

— RB Brian Robinson Jr., 49ers (ESPN: 21%; Yahoo: 24%): Robinson has at least 41 rushing yards and a TD in two straight games. He’s not seeing the volume that Allgeier and Corum are, he’s yet to see double-digit carries this season, but he is Christian McCaffrey’s handcuff and deserves to be rostered in more than a quarter of fantasy leagues.

— WR Jayden Reed, Packers (ESPN: 40%; Yahoo: 35%): The window to stash Reed has opened with the dynamic playmaker possibly returning by the end of the month, and Green Bay offense looking listless the last two games against the Panthers and Eagles.

— WR Brandon Aiyuk, 49ers (ESPN: 30%; Yahoo: 38%): Aiyuk’s return isn’t imminent, but he should be back no later than Week 15 — San Francisco has its bye in Week 14 — just in time for the fantasy playoffs.

— D/ST Ravens (ESPN: 51%; Yahoo: 54%): Baltimore’s defense is healthier now, and is tied with the Texans as the fourth-highest scoring defense in fantasy in the three games since its bye week. The Ravens’ next three opponents, the Browns, Jets and Bengals, are all in the bottom 10 of the league at preventing fantasy points to opposing defenses.

— D/ST Falcons (ESPN: 21%; Yahoo: 11%): Atlanta’s defense has flashed an improved pass rush at times this season, and face the Panthers, Saints and Jets the next three weeks. All three teams are in the bottom nine of the league at preventing fantasy points to opposing defenses.

— D/ST Bears (ESPN: 15%; Yahoo: 29%): Chicago faces J.J. McCarthy and the Vikings this week. McCarthy has thrown six interceptions, fumbled four times and taken 15 sacks in the first four starts of his career.

— D/ST Cowboys (ESPN: 4%; Yahoo: 8%): It wouldn’t surprise me if defensive tackle Quinnen Williams and linebacker Logan Wilson have an immediate impact on one of the worst defenses in the NFL, especially at Las Vegas on Monday Night Football. The Raiders are allowing the third-most fantasy points to opposing defenses this season.

DROP

— QB Kyler Murray, Cardinals: Murray will miss at least the next three games on IR, and it’s possible he won’t have a starting job when he eventually comes back.

— RB Rachaad White, Buccaneers: White is the overall RB47 in standard formats (RB36 in PPR) since Week 7 with Sean Tucker earning at least 10 touches in each of the last two games.

— WR Cooper Kupp, Seahawks: I know Kupp had a 67-yard reception against the Cardinals on Sunday, but Rashid Shaheed’s addition diminishes Kupp’s role in Seattle’s offense. I mean, he’s already had three-or-fewer targets in five of the eight games he’s played this season.

— RB Rhamondre Stevenson, Patriots: I doubt Stevenson returns on a short week, and TreVeyon Henderson might have a stranglehold on the lead back role once he returns if the dynamic rookie has another great game this week against the Jets.

— TE T.J. Hockenson, Vikings: Hockenson is the overall TE25 in standard formats (TE23 in PPR) with only eight targets in the last three games.