Dynasty Waiver Wire: Week 11

Addison Hayes

Hello again! I apologize to everyone out there who was disappointed to not be reading my waiver wire articles, I know how much I was missed (not). DLF has an awesome staff of writers that I would like to thank for covering me during my short absence.

For those who don’t know, I got married at the end of October, went on my honeymoon to Mexico, then my wife and I moved halfway across the country to Wisconsin to start our new life together. It was a busy, but very good, couple of weeks. But I am back now and football hasn’t skipped a beat! Who am I kidding though, you’re not even reading this intro.

In case you are reading this, there is one bit of information to know before you start reading names. New to this year’s series and the DLF site is player rostership percentages, courtesy of dynasty rosters from SafeLeagues and the great Scott Fish. Using that data, I developed an app to view rostership data from over 400 SafeLeagues dynasty leagues, all using the same format and scoring (2 PPR tight end premium). While this may not be entirely accurate for every individual league, it is very reflective of how managers view who is worthy or not of a roster spot. Now that that is covered, let’s dive into the waiver wire after week ten!

Players to double-check availability and immediately add:

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PJ Walker, QB CAR

Step aside AAF’s Garrett Gilbert and welcome in the XFL’s MVP PJ Walker! This guy has a special place in my heart for winning me the first half of my home XFL league and he was super fun to watch. In his short time on an NFL stage though, Walker has shown his XFL skills off, but his name may be called on to start next week if Teddy Bridgewater’s knee injury is serious. He should not be starting for you even in superflex leagues, but any starting QB is at least worth a roster spot.

Kalen Ballage, RB LAC

This is now the second week in a row that Ballage has not only lead the Chargers’ backfield in carries, yards, and fantasy points, but he is doing it in a workhorse style. Ballage totaled 102 yards on 18 carries and five receptions and is currently a mid-RB2 on the week (Sunday and Monday night games pending). To put this in even clearer light, here’s a tweet from JJ Zachariason on Ballage:

While still not rostered in over half of dynasty leagues, Ballage can almost go straight from the waivers into your starting lineup until Austin Ekeler returns, which could be another couple weeks.

Devontae Booker, RB LV

This was a BRUTAL game from the Denver Broncos, which is part of the reason why Booker received 16 carries in the Raiders blowout division win. While I do not expect this backfield to be a near 50-50 split between Josh Jacobs and Booker, this game did provide crystal-clear clarity into who the primary backup is to Jacobs.

I am a huge advocate of rostering as many main backup running backs as I can, and Booker just made the list. Should anything happen to Jacobs (knock on wood), Booker can slide right into your starting lineup in his place. That type of roster security is even more important as we near the fantasy playoffs.

Salvon Ahmed, RB MIA

My man Shane Manila threw Ahmed’s name at the very end of last week’s waiver wire piece as a deep stash, totally not expecting him to receive 21 carries in another fantastic win for the surging Miami Dolphins. In fact, to quote JJ Zachariason again, Ahmed received 84% of the Dolphins running back carries, which is higher than Myles Gaskin’s season-high of 81.8%.

This was Ahmed’s backfield on Sunday and it will remain his until Gaskin returns, which will not be for a couple of weeks. Even when Gaskin returns, I don’t think Ahmed is going to quietly return to the bench.

Jakeem Grant, WR MIA

Adding in another Dolphin and another player highlighted by Shane in last week’s article, Jakeem Grant was the leading receiver for the Dolphins this week in receptions and yards and even found paydirt. Some of y’all must not have listened to Shane last week, as the primary replacement for Preston Williams is still only rostered in less than 60% of leagues.

Cam Sims, WR WAS

I’ll be honest, I had no idea who this guy was before today. Apparently he went 4-110 last week and then 4-54 this week? For those of you who don’t know, Sims played at a small school called Alabama in college, playing second and third fiddle to other ‘Bama receivers like Ardarius Stewart, Calvin Ridley, and Jerry Jeudy before entering the NFL as a UDFA in 2018.

I don’t really know how to value him moving forward as he could be a blip on the fantasy radar, or he might stick around for the rest of the season with Alex Smith at QB for Washington. Either way, he’s worth mentioning at least once in this waiver series in 2020.

Other players to keep an eye on:

Deep stashes:

addison hayes