Week 11 Quarterback Sleepers: Waiver Wire Pickups & Adds

November 11, 2014

Nathan Calderon analyzes Week 11 fantasy football quarterback (QB) sleepers, waiver wire pickups and adds. NFL quarterbacks are a key fantasy football component off the waiver wire.

Can we go another week with a QB tossing six touchdowns? Can Drew Stanton keep the Cardinals rolling? Is Mark Sanchez for real? These questions and more will be answered in preparation for Week Eleven here in my weekly quarterback waiver wire pickups and adds piece.

Another exciting week of NFL and fantasy football action is ahead of us, and if you’re looking to stream quarterbacks, or if you’re looking to roll into the playoffs riding a hot fantasy QB, this is the place for you. Good luck RotoBallers!

Fantasy Football Quarterback Streamers (QB) - Week 11

Teddy Bridgewater – Minnesota Vikings (Owned in 18% of Fleaflicker leagues)

Week Eleven Matchup: Chicago Bears

BALLER MOVE: We all witnessed the brutal beating the Bears took in week ten. I’m not claiming that Bridgewater will toss six TDs like Rodgers did, but he’s a guy I would start with confidence in most leagues this week.

ANALYSIS: My commentary on how bad the Bears defense has been will start and end here: on average, the Chicago Bears give up 277 passing yards per game (ranked 23^rd), just over two touchdowns per game (ranked 29^th), and the third most fantasy points per game to opposing quarterbacks. They’re slowly becoming a defense to feel very confident about streaming QBs against.

Teddy Bridgewater is a guy I would like to some extent regardless of the matchup, but this week he is an extremely solid option. The rookie has increased his production each week since his poor week six performance, culminating in a 268 yard, one touchdown performance that also included three rushes for twenty yards in week nine. Another upward trend for Teddy has been his volume of attempts. In the last two games, Bridgewater has tossed 42 passes, and has hovered the 60% completion percentage mark. The Vikes have won both of those games, so I look for him to have similar volume this week. There aren’t a ton of guys that have as solid matchups this week, so look for Bridgewater to have a very good game coming off of a bye week. And when I say good, I mean a top ten fantasy QB this week.

Robert Griffin III – Washington Redskins (Owned in 61% of Fleaflicker leagues)

Week Eleven Matchup: Tampa Bay Buccaneers

BALLER MOVE: Though I don’t generally like RGIII, I can’t look past his matchup this week at home against Tampa Bay. He's startable in all 2-QB leagues this week, and if you’re desperate, you can play him in some 1-QB leagues as well.

ANALYSIS: Griffin has never been a guy I’ve trusted in fantasy. He's too injury prone, but coming off of a bye, I think he has some dependability this week. Even with an extremely minimal sample size, I can trust the 28^th ranked Tampa Bay defense (per ESPN) to be as awful as they have been all season. Desean Jackson and Pierre Garcon are guys I trust to catch the ball. Again, this pick isn’t one that I would recommend other than the fact that the matchup is too good to pass up.

In week nine versus the Vikings, Griffin put up a middle of the road performance, tossing for 251 yards, one TD and one INT, while rushing on seven attempts for 24 yards. Call me bold, but I think that Griffin begins an upward trend that could lead to Griffin being a top 15 fantasy QB in week 11.

Mark Sanchez – Philadelphia Eagles (Owned in 36% of Fleaflicker leagues)

Week Eleven Matcup: Green Bay Packers

BALLER MOVE: If there was any question as to how Mark Sanchez will play going forward, it was erased after the impressive offensive show that the Eagles put on Monday night. Sanchez is a solid stream this week facing a somewhat tough Green Bay secondary and he's startable in most leagues.

ANALYSIS: Ladies and gentlemen, I do believe we are in for a shootout in this matchup, and shootouts generally mean lots of volume, and lots of great fantasy numbers for all QBs involved. This one should be no different, and while Rodgers is a sure fire fantasy stud in week eleven, Sanchez may not be that far behind him.

Though it was against a somewhat lax Carolina defense, Sanchez put on a show, throwing for 332 yards and two touchdowns with no interceptions. Green Bay is a much tougher defense to throw against, but I think that the Chip Kelly offensive scheme fits like a glove on the hand of Mark Sanchez, and this team will be much more successful than the Bears were in week ten.

If you’re struggling at QB, go get Sanchez. Seriously, this guy will have fantasy relevance going forward, and could end the season on a high note if Foles does not return. With Sanchez playing like that, who knows if he will?

Quarterbacks To Avoid in Week 11

Drew Stanton – Arizona Cardinals

While his coaches tend to speak very highly of him, I’m not sure I’m ready to trust the replacement to Carson Palmer, who is out with a season ending ACL tear. A tough matchup against the Lions this week should be a test of this 8-1 Cardinals team that looks poised to make a playoff run. Can Drew lead the team to another win in week eleven? Possibly, but I would suggest holding off of Stanton in fantasy until we get a better understanding of how the Cards plan to utilize him

Kyle Orton – Buffalo Bills

Orton has a second consecutive difficult matchup facing a Dolphins secondary that has looked phenomenal in recent weeks, especially in the drubbing they put on the Chargers in week nine. It’s another test for the Bills, and Orton has some upside, but I would look elsewhere this week for fantasy value.

Jay Cutler – Chicago Bears

The Bears are a struggling ship that’s sinking, and the captain of this flailing ship is Jay Cutler. His terrible showing in week ten against the Packers was only the culmination of a downward trend for a guy that I was really high on to start the year. Ten interceptions on the year show me that Cutler is not the elite QB that his paycheck thinks he is. Going forward, his matchups aren’t bad, but I also don’t want to put any faith in Cutler until he shows me that he’s making better decisions on the field. With his weapons, his ceiling stays high, but his floor is the lowest of any "startable" QB I can think of at this point.