Fantasy Football Week 11 Waiver Wire Debate: Alec Pierce vs Tez Johnson

Alec Pierce and Tez Johnson show up on the Week 11 Waiver Wire as players with great recent outputs on elite offenses.

Nov 9, 2025; Tampa, Florida, USA; Tampa Bay Buccaneers wide receiver Tez Johnson (15) flips while celebrating a touchdown during the third quarter against the New England Patriots at Raymond James Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jonathan Dyer-Imagn Images | Jonathan Dyer-Imagn Images

The waiver wire is alive and well. The trade deadline, however, approaches and it will no longer be an option. I always find the waiver wire to be your best choice of action. You can find higher upside at a huge discount. Gold nuggets are found all year long on the waiver wire and for that reason, you must stay locked in to who those names might be. Today, we debate two wide receivers — Alec Pierce and Tez Johnson.

The Case for Alec Pierce

In 8 games, Piece has 50 Targets (16% Target Share), 28 Receptions, 585 Yards, and 1 Touchdown. His a deep ball target, comparable to active players such as Christian Watson and Jameson Williams. This has provided him with massive upside, more so in Non-PPR leagues.

Pierce has an Average Depth of Reception of 20.9 Yards. This is the highest number of any starting wide receiver. Most wideouts average 10-14 Yards per Reception. He is essentially getting 0.5-1.0 extra points per reception, although also having less receptions (2.8 per Game).

Alec Pierce has 282 receiving yards in the last 3 weeks, that is 2nd-most among all WRs 💪

He is available in 59% of Yahoo leagues 👀 pic.twitter.com/W5TM27g23a

— Yahoo Fantasy Sports (@YahooFantasy) November 8, 2025

An added bonus is the fact that, not only does Pierce have great output, but he has lead the wide receivers in snap counts over the past four weeks. He has not dipped below 81% of snaps since Week 3.

Given the fact that the Colts traded away Adonai Mitchell, Pierce is playing many snaps and seeing work. He is a high-usage, high-upside player with moderate volume.

The Case for Tez Johnson

Johnson has played 8 games this season. He has 28 Targets (9% Target Share), 19 Receptions, 255 Yards, and 4 Touchdowns.

There are just two rookies across the NFL this season with 250+ receiving yards and 4+ receiving touchdowns through Week 10...

Both are @Buccaneers drafted by Jason Licht.

Emeka Egbuka (pick No. 19) & Tez Johnson (No. 235). #WeAreTheKrewe pic.twitter.com/m1gmSBtQ2O

— Buccaneers Communications (@BuccaneersComms) November 10, 2025

We must remind ourselves that Johnson has been most notable over the past month. 97% of his output has come over the past five games, so consider those statistics to essentially be over 5 games, and not eight. His target share is truly closer to 17-20%.

With Mike Evans and Chris Godwin out, Johnson is the WR3, although tight with Sterling Shepard for the WR2 designation. For that matter, Johnson has out snapped Shepard over the past four games so you could say that Johnson is the WR2.

So long as Baker Mayfield is the quarterback and Chris Godwin remains out, Johnson has great upside. It says a great deal that he has four touchdowns in five games.

Waiver Wire Debate: Alec Pierce vs Tez Johnson

This is a contentious debate to have. Both receivers are essentially the WR3 on their teams. Johnson is moreso when Godwin returns in the coming weeks. As we do every week, we value the upside of the better player.

Johnson has the higher upside of the two. He is outputting more touchdowns and is the WR2 as compared to the WR3 status of Pierce. The high ADOT of Pierce is great, but offset by his lesser quantity of receptions per game.

The Buccaneers also happen to pass the ball at a 57% rate in the Red Zone. The Colts pass it at a 41% rate. By default, Johnson has many more scoring chances and it has shown to be true. Johnson has (4) Red Zone Targets over his five games whereas Pierce has (2) Red Zone Targets in all 8 Games Played, in which has caught zero of them.

Pickup Tez Johnson for much higher upside.