2015 IDP Waiver Wire Pickups: Week 6
Hello and welcome back to the IDPGuru.com’s most popular in-season article, IDP Waiver Wire Pickups, which will be releasing every Tuesday of the regular season.
OK. Let’s start things off by going through some IDP news, notes, and commentary from Week 4 of the NFL season.
Injuries
Fortunately, the injury list this week is much shorter than in Week 5.
Dont’a Hightower left Sunday’s game in the 1st quarter with a rib injury and did not return. His status for Week 6 is questionable. If he were to miss the game, Jerod Mayo should see a nice bump in playing time and even have a chance at playing every down.
DeAndre Levy managed to last 17 snaps before re-aggravating his hip injury. The Lions are a dumpster fire of a team so it’s quite likely they will be conservative with Levy and shut him down for the reason of the season. I wouldn’t hold out hope for him having much fantasy value this year.
DeMarcus Ware left the Broncos game against the Raiders with a back injury. The injury isn’t believed to be overly serious, but Denver may opt to keep him out this week with the bye week coming in Week 7.
Chris Long injured his knee in Sunday’s loss to the Packers. In looking at the film, it appeared to be some type of hyper-extension. According to the team, the injury isn’t serious and Long should be back after the team’s Week 6 bye.
Giants linebacker Jon Beason left Sunday night’s game with a concussion. He was replaced by Uani Unga who played every down in his absence.
Despite practicing last week, Ryan Shazier missed another game due to a shoulder injury. My gut tells me this injury is more severe than the team is letting on. This said, it’s probably best we take a cautious approach with Shazier and have a back up plan ready in case he can’t go again this week.
Shea McClellin injured his left knee last week and was spotted in a brace after the game. The Bears have been extremely tight-lipped about injuries this year, so we won’t likely know more until close to game time.
Morgan Burnett missed yet another game after injuring his calf in Week 3. The undefeated Packers are smartly being cautious with Burnett as they want to make sure he’s 100% healthy before taking the field again. Green Bay has a Week 7 bye, so I’m pegging him for a Week 8 return.
General Player Notes
Zach Brown was benched last week and ended up splitting time with veteran Wesley Woodyard. Although this is obviously bad news for Brown owners, it increases the value of Avery Williamson who is now the team’s only every down inside linebacker.
C.J. Mosley’s struggles in the tackle department continued last week. Despite seeing a ridiculous 88 defensive snaps, he managed just two total tackles. Whereas his counterpart Daryl Smith racked up 12. Granted the Browns didn’t run the ball all that much (only 25 times). Mosley is an elite linebacker and I don’t have much concern with him moving forward. There are still a lot of games left in the year and I expect him to rebound.
Danny Trevathan finally saw his snaps increase last week against the Raiders (71%). He has a great matchup in Week 6 against the Browns who have given up the #1 most points to opposing fantasy linebackers so far this year. Now is the time to pick him up before he has another strong performance and people realize he’s getting closer to playing every down again.
Curtis Lofton was once again taken out of subpackages. He’s not a great coverage linebacker, so this doesn’t come as a huge surprise. I wouldn’t trust him in my starting lineup moving forward.
Now onto The Guru’s IDP waiver wire selections for Week 6!
(Please note that a majority of these pickups are long-term, rest of season pickups as opposed to matchup-type recommendations. As the season progresses and the waiver wire becomes more thin and matchup information becomes more reliable, the focus of this article will shift more towards recommendations based on weekly matchup.)
Defensive Linemen
(Previously recommended DLs: Henry Anderson, Allen Bailey, Mario Addison, Jacquies Smith, Jabaal Sheard, Sen’Derrick Marks, Jared Allen, Stephon Tuitt, Greg Hardy, Sheldon Richardson, Stephon Tuitt, Jarvis Jenkins, Kerry Wynn, Ryan Delaire)
DT Jay Ratliff (CHI) – Ratliff missed the first three games of the season due to suspension and was inactive in Week 4 due to injury. He finally returned to the field last week and posted a solid 4-1-0 stat line. He was a productive DT last year with 6.5 sacks and should be available in virtually all leagues as people have likely forgotten about him since he’s been out a while. Sneaky DT2 play.
DEs Ryan Delaire/Kony Ealy (CAR) – The Panthers square off against a Seahawks team that has allowed a league-leading 22 sacks through 5 games. This greatly increases the chances of the Panthers linemen to get a sack this week. Delaire would be my first choice given that he’s actually produced some sacks this year and should see good playing time with Jared Allen new to the team and working himself back from injury. Ealy has been disappointing to say the least, but he’s worth a look as a desperation type play with this juicy matchup.
DE Lawrence Guy (BAL) – Guy filled in admirably for an injured Chris Canty last week, posting 6 total tackles and 2 sacks. He has a strong matchup against the 49ers this week who have given up the 3rd most sacks in the NFL. Guy makes for a high floor DL3- option if Canty misses this week’s game.
Linebackers
(Previously recommended LBs: Thomas Davis, Vincent Rey, Brian Cushing, Koa Misi, Uani Unga, Dont’a Hightower, DeMeco Ryans, Jordan Hicks, Justin Durant, Hau’oli Kikaha, Jordan Hicks, Malcolm Smith, A.J. Klein, Christian Kirksey, Anthony Hitchens, Manti Te’o, Thurston Armbrister, Christian Kirksey)
MLB Eric Kendricks (MIN) – The trade of Gerald Hodges to San Francisco means Kendricks will finally slide into an every down role. He’s been a productive player on a per snap basis so he should be able to produce at a LB2/LB2- rate for the rest of the season. He was on bye last week, so there’s a chance he’s still available even in some shallower leagues.
MLB Rolando McClain (DAL) – McClain played much more than I thought he would in his first game back (88% of the team’s snaps) and was around the ball a lot. He should make for a decent LB3+ option moving forward. The Cowboys are on bye this week, so most owners won’t be going after him. If you need help at linebacker in deep IDP leagues, it may be a prudent move to scoop him up this week and stash him on your bench.
LB Avery Williamson (TEN) – As mentioned earlier, the demotion of Zach Brown opens up more tackle opportunity for Williamson moving forward. Previous to last week, he hadn’t been setting the world on fire production-wise, but the Titans IDPs have been victims of low tackle opportunity. With that likely to change, Williamson becomes the clear cut ILB to own in Tennessee and could develop into a fairly strong LB3 option for us the rest of the season.
ILB Michael Wilhoite (SF) – Wilhoite will likely be one of the top IDP waiver wire adds this week after a 16 tackle performance. His numbers were inflated by the sheer volume of tackle opportunity the 49ers received last week and there is a chance he loses playing time to recently acquired linebacker Gerald Hodges. I’ll be watching the practice reports closely this week to see if Wilhoite is still expected to be the full-time starter in Week 6. If so, he’s worth serious consideration as a LB3 in a top 5 matchup against the Ravens.
Defensive Backs
(Previously recommended DBs: Calvin Pryor, Trenton Robinson, Josh Norman, Adam Jones, Will Allen, Eric Berry, Adam Jones, Tony Jefferson, Corey Graham, Brandon Meriweather, T.J. Ward, Ronald Darby, Chris Conte, Jonathan Cyprien, David Amerson, Jonathan Joseph)
CB Brandon Browner (NO) – Opposing cornerbacks have been compiling tackles by the bunches against the Falcons. Bryon Maxwell (7-2), Jayron Hosley (6-2), Brandon Carr (6-2), Kevin Johnson (5-0), and Bashaud Breeland (6-2) have all had strong production so far this year against the Dirty Birds. Browner has had 18 solo tackles in his last three games and will have his hands full covering Julio Jones. I can see at least 6 solos from him this week.
S Mark Barron (STL) – The injury to Alec Ogletree has forced the Rams to insert Barron into the lineup as a subpackage linebacker. He played in 81% of the snaps last week and posted a season high 5 tackles. He’s on bye this week, but I wanted to mention him as a player to watch as we’ve seen other safeties post strong tackle numbers in this type of role (e.g. Deone Bucannon).
CB Jason McCourty (TEN) – McCourty had an uninspiring return to action last week with just 1 measly tackle. This is likely to result in him getting dropped in a lot of leagues. However, I think that is a mistake in most cases. The Titans faced just 11 completed passes, so the opportunity was just not there last week for McCourty. He’s been one of the steadiest cornerback options in the league over the last several years and given the high week-to-week volatility of the position, he’s still a CB1 in my mind.
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Last Updated: October 14, 2015