2017 IDP Waiver Wire Pickups: Week 10
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Let’s start things off by going through some IDP news, notes, and commentary from Week 9 of the NFL season.
Injuries
Dante Fowler injured his elbow in last week’s game against the Bengals. We don’t know much at the moment about his Week 10 availability but should have a better sense of things come Wednesday or Thursday.
Sheldon Richardson could miss a couple of weeks with an oblique abdominal muscle strain.
Keenan Robinson injured his quad in Sunday’s game against the Rams and did not return. This caused both Curtis Grant and Calvin Munson to see significant action in the game.
Jacquiski Tartt broke his forearm and will likely be placed on injured reserve, ending his season.
Morgan Burnett suffered a groin injury on Monday Night Football which forced him from the game. He’s struggled with soft tissue injuries as much as any player in the league so I would expect this injury to cause him to miss time. We should know more later in the week, however.
Kenny Vaccaro had a groin injury of his own that caused him to leave the game; however, the Saints had a decent lead and it was later reported that he was held out for precautionary reasons. This makes me believe he has a very good chance of playing in Week 10.
General Player Notes
Reuben Foster returned to the starting lineup and posted a whopping 13 solo tackles. His numbers were buoyed by the fact that Adrian Peterson ran the ball 37 times, but make no mistake, Foster is going to be an LB1 stud if he can stay healthy.
Antonio Morrison only played 59% of the defensive snaps this week. The reduction in playing time doesn’t seem to be injury related, so it’s definitely something for his owners to be concerned about. Jeremiah George saw the bulk of snaps as his replacement.
Jonathan Cyprien returned to the starting lineup after a multi-week absence due to injury. He was back in a near every-down role but did not produce much in the box scores (1-1). The Ravens give up the least amount of points to opposing safeties though, so I’m willing to give him the benefit of the doubt here.
Now onto The Guru’s IDP waiver wire selections for Week 10!
(Please note that a majority of these pickups early on are long-term, rest of season pickups as opposed to matchup-type recommendations. As the season progresses and the waiver wire becomes thinner and matchup information becomes more reliable, the focus of this article will shift more towards recommendations based on the weekly matchup.)
Defensive Linemen
(Previously recommended DLs: Aaron Donald, Geno Atkins, Yannick Ngaokoue, Noah Spence, Mario Edwards, Julius Peppers, William Gholston, Alex Okafor, Jurrell Casey, Emmanuel Ogbah, Anthony Zettel, Yannick Ngakoue, Myles Garrett, Frank Clark, David Irving, Solomon Thomas, Alex Okafor, Mario Edwards, Carlos Dunlap, Cameron Heyward, Jarran Reed, Henry Anderson, Vinny Curry, Leger Douzable)
DE Dwight Freeney (SEA) – Freeney, now 37 years old, was signed mid-season to serve as a situational pass rusher for the Seahawks. He’s racked up three sacks in his first two games with the team and has a juicy matchup against the Drew Stanton led Cardinals who are currently giving up the 5th most points to defensive ends. Freeney’s not going to provide much if anything in the tackle department, but I like his chances for a sack or two this week.
DE Robert Ayers (TB) – Ayers has been one of the more productive defensive ends on a per snap basis throughout his career, so it was a bit surprising to see him struggle production-wise this year given the increase in snaps he’s been seeing. He’s coming off his best game of the year however and now has two sacks in his last three contests. He has a top 8 matchup against the Jets on the schedule this week, so he makes for a fairly good DL4+ play in Week 10.
DE Stephon Tuitt (PIT) – Tuitt has had a virtually non-existent season so far as he’s missed four games due to injury and hasn’t looked healthy when he has played. He’s had three weeks to rest however and said he expects to play this week against a Colts team that has allowed a league-leading 36 sacks over nine games. Tuitt, a player who has registered 10.5 sacks over the past two seasons, has a decent shot at getting his first sack of the season this week. Obviously, if Cameron Heyward is available, he’s the priority pick up over Tuitt.
Linebackers
(Previously recommended LBs: B.J. Goodson, Demario Davis, Mason Foster, A.J. Klein, Ramon Humber, Joe Schobert, Jon Bostic, Vincent Rey, Ramon Humbar, Mike Hull, Zach Cunningham, Danny Trevathan, Kendell Beckwith, Cory James, Derrick Morgan, Kendell Beckwith, Shaq Thompson, Ray-Ray Armstrong, Kyle Van Noy, Reuben Foster, Danny Trevathan, Blake Martinez, Hayes Pullard, Mychal Kendricks, Craig Robertson, Thomas Davis, Shaq Thompson, Matt Judon, Navarro Bowman, Mychal Kendricks, Craig Robertson, Keenan Robinson, Joe Schobert, Cory James, Ramon Humber, Clay Matthews)
WLB Ramon Humber (BUF) – I called out Humber as a player to proactively pick up last week but I’m going to make mention of him again in case he’s still out there in your league. He returned to the starting lineup last week after missing several weeks with an injury and picked up right where he left off with 7 total tackles. He should be an every-down linebacker moving forward and produce solid LB3+ numbers.
ILB Will Compton (WAS) – Compton split time fairly equally with Martrell Spaight in Week 8 but saw every down snaps last week and posted a big stat line of 8-1, INT, and 3 PDs. He’s been a coach favorite despite subpar play the last couple of seasons so I wouldn’t be shocked if he continues to play every down (especially given his performance last week). If this is the case, he will be a top 35 linebacker in the next update of my rest of season IDP rankings.
ILB Denzel Perryman (SD) – I’ve been a Perryman “truther” for the last couple seasons and although he hasn’t developed into the IDP stud I thought, he has shown flashes of that potential. He will make his season debut this week after missing the team’s first eight games with an ankle injury. The team seems to have soured on Jatavis Brown, so I think Perryman has a sound chance at becoming the team’s main every-down linebacker. This won’t likely happen this week as it’s his first week back but I could see it happening in Week 11 when the team plays the Bills who have been a great matchup for opposing linebackers. Perryman is someone to consider adding in a speculative fashion in deeper leagues if you have the bench space as he could be a valuable starter for teams down the stretch.
WLB Brock Coyle (SF) – In a somewhat surprising move, the 49ers opted to start Brock Coyle over Ray-Ray Armstrong at weakside linebacker last week. Coyle was the defensive play-caller, so he seems to have a fairly strong grip on a three-down role at the moment. He had 8 total tackles last week and should see ample tackle opportunity on a winless San Francisco team. Keep in mind his matchup is poor this week and he goes on bye the following week, however.
Defensive Backs
(Previously recommended DBs: Tyvon Branch, Kevin Byard, Daniel Sorenson, Ron Parker, Jalen Mills, Matthias Farley, Jordan Poyer, Vonn Bell, Derrick Kindred, Josh Jones, Terrance Mitchell, Brian Poole, TreDavious White, Chris Conte, Adrian Amos, Trevor Williams, Andrew Sendejo, Tavon Wilson, Justin Evans, Adrian Amos, Justin Evans, Justin Simmons, Morris Claiborne, Tramon Williams, Jamal Adams, Eric Reid, Adrian Phillips, Kurt Coleman, Trai Elston)
SS Eric Reid (SF) –The 49ers coaching staff was experimenting with Reid at weakside linebacker; however, he was moved back to safety last week given all the injuries the team has had at the safety position. With Jacquiski Tartt looking like he’s done for the year with a broken forearm, Reid should have little to no tackle competition in the secondary, so he makes for a good speculative pickup and should be a fairly good source of tackles for owners.
S DeAngelo Hall (WAS) – Hall was finally activated off the PUP list last week and came through with a decent stat line of 4-1, 2 PDs. More importantly, he played every down. He’s shown to be a consistent force in fantasy throughout his career, so he’s someone I would definitely entertain picking up if I were struggling to fill that 3rd or 4th defensive back slot in 12-team leagues.
S Josh Jones (GB) – With Kentrell Brice out of the lineup, Jones got the start at strong safety on Monday night with Morgan Burnett playing linebacker. Then when Burnett went out with an injury mid-game, Jones once again saw snaps at linebacker in the team’s “Nitro” package. This resulted in 8 total tackles for the 2nd round pick out of North Carolina State. He remains a risky option but if Burnett and Brice are both out again, his upside is enticing enough to warrant a pick up in most leagues.
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Last Updated: November 7, 2017