2018 IDP Waiver Wire Pickups: Week 7
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.
Although I’m happy to answer questions posted via the website comments section, IDP Forum, and email, I’m often quickest to respond via Twitter. So if you have IDP questions, it’s a good idea to Follow me on Twitter.
Let’s start things off by going through some IDP news, notes, and commentary from Week 6 of the NFL season.
Injuries
Gerald McCoy left the Bucs Week 6 game against the Falcons with a calf injury and did not return. There haven’t been any major updates on his status but we should know more over the coming days.
News came out late last week that Pro Bowler Cameron Wake underwent arthroscopic knee injury. The typical recovery timetable for that type of procedure is a month but Wake may be able to return sooner than that given his propensity to heal quickly.
Browns middle linebacker Joe Schobert pulled a hamstring and will be considered “week-to-week.” With his backup James Burgess recently waived, Cleveland will be extremely thin at the position until Schobert returns. They were working out veteran Navarro Bowman, so that’s a possibility IDP owners should keep a pulse on. In the mean time, rookie Gerard Avery will likely slot into a starting role.
In a striking blow to their defense, the Bengals will be without linebacker Nick Vigil for the next handful of weeks as he recovers from a sprained MCL. Vincent Rey will take his spot in the starting lineup on the strong side of the defense.
Titans OLB Derrick Morgan will miss a few weeks with a shoulder injury. Rookie Harold Landry should see the bulk of snaps in his absence.
Marcus Maye broke his right thumb last week against the Colts and could miss a few weeks if he isn’t able to play through it with a cast. Based on last week’s usage, Terrence Brooks would figure to start his Maye’s stead if he were to miss any time. However, Doug Middleton could vie for a lion’s share of the snaps as well if the team feels he’s recovered from his hamstring injury.
The Vikings’ first round pick Mike Hughes tore his ACL early in last Sunday’s game and will miss the remainder of the season.
General Player Notes
Vontaze Burfict (once again) had several questionable-at-best hits in last week’s game and is looking at fines or a potential suspension. Reports indicate the former is more likely, but it’s something we need to keep a close eye on and is another reminder of how risky Burfict is moving forward.
Mark Barron saw his snap count percentage plummet in his second week back from injury. This was a result of the cold temperatures in Denver and the potentially negative effect that may have on his Achilles. Expect his snap counts to return to normal levels moving forward.
For more updates on playing time splits across the linebacker position, check out the latest update of my every-down linebackers column.
(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: Markus Golden, Sheldon Richardson, Isaac Rochell, Larry Ogunjobi, Taco Charlton, Matt Ioannidis, Benson Mayowa, Margus Hunt, Kenny Clark, Stephen Weatherly, David Irving, Takkarist McKinley, Jerry Hughes, Jarran Reed)
DT Jarran Reed (SEA) – Reed was on this list last week, so hopefully readers scooped him up where available as it’s going to be harder to grab him this week after his 5-0-1, 1 FR performance. The good news for us is he’s still available in a lot of leagues as he’s being overshadowed by teammate Frank Clark who is coming off a 2.5 sack performance. Reed has had four sacks in his last four contests and is on pace for over 50+ solo tackles making him a dependable DT1- fantasy player.
DE Trent Murphy (BUF) – Similar to Reed above, Murphy is getting overshadowed by his teammate Jerry Hughes in the press but Murphy is seeing respectable snap counts and has had a quarterback take down in four of his six games this season. He’s not going to win you any weeks but he should serve as a adequate DL3 filler in deeper leagues where you need to cover byes or injuries.
DT Corey Liuget (LAC) – Liuget has shown flashes of fantasy starter potential throughout his eight-year career, but has fallen off most radars recently due to ineffective play and a suspension to begin this year. He’s coming off his best performance in recent memory however with 1.5 sacks against the Browns and squares off against a Titans team this week that allowed a ridiculous 11 sacks. There’s always a chance he turns back into a pumpkin, but he has fresh legs, a great matchup, and some historical flashes of fantasy potential which is enough for me to consider as a boom/bust DL3/DL4 for this coming weekend.
DE Romeo Okwara (DET) – Okwara has been a pleasant surprise for the Lions as he’s notched three sacks over his last two contest while eating up a ton of snaps at the edge position (80-90%). The wheels will likely fall off at some point, but given his high volume of snaps and matchup against a suspect Dolphins offensive line, he’s worth a shot as a DL4 in balanced scoring systems for the immediate future.
NOTE: He’s classified as a linebacker in some league management systems. He’s only worth a look if he qualifies at defensive line.
Linebackers
(Previously recommended LBs: Fred Warner, Darius Leonard, Nick Vigil, Matt Milano, Cory Littleton, Darius Leonard, Reuben Foster, Roquan Smith, Devondre Campbell, Duke Riley, Kenny Young, Austin Calitro, Vontaze Burfict, Leighton Vander Esch, Josh Bynes, Anthony Walker, Vontaze Burfict, Jatavis Brown, Jayon Brown, Jerome Baker, Zach Cunningham)
LB Jamie Collins (CLE) – The injury to Joe Schobert is going to open up more playing time for Collins who is the fairly clear front runner to assume sub package duties on top of his current base down role. This should lead to a nice uptick in production. Christian Kirksey is the main play while Schobert is shelved but, if he’s not available, Collins becomes a nice, higher upside LB3- pick up.
LB Vincent Rey (CIN) – There seems to be some dissenting opinions on who will takeover sub package duties in Cincinnati for the injured Nick Vigil. I’ve seen a lot of reports indicating Preston Brown will fill that role; however, I think Vincent Rey is the more likely of the two to approach 80%+ of the snaps. Rey has been a nickel linebacker at various points in his career and stayed on the field last week for a bulk of the snaps after Vigil went down with an injury. With most people going after Brown this week, Rey should be a sneaky pickup for those in deeper leagues looking for a LB3/LB4 spot start.
LB Thomas Davis (CAR) – Given his age (35) and the fact he was suspended for the first four games of the season, Davis is likely available on a lot of waiver wires. Despite those two factors, he was immediately inserted into a near every-down role and came up with a respectable 5-1, 2 PD stat line. He’s not going to set the world on fire production-wise, but he should serve as a consistent and steady source of fantasy points throughout the year. Consider him a low-end LB3/high-end LB4 in most leagues.
LB Bradley Chubb (DEN) – Chubb, this year’s fifth overall selection, had been relatively quiet up until last week’s game against the Rams in which he registered a monster three-sack game. The Rams are a tough team to sack which makes the feat all that more impressive. With back-to-back tasty matchups on the schedule next against the Cardinals and Texans respectively, Chubb should be well set up to continue his sack amassing streak. He’s a viable pickup in leagues that skew point scoring towards sacks.
Defensive Backs
(Previously recommended DBs: Kentrell Brice, Clayton Geathers, Terrell Edmunds, Jessie Bates, Justin Simmons, Ricardo Allen, Donte Jackson, Anton Exum, Damontae Kazee, Brian Poole, Tre Boston, Jessie Bates, Eric Reid)
S Damarious Randall (CLE) – Despite 34 total tackles (30 solo), 6 pass deflections, and 2 interceptions, Randall has largely flown under the radar this season. He’s had at least five tackles in five out of six games this season, so he’s shown the level of consistency in that category that you want out of a safety but he also brings some big play capability to the table as well. He should be viewed as DB3+ moving forward.
S Jordan Lucas (KC) – Lucas drew the start with regular first stringer Eric Murray inactive due to injury. Lucas generated 10 total tackles, most of those coming in run support. If Murray and Eric Berry both miss another game, Lucas becomes a top 30-35 DB play in Week 7.
SS Mike Mitchell (IND) – With their two strong safeties out with injury, the Colts brought in veteran Mike Mitchell to fill the role for the time being. He played 76% of the snaps and played surprisingly well. I would expect him to build upon his six-tackle performance from last week as long as he’s out there starting. He’s available in virtually every league and makes for a decent bye-week/injury filler as long as Geathers is out.
If you found this article (or past articles) helpful, please consider DONATING. I put a lot of hours every week into my in-season content and make that content available free of charge to my readers, so any support you can throw my way would be greatly appreciated (even if it’s just enough for a cup of coffee).
If you have any questions, feel free to email me at theidpguru@idpguru.com or follow me on Twitter.
Last Updated: October 16, 2018