2016 IDP Waiver Wire Pickups: Week 4
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.
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Let’s start things off by going through some IDP news, notes, and commentary from Week 3 of the NFL season.
Injuries
Chargers linebacker Manti Teo suffered a torn Achilles and will miss the remainder of the year. Look for Denzel Perryman to assume play-calling duties and an every down role with rookie Jatavis Brown starting in a near-every down capacity next to Perryman. Both players are worth a good look this week on the waiver wire.
IDP stalwart Lawrence Timmons exited Sunday’s game with a shin injury and was actually taken to the hospital were he was treated for a puncture wound. Head Coach Mike Tomlin said he will be available for this week’s game.
Robert Golden, who was having a solid start to the fantasy season, suffered a hamstring injury in last week’s game and did not return. There haven’t been any updates on his status yet, but we should hopefully know more later in the week.
Bashaud Breeland is now week-to-week with a strained tendon in his ankle. Veteran Greg Toler and Quinton Dunbar will compete for the starting cornerback spot opposite Josh Norman. Expect the winner of that competition to be target a lot.
General Player Notes
Kahlil Mack has yet to register a sack through three games. Although that’s concerning, I still wouldn’t drop him under virtually any circumstances. You are highly unlikely to find someone on the waiver wire that is capable of his type of production and he’s the type of player who gets sacks in bunches. All it takes is one good week and he’ll be back in the DL1 conversation. He’s been getting pressure on the QB and I expect the sacks to start coming.
Justin March continues to see his playing time decrease and along with it his production. Being a base-only player will result in large swings in playing time. This said, March is best left on the bench/waiver wire unless the Chiefs are playing a run-heavy offense.
Vontaze Burfict will make his season debut this coming week after sitting out the Bengals’ first three games due to suspension. Given his playing style, there’s always a chance he gets hit with another suspension down the road. But he should be good to immediately re-insert into your lineup this week and has top 10 upside the rest of the season.
Speaking of player suspensions, this is a reminder that DeMarcus Lawrence, Rob Ninkovich, and Marcell Dareus will be returning from their suspensions in Week 5. So it may be a prudent move to pick up and stash those guys this week (in that order).
Keanu Neal made his season debut on Monday Night after sitting out the first two weeks with an injury. Although he only played in subpackages (64% of snaps), he was active on the field and should be able to carve out more playing time moving forward. He’s not someone I would feel comfortable starting right now, but is a hold for those with available bench space.
Clayton Geathers was a popular breakout candidate heading into the year and was finally healthy enough to see substantial playing time in Week 3 (66% of snaps). He put up 6 total tackles and a forced fumble in that game but is still splitting time with rookie T.J. Green. This makes him a tough start until he solidifies an every down presence. He’s definitely worth hanging onto however as he should be a DB1 once/if that playing time increase happens.
Now onto The Guru’s IDP waiver wire selections for Week 4!
(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: Chris Long, Danielle Hunter, Devin Taylor, Dante Fowler, Frank Clark, Timmy Jernigan)
DT Kerry Hyder (DET) – You may be asking yourself, Kerry who? Hyder, who went undrafted out of Texas Tech, has registered a sack in each of his first three games in the NFL. This is an impressive feat for a first year player. His upside is limited as a situational defensive tackle, but has shown enough through the first 20% of the season to warrant being rostered as a high floor DL3-/DT2+.
DE Yannick Ngakoue (JAX) – Ngakoue has had a sack in each of the last two games. He doesn’t contribute enough in the tackle department to bring much value in tackle-heavy leagues, but it worth a look as a back-end starter in big play IDP leagues.
DT Damon Harrison (NYG) – Harrison stood out this week in the box scores with 9 solo tackles. Although it’s highly unreasonable to expect that level of production week in and week out, Harrison is one of the league’s better run defenders and has averaged over 65 total tackles a season over his first three years in the league. This said, he becomes a smart target in tackle heavy scoring systems. Just don’t expect much at all in the sack department as he has just one career QB take down.
Linebackers
(Previously recommended LBs: Sio Moore, Todd Davis, Tahir Whitehead, Will Compton, Mason Foster, Craig Robertson, Justin March, Jonathan Casillas, Craig Robertson, Zach Brown, Deion Jones, Sean Weatherspoon, Tahir Whitehead, Zach Orr)
LB Denzel Perryman (SD) – As many of my readers know, I’ve been touting Perryman’s fantasy potential since early in the off-season. This said, his production over the first two weeks of the regular season was disappointing to say the least. However, the lack of production was largely related to a dramatic decline in expected playing time as he was only in for around 50% of the team’s play over the first two games. With the season-ending injury to Manti Teo, Perryman will be in an every down role moving forward. We got a sample of what he’s capable of in that role last week as he racked up 10 total tackles and a sack. He should be one of your top priority moves this week.
LB Bernardrick McKinney (HOU) – I was intrigued and excited with McKinney’s potential last year given his situation in Houston. However, he failed to do much with his opportunities…until last week. The second year player out of Mississippi State exploded for 16 total tackles and a sack (his second one in two weeks) on national television, a fact that will likely make him one of this week’s most added IDPs. I do think McKinney is worth a pickup in most leagues, but I would expect there to be more week-to-week variance in his production then most our expecting. I’d feel comfortable ranking him within the top 35 linebackers for the remainder of the season.
LB Cory James (OAK) – With the Raiders struggling on defense, Head Coach Jack Del Rio signaled early last week that changes were going to be made on defense. One of those changes was replacing MLB Ben Heeney with rookie Corey James. James played every down in his debut and registered a respectable tackle line of 6-1. He’s not likely to establish himself as a dominating presence up the middle, but should serve as a decent source of points for those in moderately deep leagues. LB3-/LB4.
LB Darron Lee (NYJ) – Lee entered the season as a rookie with nice potential as a long-term, dynasty IDP option but wasn’t given much consideration in redraft leagues due to his subpackage only role. However, the injury to starter Erin Henderson has opened the door for Lee to get on the field in an every down capacity. With 7 total tackles (2 for a loss) and 0.5 sack, he’s well on his way to carving out more playing time even upon Henderson’s return. For now, continuing plugging him in as a LB3- in 12 team leagues for as long as Henderson remains shelved.
ILB Christian Kirksey (CLE) – Kirksey has never really excited me from a fantasy perspective. However, through three weeks of the season he’s proven to be the better option at linebacker over Demario Davis. Cleveland’s defense should continue to see a lot of field time, making Kirksey a relatively high floor, LB3-.
Defensive Backs
(Previously recommended DBs: Tony Jefferson, Da’Norris Searcy, Shareece Wright, Tyvon Branch, Andrew Sendejo, Kemal Ishmael)
S Karl Joseph (OAK) – After spending most of the first two games on the bench, Joseph was finally inserted into the starting lineup. He got right to business with 10 total tackles. The Raiders secondary has had plenty of opportunity so far this season and Joseph has the talent to be a Charles Woodson type DB1. Owners should consider him a DB2 with upside.
S Micah Hyde (GB) – Hyde was filling in for an injured Morgan Burnett and lead the team in tackles with 11. He will continue to be a must start in most leagues for as long as Burnett remains out. Consider him a short-term DB2+. ***Please note, the Packers are on bye this week, so this pickup is for Week 5 (assuming Burnett remains out).
S Jordan Poyer (CLE) –There’s been a lot of fantasy focus on the strong safety position in Cleveland between Ibraheim Campbell and Derrick Kindred. However, Jordan Poyer has been the most consistent of the Brown’s safeties with 25 total tackles through three games to go along with two pass deflections. He’s not a flashy pickup, but for those of you in deep IDP leagues, he’s a decent, high floor DB4+/DB3-.
CB Jacoby Glenn (CHI) – Glenn has been filling in for the injured Kyle Fuller and has posted three straight weeks of decent tackle production (5-0, 7-0, 7-2) to go along with 5 pass deflections and a forced fumble. As long as he’s starting, he should continue to see plenty of opportunity to keep that production rolling as the Bears defense will be on the field a lot and teams like to throw at inexperienced corners like Glenn. Sneaky CB2+ in cornerback required formats.
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Last Updated: September 27, 2016