2014 IDP Waiver Wire Pickups: Week 11
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.
Let’s start things off by going through some IDP news, notes, and commentary from Week 10 of the NFL season.
Injury Round-Up
Week 10 was a relatively quiet one from an injury perspective. The big news coming out of last week is that Patrick Willis will miss the remainder of the season as he undergoes surgery for a chronic toe injury.
Seahawks defensive tackle Brandon Mebane has a torn hamstring and is done for the year.
Sticking with the Seahawks, it looks like Kam Chancellor will practice this week and has a good chance to play. Bobby Wagner’s status is a bit more iffy – he’s going to start running this week. That said, seems like he’s more so working towards a Week 12 return.
General Player Notes
Tahir Whitehead’s production continues to slow as he loses subpackage snaps to Josh Bynes.
Much like the Bears season, Kyle Fuller’s IDP production has went down the tubes over the past several weeks. The combination of the hand and hip injuries are likely the main culprit of his decline in production. Owners in redraft leagues should move on outside of deep CB-required leagues.
Quintin Demps was benched for a time during Sunday’s game against the Seahawks; however, he later returned to the game with Stevie Brown heading back to the bench. He seems like he’s on a short leach, so owners should be weary of starting him if they have other options available.
Connor Barwin continues to surprise everyone – compiling 3.5 sacks against the Panthers on Monday Night Football. That raises his total to 10.5 over his last 6 games. I’m a bit hesitant to use OLB big play linebackers as anything more than an LB4 in most balanced leagues, but he goes against a Packers team this week who has been sacked a good amount.
Now onto The Guru’s IDP waiver wire selections for Week 11!
(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: Gerald McCoy, Willie Young, Cameron Heyward, Sen’Derrick Marks, Wallace Gilberry, William Gholston, Jurrell Casey, Corey Liuget, Mario Addison, Johnathan Hankins, Michael Johnson, Anthony Spencer, Cameron Heyward, Brian Robison, Jurrell Casey, Frostee Rucker, Ezekiel Ansah, Jerry Hughes, Jason Hatcher, Aaron Donald, Michael Johnson, Charles Johnson, Ryan Davis, Henry Melton, Dontari Poe)
DE Robert Ayers (NYG) – Ayers has turned it on as of late with a sack in back-to-back weeks. He’s not a full-time player, but he has a good chance to continue his success this week against a San Francisco team that has been sacked the 2nd most in the league. Solid DL3 option in 10 and 12 team leagues in Week 11.
DE Derrick Morgan (TEN) – Despite a slow start, Morgan’s had two sacks in his last three weeks. He will square off against Big Ben and the Steelers this week which should bode well for his production. For those suffering through injuries, Morgan should serve as a decent DL3- bye week fill-in.
DE Allen Bailey (KC) – Bailey is coming off an 8 tackle performance against the Bills and is worth a speculative add in tackle-heavy leagues. He’s not been known for his pass rushing ability in previous years, but he has 4 so far this season further adding to his value.
Linebackers
(Previously recommended LBs: Sio Moore, Jamie Collins, Josh Mauga, Rolando McClain, Brandon Marshall, Emmanuel Lamur, Larry Foote, Jelani Jenkins, Preston Brown, A.J. Hawk, David Hawthorne, Anthony Hitchens, Brian Cushing, Jelani Jenkins, Danny Trevathan, Donald Butler, Prince Shembo, Keenan Robinson, Tahir Whitehead, Justin Durant, Jacquian Williams. Nigel Bradham, Miles Burris, Vincent Rey, Malcolm Smith, Dont’a Hightower, Chad Greenway, J.T. Thomas, Anthony Barr, Avery Williamson, Chris Borland, Michael Wilhoite, K.J. Wright, Mychal Kendricks)
ILB Chris Borland (SF) – Borland should be your priority pickup this week if he’s still available in your league. Over the last three weeks filling in for Patrick Willis he’s racked up a ridiculous 43 total tackles and a sack. Now with Willis on injured reason, Borland has a clear path to continue his sick production. This situation is very reminiscent of Paul Worrilow from last year. LB1.
OLB/ILB Clay Matthews (GB) – In a surprising move, the Packers shifted Matthews inside on early downs against the Bears on Sunday night. He played quite well there posting a 9-2-1 stat line. It remains to be seen if this was just a temporary wrinkle thrown in to confuse their division rival or something of a more permanent fashion. We’ll keep an eye on the practice reports throughout the week to get a better sense of the situation, but he’s definitely worth a speculative add in most leagues if you need to make a decision now.
ILB Jameel McClain (NYG) – The 49ers have been a great matchup for linebackers, and inside linebackers in particular. McClain is coming off his highest tackle game of the year (12) and figures to produce 8-10 total tackles this week.
ILB Ramon Humber (NO) – Humber has been filling in for David Hawthorne and has been producing at a solid rate in an every-down role. In an above average matchup, he posted 12 total tackles and a sack. The matchup against the Bengals this week is much weaker, so there’s reason to temper expectations. 5-6 solos and an assist or two is a reasonable expectation.
Defensive Backs
(Previously recommended DBs: Donte Whitner, D.J. Swearinger, Leodis McKelvin, Ryan Mundy, Robert Blanton, Josh Evans, Prince Amukamara, Tyrann Mathieu, Kyle Fuller, Antoine Cason, Aaron Williams, Tony Jefferson, Byron Maxwell, Husain Abdullah, Brock Vereen, Tony Jefferson, Rashad Johnson, Brandon Meriweather, Reshad Jones, Brandon Flowers, Kemal Ishmael, George Wilson, Quintin Demps, Usama Young, Cortez Allen, Ha Ha Clinton-Dix, James Ihedigbo, Deone Bucannon, LaRon Landry, Kendrick Lewis, Major Wright, Brent Grimes, Rafael Bush)
SS Patrick Chung (NE) – The season-ending injury to Jerod Mayo has caused some re-shuffling among the defense with Chung coming up more in run support. This has caused a spike in his box score production with the veteran putting up 6 or more tackles in 5 straight games. He has a top 10 matchup against the Colts this week, so he should be a solid DB2-/DB3+ play.
FS Larry Asante (OAK) – With Tyvon Branch and Usama Young out for the year and Brandian Ross nothing more than a reserve/practice type player, the Raiders turned to Asante at free safety. Although he had a couple lapses in coverage, he was solid in run support showing an aggressive streak in the box. He had 8 solo tackles and 2 assists against the Broncos last week. The Raiders are still without a win and their defense is on the field a ton week in and week out leading to plenty of tackle opportunity for their defenders. This said, he’s not a bad DB3- option.
SS Eric Berry (KC) – Berry’s been back for two weeks now but he’s been quite average from a fantasy perspective since his return. There should be good times ahead for Berry though as he ramped up to full playing time last week. He has very little competition in front of him for tackles, so he’s bound to breakout for a monster game despite a string of mediocre matchups on the upcoming schedule. Big players make big plays down the stretch.
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Last Updated: November 12, 2014