2014 IDP Waiver Wire Pickups: Week 9

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 8 of the NFL season.

Injury Round-Up
Jon Beason has decided to have surgery on his toe and will miss the remainder of the season. Jameel McClain will continue to man the middle of the field and should play every down.

Justin Durant tore his biceps and will be out the rest of the season. Look for Anthony Hitchens to take his spot.
Much like Stephen Tulloch earlier in the season, Lamarr Houston tore his ACL during a sack celebration and is gone for the year. Ouch. Bump Willie Young up your boards.

Nick Fairley has a sprained knee and it’s feared that he may be out for the rest of the season. There’s a chance he could come back in 4-5 weeks, but he should be safe to drop in redraft leagues regardless.

Kyle Fuller re-aggravated his hip injury and had to leave Sunday’s game. We should hear more on his status later this week.

LaMarr Woodley was placed on IR with a biceps injury. He had only 5 total tackles in 6 games, so he won’t be missed from a fantasy perspective.
It was announced late last week that Chandler Jones will be out at least a month while he lets his hip injury heal. This is a big blow for fantasy owners as Jones is one of the few consistent DL1 options.

General Player Notes
There were zero assists issued in the Lions vs.Falcons game in London early Sunday morning. This obviously put a damper on the value of IDPs on both teams. My guess is that the stat keeper was not part of either team’s official crew and was hired just for that game and they didn’t know what an assist was.

Mark Barron was traded to the Rams in exchange for a 4th and 6th round draft pick. I wouldn’t expect his value to change much at all with the move.

Mychal Kendricks finally returned to the field on Sunday, but only played 23 of 73 snaps. He admitted that he still isn’t 100%. This said, I would avoid starting him until we know he’s going to be on the field in a full-time capacity and healthy.

Demarcus Ware and Jerry Hughes both laid goose eggs last week. I wouldn’t panic over either player. As we know, defensive ends have these type of games from time to time and you have to just ride the storm out (much in the same vein as what I have been preaching concerning Robert Quinn all year).

Now onto The Guru’s IDP waiver wire selections for Week 9!

(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)

DT Ryan Davis (JAX) – Davis was able to get to the quarterback twice last Sunday and is taking advantage of the increased playing time he’s seeing with Andre Branch out. The matchup isn’t great, but options are slim on the waiver wire right now for defensive linemen.

DE Wallace Gilberry (CIN) – Gilberry has been a disappointment to fantasy owners this season and hasn’t registered a sack since Week 1. That said, this recommendation is purely matchup based as he will square off against the Jaguars offensive line who has given up a league high 33 sacks this season.

DE Jason Hatcher (WAS) – Hatcher is coming off a zero point performance against his old team, the Dallas Cowboys. He does have 3 sacks on the season though and gets the Vikings who are a top 2 matchup for ends. I’m putting his chances of getting a sack this week at 65-70%.

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)

MLB J.T. Thomas (JAX) – There was some doubt as to whether or not the coaching stuff was going to trust Thomas with an every down role; however Thomas played every snap and put up 6 tackles in the process. He’s not a great player and will be dependent on a high volume of snaps each week to produce (which Jacksonville should get more often than not). The matchup is mediocre this week against the Bengals, but you could do worse for a LB4.

WLB Anthony Barr (MIN) – Barr is making a serious case for DROY. He’s notched 54 total tackles, 3 sacks, 3 fumble recoveries, and 1 forced fumble during the first half of the season. If he’s still available in your league, feel free to plug him in as a reliable LB3.

WILB Avery Williamson (TEN) – Williamson is coming off his best game of the year (8-2-1) and is settling into his every down role. He’s on bye this week but is a player to keep on your radar for Week 10 as Tennessee sees a ton of tackle opportunity and the WILB position in Ray Horton’s scheme has proven to be a very valuable one fantasy-wise.

WILB Preston Brown (BUF) – Brown is back playing an every down role and put up 9 total tackles. He’s on bye this week, but would be a great add if you have the bench space. LB3+/LB2- production is likely from here on out.

WILB Josh Mauga (KC) – Mauga has been consistent but not spectacular for owners this season. He’s recorded at least 5 solo tackles in every game so far this season and if there was ever a week to start him it would be this week against the Jets who have been a very favorable matchup for our tackle-producing linebackers. Expect 7-8 solos (but not many assists as the Chiefs are playing at home and their stat crew hands out the least amount of assists per tackle opportunity).

ILBs Michael Wilhoite/Chris Borland (SF) – If Patrick Willis misses another game, it would be a good week to get Michael Wilhoite or Chris Borland into your lineups. The 49ers face off against the Rams who are currently giving up the 2nd most points to linebackers.

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)

SS Deone Bucannon (ARZ) – With Tony Jefferson concussed, Bucannon could start against Dallas in Week 10. The Cowboys have been a top 5 matchup for safeties and Brandon Meriweather was just able to register two sacks against them on top of 7 solo tackles. Top 25 play this week.

SS LaRon Landry (IND) – This is a reminder that LaRon Landry is coming off his 4 game suspension this week. If he was dropped, pick him up. DB1/DB1- value the rest of the season.

FS Kendrick Lewis (HOU) – Lewis’ production has cooled over his last few games, but that should change this week with the Eagles coming to town. Over the last handful of weeks, here are the stat lines of a few safeties who went up against the Birds: Tony Jefferson 10-1, Rashad Johnson 9-1, Quintin Demps 9-1, T.J. McDonald 10-1, Antoine Bethea 7-0. I’m projecting Lewis at 7 solos and a couple assists.

If you have any questions, feel free to email me at theidpguru@idpguru.com or follow me on Twitter. Also, feel free to post any questions or comments for me in the comments section of this post.

Last Updated: October 29, 2014