2018 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.
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Let’s start things off by going through some IDP news, notes, and commentary from Week 8 of the NFL season.
Injuries
As an update to the injury report from last week, Joey Bosa actually still appears several weeks away from returning and he’s unlikely to practice this week. His type of injury comes with an 8-12 week return timetable, so it’s more likely we see him return to game action in 3-4 weeks.
Bills rookie Tremaine Edmunds suffered a concussion in last night’s game against the Patriots and did not return. He will have to pass through concussion protocol before he can get on the field again.
Reuben Foster entered into Week 8’s contest against the Cardinals with a banged up shoulder and, unfortunately, he suffered another injury (hamstring) that caused him to leave the game. With the 49ers playing on Thursday night, I’m anticipating Foster being inactive this week.
After trying to play through an ankle injury (ineffectively) for a couple weeks, the Bears opted to rest Kahlil Mack last week against the Jets. Hopefully the week off allowed his injury to heal and he will be good to go for Week 9.
Vontaze Burfict missed last week with a hip injury and recent reports indicate he could ultimate miss 2-4 weeks with the injury.
Anthony Hitchens suffered “severely” bruised ribs in last week’s contest against the Broncos and is considered “week-to-week.” This indicates to me that he’s likely to miss Week 9.
Texans linebacker Zach Cunningham injured his knee and is expected to be out at least a couple of weeks.
DB1 Tre Boston has missed back-to-back weeks with shoulder and rib injuries. He has the bye week to recover but he will need to get some practice time in the following week in order for him to suit up.
General Player Notes
Ronnie Harrison, DJ Hayden, Gerard Wilson, and Barry Church were all arrested early Saturday morning in London over a bar bill dispute. Church is the most prominent of those players. None of the players have yet to face any discipline but that could be coming down the line, so those with Church on their roster should monitor the situation closely.
Clayton Geathers returned to action last week after missing the previous two games due to injury. Although he only put up three solo tackles, he did play every snap which is the most important fact. He should be safe to insert back into your lineups as an every-week DB1 start.
For more updates on playing time splits across the linebacker position, check out the latest update of my every-down linebackers column.
Now onto The Guru’s IDP waiver wire selections for Week 9!
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, Trent Murphy, Corey Luiget, Romeo Okwara, Joey Bosa, Cameron Wake, Jarran Reed)
DE Everson Griffen (MIN) – Griffen missed five games as he sought treatment for an undisclosed mental illness. He returned to the lineup last week and, although he generated just one tackle, he did play 70% of the snaps. I wouldn’t be turned off by the performance as the Saints are tough to sack and they only threw the ball 23 times, so Griffen’s opportunity was heavily limited. He should get back to his DL1- ways down the stretch run. He should be one of your top pickups if he’s available. Keep in mind, he does go on bye next week, however.
DT Damon Harrison (DET) – Harrison was having a down year in the box scores prior to getting traded to the Lions last week. However in his first start with his new team, he racked up a monster game with 7 solo tackles, 1 sack, and 2 TFL as the Seahawks ran the ball 40+ times. He’s been a very dependable DT1-/DT2+ in his career and being on a new team could very well re-invigorate him to perform like he has in years past.
DE Chris Jones (KC) – Jones has had a sack in each of the last four weeks and goes against the Browns this week who have allowed the most sacks to opposing defenses in the NFL with 33. This makes him a viable DL2 candidate heading into this weekend’s games.
DE Markus Golden (ARI) – I pumped Golden early in the year as a prudent waiver wire pickup, but he’s failed to make much of an impact in the first half of the season as it’s taken him longer than anticipated to ramp up his playing time as returns from an ACL injury. This said, he’s seen his playing time increase in recent weeks and he had his best game of the year last week with 7 solo tackles and 1 sack. He’s on bye this coming week, so if you have bench space, he may make for a smart stash in deep IDP leagues where the “pickings are slim.”
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, Jaime Collins, Vincent Rey, Thomas Davis, Bradley Chubb, Adarius Taylor, Elijah Lee, T.J. Watt, Todd Davis)
LB Jordan Evans (CIN) – With Vontaze Burfict and Nick Vigil both out last week, Evans was the team’s solo every-down linebacker and compiled one of the week’s most impressive stat lines (7-4-1.5, 1 INT, 1 PD). If both Vigil and Burfict remain inactive for Week 10, Evans should be one of that week’s top waiver wire priorities.
LB Jamie Collins (CLE) – Collins has become an every-down linebacker again with Joe Schobert out and it’s translated to increased tackle production for him. He compiled 11 total tackles last week and forced a fumble. The Chiefs haven’t been a good matchup for opposing linebackers but Collins still deserves LB3- consideration this week if Schobert remains out.
LB K.J. Wright (SEA) – After sitting out the first seven weeks due to injury, Wright was finally active and started last week. He played 85% of the snaps and racked up 5 solos and a pass deflection. He’s been a steady source of LB2/LB3 production throughout his career, so I believe we can expect similar type of production this year (especially given Bobby Wagner’s production struggles).
LB Marquel Lee (OAK) – Lee lad the Raiders with 11 total tackles last week despite only playing ~55% of the defensive snaps (i.e. he left the field in sub package looks). He should see that snap count percentage rise this coming week as the 49ers don’t run as many formations that force defenses into sub package looks. Consider Lee a strong LB3-LB3+ start this week with that favorable matchup on the books.
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, Damarious Randall, Jordan Lucas, Mike Mitchell, Kenny Vaccaro, Patrick Chung, Darryl Roberts)
S Kenny Vaccaro (TEN) – This is a reminder to keep Vaccaro on your radar/waiver wire consideration for this week. He was close to playing in Week 7 and with the bye last week to rest, he should be back to full action this Monday night against the Cowboys. Prior to his injury, he was putting up DB2-DB2+ numbers and should be a valuable addition to your fantasy team for the second half of the season.
S Marcus Maye (NYJ) – Maye has missed half the season so far due to injury, his latest ailment being a broken thumb suffered in Week 6. However, he only missed one game as a result of that injury as he’s decided to play through it with the help of a cast on his hand. The cast didn’t seem to affect his performance as he led the team with 7 solo tackles. With him missing so many games, he’s likely available on a lot of waiver wires and should serve as a solid DB3+/DB2- as he’s registered 5 or more solo tackles in each of the four games he’s played in 2018.
CB Eli Apple (NO) – Apple had a falling out with the Giants and subsequently was traded to the Saints shortly before the start of Week 8. Somewhat surprisingly, he played virtually every snap at cornerback and racked up 9 solo tackles. He’s shown flashes of above average tackle production in the past, so I wouldn’t discount this past week’s performance as a “flash in the pan.” With some pass-heavy teams on the upcoming schedule (e.g. Rams, Bengals, Eagles, Falcons), Apple could make for a sneaky mid-season pickup in cornerback-required formats.
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Last Updated: October 30, 2018