2011 IDP Waiver Wire Pickups: Week 13

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.

Before we get to the waiver wire writeups for this week however, let’s take a brief moment to cover off on some important IDP notes from week 12:

Ndamukong Suh was suspended 2 games for stomping the head of Packers offensive lineman Evan Dietrich-Smith.”The Boy named Suh” was already underachieving from a fantasy perspective this season, so this suspension is just icing on the cake for his owners.

Kam Chancellor continued his subpar fantasy production in week 12 with just 4 total tackles. He just doesn’t seem to be playing the run as aggressively as he was earlier in the season and the Seahawks seem to be playing more Cover 2 with the injuries they’ve sustained at cornerback. His matchups over the next couple weeks are a bit risky and I probably wouldn’t trust him as anything more than a DB3 over that span.

George Wilson sat out another week with lingering back issues. His backup, rookie D’Norris Searcy once again filled in for him. Unlike the previous week however, Searcy did not put up good tackle numbers. Keep in mind though that his 3 solo tackles where more so a result of the Bills controlling the time of possession than him not being around the ball consistently. If Wilson misses another game this week, I’d still start Searcy as a DB2-/DB3+.

Colin McCarthy had another beastly fantasy day filling in for the injured Barrett Ruud. If you haven’t picked up this kid yet in your dynasty league, do so now. He’s gonna be a stud LB1 moving forward.

The Vikings lost both Husain Abdullah and Tyrell Johnson for the season due to injuries. Look for teams to throw against the Vikings even more moving forward.

Osi Umenyiora sprained his ankle and could miss a couple of weeks. This means increased playing time for both Jason Pierre-Paul and Justin Tuck.

Sam Acho turned in his first career multi-sack game against the Rams last week and has quickly turned into the Cardinals most dominant pass rusher. With Joey Porter on his last leg, look for Acho to be the centerpiece of the Cardinals defense moving forward along with 2nd year player Daryl Washington.

With last week’s notes out of the way, let’s move on to the Guru’s waiver wire selections for this week.

Defensive Linemen
RDE Robert Geathers (CIN) – The Bengals defensive line has been a fantasy carousal week in and week out this season. Players such as Carlos Dunlap, Michael Johnson, Geno Atkins, and Domata Peko have all had short spurts of fantasy success. Now you can add Geathers to this list. Aside from Atkins, Geathers will likely be the most reliable Bengals fantasy lineman moving forward. He is experienced and is receiving starter snaps at RDE. He has a great matchup this week against Big Ben and the Steelers. He worth a look as your DL3 in deeper leagues if you’re desperate.

LDE/LOLB Aldon Smith (SF) – Smith is still only primarily playing on passing downs and his numbers have fallen off a bit recently, but this matchup is too juicy to pass up. The Rams have given up the most sacks to opposing defenses this season and Smith should be able to pin his ears back once the 49ers jump out to a quick lead over the Rams. I like him as a low DL1/high DL2 option this week and would start him as a LB3+ in leagues that favor big plays.

RDE Elvis Dumervil (DEN) – Dumervil was on this list last week, but I’ve included him here again in case he’s still available on anyone’s waiver wire. If he does, he should be picked up immediately. As stated many times before in this article, the defensive line position is extremely thin right now and Elvis is a top 15-20 DL in most scoring systems. Consider him a DL2 with upside moving forward.

RDE J.J. Watt (HOU) – Watt registered the first multiple sack game of his career last Sunday against the Jaguars. Granted, this production came against one of the worst pass blocking teams in the NFL. However, Watt has another good matchup this week against the Falcons and has a decent chance to register another sack.

Linebackers
MLB E.J. Henderson (MIN) – Henderson struggled with knee issues for a majority of the 1st half of the season which forced him out of the team’s nickel packages. His younger brother Erin was taking the nickel snaps along with Chad Greenway; however, a hamstring injury forced him to miss the Vikings week 11 game against the Raiders and consequently opened the door for E.J. to resume an every down role. With the team in a rebuilding stage, there are no guarantees the elder Henderson continues to play every down moving forward. But if he does, he should be your top waiver priority off this list as he faces the ultra run-heavy Broncos offense this week.

LOLB Connor Barwin (HOU) – I’ve mentioned Barwin as a sleeper candidate a few times on the site since he entered the league last season. He’s a converted tight end with an excellent motor and great athleticism. Now that he is starting to build up his repertoire of pass rushing moves, he’s starting to become a more dominating force in games. Don’t expect 4 sacks every game, but with the Atlanta Falcons coming to town, I’d trust him as a solid LB3 start in big play scoring systems.

WILB Lawrence Timmons (PIT) – There is perhaps no bigger IDP bust this season than Lawrence Timmons. So far through 11 games, he has just 37 solo tackles, 17 assists, and 1 INT. However, Timmons is extremely talented and is coming off his best fantasy performance since week 1. The Steelers are finally starting to get healthy upfront which should help boost Timmons’ production. I wouldn’t trust him as starting material yet, but he’s worth a stash in deeper leagues for the playoff run.

WILB D.J. Smith (GB) – Desmond Bishop left the game early in the 1st half on Thanksgiving Day with a fairly significant calf injury. Coach Mike McCarthy stated earlier this week that he believes Bishop has a chance to play in week 13. If he doesn’t suit up, D.J. Smith could wind up being a very nice one week substitution play. He racked up 6 total tackles in 3 quarters last week and should be good for 7-8 over the course of a full game.

ROLB Antwan Barnes (SD) – Barnes has seen increased playing time over the last 5 weeks and has produced 4 sacks and 24 total tackles during that span. He draws the pathetic Jaguars this week and figures to be a good bet for a multiple sack game considering a player such as Connor Barwin registered 4 sacks against this team last week. Consider him a strong LB3+ play in big play leagues this week.

Defensive Backs
SS Ryan Mundy (PIT) – Troy Polamalu had to leave last week’s game after sustaining a blow to the head. The latest reports state that the Steelers expect “Mr. Head and Shoulders” to play this week, however he has yet to pass his concussion test. If he can’t go, Ryan Mundy becomes a great one week wonder fill-in as he posted 11 tackles in Polamalu’s absence last week.

LCB Ashton Youboty (JAX) – Ashton “Yo Booty” is a cornerback that IDP owners love to grab off the waiver wire: he’s an experienced, wide-eyed corner that opposing offenses will attack consistently throughout the game. He had 8 solo tackles last week against the Texans and has an excellent matchup this week against Philip Rivers and the Chargers. I wouldn’t be surprised if he put up similar tackle numbers and/or if he came away with an interception this week.

RCB Richard Sherman (SEA) – The Seahawks secondary has been hit pretty hard by injury forcing an inexperienced corner such as Sherman into the starting lineup. Sherman has played decently well and has shown a willingness to step up and stop the run when needed. He faces the Eagles this week who have been throwing the ball a ton as of late. With this said, there should be plenty of point scoring opportunities for Sherman come Sunday.

SS Kurt Coleman (PHI) – Coleman is an average NFL talent, however he has put up 3 monster tackle games over the last 4 weeks. The matchup this week isn’t great, but for teams that need big points and are willing to take a risk, Coleman is a nice option.

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: November 30, 2011