2017 IDP Waiver Wire Pickups: Week 8
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.
Although I’m happy to answer questions posted via the website comments section, IDP Forum, and email, I’m often quickest to respond via Twitter. So if you have IDP questions, it’s a good idea to Follow me on Twitter.
Let’s start things off by going through some IDP news, notes, and commentary from Week 7 of the NFL season.
Injuries
Stephon Tuitt missed another game last week with an ankle injury. Hopefully, he will return in Week 8 as the Steelers have a tasty pass-rushing matchup against the Detriot Lions.
Jordan Hicks tore his Achilles on Monday Night Football and will miss the remainder of the season.
Reuben Foster finally returned to the starting lineup after missing several weeks with a high ankle sprain. He was playing every down; however, he wound up injuring his ribs and had to leave the game. There were reports he was cleared to re-enter the game but the team opted to keep him on the sidelines as the 49ers were getting blown out. Regardless, it’s going to be worthwhile to monitor the practice reports this week to get a better indication of his playing status for Week 8.
B.J. Goodson had to leave Sunday afternoon’s game with an ankle injury. He was seen on crutches and in a walking boot after the game, so he’s likely going to miss multiple games.
John Simon suffered a stinger in the Colts’ Week 7 blowout loss to the Jaguars. He will likely miss a couple of weeks.
Falcons rookie Duke Riley will undergo knee surgery to repair a torn meniscus in his knee and will be sidelined for at least a handful of weeks.
Jordan Poyer injured his knee on the last play of the game this past Sunday and it’s suspected he has a sprained MCL. However, Head Coach Sean McDermott hinted that the injury might not be that serious, leaving the door open for Poyer to play in Week 8. We will find out more of the next couple of days.
First-round draft choice Malik Hooker was off to a solid start to his NFL career (3 interceptions so far this season); however, he tore his ACL and MCL in Week 7 and will be out the rest of the year.
General Player Notes
Patrick Onwuasor has seen his snap percentage increase in recent weeks and he seems to have overtaken Kamalei Correa for the starting role. He’s worth a look in deeper IDP leagues as a matchup-dependent LB4.
Nick Kwiatkoski was active for the first time in a few weeks but did not see any playing time. Expect the Bears to begin working him in with Christian Jones at the inside linebacker spot next to Danny Trevathan in the coming weeks.
Blake Martinez has been racking up tackles at a torrid pace and has been the Packers’ sole three-down linebacker. It will be interesting to see if he loses snaps once Joe Thomas returns, but for now, I’m comfortable rolling him out as an every-week fantasy starter.
Jatavis Brown was active in Week 7; however, he only played ~30% of the defensive snaps for the second week in a row. He’s a player we have to keep on the bench until we see him back in an every-down role.
Both Kwon Alexander and Lavonte David finally returned to the starting lineups and played every down. This makes Kendell Beckwith a part-time player and droppable in most redraft leagues.
T.J. Ward continues to split time at safety with Chris Conte (and isn’t happy about it). IDP owners should avoid both players until someone carves out a full-time role.
Now onto The Guru’s IDP waiver wire selections for Week 8!
(Please note that a majority of these pickups early on are long-term, rest of season pickups as opposed to matchup-type recommendations. As the season progresses and the waiver wire becomes thinner and matchup information becomes more reliable, the focus of this article will shift more towards recommendations based on the weekly matchup.)
Defensive Linemen
(Previously recommended DLs: Aaron Donald, Geno Atkins, Yannick Ngaokoue, Noah Spence, Mario Edwards, Julius Peppers, William Gholston, Alex Okafor, Jurrell Casey, Emmanuel Ogbah, Anthony Zettel, Yannick Ngakoue, Myles Garrett, Frank Clark, David Irving, Solomon Thomas, Alex Okafor, Mario Edwards)
DE Carlos Dunlap (CIN) – Dunlap has been an extreme disappointment this year as he’s registered just one sack through six games. He’s still playing at a near-elite level however so I have faith the sacks are on their way. This week he plays the Colts who gave up a ridiculous 10 sacks last week and lead the NFL with 29 total over seven games. This is the week to buy low on Dunlap/get him in your lineups.
DE Cameron Heyward (PIT) – Despite compiling four sacks this season, Heyward is still on the waiver wire in a good portion of leagues. He has a great matchup against the Lions in Week 8 as they have given up nearly four sacks a game. I like Heyward to get at least one sack in this contest.
DT Jarran Reed (SEA) – Reed, the Seahawks second-round selection this year, exploded last week with 7 solo tackles, a sack, 2 tackles for loss, and 1 forced fumble. He’s still only playing about half the snaps but has the talent and protection to be a viable option in deeper DT-required leagues. He faces the Texans this week who have been one of the league’s most sacked teams. Consider him a DL4+/DT1- for this coming week.
Linebackers
(Previously recommended LBs: B.J. Goodson, Demario Davis, Mason Foster, A.J. Klein, Ramon Humber, Joe Schobert, Jon Bostic, Vincent Rey, Ramon Humbar, Mike Hull, Zach Cunningham, Danny Trevathan, Kendell Beckwith, Cory James, Derrick Morgan, Kendell Beckwith, Shaq Thompson, Ray-Ray Armstrong, Kyle Van Noy, Reuben Foster, Danny Trevathan, Blake Martinez, Hayes Pullard, Mychal Kendricks, Craig Robertson, Thomas Davis, Shaq Thompson, Matt Judon)
LB Navarro Bowman (OAK) – I was admittedly a bit skeptical that Bowman would produce a viable fantasy stat line in his first game with the Raiders. Amazingly, he played in 98% of the snaps though after being with the team for just four days and paced the defense with 11 total tackles. He’s more of a two-down thumper at this point in his career, but Oakland has very little talent at linebacker, so he’s quite likely to be a three-down player for the team moving forward. Given the lack of tackle competition, it’s fair to expect LB2-LB2+ production out of Bowman for the remainder of the year.
LB Mychal Kendricks (PHI) – With Jordan Hicks out for the season, I expect Kendricks’ production to increase dramatically. Hicks missed most of the Week 6 game against Carolina and Kendricks posted 17 total tackles in an every-down role. While I don’t expect that type of LB1 production from him moving forward, he should be a reliable LB3-LB3+. He did suffer a hamstring injury in practice and missed last week’s game, so be sure to keep an eye on his status before making a move.
LB Craig Roberston (NO) – I called out Robertson in this article last week, but I want to mention him again here. He played 100% of the snaps last week and posted a respectable 5-1 tackle line. Those aren’t world-beater type of numbers but with the Bears coming to town this week, I expect his tackle production to be closer to the 9-10 total range as Chicago runs the ball A TON.
LB Keenan Robinson (NYG) – Robinson has posted 15 total tackles over his last two games with Jonathan Casillas out and B.J. Goodson hobbled by injury. The Giants are on bye this week, so he’s obviously not going to help out your team in the short-term. But Goodson may miss multiple games with his ankle injury, and if he does, Robinson should assume most of the tackle production amongst the linebacking crew and is worth a shot as an LB4+/LB3-.
Defensive Backs
(Previously recommended DBs: Tyvon Branch, Kevin Byard, Daniel Sorenson, Ron Parker, Jalen Mills, Matthias Farley, Jordan Poyer, Vonn Bell, Derrick Kindred, Josh Jones, Terrance Mitchell, Brian Poole, TreDavious White, Chris Conte, Adrian Amos, Trevor Williams, Andrew Sendejo, Tavon Wilson, Justin Evans, Adrian Amos, Justin Evans, Justin Simmons, Morris Claiborne)
CB Tramon Williams (ARZ) – Justin Bethel was benched due to multiple poor performances this season. Veteran Tramon Williams started in his place and racked up 10 solo tackles in the process. Williams has been a very good tackle-producing corner throughout his career and should see plenty of opportunity opposite shutdown corner Patrick Peterson, as long as he continues to be the starter. The Cardinals are on bye this week, but for those in deep CB-required leagues, Williams is a sneaky Week 9 add.
S Jamal Adams (NYJ) – I had Adams projected as a top 10 fantasy DB coming into the year based on his talent, expected role in the defensive scheme, and massive tackle opportunity playing on a below average team like the Jets. Although he’s failed to make much of an impact early in the season, he’s come on in recent weeks and is coming off his best game as a pro in which he had 7 tackles, a sack, and a pass deflection. I expect him to continue to get better as the season wears on and to ultimately end up in the top 25 DBs. He’s a solid buy-low candidate in both redraft and dynasty leagues.
S Eric Reid (SF) – Reid is another player I was extremely high on heading into the season but injuries have unfortunately derailed him so far in 2017. However, he was back on the field finally last week and surprisingly saw snaps at linebacker for the 49ers (he played 68% of the snaps in total). He has the size and strength to play the position and if Reuben Foster were to miss any time, Reid could see his snap counts significantly increase at the position relative to last week. If you have a deep bench, Reid makes for a nice speculative add as he could pay huge dividends down the stretch for teams.
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 24, 2017