2020 IDP Waiver Wire Pickups: Week 12
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Let’s start things off by going through some IDP news, notes, and commentary from Week 11 of the NFL season.
Injuries
Myles Garrett missed Week 11’s contest against the Eagles due to testing positive for COVID-19. He will also miss Week 12 as he recovers.
Josh Allen suffered a knee injury against the Steelers and was unable to return to the game. Reports on Monday indicated he avoided significant damage but he’s still expected to miss some game action.
Jayon Brown injured his elbow and will miss the remainder of the season. Will Compton will replace him in the starting lineup and play every down.
CB Denzel Ward is expected to a miss a couple weeks with a calf injury.
Popular waiver wire pickup Ronnie Harrison exited the game early with a knee injury. He did try and return but unfortunately had to exit again. His MRI revealed that it was luckily just a bone bruise so he shouldn’t miss significant time.
Similar to Cameron Jordan leading up to last week, Joey Bosa managers are in a panic with the relative lack of production out of the historical DL1. However, there isn’t need to panic. He had 5 quarterback hits last week and actually had two sacks overturned – one due to getting called for roughing the passer and one due to a replay review. He will be fine. Remember, patience is key with top-tier DLs. It only takes one big game to get them back on track to where they were originally projected (Cam Jordan is a great example of this with three sacks last week). This same holds true for Melvin Ingram, although to a less extent.
Everson Griffen only had 1 pass deflection last week but that was largely due to his playing time getting cut down to 37%. This is the issue with starting pretty much any Lion outside of Jaime Collins as Matt Patricia comes from the Belicheck school of constantly varying defensive players playing time week-to-week. This makes it hard to trust Griffen as a starter in most leagues moving forward.
Jeremy Chinn had another dud week, but I’m not ready to disengage from him yet as an every week starter. He’s still seeing nearly half his snaps “in the box” and is playing full-time. Hopefully there are better days ahead.
Tracy Walker continues to only play part time (less than 55% of the snaps last week), so he’s best left on the waiver wire until further notice.
Mike Hilton only played 36% of the defensive snaps in his return. This isn’t a huge surprise given he was out a handful of weeks with a shoulder injury. I would expect that percentage to rise up closer to the 75% range as early as next week.
Daniel Thomas ended up fairly equally splitting time with Andrew Wingard at strong safety for the Jaguars. Therefore, both players aren’t really options for fantasy purposes right now.
Defensive Linemen
DE Carlos Dunlap (SEA) – Dunlap is playing with a chip on his shoulder after falling out of favor with the Bengals’ coaching staff and getting traded to Seattle. He’s had total tackles (five for loss) and three sacks across three games with his new team. He’s seeing ample playing time as well (76% of the snaps played last week). This makes him a fantastic start against the Eagles who are giving up sacks/points to defensive ends by the truckload this year. Dunlap will be a top 12 play at this position this week.
DE Leonard Williams (NYG) – Williams continues to make this list as he’s one of those “fringe” players that bounces in and out of the waiver wire depending on the weekly matchup. Well, he gets the Bengals and newly installed QB Ryan Finley this week. Cincinnati has allowed the second most sacks behind the Eagles this season and that per game average could rise with Finley at the offensive helm. I like Williams’ chances of pushing his season sack total to six or higher in Week 11.
DT Kenny Clark (GB) – Clark has been amazingly consistent his previous three NFL seasons, essentially averaging a stat line of 33/24/6. A week 1 injury kept him sidelined for a handful of weeks and it took a few weeks after his return to get back to looking like his usual self. With stat lines of 3-2, and 5-1-1 (1 TFL) over the last two games, he seems to be heating up. He has a big divisional matchup against the Bears on Sunday Night Football and I think he gets a sack against THE top matchup for defensive tackles this week. As an extra bonus, Clark qualifies at DT so he could prove quite useful in leagues that require you to roster and start that position.
ILB Will Compton (TEN) – With Jayon Brown out for the season, Compton should step into an every down role for the Titans (we need to keep the eye on the media reports to ensure David Long doesn’t have a significant role). He had 6 total tackles in essentially one half and he’s a veteran who is capable of producing solid tackle numbers for us moving forward (although we probably won’t see the same type of big play production we saw out of Brown). Consider him a LB3+ moving forward.
LB Isaiah Simmons (ARZ) – Simmons was considered to be the best “linebacker” in this year’s draft class. However, the Cardinals had refused to give him much playing time until the last few weeks (53%, 44%, and 68%). He was able to compile 9 solo tackles and a sack on just 68% of the snaps last week, so he may be efficient enough to warrant starting in deep leagues despite the potential to see less than every down snaps. Regardless, I would expect his snap counts to only go up moving forward given his strong play, so he makes for a good “grab and stash” for the playoff run for managers that have the bench space.
LB Harvey Langi (NYJ) – Langi, a converted OLB, has played 90% of the defensive snaps in each of his last two games and posted monster tackle lines of 9-1 and 8-3. Granted, he’s been the benefactor of a lot of tackle opportunity but playing on the Jets will allow that to happen. If Blake Cashman is unable to return from injury this week, Langi will continue to be a viable LB3 starter for us.
(Previously recommended DBs: Marcus Maye, Jeremy Chinn, Adrian Phillips, Chauncey Gardner-Johnson, Josh Jones, Brandon Jones, Logan Ryan, Kenny Vaccaro, Troy Hill, Holton Hill, Logan Ryan, Julian Love, Taylor Rapp, Mike Hilton, Donovan Wilson, James Bradberry, Kareem Jackson, Kenny Moore, Kareem Jackson, Tashaun Gipson, Pierre Desir, Taylor Rapp, Deshazor Everett, Terrence Mitchell, Malcolm Butler, Ronnie Harrison, Micah Hyde, Josh Jones, Mike Hilton, Daniel Sorensen, Marlon Humphrey, Jabrill Peppers, Kamren Curl, Breon Borders, Kamren Curl, Jordan Fuller, Kyle Dugger, Daniel Thomas)
CB/S D.J. Reed (SEA) – Reed was cut by the 49ers before the season after suffering a pectoral injury. However, he’s made a quicker than expected recovery and has been playing full-time for the Seahawks in recent weeks as their secondary as been hit with injuries. He’s posted lines of 6-0 INT with 2 PDs, 6-0, 10-1 FR, and 9-2 PD over his last four games. He should continue to start next week and makes for a fantastic DB option until the typical starters return.
S Ashtyn Davis (NYJ) – Davis is getting a full complement of snaps at safety with Bradley McDougald on IR through at least Week 12. The team moved Marcus Maye back into a deep safety role a few weeks ago and are now relying on Davis to play up close to the line of scrimmage and rush the passer. Davis benefited from a large amount of tackle opportunity on his way to compiling 12 total tackles (8 solo) and a fumble recovery last week. But playing on a bad team and in a role that has him consistently around the ball/able to make big plays makes him worth serious consideration as a DB3 in most leagues.
S Kyle Dugger (NE) – Dugger has played 85% and 75% of the defensive snaps respectively over the last two weeks registering stat lines of 7-5 and 4-2 (and an impressive 16.6% tackle efficiency). It’s hard to trust a guy that isn’t playing full-time, especially with the Patriots constantly altering the playing time of IDPs week-to-week, but Dugger should at least be picked up and stashed in dynasty leagues for 2021. And he may present some short-term value for those in need at the position in deep IDP leagues.
S Amani Hooker (TEN) – Hooker filled in for the injured Kenny Vaccaro at strong safety for the Titans and 6 total tackles and an interception along with 2 pass deflections. He’s not going to be a world beater for your team, but could provide some weekly value in deep IDP leagues for those desperate at the position if Vaccaro is inactive again.
If you found this article (or past articles) helpful, please consider DONATING. I put a lot of hours every week into my in-season content and make that content available free of charge to my readers, so any support you can throw my way would be greatly appreciated (even if it’s just enough for a cup of coffee).
Last Updated: November 24, 2020