2019 IDP Waiver Wire Pickups: Week 11

ByRyan Sitzmann Posted on Updated on

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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 10 of the NFL season.

Injuries
Linval Joseph underwent meniscus surgery last week and is expected to miss at least the next couple of Vikings’ games.

Danny Trevathan suffered what appeared to be a fairly significant elbow injury in Sunday’s contest against the Lions. Although nothing official has been announced, it looks like he will miss a significant amount of time and is a candidate for injured reserve. Nick Kwiatkoski would take his spot in the starting lineup.

Karl Joseph was put on season-ending injured reserve with a lower body injury. In a corresponding move, the Raiders signed D.J. Swearinger who figures to see a decent amount of action fairly quickly but won’t likely be a viable fantasy resource in most leagues.

Another Raiders’ safety, LaMarcus Joyner, went down with an injury in last Thursday’s game. Joyner’s injury isn’t believed to be season-ending but it’s looking like he could miss a few games.

Saints cornerback Marshon Lattimore strained his hamstring and is now considered week-to-week.

Pro Bowl cornerback Patrick Peterson injured his calf in the Cardinals’ loss to the Buccaneers on Sunday. Recent reports indicate he’s considered “day-to-day”, so we will need to watch the practice reports throughout the week to get a better sense of his status for Week 11.

General Player Notes
Devin Bush only played 45% of the defensive snaps this week. He didn’t seem to get injured, so I’m assuming the Steelers opted to play a lot of dime packages against the Rams with Mark Barron as the ILB in that look (92%).

With newly-acquired veteran Quandre Diggs active, the Seahawks opted to start him at free safety with Bradley McDougald at strong safety. As a result, rookie Marquise Blair surprisingly saw 0 defensive snaps despite nice performances the past couple weeks. Pete Carroll has been very hesitant to give rookies playing time, so I’m sure that’s coming into play here. All this said, Blair is off fantasy radars in redraft leagues until further notice.

CB2+ Vernon Hargreaves was benched this past Sunday for not hustling, so he missed some snaps as a result. It seems like this was a temporary thing and shouldn’t affect his fantasy performance moving forward.

Now onto The Guru’s IDP waiver wire selections for Week 11! 

(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: Sam Hubbard, Nick Bosa, Quinton Jefferson, Denico Autry, Chase Winovich, Robert Quinn, Brian Burns, Stephon Tuitt, Josh Allen, Robert Quinn, Ezekiel Ansah, Vic Beasley, Takkarist McKinley, Nick Bosa, Robert Quinn, Matt Ioannidis, Mario Addison, Jarran Reed, Jerry Hughes, Jarran Reed, Taco Charlton, Jabaal Sheard, Jeffery Simmons, Jason Pierre-Paul, DeMarcus Walker, Jason Pierre-Paul, Bruce Irvin, Yannick Ngakoue, Frank Clark, Jabaal Sheard, Leonard Williams)

DE Clelin Ferrell (OAK) – Ferrell, the fourth overall selection in this year’s draft, had gotten off to an extremely slow start to the season. Although that’s not uncommon for young pass-rushers, it was concerning considering the high volume of snaps he was playing each week. Well, he finally exploded last Thursday against the Chargers as he had 8 total tackles (5 solo), 2.5 sacks, and a pass deflection. So the upside is definitely there for him, he just needs to prove he can maintain consistency. He’s got the third easiest remaining schedule with two juicy matchups on the slate next (Bengals and Jets), so if there’s ever a time to jump on the Ferrell bandwagon, it’s now.

DE Derek Wolfe (DEN) – Wolfe has skirted on the periphery of being owned in most fantasy leagues throughout a lot of is career, but that may be changing as he compiled five sacks over his last four games prior to the Broncos’ Week 10 bye. The Vikings are a middle of the road matchup for opposing defensive ends, but Wolfe should still be in the DL3 conversation this week.

DT Jordan Phillips (BUF) – Phillips, a former second-round pick of the Dolphins, squares off against his former team this week. He’s notched a sack in two of his last three contests and goes up against a team that has given up the 3rd most sacks in the league and second most QB hits. I like his chances for a couple tackles and a sack in Week 10.

Linebackers
(Previously recommended LBs: Jordan Hicks, Shaq Thompson, Josey Jewell, Kyzir White, Blake Cashman, Zach Cunningham, Quincy Williams, Mark Barron, Kevin Minter, Anthony Walker, Bobby Okereke, Shaq Barrett, Mack Wilson, Ryan Connelly, Todd Davis, Devondre Campbell, Nicholas Morrow, Nick Kwiatkoski, Vince Williams, A.J. Johnson, Ben Niemann, Troy Reeder, Rashaan Evans, Wesley Woodyard, A.J. Johnson, David Mayo, Nate Gerry, Najee Goode, Bernardrick McKinney, Lorenzo Alexander, Blake Cashman, Rashaan Evans, Blake Cashman, Austin Calitro, Sean Lee, Wesley Woodyard, Brandon Copeland)

LB Nick Kwiatkoski (CHI) – Danny Trevathan left the game early with a nasty looking elbow injury and did not return. Kwiatkoski took his spot in the starting lineup and put up a monster game with 9 total tackles, a sack, and INT in an every down role. We haven’t officially heard how long Trevathan will be out, but I imagine it’s at least a mult-game absence. This said, Kwiatkoski has been productive in a starting role when given the chance and figures to be one of this week’s top IDP waiver wire adds. Consider him a LB2- for as long as Trevathan is inactive.

LB Jerome Baker (MIA) – Baker was a popular ingoing “sleeper” pick among many IDP fantasy analysts heading into the season (myself included) but he largely underwhelmed across the team’s first six games. However, he’s come on over the last three weeks posting lines of 8-1, 5-2 1 PD, and 7-1-1 1 FF. Playing as the sole every down linebacker on one of the league’s worst teams makes him an interesting IDP option by default and now that he seems to have turned a corner with his performance, he should be back on our radars as a LB3-LB3+.

LB Drue Tranquill (LAC) – Denzel Perryman was active but did not play on Thursday Night, so this opened up the door for Tranquill to start. The rookie ended up playing every defensive snap and lead the team with an impressive 14 total tackles. The Chargers are one of the most unpredictable teams in terms of week-to-week linebacker usage, so there’s no guarantee this every down role sticks for Tranquill. However, he’s been getting good reviews from the coaching staff and has obvious upside for those in a pitch at the position. If you are willing to take a risk, Tranquill serves as a nice boom/bust LB3 option despite a poor matchup against the Chiefs this week.

Defensive Backs
(Previously recommended DBs: Juan Thornhill, Jordan Whitehead, Xavier Woods, Ronnie Harrison, Terrell Edmunds, Tracy Walker, Darnell Savage, Kemal Ishmael, Roderick Teamer, Tre Flowers, Reshad Jones, Khari Willis, Dre Kirkpatrick, Eric Weddle, Isaiah Oliver, Eric Reid, Byron Murphy, Maurice Canady, Jermaine Whitehead, Taylor Rapp, Marquise Blair, Ken Crawley, Morgan Burnett, Darnell Savage, DeAndre Baker, Taylor Rapp, Tavon Wilson, Patrick Peterson)

S Erik Harris (OAK) – At this point, the word is out on Erik Harris after a massive 2 INT (could have been 3 INT), 1 TD performance on Thursday Night Football. He was a slightly above average tackle producer prior to this game and seems to have a genuine knack for creative turnovers, but I would caution against overreacting too much here. Harris is a solid DB3+/DB2- but he’s not a top 15 option at the position in my opinion.

S Morgan Burnett (CLE) – The release of Jermaine Whitehead has opened the door for Burnett to re-assume a starting, every down role at strong safety. Injuries at linebacker have forced Cleveland to play the strong safety close to the line of scrimmage which has translated into nice tackle opportunity for the position. Burnett is coming off one of his better games of the year with a 7-1 tackle line and plays against his old team this week, so I would feel comfortable starting him as my DB3 despite the injury risk.

SS Khari Willis (IND) – Based on his usage last week (91%), Willis seems to have taken over the starting strong safety position from Clayton Geathers (9%) in Indianapolis. This resulted in one of his better tackle stat lines of the season (7-1). He seems to be one of those fantasy-friendly type of players, so if he maintains this starting position, I’d feel comfortable rostering him as my DB3-DB3+.

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Last Updated: November 12, 2019