2019 IDP Waiver Wire Pickups: Week 5
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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 4 of the NFL season.
Injuries
Melvin Ingram injured his hamstring in the Chargers’ game against the Dolphins last week and did not return. Reports indicate he could miss a couple weeks, so owners should adjust accordingly.
Alex Okafor injured his hip and was unable to return to the game. If he’s inactive next week, Emmanuel Ogbah will start opposite Frank Clark and see a bump in playing time – making him a sneaky filler option in deeper IDP leagues.
Despite amazingly playing through the injury during the game last week, pass rusher Bradley Chubb has a confirmed torn ACL and will miss the remainder of the season.
Rookie linebacker Ryan Connelly tore his ACL as well and is done for the year. This leaves the Giants ridiculously thin at the linebacker position.
Josey Jewell re-injured his hamstring injury against the Jaguars. Given this is an aggravation, I would expect Jewell to miss a few games.
Donte Jackson missed last week’s game against the Texans with a groin injury. We will watch the practice reports this week to get a better sense of his Week 5 status.
Clayton Geathers is in the concussion protocol and will have to work his way past the necessary tests before he gets back on the field. With Malik Hooker out for an extended period, the Colts could be without both of their starting safeties in Week 5.
Quandre Diggs pulled a hamstring and had to leave the game against the Chiefs. Tavon Wilson took his spot and generated a whopping 10 solo tackles in the process.
General Player Notes
Vontaze Burfict was suspended for the remainder of the regular season for his illegal hit on Colts tight end Jack Doyle.
Roquan Smith was a surprise inactive for the Bears Sunday afternoon game against the Vikings. The team responded vaguely when asked about his status for this coming week, so I’m going to assume it’s more likely than not that he sits out again this week.
DJ Swearinger was waived on Monday. Rookie Deionte Thompson will take over as the team’s starting strong safety and is worth a waiver wire look in a lot of leagues given how much the Cardinals defense has been on the field so far this year.
The Falcons traded for Jonathan Cyprien this week to help fill the void left by the injured Keanu Neal. I wouldn’t expect him to immediately slot in to a full-time role, but the players on the current roster don’t pose much of a threat, so he could easily carve out a significant role in the coming weeks.
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 5!
Defensive Linemen
(Previously recommended DLs: Sam Hubbard, Nick Bosa, Quinton Jefferson, Denico Autry, Chase Winovich, Robert Quinn, Brian Burns, Stephon Tuitt, Josh Allen)
DE Robert Quinn (DAL) – Perhaps it was the rest he received while serving a two-game suspension to start the season, but Quinn looks fresher than he has in recent years. And with Demarcus Lawrence soaking up most of the pass protection attention, Quinn will continue to see one-on-one matchups and will be a weekly sack threat. Consider him a DL3+/DL2- moving forward.
DE Ezekiel Ansah (SEA) – Ansah has burned owners in recent years with his inability to stay on the field/under performances, so he’s likely available in a lot of leagues despite his upside. After seeing minimal playing time in his first game of the season in Week 3, his snap counts took a big leap forward in Week 4 (62%) and he came through with 5 solo tackles and sack of Kyler Murray. He’s always in danger of getting injured, but he may be worth the risk as a DL4/DL3 option for those with reasonable backup options on their bench.
DE Vic Beasley/Takkarist McKinley (ATL) – Both McKinley and Beasley have underperformed this year (like most of Atlanta’s defense) but they make this list due to their matchup against the Texans this week. Houston has given up the second most sacks and QB hits in the league so far, so these guys have a nice chance at a sack on Sunday. Of the two, I’d lean towards Beasley.
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)
LB Todd Davis (DEN) – Davis missed the first three weeks due to injury and had a below average performance in his first week back in Week 4, so he’s a bit off most folks’ radars. However, he shouldn’t be. He played 100% of the snaps in Week 5 and led the team in tackles with 12 (seven solo). The Broncos are not good and Davis is going to see plenty of tackle opportunity and should be able to meet, if not exceed, his weekly production from year ago.
LB Devondre Campbell (ATL) – Campbell had a ridiculous 17 total tackles and two forced fumbles last week and has outtackled LB1 teammate Deion Jones so far this season. Although I think Campbell’s production so far is a bit fluky given he’s never eclipsed 63 solo tackles in a season and plays on the relatively unproductive strong side, the Falcons defense is seeing more opportunity than in year’s past and he should be able to carve out LB3-/LB4+ value based on volume alone.
LB Nicholas Morrow (OAK) – With Vontaze Burfict suspended for the rest of the season, Morrow will get a crack at playing every down. Tahir Whitehead is adequate at linebacker but won’t be a tackle hog, so Morrow has a shot at middle-of-road LB3 production moving forward.
LB Nick Kwiatkoski (CHI) – With Roquan Smith inactive for personal reasons, Kwiatkoski got the starting nod and put up a big game with 8 solo tackles, an assist, a sack, and forced fumble. There’s a chance Smith misses another week and Kwiatkoski gets another start. If this is the case, people will be scrambling to pick him up off the waiver wire given his strong performance last week. Keep in mind though that Kwiatkoski only played 55% of the snaps and rotated with Kevin Pierre-Louis at inside linebacker. Unless we get wind of that timeshare stopping, we should consider the fourth-year reserve player a boom/bust LB3 option.
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)
SS Reshad Jones (MIA) – Jones’ value has been hard to peg this season as he came into the year in the team’s doghouse and was consequently relegated to a part-time role. Then he missed a couple games due to injury. However, he recently stated he wants to stay in Miami and he played 100% of the defensive snaps last week while leading the team in tackles with nine. There’s always a chance the tanking Dolphins toy with Jones’ playing time again, but for now, we need to assume he’s back to playing every down. And the appeal of a former fantasy DB1 playing on a historically bad team behind underperforming linebackers is too much to pass up in most IDP leagues.
FS Khari Willis (IND) – Willis has played well so far this season and had his best game of the year (8-1) while filling in for the injured Malik Hooker at free safety. Now with starting strong safety Clayton Geathers in jeopardy of missing this coming week’s game, Willis is primed to soak up a lot of production in the back half of the Colts’ secondary against the high-powered offense of the Chiefs.
CB Dre Kirkpatrick (CIN) – Kirkpatrick has registered five solo tackles in each of his first four games and has a juicy matchup against the Cardinals high-volume passing offense that has been a fantasy goldmine for opposing fantasy cornerbacks. I’m recommending Kirkpatrick as a viable CB1/DB3 streaming option for Week 5.
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).
If you have any questions, feel free to email me at theidpguru@idpguru.com or follow me on Twitter.
Last Updated: October 1, 2019