2016 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.

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With injuries mounting and SIX teams on bye this week, my suggestions this week will go a bit deeper as the viable IDP waiver wire options are going to be less prominent than in previous weeks.

Let’s start things off by going through some IDP news, notes, and commentary from Week 7 of the NFL season.

Injuries
Muhammad Wilkerson missed a couple practices last week and was unable to suit up for Sunday’s game against the Ravens. It will be critical to monitor the practice reports again this week to get a better sense of his availability for Week 8.

The Jets linebacking crew has been especially banged up over the last couple of weeks. The team just got David Harris back from injury only to see Erin Henderson head to IR for undisclosed reasons and rookie Darron Lee did not play last week due to an ankle injury. Henderson’s injury may open the door for Lee to assume an every down role when healthy, however.

CB1 Bashaud Breeland suffered another ankle injury in last Sunday’s loss to the Lions. The good news is he was able to return to the game and the injury is actually to the opposite ankle he injured earlier in the year. This, along with Josh Norman potentially being out, could ding his fantasy value moving forward, but he’s still worth starting in most CB-required leagues.

Kam Chancellor missed his second straight week with a groin injury and goes into Week 8 with a questionable tag. We should have a better idea of his status later it the week.

Safety Andrew Sendejo of the Vikings suffered an ankle injury last week and will be evaluated early this week to determine the severity of the injury.

General Player Notes
Cory James launched himself onto the IDP scene after 15 tackle performance in Week 4. However, things have been a bit more tumultuous in the following weeks with James actually getting benched in favor of veteran Perry Riley last week. It’s yet to be seen if this is a temporary or long-term situation, but owners need to get him out of their lineups until further notice.

Leading into the week, the 49ers coaching staff alluded to the fact that they needed to start rotating their ILBs to help improve their league worst run defense. That said, the team did rotate Michael Wilhoite and Gerald Hodges with Hodges receiving a majority of the snaps. Nick Bellore remained an every down linebacker. The playing time among the three players is likely to be fluid from week-to-week, so starting any of the team poses some risk. Given the massive amount of opportunity, it may be worth rolling the dice on Bellore and even perhaps Hodges in deeper leagues if your are desperate to cover up the holes left by all the players on bye in the coming weeks.

Jatavis Brown’s production came screeching back to Earth last week after a monstrous Week 6 performance. Fellow linebacker Denzel Perryman was the team’s top fantasy producer in Week 7. Brown owners shouldn’t panic, however. He was still playing every down while Perryman was in a part-time role. Brown should be fine moving forward.

Tony Jefferson’s production has cooled recently after a blazing hot start to the first quarter of the season. The injury to Tyvon Branch has altered his role in the defense and he is now playing further back as a coverage safety. He still has upside but I think we need to downgrade him into the DB3+/DB2- tier moving forward.

Daniel Sorenson has carved out a role for himself in Kansas City as the team’s third safety. He’s had two solid weeks in a row (5-1 and 6-0-1 with an INT). But owners should realize that he’s still a part-time player and should only be started as a DB4-DB4+ in deep leagues.

(Please note that a majority of these pickups are long-term, rest of season pickups as opposed to matchup-type recommendations. As the season progresses and the waiver wire becomes more thin and matchup information becomes more reliable, the focus of this article will shift more towards recommendations based on weekly matchup.)

Defensive Linemen
(Previously recommended DLs: Chris Long, Danielle Hunter, Devin Taylor, Dante Fowler, Frank Clark, Timmy Jernigan, Kerry Hyder, Yannick Ngakoue, Damon Harrison, Nick Fairley, Clinton McDonald, Derek Wolfe, Calais Campbell, Joey Bosa, Trent Murphy, Deforest Buckner, Danny Shelton, Willie Young)

DE Joey Bosa (SD) – I mentioned Bosa in this column a couple weeks ago, but his play has been so impressive, he deserves another callout in case he’s still available in your league. He’s gotten off to one of the most prodigious starts for a rookie DE in recent history and looks like he will only get better moving forward. He should be owned in virtually all leagues.

DT Gerald McCoy (TB) – McCoy returned to the field after missing the previous two games with a calf injury and didn’t disappoint with 3 tackles, a sack, a forced fumble, a fumble recovery, and a pass deflection. His lack of tackle production keeps him down in the DL3/DL3+ tier, but he should be fairly reliable week-to-week in balanced and sack-heavy leagues.

DE Cameron Wake (MIA) – Wake has seen his playing time increase in recent weeks as Mario Williams’ struggles with effort and productivity continue. Wake responded with 1.5 sacks against the Bills last week. At this point in his career, he’s just a pure pass rusher and will contribute next to nothing in the tackle column. That said, he should only be looked at primarily in sack-heavy scoring formats. He’s on bye this coming week but will have the Jets in Week 9.

Linebackers
(Previously recommended LBs: Sio Moore, Todd Davis, Tahir Whitehead, Will Compton, Mason Foster, Craig Robertson, Justin March, Jonathan Casillas, Craig Robertson, Zach Brown, Deion Jones, Sean Weatherspoon, Tahir Whitehead, Zach Orr, Denzel Perryman, Bernardrick McKinney, Cory James, Darron Lee, Christian Kirksey, Jatavis Brown, Vince Williams, Cory James, Michael Wilhoite, Christian Kirksey, Nick Bellore, Perry Riley, Lorenzo Alexander, Markus Golden, Nick Bellore, Albert McClellan, Dont’a Hightower, Tyler Matakevich)

LB Jordan Hicks (PHI) – Hicks had been a huge disappointment through the first six games of the season; however, he took a step in the right direction last week with 11 total tackles and a sack. In Hicks’ defense, he’s struggled with inconsistent playing time and the lowest tackle opportunity faced in the league which has hurt his numbers. He’s now locked into an every down role and he should see a healthy amount of tackle opportunity against a time-dominating Cowboys offense in Week 8. This said, he makes for a sneaky start this week.

LB De’Vondre Campbell (ATL) – Most of the attention in Atlanta has been on the Falcons’ other two rookie defenders Keanu Neal and Deion Jones, but Campbell has value in his own right and is substantially less owned. He had 10 tackles in his first full game back after suffering an injury in Week 1. He’s still likely to be second fiddle to Jones in terms of fantasy value, but is worth a look as a low-end LB3 who could provide nice value in the right matchups.

LB Christian Kirksey/Demario Davis (CLE) – Believe it or not, the Jets have actually been an excellent matchup in terms of tackles allowed to inside linebackers (Vincent Rey 5-4, Karlos Dansby 5-6, Zach Brown 8-6, Preston Brown 7-9, Derrick Johnson 9-2, Bobby Wagner 6-4, Vince Williams 8-1, Lawrence Timmons 3-5, Zach Orr 6-5). I would prioritize Kirksey over Davis if you can but both players should make for relatively strong plays this week.

LB Nate Stupar (NO) – For some odd reason, the Saints continue to play Stupar over James Laurinaitis. He’s averaged nearly 8 tackles a game over the 3 games in which he’s seen significant snaps and given the amount of opportunity the Saints defense sees, that is likely to continue moving forward if he keeps the role. There’s some obvious risk here as it’s not clear if this situation is temporary. But for those in deep leagues, Stupar is worth a look as a LB4.

Defensive Backs
(Previously recommended DBs: Tony Jefferson, Da’Norris Searcy, Shareece Wright, Tyvon Branch, Andrew Sendejo, Kemal Ishmael, Karl Joseph, Micah Hyde, Jordan Poyer, Jacoby Glenn, Vonn Bell, Logan Ryan, Kendell Fuller, Clayton Geathers, Duke Ihenacho, D.J. Swearinger, Bashaud Breeland, Rodney McLeod, Isa Abdul-Quddus)

SS Donte Whitner (WAS) – Whitner’s stat line (4-4-0) isn’t eye-popping but he did lead the team in tackles and, more importantly, he played 100% of the snaps at strong safety for the Redskins. Whitner’s style of play as an in-the-box, punishing-style safety has made him a viable fantasy player at various points in his career. At age 31, he’s past his prime, but is in a fruitful position to put up fantasy points and is worth a flier as a DB3 in 12-14 team leagues.

CB DeShawn Shead (SEA) – Shead has had two very productive games in a row (7-1 and 8-1) and has the pass-happy Saints on the schedule this week who have allowed the 4th most points to cornerbacks so far this season. He’s worth a strong look as a DB3+ matchup play and should serve as a valuable starter in CB-required leagues.

S Michael Thomas (MIA) – Although the 2-2 stat line is far from appealing, Thomas did play 100% of the snaps and is currently locked in as Reshad Jones replacement at strong safety. Given the issues the Dolphins have at linebacker, Thomas should have a couple big tackle games throughout the season and he is available in virtually every league. Don’t leverage the farm to get him but he’s a low-risk DB4/DB5 option you can pickup and stash on your bench until he shows signs of strong production.

CB Troy Hill (LAR) – Injuries have forced Troy Hill, an undrafted free agent out of Oregon, into the starting lineup for the Rams. Teams have thrown at him a lot over the last two weeks as evidenced by his tackle lines of 7-1 and 8-1, respectively. You should continue to roll him out as a starter in CB-required leagues and/or leagues in which you start three DBs as long as he’s seeing near 100% of the snaps. He’s on bye this week, but is a player to keep an eye on for Week 9.

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 25, 2016