Fantasy Football IDP Week 15 Waiver Pickups
We are almost at the fantasy football super bowl but there are still some great fantasy football IDP week 15 waiver pickups on the waiver wire. If your still in need of more IDP waiver pickups then check out the previous IDP articles to find defensive players that are still available in many leagues. If you are in need of a linebacker (LB) and/or a defensive end (DE), here are two waiver pickups that will have a major impact on your team and could possibly help you win your fantasy football week 15 IDP playoff game.
David Hawthorne, LB, Seattle Seahawks – Hawthorne was mentioned in the IDP sleeper article before the season started and is having a relatively good year so far with 55 solo tackles, 33 assists and three picks. Although I thought he would be further along statistically at this point, the middle linebacker has great matchups the next two weeks with Chicago and San Francisco while being owned in less than 15 percent of ESPN leagues. Feel good about adding him to your team if your need a boost in the final weeks of your IDP season. He’s only in his forth season out of Texas Christian University and has a lot of promise to be a valuable IDP player for years to come.
Jason Worilds DE, Pittsburgh Steelers – This is a guy to keep an eye on for the future and also a great pickup in deep leagues for Week 15, especially for James Harrison owners. The veteran Harrison is facing a one game suspension, which is currently in the appeal process, but will likely be upheld given his history of helmet-to-helmet hits on quarterbacks. Worilds has played well in the past three games recording three sacks and 17 total tackles replacing the injured LaMarr Woodley who is expected back this week. Worilds is a young player at age 23 who is only going to get better and could very well have an impact game in the upcoming matchup against the 49ers who have allowed the sixth-most sacks in the league with 39, 18 of which came in the past three contests. Harrison will return in Week 16 and Worilds will likely spell Woodley which means limited fantasy value.
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Fantasy Football IDP Week 14 Waiver Pickups
For all you hardcore IDP junkies out there, here is the list of the top IDP week 14 waiver pickups so you can always be first place in your fantasy football league. IDP stands for individual defensive player and if you haven’t tried it out yet, join an IDP league next year.
Justin Houston, LB, Kansas City Chiefs – Here’s a rookie outside linebacker that seemingly came out of nowhere this past week to record seven solo tackles and three sacks against the Chicago Bears. Houston won’t likely repeat that kind of performance again this season, but he could have good value in leagues that highly reward big plays (i.e. sacks, interceptions, forced and recovered fumbles). Other than Tamba Hali, the Chiefs haven’t had much of a pass rush the past few seasons, so having Houston rushing from the other side could be extremely helpful for the defense. If he continues to record around five or six solo tackles a game with also the chance to register sacks, look out for the former Georgia Bulldog to make a splash in IDP circles.
Larry Grant, LB, San Francisco 49ers – The former Ohio State Buckeye is likely going to start this week against Arizona Cardinals in place of the injured Patrick Willis who is suffering from a hamstring strain. Grant has mostly played special teams this season until last Sunday when he took over for Willis early on and ended with 5 solo tackles, one assist and one sack. Playing against Arizona isn’t an excellent matchup, but it could be a lot worse. Grant should play well in the shutout against the St. Louis Rams and would be a nice fill-in this week for Willis’ owners in deep leagues.
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Week 13 IDP Waiver Pickups
As promised, here are three great linebackers that you need to pickup ASAP off the waivers. If you look close enough at the waiver wire and at the injury report, you will always find some good players, even if it is week 13 in your fantasy football IDP league. Here are the new, top three defensive players to pickup in IDP.
Week 13 IDP Waiver Pickups – Top 3 LBs
Perry Riley, LB, Washington Redskins – Here is a young linebacker getting the chance to play because he has excelled the past three games and has ousted a veteran for a starting job. Perry Riley is a former Louisiana State Tiger who is getting the chance to play because he recently beat out incumbent starter Rocky McIntosh for his inside linebacker spot. This is an enormous boost to Riley’s value as he has already proven to be a consistent tackler with 18 solo tackles and 16 assists the past three contests. He makes a great play especially in Week 13 against the Jets, and a viable IDP option the rest of the season.
Fantasy Football – IDP Week 12
Here are some new IDP waiver wire pickups for week 12 of fantasy football (2011-2012 NFL season). For the most awesome tweets and instant to your fantasy football questions, make sure to follow the IDP Pusher on Twitter @AndrewEggers and follow us on Twitter @fantasycouch
E.J. Henderson, LB, Minnesota Vikings – The nine-year veteran is a good player on a bad defense. He played a great game against the Oakland Raiders last week with nine total tackles and one sack. Henderson has two good matchups in Week 12 an 13 playing against the Atlanta Falcons and the Denver Broncos. Expect him to be the leading tackler on the team with also a chance for blitz opportunities, which means potential sacks and forced fumbles.
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IDP Waiver Pickups – Week 11 Fantasy Football
IDP Week 11 Waiver Pickups
You know the deal, a new IDP article every week for those of you who need IDP week 11 waiver pickups in fantasy football. This week we have some no-names and a surprise player that for some reason didn’t make any of the previous Fantasy Couch IDP articles. Without further ado, here are your individual defensive players to pickup for week 11…
NaVarro Bowman, LB, San Francisco 49ers – It is a complete oversight that Bowman hasn’t been mentioned in one of these articles as a waiver wire pickup before now. Owned in about 40 percent of ESPN leagues, the former Penn State linebacker has blossomed playing inside linebacker alongside probably the game’s best defensive player, Patrick Willis. Bowman may still be available in your league, and don’t hesitate to add him especially in tackle-heavy IDP leagues. He has 92 total tackles (73 solo) so far this season, has recorded two fumbles, but hasn’t created any turnovers. Willis usually does the blitzing from the middle more often than not, while Bowman usually hangs back waiting for the ball carrier on run plays and defends the underneath route on passing plays.
Daryl Washington, LB, Arizona Cardinals – Here’s a young middle linebacker playing in a 3-4 scheme on a defense that figures to be on the field a lot. Washington and the Cardinals travel to San Francisco this weekend and should face plenty of running plays and short passes which will present tackle opportunities. I talked about Daryl Washington towards the end of last season as a player to take note of for this year, and so this season he has proved me right. The second-year man out of Texas Christian University has racked up 49 solo tackles, six assists, one interception and three sacks this season making him the best IDP option on his team. Washington should continue to get better in the coming weeks and could crack the top-20 in terms of IDP linebackers.
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Week 10 IDP Waiver Pickups
Fantasy Football 2011 – IDP – Week 10 Pickups
Besides a few unforeseen injuries, I have been doing very well with my IDP waiver pickups so far. Thanks for all the positive feedback, glad so many of my readers are dominating your IDP leagues. When it feels like all the defensive players have been snagged off the waiver wire, all of a sudden a new NFL player comes out of nowhere, deserving a spot on your roster. Let’s start off with this IDP stud who is a top waiver pickup for week 10, if you are in need of a linebacker…
Michael Boley, LB, New York Giants – Someone had to step up and lead the Giants’ linebacker corps and it’s been Boley so far with 42 solo tackles and 14 assists thru eight games. He’s coming off his best game of the season last week against New England when he had 10 total tackles (seven solo), a sack and a forced fumble. Next Sunday’s contest has the Giants visiting San Francisco, a conservative offensive attack, which could mean lots of run plays and short, underneath routes or check downs. That could spell big production from the former Atlanta Falcon.
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IDP Week 9 – Waiver Pickups
Here’s a look at the top fantasy football IDP waiver wire pickups for week 9, minus the players already mentioned in previous articles. While navigating through injuries and the bye weeks, fantasy owners need to be on the look out for untapped talent to fill out their roster.
Defensive Lineman (DL)
Jarrett Johnson, DE/LB, Baltimore Ravens – Johnson is only valuable if he is DE eligible in your league because he doesn’t produce enough to be considered a legitimate start in the linebacker spot. Over the past three games he has 13 solo tackles, five assists and two sacks, so it looks like he’s rounding into mid-season form. The Ravens lock up with the Steelers this weekend in an epic AFC North showdown, so expect a tough, physical battle. Johnson should have a good amount of opportunities to blitz Ben Roethlisberger as well as tackles on running plays and underneath passing plays.
Robert Ayers, DE, Denver Broncos – Here’s a sleeper who you can find in almost every league, but should only be considered in deep leagues right now, if at all. Ayers, now in his third season, is a former first round draft pick out of Tennessee who hasn’t lived up to his expectations so far in his career. The 26-year-old is looking better this year with 12 solo tackles, 7 assists and two sacks through seven games, but those still aren’t numbers that make him fantasy relevant. Keep an eye on him to see how he continues to develop as the third-best pass rusher on the Broncos behind Von Miller and Elvis Dumervil.
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IDP Week 8 – Bye Week Waiver Pickups
Welcome to IDP week 8 of fantasy football and if you are having they bye week blues, here is a great list of defensive players on the waiver wire. Waivers have already passed in most leagues but there are still a handful of players still available and worthy of a waiver pickup. These players have decent to above average matchups in Week 8 and would be great to plug-in if you’re dealing with bye weeks.
Defensive Lineman (DL)
Chris Clemons, DE, Seattle Seahawks – He won’t light the world on fire, but Clemons has been consistent this year with five sacks already through seven games. The former Georgia Bulldog had a career-high 11 sacks last season and is on pace for a similar total this season. Seattle takes on Cincinnati this week, which is a decent matchup being that they have given up 11 sacks in seven games. Clemons is owned in less than 15 percent of ESPN leagues.
Linebackers (LB)
Daryl Smith, LB, Jacksonville Jaguars – Playing alongside fellow linebacker Paul Posluszny, who signed with the Jaguars this past offseason, has played dividends for Smith and his stats. He is pace to set or tie career-highs in solo tackles, assists and sacks and is worth a look in IDP leagues and is owned in less than 15 percent of ESPN leagues. Smith and Posluszny have a great matchup this week playing against the Texans who will surely let Arian Foster have 30 touches meaning the two linebackers will be all over the field on Sunday trying to take him down.
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IDP Week 7
Fantasy Football Week 7 IDP
As the 2011 season rolls into Week 7 and the heart of the bye weeks, let’s take a look at a couple defensive situations around the league where there have been some shakeups with IDP relevance.
The Pittsburgh Steelers’ defense hasn’t looked the same the past couple weeks without All-Pro linebacker James Harrison, who has sidelined with an eye injury and it’s not clear on when he will return. As mentioned in Week 5’s IDP article, the Steelers’ linebacking corps has gotten shuffled around which has ultimately made Lawrence Timmons worthless since taking over for Harrison as right outside linebacker. If you haven’t dropped him already, go ahead and push the eject button because his tackles have greatly decreased and he’s just not the pass rusher that Harrison is. Timmons’ value will go back to normal when Harrison gets healthy.
The position change has made inside backer James Farrior more valuable not having Timmons playing next to him, rather veteran Larry Foote who hasn’t done much. Farrior has tallied 15 tackles, nine assists and a sack in the past two games after 18/15/1 respectively in the first four contests of 2011. He has decent matchups the next two weeks in Arizona and New England, although both teams like to pass which limits opportunities to record tackles but increases potential sacks. Depending on whether Harrison is back and Timmons is back in the middle, Week 9 could be a big game for Farrior going against the Ravens because he is a sure tackler and the Ravens like playing smash mouth, running style of offense. He’s a solid addition to your team if you’re thin the next couple weeks.
Pittsburgh’s outside linebacker LaMarr Woodley has been playing very well in Harrison’s absence with 3.5 sacks over the last two weeks (5 total this season), providing the much needed outside pass rush. Look for Woodley to continue to play well because he’s proven to be valuable in big play, IDP leagues with double-digit sack totals the past three seasons. Don’t expect consistent tackle stats playing outside, but he can put together some humongous games as well depending on the matchup. Both Farrior and Woodley can be found on waivers in most IDP leagues.
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IDP Week 6 – Defensive Linemen
IDP Defensive Linemen (DL)
This year is being touted as the ‘Year of the Quarterback’ which inevitably makes defensive lineman more valuable to their team in comparison to years’ past IF they can create a solid defensive front against the pass and the rush. Some teams have been throwing the ball twice as much as they have been running it and defenses have had to adapt. Getting to the quarterback has never been so important.
With that said, the Houston Texans’ received a huge blow when they recently learned that Mario Williams suffered a torn pectoral muscle and will miss the rest of the season. This is terrible news, especially since ‘yours truly’ picked him to be a dominant force in IDP this season. He had recorded his fifth sack of the season before going down with the injury last week, only for his team to eventually lose to the Oakland Raiders. But it is what it is though, so owners need to look at other options going forward.
Take a look at Carolina Panthers’ Greg Hardy, who has three sacks heading into Week 6. He’s worth a waiver and should be available in most leagues. Hardy is only in his second year out of Mississippi and lines up opposite of Charles Johnson, who usually draws the extra attention in pass blocking. Hardy has also recorded decent tackle numbers with 17 solo tackles and four assist this season and should continue to get better.
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