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.
Linebackers (LB)
Karlos Dansby, LB, Miami Dolphins – Dansby has been mentioned as a waiver wire pick up in a past article, but he is still only owned in 10 percent of ESPN leagues. His next two games are against the Kansas City Chiefs and Washington Redskins, so he should get plenty of tackle opportunities against those two rushing attacks. Dansby has had only one ‘big’ game this year at it was in Week 7 against Denver when he had 13 total tackles with eight being of the solo variety. Owners should expect consistent tackle stats the next two weeks as the eight-year veteran should be a nice fill in for bye weeks.
Bradie James, LB, Dallas Cowboys – With the news that Sean Lee may require season-ending surgery to repair his injured wrist, James’ value could go up considerably being the likely replacement at middle linebacker. Lee’s good play this year saw him move past James on the depth chart with Keith Brooking also losing playing time. Now that Lee could miss the rest of the year, James should be an above average IDP performer going forward. James did have five seasons with 100+ total tackles before this season when he was unquestioned starter, so he can produce at a good rate.
Also, keep an eye on the situation in New England with linebackers Brandon Spikes and Jerod Mayo. Spikes has been playing middle linebacker in place of Mayo who was on the shelf for three weeks with a sprained MCL in his knee, after initial reports said he would be out six weeks. Mayo saw action last week against Pittsburgh, although it was limited as he backed up Spikes. The coaching staff will likely ease Mayo him back into the starting role at some point because he’s the better player when healthy.
Spikes has played pretty well though in Mayo’s absence from the starting lineup racking up 21 solo tackles (10 of which came against Pittsburgh) and five assists the past three games. Spikes could take over as an outside linebacker if and when Mayo returns to the middle for good, or the two could play alongside each other if the coaching staff decides to implement more 3-4 looks as opposed to 4-3 they have been playing with lately. Either way, this is a situation to monitor if you have Mayo on your team as Spikes’ value would only go down even if he remains in the starting lineup. If Spikes continues to start over Mayo, he would then become an intriguing waiver wire pick up in deep leagues.
Defensive Backs (DB)
Sean Jones, S, Tampa Bay Buccaneers – The next three weeks provide great matchups for Jones as the Bucs take on the passing attacks of the Saints, Texans and Packers, respectively. It should be a busy few weeks on the stat sheet for Jones who is having a steady and consistent year so far with 39 solo tackles and five assists. He is a great waiver wire pickup in most formats and he is only owned in a little over 15 percent of leagues on ESPN.com. While playing in Cleveland for four years to start his career, Jones had three straight years with four or more interceptions. So he’s shown play-making ability in the past, although the eight-year veteran hasn’t recorded an interception this season playing in Tampa’s defensive scheme.
Reggie Nelson, S, Cincinnati Bengals – Nelson was a heralded rookie when he broke into the league with Jacksonville back in 2007 after being a first-round pick in the draft. Now in his fifth season as a pro and second playing with the Bengals, Nelson is on pace to have a career year in tackles with 34 solo and 11 assists through seven games. He intercepted five passes as a rookie, but has never gotten more than two in a season since and has one this year. Week 9 presents a decent matchup playing in Tennessee while Week 10 should be a better chance for him to produce against the pass-happy Steelers. He’s owned in less than five percent of ESPN leagues and makes a great waiver wire tap in most leagues.
