2013 IDP Waiver Wire Pickups: Week 11

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.

Let’s start things off by going through some IDP news, notes, and commentary from Week 10 of the NFL season.

Cowboy fans and fantasy owners alike suffered a blow this last week as Sean Lee exited Sunday Night’s game with what looked to be a fairly significant hamstring injury. He’s expected to miss at least 3-4 weeks.

Paul Posluszny (another top 5-10 fantasy linebacker) suffered a concussion this past Sunday and is questionable for this week’s game against the Cardinals. His status will be updated later this week.

Charles “Peanut” Tillman was placed on the Injured Reserved/Designated to Return last after suffering a triceps injury. Fantasy owners in redraft leagues are safe to drop him.

Eagles rookie FS Earl Wolff will miss “multiple weeks” with a knee injury. He will be replaced in the lineup by former starter Pat Chung.

Another Eagle defender, Mychal Kendricks, went down early in this past week’s game with a knee injury. His status for this week’s game is up in the air.

Rookie Eric Reid suffered his 2nd concussion of the season and will have to pass through the necessary concussion protocols before playing again. There’s a chance he could miss a couple of weeks.

Paul Worrilow continues to astonish as he had his 2nd straight 19 tackle performance. Nobody is exactly sure how the Atlanta linebacker situation will work itself out once Sean Weatherspoon and Stephen Nicholas return to full health, but Worrilow is worth putting in your lineups as long as he’s starting.

Speaking of Sean Weatherspoon, he’s expected to be activated this week. Despite being out since Week 2, there’s a chance he could start but I don’t anticipate him receiving a full complement of snaps right away. He should be picked up for the playoff stretch but it’s best to keep him on your bench until he proves he’s healthy enough for every down duties.

Despite having the bye week to rest, Duke Ihenacho was unable to go against the division rival Chargers on Sunday. There’s a good chance he will be a game time decision again this week.

Jon Bostic is playing every down but looks a bit slow to react at times and it’s showing through in his mediocre box score numbers. Despite a very flashy preseason, there are some areas of concern with Bostic they are going to take some time to work out. Dynasty owners should be patient but also don’t expect too much from him.

Donald Butler made his return after missing 4 weeks due to injury. If he’s out on your waiver wire, grab him; he should be a solid LB2- the rest of the season.

Aldon Smith played just 12 snaps overall in San Francisco’s 10-9 loss to the Panthers. That’s a big drop from the role he was playing before he left the team and the 49ers pass rush did well without a heavy dose of Smith. However, expect him to continue to see more and more snaps with each passing week.

(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: Nick Fairley, Dontari Poe, Jason Hunter, Desmond Bryant, Michael Bennett, Jason Hatcher. Brian Robison, Adrian Clayborn, Ezekiel Ansah, Gerald McCoy, George Selvie, Chris Clemons, Marcell Dareus, Ndamukong Suh, Fletcher Cox, Shea McClellin, Ropati Pitoitua, Bruce Irvin, Moise Fokou, Shaun Phillips, Darnell Dockett, Mike Neal, Michael Brockers, Wallace Gilberry, Chris Jones, Olivier Vernon, Matt Shaughnessy, Quinton Coples, Vance Walker, Ropati Pitoitua, Jurrell Casey, Fletcher Cox, Gerald McCoy)

DE/OLB John Abraham (ARZ) – After a very slow start to the season, the crafty veteran has started to crank things up as of late. He’s had 5 sacks over his last three games and gets the 1-8 Jaguars this week. In leagues where he’s classified as a defensive linemen, feel free to use Abraham as your 3rd starter in 10-12 team leagues.

LDE Cameron Heyward (PIT) – Heyward has made a significant impact in the box scores since taking over for Ziggy Hood. He’s had three games in a row with double-digit fantasy points and has sacks in each of the last two weeks. There’s reason to temper your expectations in the long-term however as he’s a two gap defensive end, but he’s worth an add as a DL4 for the time being. 

RDE Antonio Smith (HOU) – Smith doesn’t provide much in the way of tackle production, but he’s the type of player (a la Brian Robison) that’s a fairly dependent sack producer against struggling offensive lines. This week the Oakland Raiders come to town and they are giving up the most sacks in the NFL so far this year. DL3- start in standard leagues/DL3+ in big play leagues.

Linebackers

(Previously recommended LBs: Zach Brown, Akeem Dent, Erin Henderson, Jasper Brinkley, Alec Ogletree, Phillip Wheeler, Pat Angerer, Geno Hayes, Danny Trevathan, DeAndre Levy, Daryl Smith, Reggie Walker, Daryl Washington, Spencer Paysinger, Ahmad Brooks, Rey Maualuga, A.J. Hawk, Brandon Spikes, Jon Beason, Von Miller, Jon Bostic, Brandon Spikes, Jamari Lattimore, LaMarr Woodley, Malcolm Smith, James Anderson, Craig Robertson, Dont’a Hightower, David Hawthorne, Paul Worrilow, Colin McCarthy, Pat Angerer, Aldon Smith)

MLB Vincent Rey (CIN) – I mentioned Rey in the notes section of this article last week as a player to keep an eye. Well, after 15 total tackles, 3 sacks, and 3 passes defended he’s making the Bengals coaching staff seriously question whether or not Rey Maualuga should get his starting job back. He should be picked up for Week 11 at minimum as he should have at least one more start before the Bengals Week 12 bye. Ride the hot hand.

SLB Sio Moore (OAK) – Dynasty owners take notice; Moore has had 20 total tackles, 2.5 sacks, and a forced fumble over his last three games. The light bulb has definitely seemed to come on for the youngster out of Connecticut. He’s going to have his ups and downs and remains a high variance LB4+/LB3- in redraft leagues, but expect him to be a prized commodity in big play, dynasty leagues come next season.

WLB Lance Briggs (CHI) – This recommendation is for those who are looking forward to the playoff stretch and are in the position to stockpile injured players. If Briggs was dropped after going down with a multi-week injury, now is probably the time to pick him up as there’s a chance he could be back for Week 12. At this point in the season, there aren’t a lot of linebackers out there with Briggs’ scoring potential, so in some situations, he’s worth sitting on for a week or two.

WLB Bruce Carter (DAL) – With Sean Lee and Justin Durant both likely to miss 3-4 weeks with hamstring injuries, Carter becomes the leader of the defense and will once again be firmly planted as an every down linebacker for the immediate future. He’s got little competition for tackles within the front seven and should be able to rack up LB2 numbers over the next month or so.

Defensive Backs

(Previously recommended DBs: Duke Ihenacho, Da’Norris Searcy, Tyrann Mathieu, Ryan Mundy, Aaron Williams, Quintin Mikell, Usama Young, Robert McClain, Barry Church, Brandon Meriweather, Charles Woodson, Major Wright, Rodney McLeod, Buster Skrine, Nate Allen, Morgan Burnett, M.D. Jennings, Donte Whitner, Devin McCourty, Will Hill, Josh Robinson, Reed Doughty, Jamarca Sanford, T.J. Ward, Quintin Mikell, Mike Mitchell, Marcus Cooper, Roman Harper, Aaron Williams, Bacarri Rambo, Trumaine Johnson, Jamarca Sanford, D.J. Swearinger, Chris Conte, Antrel Rolle, Troy Polamalu, Will Hill, Aaron Williams, Terrell Thomas)

FS Andrew Sendejo (MIN) – Sendejo put up a whopping 16 total tackles last Thursday night against the Redskins. If Jamarca Sanford is out yet again this week, get Sendejo in your lineups as it’s become obvious that the safety position in Minnesota has become a fantasy goldmine.

LCB Tramon Williams (GB) – Although Williams hasn’t done a ton this season, he’s coming off his best game of the year (6-1-0.5, FF, FR) and he matches up against Eli Manning this week who leads the NFL in interceptions. Williams is a player who has averaged nearly 3.5 INTs a year over the last 5 seasons and has yet to nab one this season, so I think he’s due. He’s a nice high risk CB2+ option this week.

SS James Ihedigbo (BAL) – Ihedigbo is quietly on pace for close to 100 total tackles this season and is coming off one of the best games of his career in which he posted a 6 solo tackles, 3 assists, 2 INTs, and 3 PDs. He’s not a world beater, but he’s fairly consistent option if you are in need of 6-7 tackles in a week.

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: November 11, 2013