2018 IDP Waiver Wire Pickups: Week 12
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 11 of the NFL season.
Injuries
Packers defensive lineman Mike Daniels is expected to miss a couple weeks due to a foot injury.
Preston Brown was placed on injured reserve with a knee injury. He will be replaced at MLB by Hardy Nickerson Jr.
Jordan Hicks is considered “week-to-week” with a calf injury which means he’s likely to miss at least one game. Nathan Gerry will probably fill in during base downs with Kamu Grugier-Hill coming in for subpackage snaps.
Although there were talks of Deion Jones returning against the Cowboys last week, he remained inactive and it was just announced that he will be OUT again in Week 12.
General Player Notes
Joey Bosa returned to the starting lineup finally after missing the first ten weeks of the season with a foot injury. He played 31 snaps and is good to put back in your lineups as a DL1.
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 12!
Defensive Linemen
(Previously recommended DLs: Markus Golden, Sheldon Richardson, Isaac Rochell, Larry Ogunjobi, Taco Charlton, Matt Ioannidis, Benson Mayowa, Margus Hunt, Kenny Clark, Stephen Weatherly, David Irving, Takkarist McKinley, Jerry Hughes, Jarran Reed, Trent Murphy, Corey Luiget, Romeo Okwara, Joey Bosa, Cameron Wake, Jarran Reed, Everson Griffen, Damon Harrison, Chris Jones, Markus Golden, Ezekiel Ansah, Dante Fowler, Matt Ioannidis, Markus Golden, Dante Fowler, Jonathan Allen, Da’Ron Payne, Carl Nassib)
DE Brandon Graham (PHI) – Graham has consistently been one of the best 4-3 defensive ends in the NFL over the last few seasons. Unfortunately, that hasn’t always translated to strong fantasy production. That is the case this year as he only has three sacks. The good news is he faces off against a Giants team that has allowed a league-leading 36 sacks to opposing defenses. If there were ever a week to start Graham, it’s this week in a must-win game against a division rival.
DT Javon Hargrave (PIT) – With Stephon Tuitt battling an injury, Hargrave has seen a big bump in playing time in recent weeks and has responded with stat lines of 6-0-0 and 4-0-2 and received Pro Football Focus’ third highest grade for pass rushers in Week 11. If Tuitt misses another game, Hargrave becomes an excellent streaming option, especially in DT-required leagues.
DT Maurice Hurst (OAK) – Due to a heart condition, Hurst fell dramatically in the draft. Many considered him to be a first round talent but due to health concerns he fell all the way to the fourth round. So far he’s proving his detractors wrong as he leads all rookie defensive tackles in sacks with four and has really nice stat lines of 4-0-1 and 5-0-1 over his last two games. He’s shaping up to be a very nice dynasty add and carries value as a DT2+ in redraft leagues right now.
Linebackers
(Previously recommended LBs: Fred Warner, Darius Leonard, Nick Vigil, Matt Milano, Cory Littleton, Darius Leonard, Reuben Foster, Roquan Smith, Devondre Campbell, Duke Riley, Kenny Young, Austin Calitro, Vontaze Burfict, Leighton Vander Esch, Josh Bynes, Anthony Walker, Vontaze Burfict, Jatavis Brown, Jayon Brown, Jerome Baker, Zach Cunningham, Jaime Collins, Vincent Rey, Thomas Davis, Bradley Chubb, Adarius Taylor, Elijah Lee, T.J. Watt, Todd Davis. Jordan Evans, Jamie Collins, K.J. Wright, Marquel Lee, Leighton Vander Esch, Tanner Vallejo, Nigel Bradham, Kendell Beckwith, Deion Jones, Nick Vigil, Zach Cunningham, Roquan Smith, Jatavis Brown)
Reminder: You should prioritize linebackers like Nick Vigil and Zach Cunningham who are likely returning from injury over those listed below.
LB Reuben Foster (SF) – Between injuries and general ineffectiveness, Foster has had a down season in 2018. However, he still has top 20 LB potential and is likely available in a lot of leagues since he’s been inactive for several weeks. Foster got in some limited practice so far this week and is trending towards playing. If he does play, he will square off against a Tampa Bay team that has allowed the third most points to opposing linebackers.
LB Alec Ogletree (NYG) – Ogletree came into the season as one of the top value plays at the position but failed to make the most of his opportunity early in the season, posting disappointing tackle numbers. Then a mid-season injury caused him to miss some time further taking him out of the IDP spotlight. He seems to be fully healthy now and is coming off his best game of the year (7-1, INT for TD). He doesn’t have much competition for tackles among the front seven (especially with Damon Harrison now gone) and has a top 10 matchup in Week 12 against the Eagles. You should consider him a top 20-25 LB play for this coming Sunday.
LB Kyler Fackrell (GB) – Fackrell has existed in the shadows as a part-time player for most of his two-year career; however, he’s gained a larger role as of late due to the Nick Perry injury. He’s capitalized on this increase in playing time with four sacks in his last two games (three last week) and he’s averaging 75% of the snaps played during that time period as well. He’s worth a look as a boom/bust LB3 option in sack-heavy scoring systems for as long as Perry remains sidelined.
Defensive Backs
(Previously recommended DBs: Kentrell Brice, Clayton Geathers, Terrell Edmunds, Jessie Bates, Justin Simmons, Ricardo Allen, Donte Jackson, Anton Exum, Damontae Kazee, Brian Poole, Tre Boston, Jessie Bates, Eric Reid, Damarious Randall, Jordan Lucas, Mike Mitchell, Kenny Vaccaro, Patrick Chung, Darryl Roberts, Kenny Vaccaro, Marcus Maye, Eli Apple, Justin Reid, Tedrick Thompson, Bashaud Breeland, Michael Davis, T.J. McDonald, Adrian Phillips, Bene Benwikere)
S Isaiah Johnson (TB) – Johnson filled in for the injured Justin Evans at safety and compiled a whopping 10 total tackles (7 solo). If Evans misses another game, Johnson becomes a sneaky filler option playing behind a decimated linebacking crew that could once again be without Lavonte David and a top three matchup on the books against the 49ers. If he starts, consider him a DB20-25 option for Week 11.
S Corey Graham (PHI) – Graham has missed a lot of time this year due to injury but with typical starter Rodney McLeod out for the season, he is seeing a near full complement of snaps since he returned from injury and posted 9 total tackles (7 solo). He had another 9 tackle performance in Week 4 as well in which he was a full-time player. With Jordan Hicks looking like he will miss time and the Eagles secondary ravished by injury, I expect Graham to have a ton of tackle opportunity. It’s not unreasonable to expect another 8-9 total tackle game from the 12-year veteran this week.
CB Prince Amukamara (CHI) – Amukamara has long been one of the league’s best tackle-producing cornerbacks. He’s been held back by injury and a lack of big plays, however. After back-to-back 8 solo performances though, owners should be taking a harder look at rostering Prince in CB-required leagues and perhaps even as a DB3 in deep standard leagues.
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Last Updated: November 20, 2018