Welcome back to Dynasty Football Factory’s weekly in-season column, Raiding the IDP Waiver Wire! I write tonight with feelings of relief and exaltation that the NFL has returned to the field with a product we recognize well.
I’m excited to see how much my off-season work will prove predictive for the season! I’ve never experienced a Week 1 with more uncertainty regarding defensive schemes and players’ roles within them. The lack of preseason games has made this week of football a wrapped gift containing contents about which we could only dare to forecast.
Among the greater blessings of Week 1 has been a normal number of injuries. In the NFL, that means our teams did in fact lose a few players. Those leaving the field with injuries sustained in Week 1 include several fantasy-relevant linebackers: Nick Kwiatkoski, Tremaine Edmunds, Matt Milano, Jacob Phillips, Blake Cashman, Leighton Vander Esch, and Drue Tranquill. The last two of these sustained severe injuries that will cost them half the season or more.
The good news for fantasy gamers is that several fantastic options lie on the waiver wire. The players recommended below are available in at least two-thirds of IDP leagues on MyFantasyLeague.com (MFL). Recommendations are position-specific for lineup requirements including cornerbacks and defensive tackles unless noted otherwise.
Denico Autry, DT – Indianapolis Colts
The Colts traded their 2020 first-round draft pick to the 49ers for Pro Bowl defensive tackle DeForest Buckner. He displaced the Colts’ starting under tackle Denico Autry.
Autry was asked to compete at left defensive end with 2019 opening day starter Al-Quadin Muhammad. Throughout training camp, beat writers expected a rotation between the two in which the natural end, Muhammad, would command pass-rush snaps.
The lack of preseason hid the Colts’ intentions. Autry dominated snaps at left end. Muhammad backed up Justin Houston at right end. Autry sacked Jaguars quarterback Gardner Minshew twice on Sunday and hit him two more times.
Like beat reporters, fantasy football platforms were fooled as well, leaving a designation of “defensive tackle” on Autry. The veteran’s role as a starting defensive end on a good team makes him a certain DT1 for fantasy football gamers. He’s a boom/bust DL3 elsewhere due to the low number of tackles that Colts linemen compile.
Autry succeeded when pressed into service as a defensive end due to injuries in 2018, efficiently compiling nine QB sacks. He’s as good a bet for production at the defensive tackle position as any option likely to emerge on the waiver wire in 2020.
Aldon Smith, DE – Dallas Cowboys
The Cowboys’ newest edge defender hadn’t played since 2015 and was last an All-Pro in 2012. Astonishingly, Smith led the team’s edge defenders in snaps, leading to eleven combined tackles, including a sack, and 2 QB hits.
This just wasn’t supposed to happen! Fellow newcomer and accomplished defensive end Everson Griffen was supposed to be Demarcus Lawrence’s complement. Instead, Smith showed a level of comfort in defensive coordinator Mike Nolan’s modified 3-4 scheme that neither Griffen nor Lawrence displayed. (I explained my expectations for the scheme change here.)
Impact players at defensive end are rare on fantasy football’s waiver wire. Your writer is in a defense-only league and will push all-in for Aldon Smith’s services on my roster.
Josh Sweat, DE – Philadelphia Eagles
Conservative fantasy gamers will understandably avoid paying up for a player who just broke out on national television. An alternative to Aldon Smith is Josh Sweat.
Sweat replaced an injured Derek Barnett at right defensive end in Philadelphia. He made 3 tackles including a strip-sack of Washington QB Dwayne Haskins. Pro Football Focus recognized Sweat as the second-highest-graded defender of the week.
Barnett has been an adequate pro for three years but has not lived up to the billing of his first-round NFL draft status. He could be only the most recent player to lose a job due to injury.
https://twitter.com/EaglesXOs/status/1305615625818120197?s=20Ja’Whaun Bentley, LB – New England Patriots
Week 1 offers several good-but-not-great fantasy options at the linebacker position. Perhaps the most intriguing option arises from the Patriots. Fantasy gamers have long since given up on New England linebackers for significant fantasy value, but Bentley’s usage could change that.
Bentley played all but 4 of his 51 defensive snaps in the box. His predecessors like Dont’a Hightower and Kyle Van Noy played large shares of their snaps on the edge, making them inefficient tacklers on a per-snap basis.
The scheme itself is conducive to high tackle efficiency. Interior defensive linemen “two-gap” to keep players clean and flowing to the ball on the second level. While Bentley only recorded 5 tackles against the Dolphins’ spread offense, future match-ups should be more fruitful for the Patriots’ only regular linebacker.
Unlike most of the intriguing fantasy free agents at linebacker, Bentley seems assured of holding his job for the year.
Sione Takitaki, LB – Cleveland Browns
Fellow outside linebacker Jacob Phillips tweeted an ominous image regarding this health. If he is in fact severely injured, Sione Takitaki accrues value as the last man standing. The second-year man who couldn’t get on the field last year stands to lead Browns’ linebackers in snaps early in 2020. He compiled seven tackles and a QB hit on Sunday.
Marcus Maye, S – New York Jets
Two inextricably linked safeties delivered two of the biggest performances of any defenders in Week 1 of 2020. The Jets acquiesced to the trade demand of Jamal Adams, who wreaked havoc in the Atlanta Falcons backfield. His successor in New York, Marcus Maye one-upped him, two sacks to one. Maye led all defenders in fantasy points according to FantasyPros.com with 32.8 points (10 tackles, 2 sacks, 2 passes defended, and a forced fumble).
MFL “ownership” data report that Marcus Maye’s running mate at safety, Bradley McDougald is almost twice as likely to be rostered in a given fantasy league. McDougald started at strong safety in Seattle for the last two years. The Jets acquired him in exchange for Jamal Adams and seemed likely to start him at the same spot.
Word arose from training camp late in August that Maye had emerged as the preferred option at strong safety while McDougald struggled to learn the defense. Maye capitalized on his opportunity at the position like only Jamal Adams could have.
Fantasy gamers keen on picking up Maye have the interference they need on the wire. Multiple sparsely rostered safeties put up big tackle numbers in Week 1, but few of them are full-time players. As the “defensive weapon” in his defense, Marcus Maye is the superior fantasy asset.
Happy Bidding!
Weekly waiver wire recommendations will drop every Tuesday morning at dynastyfootballfactory.com. I’ll follow up on the recommendations with insights and updates throughout the week on scheme evolutions and depth-chart adjustments on Twitter.
Clemson and Michigan alum… Panthers and Cowboys fan… I try to see both sides of every debate and each trade. Find me on Twitter @DynastyTripp.
