Welcome to the 14th weekly edition of “Raiding the IDP Waiver Wire” for 2021! For those returning for another installment of defensive player recommendations, your interest and support are appreciated!
This weekly column will help you, the reader, plunder your league’s waiver wire for real value where it counts: in your line-ups. We’ll dig into the past week’s top performers among available options for repeatable production.
“Raiding the IDP Waiver Wire” is written for fantasy football gamers in leagues that require a full complement of 11 defensive starters in leagues of 12 to 16 teams. Recommendations rely on scoring settings from FantasyPros.com, even though their value for passes defensed is low. We’ll look for options at both conventional and true defensive positions as they arise.
Players qualifying for this column are those rostered in no more than a third of IDP leagues on MyFantasyLeague.com (MFL); moreover, new names appear in each edition. Occasional readers are encouraged to visit past weeks’ write-ups for more options. Finally, these recommendations further assume you, the manager, have finite roster space with challenging cut decisions to add new names.
Week 15 has been the most chaotic week of the 2021 season. Arguably no fantasy playoff round has ever been more challenging than this. The waiver-wire moves that fantasy gamers are making this week are season-saving moves made at the eleventh hour in reaction to COVID-IR transactions and late-breaking inactives. This reality feels likely to spill over to Week 16 as well. This week’s waiver-wire offerings will be those players who appear likely to occupy near-full-time roles in their upcoming games.
The difficulty of roster churn in the face of injuries and illnesses has caused several players to fall below your writer’s somewhat arbitrary threshold of 33% ownership for eligibility in this article. A list of players who were likely drafted and should now be rostered for a stretch run appears in the back of this article. These players merit at least as much consideration as this week’s new waiver wire pick-ups.
Bud Dupree, Titans EDGE
Outside linebacker Bud Dupree parlayed a productive role opposite TJ Watt in the Steelers defense into a big-money free-agent deal with the Titans this past offseason. Unfortunately for all parties, Dupree tore an ACL late in the 2020 season. By his own admission, Dupree returned to play too soon.
Dupree suffered an abdominal injury in Week 10 which might very well have been a merciful turn of events allowing Dupree to return to health. He returned to play against the team that drafted him in Week 15. He corralled Ben Roethlisberger for a sack and added an assisted tackle in 29 snaps (59% of the Titans’ defensive snaps).
Dupree has winnable matchups against the 49ers and Dolphins to close the fantasy season. No player approaching his pedigree resides on waiver wires in most leagues this week.
Naquan Jones, Titans IDL
The Titans’ interior complement to stud interior defender Jeffery Simmons might be the polar opposite of his teammate Bud Dupree. While the former Steeler was drafted in the first round of the 2015 NFL draft, Naquan Jones signed with the Titans as an undrafted free agent after a truncated season in the Big Ten playing for the Michigan State Spartans.
Jones is the unlikely story that so many football fans root for – an unsung player who clears one remarkably high hurdle after another to make the team, earns playing time, and accedes to the starting line-up. Jones has collected 7 tackles including 1.5 sacks and two tackles for loss in steadily growing playing time through his last three games.
Samson Ebukam, 49ers EDGE
A season-ending injury to Javon Kinlaw combined with a lack of pressure off the edge led 49ers’ brass to re-evaluate Arik Armstead’s role in the defense. Drafted as a 3-4 defensive end, Armstead has the size and strength to play inside. Free-agent signee Samson Ebukam stepped into Armstead’s vacated spot at defensive end.
Ebukam is a size/speed prospect that never hit in Los Angeles. He’s tasked with a simpler role in the 49ers’ 4-3. He’s primarily tasked with getting upfield in San Francisco’s double-wide-nine set. By reducing his responsibilities in the defense, the 49ers more easily capture the innate athleticism that Ebukam brings to the position.
Watchlist
Denver IDL Dre’Mont Jones graced last week’s edition of this column only to sit out this week’s game with an injury. Your writer’s emergency replacement in one league was Ravens IDL Justin Maduibuike. The second-year man played an increased role in relief of injured Calais Campbell and made good on the opportunity with three tackles and a sack. The Ravens face a weak Bengals line in Week 16. Madubuike is a solid start if Campbell sits another week.
Rookie LB Garret Wallow made his first start in Week 15 with both Christian Kirksey and Kamu Grugier-Hill on the shelf. The Texans’ fifth-round pick filled the boxscore with 11 tackles and a sack against the Jaguars in Week 15, proving that any warm body will do in Houston. Wallow is worth a pick-up if the starters look iffy for Week 16.
Injury Recovery Watch
The scramble drill for active players in Week 15 has forced fantasy gamers into tough roster-management decisions that might ultimately benefit their league-mates. In fairness, all three of the following players have been disappointments; however, signs of life are showing.
Bears IDL Akiem Hicks has struggled to get on the field in 2021, but he made his presence felt against the Vikings on Monday Night Football. The former Pro-Bowler contributed five tackles and two sacks to a defensive effort that held the Vikings to 183 total scrimmage yards. Hicks faces two struggling offenses in Seattle and then at home versus the Giants.
Buccaneers safety Jordan Whitehead is the less-acclaimed name in Tampa’s back end (Antoine Winfield, Jr.), but he’s a useful fantasy asset in his own right. Whitehead collected eight tackles including one for loss after a two-week hiatus.
Washington’s promising young defensive end Montez Sweat emblemized his team’s surprising lackluster start to the season. A broken jaw and a bout with COVID-19 has somehow coincided with a second life among his defensive teammates. Sweat could return against the Cowboys, who may or may not have their starting offensive tackles, and then an Eagles team that keeps the ball close to the line of scrimmage and feeds opposing defensive ends with fantasy stats.
Happy Bidding!
This column drops every Tuesday afternoon. I’ll attach recommendations of widely rostered players one might consider dropping to make room for these players on Twitter. I look forward to interacting with you there!
A Clemson and Michigan alum, a fan of the Cowboys and Panthers, I try to see both sides of every debate and every fantasy football trade. Reach out to me @DynastyTripp on Twitter.
