Welcome to the sixth 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 a bit 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). These recommendations further assume you, the manager, have finite roster space with challenging cut decisions to add new names.
Week 6 of the 2021 NFL season undoubtedly began to stress fantasy gamers. Injuries are adding up. Weak players in plumb situations lost more snaps (e.g., Chiefs safety Daniel Sorensen). These realities will only become more pressing in Week 7 when six teams take a bye.
Jonathan Greenard, Texans DE
The Texans have settled into a nearly even rotation of two young players and two veterans at their defensive-end positions. The relatively low playing time, however, has not prevented second-year man Jonathan Greenard from making a big impact. He collected two sacks in just 14 pass-rush attempts according to Pro Football Focus. The analytics site further ranks him ninth in “pass-rush productivity” ahead of perennial studs Khalil Mack (13th), Von Miller (16th), and Shaq Barrett (17th) among those with at least 49 attempts.
Your writer noted Greenard as a watchlist candidate three weeks ago. We fantasy gamers can only hope Greenard pulls farther ahead of Charles Omenihu and Jordan Jenkins for playing time. At this point in the season, an emerging talent is a much better bet for reliable production at defensive end than an injury replacement.
Monday’s report that the Texans will release veteran edge defender Whitney Mercilus could very well be an indication that Greenard’s playing time will rise sharply as soon as this week. Those with Mercilus rostered should be patient with him given the news of Kansas City’s interest in him. He could step into a useful role immediately in the Chiefs’ weak DE group.
Alex Highsmith, Steelers EDGE
Steelers outside linebacker Alex Highsmith is likely rostered in most true-position IDP leagues. In those where he’s available, he’s worth an all-in bid.
Highsmith is also worth adding as a linebacker in conventional-position leagues. Steelers outside linebackers keep their heads up and get after the ball in run defense, helping their tackle totals.
The big difference this week that makes Highsmith worth pursuing on waiver wires is his Week-6 snap count. He played 100% of the Steelers’ defensive plays, easily a season-high. He seems to have put the veteran Melvin Ingram away with 1.5 sacks in 4 QB hits against Geno Smith. The full workload also helped fuel his stat line of seven tackles.
Micah Kiser, Broncos LB
This week’s straightforward injury replacement is Denver’s Micah Kiser. He took over for Alexander Johnson, who tore a pec last Sunday and will miss the rest of the season. Johnson joins Josey Jewell, the other Broncos starting inside linebacker from opening day on the injured-reserve list.
DeShon Elliott, Ravens SAF
Early-season injuries to DeShon Elliott might have caused impatient managers or those in shallower leagues to drop him. He resumed a full workload next to Chuck Clark for the Ravens in Week 6.
The ways that the Ravens deploy Clark and Elliott don’t greatly differ. Both players see their fair shares of box snaps and blitz attempts. Elliott capitalized this week with a sack on 2 QB hits. Elliott added 2 passes defensed including an interception to an impact performance against the Chargers.
https://twitter.com/sgellison/status/1450082668218142721?s=20
Watch List
Ravens LB Patrick Queen left the field injured in Week 6. His replacement was Josh Bynes, who was a productive IDP in Cincinnati last year. We must watch injury reports this week to determine Bynes’s fantasy value.
Reports indicate the Giants are signing longtime Texan Benardrick McKinney to their practice squad with intentions to promote him quickly. Current starting ILB Tae Crowder is struggling along with much of the Giants defense. We’re unlikely to learn McKinney’s value until we see how workloads shake out in Week 7.
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.
