Welcome to the seventh 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.
Injury-depleted rosters and six teams on byes in Week 7 strained fantasy gamers’ capacity to set competitive line-ups. Making matters worse for gamers, the number of lopsided games limited our insight into rotations and created numerous flashy but unsustainable stat lines. Injuries were mercifully light in Week 7; although, that limits new options on the waiver wire for needy teams.
All is not lost! “Raiding the IDP Waiver Wire” offers you, the reader, inexpensive waiver-wire options in a week that will leave many of your league-mates chasing mirages like Josh Norman and his two forced fumbles from Week 7. I mean, you’re not really expecting that to happen again, are you?
Adetokunbo Ogundeji, Falcons DE
The Atlanta Falcons fifth-round pick in 2021 Adetokunbo Ogundeji played a season-high 71% of his team’s snaps in Week 7. Like the rest of the Falcons’ edge defenders, he’s not done much with his opportunities. Former first-round pick and current journeyman Dante Fowler Jr. is on the injured reserve list. The rookie has overtaken Jacob Tuioti-Mariner to play opposite career special teamer Steven Means.
A starting nod from the Falcons on the edge hasn’t been a ringing endorsement in several years; however, the rookie from Notre Dame has earned snaps in septuagenarian Dean Pees’s defense more quickly than heralded rookie safety Richie Grant. Ogundeji collected six QB sacks at Notre Dame in ten games last season and displays decent athleticism. He’ll have an opportunity to grow in a defense that needs to develop young talent. Ogundeji is worth picking up in leagues where he’s eligible at defensive end.
Josh Bynes, Ravens LB
In his third stint with the Ravens, journeyman Josh Bynes has been called up from the practice squad to replace sophomore Patrick Queen at middle linebacker. Bynes won’t play full-time, but he’ll play a productive role in the middle of a defense struggling to contain the run. Bynes has made six tackles in each of two starts playing about three-quarters of his defense’s snaps. Queen’s role, now at weak-side linebacker, is significantly diminished in favor of the thirty-something Bynes. Mentioned last week as a watchlist candidate, the veteran makes for a reasonable third or fourth linebacker for fantasy teams as byes and injuries stretch rosters thin.
Elijah Molden, Titans DB
The Titans have delivered the first and seventh-highest scoring defensive back for fantasy football in 2019 and 2020, respectively. Logan Ryan (2019) and Malcolm Butler (2020) played the bulk of their snaps in the slot in Tennessee as cornerbacks in base defense.
Third-round rookie Elijah Molden assumes the primary slot defender role in 2021. Injuries have depleted the Titans secondary, opening up a nearly full-time role for the 100th overall pick, who played cornerback and safety in college at Washington.
The Titans more typically blitz from the slot rather than the safety position, making Molden a higher upside option than his teammates in the deep middle. Molden rushed the passer six times in each of the past two weeks and compiled 17 tackles as a Titans regular. Molden is a candidate to be the overall CB1 at least as long as starting outside cornerback Kristian Fulton resides on IR and possibly for the remainder of the season.
Richie Grant, Falcons DB
Dean Pees came out of retirement to coordinate the Falcons defense in 2021. He coordinated the Titans’ defense in 2018 and 2019, where he coached #1 overall fantasy DB Logan Ryan. His defense in Atlanta resembles those he led in Tennessee, meaning his top attacking DB is his slot defender.
2021 rookie second-rounder Richie Grant occupies the slot in Atlanta, taking over for Isaiah Oliver, who is lost to a season-ending injury. Grant, a safety in college, does not benefit fantasy gamers with a CB position designation; however, the track record established by Logan Ryan and Malcolm Butler indicates Grant is worth a look for gamers who need either a safety or a defensive back for their line-ups.
Grant played a season-high 58 snaps (78%) in Week 7 and may finally be emerging after an astonishingly quiet start to the season. Like the aforementioned Ogundeji, the Falcons would be wise to see what they have in their young players in an also-ran season.
Watch List
Remarkable injury attrition of Broncos linebackers both inside and out provided rookie Jonathan Cooper with a significant opportunity last Thursday night. The 2021 seventh-rounder flashed with three QB hits and should retain a significant role in the edge rotation if Von Miller and/or Bradley Chubb continue to miss time.
The Bengals spent a fourth-round pick in 2020 on Akeem Davis-Gaither, a defender from Appalachian State on whom many draftniks and fantasy writers were high. He was largely an apex defender in college that needed to adjust to a pro linebacker role not unlike Cleveland’s Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah.
Davis-Gaither has played more than half the Bengals’ defensive snaps in each of the past two games and significantly outplayed fellow linebacker Germaine Pratt in this writer’s opinion. One can only wonder how much longer Bengals defensive coordinator Lou Anarumo will abide by the third-year man’s underwhelming weekly performances.
49ers starting safety Jacquiski Tartt suffered a bone bruise Sunday, opening the door for fifth-round rookie Talanoa Hufanga. In recent games, the 49ers have not shown the favoritism for Tartt in the box versus his running mate Jimmie Ward that would fuel fantasy production. First-year defensive coordinator DeMeco Ryans may, however, prefer to keep the veteran Ward deep, enabling the rookie Hufanga to police the box. Hufanga is worth monitoring and if aforementioned options are scooped up, adding to see if a plumb role materializes.
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.
