NFL Week 9: Fantasy IDP utilization report

• New team debuts: Roquan Smith and Bradley Chubb played their first games with their new teams. Find out how they performed and were utilized.
• Stay very active on the waiver wire: Bye weeks and injuries have combined to make for very thin fantasy rosters. IDP starters such as Divine Deablo, Rashan Gary, Budda Baker, Pete Werner, Xavier McKinney and Gregory Rousseau are all expected to miss multiple games from injuries suffered just this week.
• Eligible to return: Utilize waivers to get ahead of the crowd and add a couple of potential IDP stars in Chase Young and Jeremy Chinn, where available, before they’re officially activated to their respective rosters.

Estimated reading time: 36 minutes

WEEK 9 TAKEAWAYS

Make sure to check out last week’s waiver targets. Some of the key players stood out as potential adds after Week 9 for leagues of all sizes:

Waiver Wire

• LB – Terrel Bernard, BUF – With Matt Milano’s Week 10 status up in the air, Bernard should be a solid replacement for teams in need.
• LB – Derrick Barnes, DET – Malcolm Rodriguez suffered an elbow injury and is at risk to miss some time. Barnes won’t be an every-down player if Rodriguez misses time but will be useful for rosters that were utilizing Rodriguez as a starter.
• LB – Krys Barnes, GB – Deep leagues can add Barnes if De’Vondre Campbell is going to miss any more time, but this will likely be far from an every-down role.
• LB – Blake Martinez, LV – Divine Deablo is now on injured reserve (IR), so Martinez should be considered the waiver add of the week. He is likely to lead the Raiders linebackers in snaps, so it will surprise no one if he leads the team in tackles (as he did this week) each week going forward.
• LB – Kaden Elliss, NO – Pete Werner is expected to miss time due to his ankle injury. Eliss should get some more play in a typical linebacker role, as will Zack Baun, who will also probably play more on the edge.
• EDGE – Kingsley Enagbare, GB – Rashan Gary is out for the season, so Enagbare will fill in on a lot of those vacated snaps. This will be a volume-dependent role with a lower ceiling than what Gary provided.
• EDGE – Kwity Paye, IND – Paye returned from his high-ankle sprain suffered in Week 5. He played his usual full workload and landed a sack. He can be added in most leagues, where available.
• EDGE – Michael Danna/Carlos Dunlap, KC – With Frank Clark suspended for one more game, fantasy managers in need of a high-volume (Danna) or high-upside edge defender (Dunlap) could utilize one of these two as a fill-in option.
• S – Chris Banjo, ARZ – Budda Baker leads all safeties in total tackles this season and is now expected to miss a couple of weeks. Banjo is his expected replacement.
• S – Jeremy Chinn, CAR – If Chinn is available on waivers, now is a good time to add him. Even if he doesn’t play in Week 10, he could be a strong fantasy option down the stretch.
• S – Andrew Wingard, JAX – Rayshawn Jenkins left Week 9 and is in danger of missing Week 10. Wingard would be his replacement for those in need.
• S – Eric Rowe, MIA – Rowe took over the heavy box role vacated by Brandon Jones and should stick in that role going forward.
• S – Dane Belton, NYG – Xavier McKinney will miss multiple weeks with a broken hand that he suffered during the team’s bye week. Dane Belton is expected to fill in during McKinney’s absence.

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JUMP TO A TEAM:

ARZ | ATL | BLT | BUF | CAR | CIN | CHI | CLE | DET | GB | HOU | IND | JAX | KC | LVR | LAC | LAR | MIA | MIN | NE | NO | NYJ | PHI | SEA | TB | TEN | WSH

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ARIZONA CARDINALS

Team Ranks

• Dime personnel rate: 0.0% (T-29th)
• Blitz rate: 41.0% (3rd)

EDGE

DEFENSIVE INTERIOR

LINEBACKER

SAFETY

• INJURY: Budda Baker suffered a high-ankle sprain and is expected to miss multiple weeks. Baker leads all safeties in total tackles (70) so far this season, so his absence will be felt by many fantasy managers.
• WAIVER-WIRE: With Baker sidelined, it’s likely that Chris Banjo fills in and could have some decent usage for deeper leagues looking for a replacement.

CORNERBACK

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ATLANTA FALCONS

Team Ranks

• Dime personnel rate: 0.0% (T-29th)
• Blitz rate: 21.9% (22nd)

EDGE

DEFENSIVE INTERIOR

LINEBACKER

SAFETY

• POINT OF INTEREST: Richie Grant set a new career-high in total tackles (11) this week and led Falcons’ safeties in box snaps for the first time since Week 5. Grant is making up for an under-utilized rookie season, currently ranking fifth among all safeties in total tackles (60).

CORNERBACK

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BALTIMORE RAVENS

Team Ranks

• Dime personnel rate: 29.1% (1st)
• Blitz rate: 25.8% (18th)

EDGE

• WAIVER-WIRE: Tyus Bowser made his season debut and led the team’s edge rushers in snap share in his first game back from an Achilles injury. Justin Houston also got a significant snap bump while Jason Pierre-Paul was limited. Both Bowser and Houston could be strong waiver options for teams in need.

DEFENSIVE INTERIOR

LINEBACKER

• POINT OF INTEREST: Roquan Smith made his Ravens debut but did not play an every-down role, as was expected. With the Ravens on a bye week in Week 10, expect Smith to get up to speed and swap snap shares with Patrick Queen for Week 11.

SAFETY

• ROOKIE WATCH: Kyle Hamilton played his largest snap share of the season and managed five solo tackles as a result. While still not a full-time role, it’s possible that Hamilton continues to play more post-bye week.

CORNERBACK

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BUFFALO BILLS

Team Ranks

• Dime personnel rate: 2.6% (22nd)
• Blitz rate: 15.6% (32nd)

EDGE

• INJURY: Gregory Rousseau left this game late in the first half due to an ankle injury and did not return. He is considered week-to-week.
• Outside of Von Miller, there won't a Buffalo edge rusher who will be as consistently effective as Rousseau and likely won’t get enough playing time to be worth investing a waiver claim in.

DEFENSIVE INTERIOR

LINEBACKER

• WAIVER-WIRE: With Matt Milano out, Terrel Bernard stepped into his full-time role and performed well. In Week 5 when the Bills needed a fill-in linebacker, it was Tyrel Dodson who filled in, but Bernard looks to be getting more of a look now and should be considered a decent waiver option if Milano is going to miss more time.

SAFETY

CORNERBACK

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CAROLINA PANTHERS

Team Ranks

• Dime personnel rate: 0.3% (T-27th)
• Blitz rate: 35.4% (6th)

EDGE

DEFENSIVE INTERIOR

• INJURY: Derrick Brown did not play in the second half due to “illness” but with the Panthers playing on a short week, this will be one to monitor in case he can’t shake it by Thursday.

LINEBACKER

SAFETY

• WAIVER-WIRE: Jeremy Chinn has a chance to play in Week 10 but on a short week, it lowers those chances by a bit. He can be added now for those leagues where he was dropped when he went to IR.

CORNERBACK

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CHICAGO BEARS

Team Ranks

• Dime personnel rate: 1.6% (24th)
• Blitz rate: 16.3% (27th)

EDGE

• POINT OF INTEREST: Trevis Gipson and Al-Quadin Muhammad have clearly settled into the starting edge roles with Robert Quinn out of the picture. Both should be considered volume-dependent producers for IDP purposes, with Gipson offering slightly more pass-rush upside.

DEFENSIVE INTERIOR

LINEBACKER

• POINT OF INTEREST: As highlighted last week, Jack Sanborn was the expected beneficiary of Roquan Smith’s departure and for IDP managers who were waiting on that confirmation, feel free to add him to this week’s waiver claims.

SAFETY

CORNERBACK

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CINCINNATI BENGALS

Team Ranks

• Dime personnel rate: 15.6% (9th)
• Blitz rate: 25.1% (19th)

GAME NOTE: Starters left this game early (near the end of the third quarter) with the score out of hand, so lower snap shares are nothing to be concerned about.

EDGE

DEFENSIVE INTERIOR

LINEBACKER

SAFETY

CORNERBACK

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DETROIT LIONS