Whether you’ve lost players to injury, are looking for a bye week fill in, or are simply looking to upgrade your IDP’s, the IDP Waiver Wire is here to help you know who to look for in your league’s waiver claims.
DE Jabaal Sheard – Browns
I’ve been holding off writing about Sheard for a few weeks now, and this week it finally felt like the right time to bring his name up. If, like me, you play in an ESPN league, you’ll be pleasantly surprised to find
the Browns rookie designated as a DT rather than a DE. Despite a shaky -1.0 in his first start for the Browns, Sheard has come on tremendously.He posted an overall rating of +10.5 in weeks 1-4 (including his week one -1.0), including a superb +8.1 grade in pass rushing. His pass rushing grade currently stands at 13th among 4-3 DE’s, with a bye in week 5 and week 6’s grades still to be returned (he recorded a sack and a forced fumble in week 6’s contest with Oakland). If your playing in an ESPN league that differentiates DT’s from DL, Sheard simply MUST be rostered. He’s currently the #3 ranked DT (#2 in PPG) and it would be unwise to bet against him finishing among the top 3 DT’s at season’s end. He’s currently only on 6.7% of ESPN rosters as a DT (with the #1 & #2 DT’s Haloti Ngata and Justin Smith owned in 77.6% and 66.4%). As a DE, Sheard’s value diminishes a little which is why I’ve been holding off mentioning him. However his 4 tackles, sack and forced fumble in week 6 really does push him into consideration as a starting DE. Averaging 8.3 points per game, Sheard currently ranks T6th alongside Julius Peppers (also on 8.3 PPG) among DE’s. His total points tally of 41.5 are good enough for T9th among DE’s alongside the Panthers Charles Johnson. Whatever his designated position in your league, Sheard is a sure-fire pick up and as a rookie, should continue to improve as the season progresses.
LB Daryl Smith – Jaguars
Playing OLB for the Jaguars alongside long time IDP stud Paul Posluszny at ILB, Daryl Smith doesn’t really get much credit for his fantasy exploits. However, he currently ranks 3rd among 4-3 OLB’s with an overall grade of +13.3 (+6.2 in coverage and +6.6 against the run). He’s also outscoring teammate Posluszny in fantasy terms (albeit by only 2.5 points). Although many of you will point to Posluszny’s slow start to the 2011 season (16 points in week’s 1-3) as reason for this, the fact remains that Smith has been putting up solid fantasy numbers so far this season, and his strong PFF grades indicate that this is no fluke. His solid tackle numbers (44 total tackles) combined with some big play potential (1 sack & 1 interception) make him a viable fantasy starter. He may not ever match the production of the elite fantasy LB’s, and will more than likely end up being outscored by Posluszny over the rest of the season. But that doesn’t make him any less of a viable starter in fantasy, and shouldn’t be overlooked if he’s languishing on your waiver wire.
CB Brandon Flowers – Chiefs
Conventional fantasy IDP wisdom should be telling you to steer clear of the elite “shutdown” NFL corners. Nnamdi Asomugha, Darrelle Revis, Champ Bailey to name a few. The guy’s that are so good QB’s never throw in their direction, hence removing any chance for them to score you fantasy points. It seemed as if Chiefs CB Brandon Flowers was well on his way to adding his name to that list after a stellar 2010 campaign that saw him rank 3rd in overall rating among CB’s with +18.6. Currently owned in only 2.2% of ESPN leagues, it seems a lot of people have been shying away from Flowers for that very reason. However, Flowers doesn’t seem to be on that prestige list quite yet. In 2010 Flowers was targetted a frankly ridiculous 102 times (ridiculous if you consider how well he was playing, only allowing 51% of passes completed and only 81 yards after the catch). It was widely assumed that this figure would drop in 2011 as QB’s began to shy away from him. Only that hasn’t happened. After giving up 6 TD’s in his first 3 seasons in the league (7 including playoffs), Flowers has already allowed 7 in 2011, including 2 against the Curtis Painter led Colts. His yards after the catch total from 2010 has also already been passed in 2011, with Flowers allowing 83 YAC through the first 5 games. Not to mention his catches allowed figure has shot up from 51% in 2010 to 61.3% in 2011. This regression through the first 5 games in 2011 should mean he continues to be targetted (31 targets through weeks 1-5), and currently ranks 10th among CB’s in PPG with 9.2. If the targets keep coming, there is no reason to think Flowers won’t remain among the top 10 CB’s at the end of the 2011 season.
S Tanard Jackson – Buccaneers
Tanard Jackson returned from suspension in week 6 with 5 total tackles and an interception, good for 12.5 fantasy points. Suspended for most of the 2010 season, along with the first 5 games of 2011 has left him flying under the radar in fantasy circles (owned in only 7% of ESPN leagues). IN PFF’s pre season projections he was classed as a DB2 over the entire 2011 season. With 5 games missed, Jackson would need to be a DB1 the remainder of the season if he is to reach those lofty pre season expectations. But following his week 6 effort, I wouldn’t bet against it. Consider him a DB1 going forward for the rest of the season, and if you find him on the waiver wire this week, add him before someone else does.
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