IDP Waiver Wire: Week 12 Pickups and Matchup Plays

Nov 21, 2018

I just wanted to thank everyone for reading the article every week and following along on Twitter. I wish everyone a very Happy Thanksgiving. I can't believe we're at this point of the season already, but here we are. The bye weeks are dwindling, and we have a nice plateful of games on the Thanksgiving holiday. After their Monday night explosion, the Rams and Chiefs are on bye this week, so we'll be without the services of Anthony Hitchens, Chris Jones, Cory Littleton and Aaron Donald (just to name a few) this week. Hope everyone enjoys the three F's - food, family and football. As we move closer to Week 12, here are the defenders you should be targeting.

Week 12 IDP Waiver Wire

Defensive Line

Maurice Hurst, DT, Oakland Raiders (33 snaps/61 percent)

The rookie has shown flashes over the last few weeks for a hapless Oakland defense. He's recorded sacks in consecutive games and has notched nine tackles in that span. He's recording a 12.5 percent tackle rate over those last two weeks and is worth looking at in DT-premium leagues.

Carl Nassib, DE, Tampa Bay Buccaneers (47 snaps/89 percent)

He can sack the QB and tackle your financial portfolio. Nassib has recorded 4.5 sacks over the last five games for the Bucs and is generating a 13 percent QB pressure rate over the last three games, so he's finding a way to disrupt the QB. He's not recording many tackles, so he's strictly someone to target in big play scoring where tackles are devalued to big plays.

Jerry Hughes, DE, Buffalo Bills (Bye week)

If you find Hughes on your wire, this is a great week to pick him up, especially for the matchup with Jacksonville. Hughes has been under-rated from a pass rush standpoint, as he's generating a high-pressure rate - 19.5 percent to be exact. He leads the Bills in total pressures (50), so let's hope for a multi-sack game against Ereck Flowers this week. He should be in a position to make tackles to improve upon his 7.2 percent tackle rate.