IDP Waiver Wire Pickups For Week 5

Oct 06, 2020

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We had our first COVID situation which caused a bit of a scramble. Instead of counting on IDPs from Pittsburgh and Tennessee this week, the game was postponed, and we had to deal with an unexpected bye. In addition to the cancellation, we also had our normal bout with the injury bug.

This week, we saw Darius Leonard, Micah Kiser, and Matt Milano leave early. While we're waiting on the severity of these injuries, Kiser is considered day-to-day, so his injury may not be as serious. Be vigilant and continue to mine the wire and be sure to look to past weeks' waiver pieces for other suggestions.

As we look ahead to Week 5, here are the IDPs I'm suggesting to target on your waiver wire this week.

Linebacker

Kwon Alexander, LB, San Francisco 49ers

By volume alone, Alexander should be owned. Dre Greenlaw is dealing with a quad injury, so I don't think he has to worry about ceding snaps any time soon. He can sometimes struggle with certain plays, but from an IDP standpoint, he sheds blocks and makes tackles. Sometimes his struggles certainly can put him out of position. Until he sees a reduction in snaps, he's a weekly starter. He's coming off a nine tackle game against the Eagles and is producing a 10% tackle rate, which puts him in the LB3/4 range on a weekly basis.

Nick Kwiatkoski, LB, Las Vegas Raiders

Kwiatkoski missed a few games but returned in Week 4. Did your league-mates drop him to make room for other guys? Depending on your bench size, he could be available. Raiders had a few packages with Nicholas Morrow and Zero-LB. Kwiatkoski looked a bit tentative in the early going but locked in as the game went on. He finished with three tackles, however, he's a consistent tackler and he was on his way to a monster game in Week 1 before the injury.

Anthony Walker, LB, Indianapolis Colts

We'll have to check on Darius Leonard this week. He's the Flex-Seal that holds together the glass boat that is the Indianapolis Colts' defense. If he's out, the Colts defense changes, but Walker should slot into his role. After appearing in 86% of the snaps in Week 1, he lost playing time to Bobby Okereke and his usage dipped to 56% and 44% in Weeks 2 and 3. He maintained patience in coverage, and also limited yards after the catch and finished tackles. If Leonard misses any time, Walker looks to fill his role and have an every-down role.

Week 5 Update: With Walker questionable, and Leonard officially out, Bobby Okereke is another wire pick-up.

Tyrel Dodson, LB, Buffalo Bills

Looks like Dodson has risen - like a phoenix rising out of nowhere. Matt Milano is dealing with a pectoral injury and is considered week-to-week, so that puts his status for Week 5 in doubt, or at best in question. Dodson ended up playing in 19 snaps, out-snapping AJ Klein's eight. Dodson has proved more than capable in this spot-start role and is producing a 12.7% tackle rate over his 110 snaps. With a few teams on bye this week and injuries, Dodson is worth a spot start if Milano is out this week.

Kyle Van Noy, LB, Miami Dolphins

KVN has gone Thanos and ripped the dot from Jerome Baker's helmet. He's now the play-caller. Before he took over that role, he had three-straight weeks of double-digit fantasy points, while also recording sacks in two of his last four games. He's more on the edge than a traditional off-ball linebacker - 63.5% of his defensive snaps up on the defensive line. If you've been ravaged by injuries or COVID postponements, KVN is getting the snap volume and as the play-caller, won't be leaving the field - for now.

Green Bay Linebackers: A quick note on the linebacker situation in Green Bay. Although it's not as dire as the Bonnie Situation from Pulp Fiction, I'll give my take. About 20 minutes ahead of kick-off, Rob Demovsky tweeted out some valuable information that he heard Krys Barnes would be the three-down guy over Ty Summers. First off, I'd like to thank Demovsky. Demovsky is connected and delivered a key piece of info - info us IDP'ers have been clamoring for on a consistent basis.

For the first few defensive series, it was looking that way. Then Summers started calling the plays. When all was said and done, Summers out-snapped Barnes 52 to 38, but Barnes suffered a neck stinger. If you were going to target a Green Bay LB, I'd still target Summers just for the simple fact he out-snapped and played Barnes. if you do miss out on Summers, I'd still target Barnes if you're in a deep league. Don't be upset if you swapped off Summers to Barnes. The info came from a legit and credible source. Had I owned Summers and was able to swap off to Barnes, I would have done so. No matter the info, we can't control what happens in-game.