IDP Defensive Playbook - Week 16

Dec 23, 2015

Welcome to your Week 16 IDP Defensive Playbook. Each week, I'll highlight some of the top defensive waiver wire targets, as well as matchups to exploit and avoid in each game. Week 15 is in the books and I hope you have reached your championship game.

Here’s how my picks fared last week:

Quinton Dial, DE, SFO: Six tackles
Andre Branch, DE, JAC: Three tackles/Two defended passes
Demarcus Lawrence, DE, DAL: Seven tackles/One sack
Dee Ford, OLB, KCC: One tackle
Jeord Mayo, ILB, NEP: Six tackles
Bernardrick McKinney, ILB, HOU: Seven tackles/One sack
Eric Reid, FS, SFO: Four tackles/One sack
Jason Verrett, CB, SDC: Four tackles/One defended pass
Jahleel Addae, FS, SDC: Three tackles

Defensive Line

Akiem Hicks, DT, NEP: Hicks has seen an uptick in snaps and has back-to-back week of 19 or more fantasy points. He’s recorded sacks in consecutive games and could be in line for some tackles against the Jets this week.

William Gholston, DE, TBB: Gholston now has three straight games of double-digit fantasy points and is making tackles. He has five or more solo tackles in two straight games and should be busy against Chicago.

Danielle Hunter, DE, MIN: Hunter received 73 percent of the snaps in Week 15 and it resulted in a multi-sack effort. He has sacks in back-to-back games and faces a Giants team that is allowing a sack per game to opposing DLs.

Linebacker

Nathan Stupar, ILB, ATL: If Paul Worrilow misses this week, Stupar makes for an LB3 in tackle heavy leagues this week. He’s coming off a six solo tackle game in Week 15 and the Panthers can be generous to opposing LBs in terms of tackles allowed.

Jasper Brinkley, ILB, NYG: Since Week 10, Brinkley has received 60 percent or more of the snaps in four of the last five weeks and has four straight games of double-digit fantasy points. He’ll be worth looking at against his former team and the Vikings are allowing 15 solo tackles per game to opposing LBs.

Jeremiah Attaochu, OLB, SDC: If you’re looking for a big play LB, Attaochu has six sacks, including sacks in consecutive weeks. The Raiders are allowing almost a sack per game to opposing LBs.

Defensive Back

Michael Thomas, FS, MIA: Thomas has flown under the radar this season. He has four straight games of 10 or more fantasy points and is coming off a huge 13 solo tackle effort in Week 15. He’ll be worth looking at in tackle heavy formats.

DeAngelo Hall, CB, WAS: Hall will be worth using in CB-required leagues this week as he has back-to-back weeks of six or more solo tackles. The Eagles are giving up eight solo tackles and two defended passes per game to opposing CBs.

Kareem Jackson, CB, HOU: Jackson is another target in CB-required leagues in matchup with the Titans. Tennessee will be without Marcus Mariota and there’s upside for an interception this week.