Injuries

General Player Notes





Defensive Linemen

Linebackers

Defensive Backs

Hello and welcome back to the IDPGuru.com's most popular in-season article, IDP Waiver Wire Pickups, which will be releasing every Tuesday of the regular season.Although I'm happy to answer questions posted via the website comments section, IDP Forum , and email, I'm often quickest to respond via Twitter. So if you have IDP questions, it's a good idea toI also recommend heading over to Covers.com if you are looking for insight into NFL odds for a specific game.Let's start things off by going through some IDP news, notes, and commentary from Week 5 of the NFL season.suffered a left tibial plateau fracture and will miss the remainder of the season. Wow.In another devasting blow to their defense, the Texans also lost edge rusherfor the year with a torn pectoral.suffered a knee injury in the Raider's 30-17 loss against the Ravens. The extent of the injury is not yet known.also exited the game with an injury so the Raiders may be quite thin at the position in Week 6. This is a situation to monitor throughout the week as it could provide us with a useful, last-minute LB fantasy option for those in desperation mode.finally returned from injury and played every down last week while racking up 8 total tackles. He's safe to put back in your starting lineups.has missed the last three games as he's struggled to get over a concussion suffered in Week 2. It was recently reported that he finally passed the concussion protocol, so his chances of returning this week have definitely gone up.pulled a hamstring in the Packers' win over the Cowboys. He's struggled with soft tissue injuries in the past so I wouldn't be surprised if he misses at least a week. If that were the case, you should definitely bump rookieup the DB rankings.has been playing at an elite level this year and it's shown in the box scores as he's been a top-tier fantasy linebacker the last couple weeks with bothandout. Both of those veterans have a decent chance of returning this week which will likely bump Beckwith back to the strong side and greatly diminish his fantasy value. He's someone to definitely sell high in redraft leagues as he's no more than an LB3- once those guys return.was only on the field for 50% of the defensive snaps as he was still working his way back from injury. He still managed 5 solo tackles in limited playing time and should be back close to playing 100% of the snaps next week.was back to playing full-time at inside linebacker and led the group in tackles. He should be a solid LB3 for the remainder of the year.once again was splitting snaps with. However, both players became every-down players onceleft the game with an injury. Casillas is currently listed as "day-to-day" with a burner (nerve injury). If he were to miss any time, Goodson should be a safe start. However, if Casillas is back in the starting lineup, Goodson's fantasy outlook becomes more muddled as there's a chance he continues to only play ~70% of the defensive snaps.For the third week in a row,played every down over. It seems like there is finally a changing of the guard in Carolina and that Thompson will finally be a full-time linebacker next toweek-to-week variation in playing time continued last week as he saw less than 70% of the snaps compared to the week prior where he was on the field for every play. He's going to be an up and down fantasy player this year but he should net out in the top 30 over the course of a full season.Now onto The Guru's IDP waiver wire selections for Week 6!- Garrett finally made his professional debut after missing the first quarter of the season with an injury. He got things off on the right foot by generating a sack in his first NFL snap. He followed that up with another sack later in the game. Granted, he was going against the Jets poor excuse for an offensive line, but this kid is the real deal. He has the talent and skill set to be pretty dominant right away (i.e. Joey Bosa), so if he's still available in your league I would grab him. He's a top 15-20 DL rest of season in my book.- Clark is someone I mentioned in my article last week as a player that could quickly become a hot IDP commodity if Cliff Avril were to miss any time. Well, Avril is going to miss time and Clark has now been forced into playing a ton of snaps. He came through with 3 solos, a sack, a forced fumble, and a pass deflection. He's on bye this coming week but has a very attractive matchup in Week 7 against the Giants. This said he's probably worth grabbing this week and stashing if you have the bench space. At a minimum, he's someone you should keep top of mind for the waiver wire next week. Consider him a DL2- while Avril is out.Irving wasted no time getting back into the box scores in a big way in Week 5 after missing the season's first four games due to a PED violation. The Cowboys used him more than anticipated (45 snaps) and he responded with five total tackles and two sacks. Given how much offensive attention is being focused on DeMarcus Lawrence right now, Irving has a very good opportunity to continue his strong play for the rest of the season. He's on bye this week but is someone to keep in mind for Week 7, particularly in DT-required leagues.- This is more of a reminder than anything, but if Reuben Foster is still available in your league, now is the time to scoop him up. He's going to be an elite fantasy linebacker once he returns (which could be as early as this week depending on if/how much he can practice throughout the week).- Trevathan returns from his one-game suspension this week. He's still available in a decent amount of leagues given he was playing second fiddle to Jerrell Freeman earlier in the year and then missed a game due to that illegal hit on Davante Adams in Week 4. He should be a clear-cut LB2 moving forward however and deserves serious waiver wire consideration as he should have no problem racking up fantasy points on a defense devoid of any tackle competition.Martinez still isn't an every-down player as he's coming off the field for about 20% of the team's defensive snaps. But he's been very productive on a per snap basis, racking up 37 total tackles over five games. He should see 80%+ of the snaps this week against a Vikings team that doesn't use a lot of multiple receiver sets. This makes him a decent LB3 option in 10-12 team leagues.Pullard has surprisingly been one of the league's most efficient linebackers in terms of tackles per snap this season. His ceiling is fairly limited as a two-down linebacker playing alongside Jatavis Brown, but with him averaging over 7 tackles per game, it's time for us to take some notice. He's a solid LB4+/LB3- until Denzel Perryman returns from injury in the second half of the season.The Lions play a lot of three safety sets so it can get difficult to decipher which safeties have the most value week-to-week. Both Wilson and Killebrew project as strong tackle producing safeties; however, it's Wilson that is the every-down player next to Glover Quin so he's the defensive back I would target. He's a top 25 fantasy DB in balanced and tackle-heavy scoring formats.- Evans, a second-round draft selection this year, had his coming out party on Thursday Night Football, racking up an impressive 8-1, INT, 2 PDs stat line. He may head back to the bench once T.J. Ward and/or Keith Tandy return to the lineup, but that may be another week away from happening. As long as he's starting for the Bucs, he should be in your fantasy lineups.- I highlighted Amos as a pickup in last week's article and he came through in spades with 8 solo tackles on Monday night. He's still available in a lot of leagues, so I'm throwing him out there again as someone that could be a stable addition to your IDP lineup as a third defensive back.If you have any questions, feel free to email me at theidpguru@idpguru.com or follow me on Twitter . Also, feel free to post any questions or comments for me in the comments section of this post.October 10, 2017