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IDP Waiver Wire Pickups: Week 12

Who's Feeding Our Sack Artists?

This list of IDP waiver wire pickups is sorted by position, and then by priorty.

Of course, IDP leagues vary widely by depth, scoring rules, and lineup settings. So to get the best measure of who to pick up in your league, check your Free Agent Finder.

It's the best fantasy football waiver wire assistant you'll find.

Pass Rushers vs. Tommy DeVito

Let’s start this one with a multi-week, general call to play pass rushers vs. the Giants’ new QB.

This year’s squad already allows the league’s sixth-highest pressure rate, according to Pro Football Reference. And our exposure so far to DeVito revealed a charitable organization seeking to benefit underprivileged sackers.

DeVito saw Daniel Jones’ league-high sack rate of 15.8% and accepted the challenge, bumping that up to 17.2% for his appearances.

If he repeats that rate this year, DeVito will sit nearly 4 percentage points above Deshaun Watson’s league “lead.”

Let’s go ahead and chase that until he proves we shouldn’t.

Cameron Heyward, DL, Pittsburgh Steelers

Heyward simply doesn’t appear to be rostered at a high enough rate. He sports just an 8% rostered rate in Sleeper leagues despite ranking 25th among D-linemen in total fantasy points to date (by balanced scoring). 

If he’s available in your league, you should grab Heyward ahead of two Browns matchups over the next three weeks. In between lies a matchup with the Bengals, who have yielded a sack to Heyward in four of their past five meetings.

Arden Key, Edge, Tennessee Titans

Key has been on a heater lately.

After opening the year with just 1 QB hit across his first five contests, Key has racked up 5 sacks and 8 hits across his past five games. That has included at least 1 hit in each contest, and it began with a pair of tough matchups.

Key delivered a sack among 2 hits against the Bills, who sit tied for fewest sacks allowed despite already having played 11 games. He followed that with 2 sacks and 3 hits against the Lions, who have allowed just 1.9 sacks per game for the year.

Next comes a Houston offense that has proved sack-vulnerable lately. The Texans allowed 4+ sacks to three of four opponents before facing the depleted Cowboys on Monday night.

Denico Autry, DL, Houston Texans

Autry’s been mostly quiet statistically – outside of Week 9 against the Jets (2 sacks) – since returning in Week 7. But has tallied at least 1 QB hit in each game and increased his snap count each week. That included Monday night, even though Autry left for a brief first-half injury check.

The real reason he makes this list, though, is because he gets to face Will Levis in Week 12.

Levis has taken 12 sacks in just the two games since he returned from the shoulder injury. His season sack rate (13.1%) trails only Deshaun Watson for league high among qualifiers – and stands nearly 9 percentage points higher than teammate Mason Rudolph’s (4.5%).

Indy is the only opponent (among his six full outings so far) that has failed to sack Levis at least three times. Target him this and every week with pass rushers.

Jack Campbell, LB, Detroit Lions

Campbell had already improved his production and playing time in recent weeks.

He played 92% of snaps or more in three straight games entering Sunday after reaching 80% just once across the first six games. The win over the Jaguars also marked his third game with 9+ total tackles among the past four.

Campbell never topped 7 tackles in a game across the first six and reached 5 solos only twice. 

He gets a boost in role certainty and available tackle opportunities with Alex Anzalone’s forearm fracture. Anzalone appears likely to miss the rest of the regular season.

LB Malcolm Rodriguez is also worth a look in deeper IDP leagues. He played 90% of the snaps Sunday, trailing Campbell by just 2 snaps – despite Anzalone sticking around for 42%.

Kenneth Murray Jr., LB, Tennessee Titans

The Titans lost LB Jack Gibbens to a leg fracture in Sunday’s loss to Minnesota. That could be good news for Murray’s tackle production, though.

Gibbens’ played at least 50% of the defensive snaps in four games this season. Murray – who has played full time all year – averaged just 4.75 total tackles in those games. That included not exceeding 3 solos in any of them.

In six games with less or no Gibbens? Murray has averaged 8.3 total tackles. And he has gone for 5+ solos in five of those contests. Interestingly, Murray also had a tackle for loss in five of those six games compared with zero in the four games Gibbens started.

That’s not quite enough of a sample to draw a direct causal link. But it’s enough to make Murray worth a shot on waivers this week. At the very least, Gibbens – who racked up 37 tackles in just his three full outings after the Ernest Jones trade – leaves opportunities on the field in his wake.

Jerome Baker can also be a lower-level pick up for deeper leagues. He had just one worthwhile fantasy outing before Seattle traded him, though.

Riley Moss, CB, Denver Broncos

Moss delivered 6 solo tackles and 2 passes defensed in Sunday’s lopsided win over the Falcons. It marked his largest solo tally since Week 4 and first breakups since Week 6. 

But we’re grabbing him this week because of the next two matchups. Week 12 brings a visit to the Raiders, who hit Sunday as the second-best matchup for DB scoring by our adjusted fantasy points allowed. The only team ahead of them is the Browns, who await the Broncos in Week 13.

Looking for Waiver Wire Pickups on Offense?

You can find our Week 11 offensive waiver targets here.

Matt Schauf, Editor

Matt has earned two Fantasy Pros accuracy awards for IDP rankings and won thousands of dollars as a player across best ball, dynasty, and high-stakes fantasy formats. He has been creating fantasy football content for more than 20 years, with work featured by Sporting News, Rotoworld, Athlon, Sirius XM, and others. He's been with Draft Sharks since 2011.