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IDP Waiver Wire Pickups: Week 15

Could Cowboys LB Injury Propel a DB?

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.

D.J. Wonnum, Edge, Carolina Panthers

Wonnum has appeared in four games after losing half the year to his recovery from offseason quad surgery. He has delivered a sack and 5+ total tackles in three of those outings. 

And even the remaining contest found him notching a QB hit among 5 total pressures against the Buccaneers.

Wonnum makes sense for Week 15 against a Cowboys offense that’s presented a positive scoring matchup for D-linemen even with Cooper Rush taking just 10 sacks across his five starts. 

That has included a 5-sack game vs. Houston and 3 sacks Monday night by the Bengals.

Odafe Oweh, Edge, Baltimore Ravens

Oweh oddly played a season-low 15 snaps in the Week 13 loss to the Eagles, before last week’s bye. I haven’t seen any indication of injury or demotion, though. And Oweh had racked up 3.5 sacks and 9 QB hits over just the previous three games.

I’ll watch for any signal of a diminished Week 15 role. But assuming he’s ready for regular use again, Oweh gets a high-upside matchup with the Giants.

That’s obviously not only a good spot for him, but also for any other Ravens pass rusher that might make sense for your IDP format. (Let’s watch Kyle Van Noy’s injury status this week.)

If Oweh rebounds this week, then he’ll get a Week 16 rematch with the Steelers, who afforded him 2.5 sacks among 4 QB hits in their Week 11 meeting.

Kyzir White, LB, Arizona Cardinals

White might have hit Sunday available in shallower IDP leagues, thanks to modest tackles numbers over the previous four games. 

But he followed a solid outing at Minnesota in Week 13 with 13 total tackles (including 9 assists) in Sunday’s loss to Seattle. 

The bigger reason to grab him ahead of Week 15 is a matchup with the Patriots, who entered Sunday supplying the fourth-most fantasy points per game to LBs.

Akeem Davis-Gaither, LB, Cincinnati Bengals

Logan Wilson landed on IR ahead of Week 14, which knocks him out for at least the rest of most fantasy seasons.

Davis-Gaither then led the team with 8 tackles and added a pass defensed while making his second straight start.

His playing time dipped to 88% against Dallas, but that followed a 99% snap share, 13 tackles, and a QB hit in Week 13.

Davis-Gaither now gets high-upside matchups with Tennessee and Cleveland the next two weeks – the nos. 5 and 1 most-friendly opponents for LB scoring by our adjusted fantasy points allowed.

Micah McFadden, LB, New York Giants

McFadden stepped into the team’s lead LB role Sunday – with Bobby Okereke out – and delivered. 

McFadden  racked up a huge 5 tackles for loss against New Orleans, more than doubling his season total (now 8). 

Even if your format doesn’t give extra points for a tackle for loss, it can only be a good performance signal for a LB to make that many plays behind the line. And you still would have benefited from McFadden’s game-high 11 tackles (8 solo). 

Okereke missed practice all week with his back injury, making him no sure bet to return for Week 15. Even if he does, McFadden will still be potentially playable at his usual 75-80% snap share.

Donovan Wilson, S, Dallas Cowboys

The Cowboys lost LB DeMarvion Overshown for the rest of the season in the fourth quarter of Monday night’s loss to the Bengals.

That’s likely to elevate rookie Marist Liufau to the No. 2 LB role behind Eric Kendricks. But we’ll still have to wait another game to see what his role looks like and whether he’ll offer useful production.

The greater fantasy impact could actually come with Wilson.

Will He Get Closer to the Ball?

Wilson had already solidified his playing time recently, playing 94% of snaps or more in four of his past five outings. According to Pro Football Focus, that included Wilson’s two largest snap totals of the season in the slot the past two weeks.

That can be a high-upside role for a DB, but Wilson has still split most of his time between free safety and playing in the box.

The “box” portion of that has increased since the Week 7 bye. And losing a key playmaker at LB should only motivate more time in the box for Wilson – especially now that Dallas has its top three CBs healthy together.

Wilson delivered his best fantasy score of the season against Cincinnati and could easily be in for more at Carolina and home for Tampa Bay the next two weeks.

Ar’Darius Washington, DB, Baltimore Ravens

Washington has shifted from serving as Baltimore’s lead slot CB to starting safety in Marcus Williams’ place over the past three games.

He has delivered 8+ tackles in two of those three contests and racked up 3 tackles for loss in that span – without a single pass-rushing rep. 

Washington now gets a high-upside matchup with the Giants. They’re yielding the fifth-most fantasy points per game to DBs and allowed the Saints to tally 13 passes defensed in Week 14.

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.