With Week 8 behind us, it’s time to look ahead for our fantasy football leagues. This coming week marks the halfway point of the regular season!
The IDP report will provide an early look at several waiver wire priorities of varying league sizes, along with preliminary Week 9 IDP rankings. Since all leagues are different sizes and have differing IDP requirements, the weekly rankings might be more beneficial than the waiver list.
As usual, the rankings are a reflection of IDP Flex rankings for tackle-heavy formats.
Josh Paschal, DE, Detroit Lions
The pickings are slim among DL for waivers. If you need one, hopefully you drafted one and some depth to go with it. Unlike the other spots, talent matters to get sacks, while tackles tend to come to anyone who plays a decent allotment of snaps.
All this to say, Josh Paschal almost was the addition to highlight last week. He is this week, despite missing Week 8 due to illness. In the first game without Aidan Hutchinson, the former second-round pick saw his playing time exceed 80% of snaps, and he posted a solid four tackles and a sack. If you’re hurting at DL, he’d make for a solid plug-and-play.
Daiyan Henley, LB, Los Angeles Chargers
Spoiler alert — this is not the only time in this article I’ll be highlighting Henley, so for the purposes of this waiver addition, let’s discuss why even in the shallowest of leagues he needs to be rostered.
Hope you listened! Another week, even bigger splits. Henley played every snap for LAC while Perryman fell to 35% and Colson to 15%. Henley is a high end LB2 for IDP going forward while the other two need to be on fantasy manager’s benches #FFIDP https://t.co/tROPGwdSIT
— Justin Frye (@JFryeDP) October 30, 2024
I’m sharing my own tweet, but the Chargers have finally settled on their top LB, and it’s clearly Henley. He’s yet to fall below 67% of snaps in a game and reached 100% this past week for the first time with all three of their main LBs healthy. Meanwhile, teammates Denzel Perryman and Junior Colson both played their lowest percentages of any game this year.
Christian Elliss, LB, New England Patriots
As a Patriots fan, Elliss was nearly a deep recommendation last week. He’d finally gotten the opportunity in Week 7 and played pretty well for the defense, jumping to a new season-high snap percentage of 69%. That jumped again to 84% in Week 8, and he played the most snaps of any Patriot LB against the Jets.
Not surprisingly, those two games were far and away Elliss’ most productive IDP performances of the season. He totaled nine tackles in each of those games. The Patriots also used him as a blitzer against the Jets, as he got two QB hits and a sack in the game. Elliss is a solid depth option who’s in play in deeper leagues for the rest of the season.
Brandon Jones, S, Denver Broncos
The Broncos’ safeties were a big question mark for IDP coming into the year. Through eight weeks, we don’t have clearly defined roles. However, one of the two safeties is now emerging into a viable weekly play where a DB or safety is required for your IDP league.
Brandon Jones has popped off with playing time before, especially playing in a box-heavy role. Now, he’s playing a hybrid role with teammate PJ Locke, and Jones has posted his three highest tackle performances in the last month. He’s been at 12 tackles in two of those matchups, as well as eight in a third — definitely a playable DB going forward.
Week 9 Fantasy Football IDP Rankings
1) Bobby Wagner, LB | WAS (at NYG)
2) Roquan Smith, LB | BAL (vs. DEN)
3) Robert Spillane, LB | LV (at CIN)
4) Ivan Pace Jr., LB | MIN (vs. IND)
5) Logan Wilson, LB | CIN (vs. LV)
6) Tyrel Dodson, LB | SEA (vs. LAR)
7) Brian Branch, S | DET (at GB)
8) Derwin James Jr., S | LAC (at CLE)
9) Foyesade Oluokun, LB | JAX (at PHI)
10) Eric Kendricks, LB | DAL (at ATL)
11) Nick Bolton, LB | KC (vs. TB)
12) T.J. Edwards, LB | CHI (at ARI)
13) Frankie Luvu, LB | WAS (at NYG)
14) Budda Baker, S | ARI (vs. CHI)
15) Lavonte David, LB | TB (at KC)
16) Kyle Hamilton, S | BAL (vs. DEN)
17) Nakobe Dean, LB | PHI (vs. JAX)
18) Kyzir White, LB | ARI (vs. CHI)
19) Germaine Pratt, LB | CIN (vs. LV)
20) E.J. Speed, LB | IND (at MIN)
21) Antoine Winfield Jr., S | TB (at KC)
22) Maxx Crosby, DE | LV (at CIN)
23) Julian Love, S | SEA (vs. LAR)
24) Joshua Metellus, S | MIN (vs. IND)
25) Quincy Williams, LB | NYJ (vs. HOU)
26) Daiyan Henley, LB | LAC (at CLE)
27) Tyler Nubin, S | NYG (vs. WAS)
28) Zaire Franklin, LB | IND (at MIN)
29) Jamien Sherwood, LB | NYJ (vs. HOU)
30) Jessie Bates III, S | ATL (vs. DAL)
31) Tre’von Moehrig, S | LV (at CIN)
32) Ernest Jones, LB | SEA (vs. LAR)
33) Zack Baun, LB | PHI (vs. JAX)
34) Jordyn Brooks, LB | MIA (at BUF)
35) Trevin Wallace, LB | CAR (vs. NO)
36) Xavier McKinney, S | GB (vs. DET)
37) Grant Delpit, S | CLE (vs. LAC)
38) Tremaine Edmunds, LB | CHI (at ARI)
39) Quay Walker, LB | GB (vs. DET)
40) Kenneth Murray Jr., LB | TEN (vs. NE)
41) Brandon Jones, S | DEN (at BAL)
42) Cody Barton, LB | DEN (at BAL)
43) Myles Garrett, DE | CLE (vs. LAC)
44) Dorian Williams, LB | BUF (vs. MIA)
45) Nick Cross, S | IND (at MIN)
46) Jalen Thompson, S | ARI (vs. CHI)
47) Jordan Whitehead, S | TB (at KC)
48) Jalen Pitre, S | HOU (at NYJ)
49) Alex Anzalone, LB | DET (at GB)
50) Camryn Bynum, S | MIN (vs. IND)
51) Kam Curl, S | LAR (at SEA)
52) Reed Blankenship, S | PHI (vs. JAX)
53) Bobby Okereke, LB | NYG (vs. WAS)
54) Justin Reid, S | KC (vs. TB)
55) Xavier Woods, S | CAR (vs. NO)
56) Kaden Elliss, LB | ATL (vs. DAL)
57) DeMarvion Overshown, LB | DAL (at ATL)
58) Demario Davis, LB | NO (at CAR)
59) Mack Wilson Sr., LB | ARI (vs. CHI)
60) Christian Elliss, DE | NE (at TEN)
Top IDP Players To Start in Week 9
Foyesade Oluokun, LB, Jacksonville Jaguars
Well, that return certainly changed up how we need to view the Jaguars LBs going forward. Ventrell Miller and Devin Lloyd go from must-start to unplayable if they both are going to be 50% types. Meanwhile, star LB Foyesade Oluokun is right back among the top 10 overall IDP players.
Coming off four missed games, Oluokun saw his highest snap percentage of the year. After the Jaguars originally were rotating all their LBs, it appears they decided to leave Chad Muma out of the rotation now. This leads to Oluokun being a top-10 type, and a solid weekly bet to hit the nine tackles he got in Week 8.
Daiyan Henley, LB, Los Angeles Chargers
Like I said above, wasn’t the only time we’d feature Daiyan Henley in this article, and for good reason. Henley’s consistency was in question when the rotation was a three-way timeshare. With Henley appearing to secure a full-time role and the other two rotating in next to Henley, he becomes a lineup lock as an LB2.
Henley has played 100% of the Chargers’ defensive snaps in two games on the season. In those two games, he averaged 11.5 tackles, including 7.5 solo tackles if your league differentiates between tackles. A must-add and near-must-start, the IDP breakout is on for one of my favorite LBs from the 2023 class.