At the mid-way point of the season, your roster is likely set for the most part. There are players likely on waivers who can help you in a championship run. Read more on who these players might be.
Week 8 is now complete and most teams have completed half of their schedule. Injuries have been a bear to deal with this year but waivers have been brimming with names that have filled in admirably. Yet, there are still names that were on waivers before injuries happened that continue to be overlooked whether it be due to position, media market or just being a lesser known name. I will be using @Sleeper for player roster and availability percentages in this article. Lets take a look at some under the radar IDP targets to add to make a championship run.
T.J. Edwards - Philadelphia Eagles
Rostered: 5% of Sleeper Leagues
2020 Stats: 28 tackles (15 solo), 3 tackles for a loss, 1 sack, 2 forced fumbles and a QB hit.
I had T.J. Edwards on my radar to start the season purely because of the fact that the Eagles linebacker unit was one of the most shallow in the league. He earned the starting middle linebacker job to start the season though was slightly underwhelming. In his first four games he totaled 15 total tackles, a tackle for a loss and a forced fumble. Edwards then went on short term IR and missed games 5-7. Though this is uninspiring there is still hope.
Edwards just came off of IR for week 8 and had the best game of his short pro career. He finished the game against the Cowboys with 13 tackles, one tackle for a loss, one sack, a forced fumble and a QB hit. Edwards has a great football IQ and times his blitzes well, as evident in last week's win here:
🚨 FORCED FUMBLE BY A LAKES ALUM TJ EDWARDS CAN DO IT ALL🚨 pic.twitter.com/lekkAFM7cp
— Royal Rush 2020-2021 (@RoyalRush2021) November 2, 2020
The Eagles linebacker unit is even thinner than it was to start the season right now and Edwards should have a prominent role in the defense moving forward. He could be a nice under the radar IDP add to finish the season.
Olivier Vernon - Cleveland Browns
Rostered: 5% of Sleeper Leagues
2020 Stats: 15 tackles (9 solo), 3 tackles for a loss, 2 sacks, 1 pass defended, 1 fumble recovery and 4 QB hits.
Olivier Vernon is definitely not the player he used to be. He is almost 30 years old and has been dealing with various injuries the past couple of seasons. The good news is that he plays in a friendly situation for IDP production. He plays across from one of the most dominant pass rushers in the NFL in Myles Garrett. This allows Vernon more one-on-one match-ups and he still has the talent to win.
His 2020 has started incredibly slow but that again was due to lingering injuries. It looks like he may finally be healthy though. In his last game, week 8, he came away with four tackles, two for a loss, two sacks and two QB hits. He has shown that he still has some pass rush moves left in his bag of tricks. Watch here as here uses a punch and drive to the chest of the offensive lineman here to keep him off balance and win at the line:
Olivier Vernon.#Browns
That's all. pic.twitter.com/HatTnLIeFQ— Sam Penix (@Sam_Penix) July 20, 2020
You will not expect Vernon to have to be a weekly starter for you though his snap share should allow for ample opportunity (averaging 82% of snaps). Vernon could be an under the radar IDP addition to your defensive line for the remainder of the season.
Marquis Haynes - Carolina Panthers
Rostered: 0% of Sleeper Leagues (though I own him in numerous deep leagues)
2020 Stats: 10 tackles (9 solo), 4 tackles for a loss, 3 sacks, 1 pass defended, 1 fumble recovery and 4 QB hits.
Marquis Haynes was a guy who I had in one of my recent defensive lineman streaming articles (read here). That was after a couple of productive games from Haynes and he has now turned into a low floor high upside player. Though he does not make too many tackles, he has eight tackles, four for a loss, three sacks and four QB hits over his last six games. During that span he has also averaged 42.5% of the team's snaps and is ascending.
Haynes has done a solid jump in run defense off of the edge showing great patience and downhill drive against the run. Watch here as he makes a great play on Alvin Kamara:
Nice to see Marquis Haynes make plays, especially on Alvin Kamara.
Standing up, Haynes doesn’t bite on the action in front of him and makes a solid tackle.
Crazy to say that with rookie Yetur Gross-Mayos out, wanna see more from Haynes and Weatherly.pic.twitter.com/WhjdvuRbp6
— Edgar Salmingo, Jr. ✌🏽 (@PanthersAnalyst) October 26, 2020
Where he makes his money though is in his pass rush. Watch here as he uses a stunt move get to the quarterback up the middle:
https://twitter.com/vholmesjr/status/1315197222326239233?s=20
Rookie Yetur Gross-Matos is on IR leaving even more opportunity for Marquis Haynes. He is a great waiver wire pick-up and weekly start in plus match-ups.
Kemoko Turay - Indianapolis Colts
Rostered: 4% of Sleeper Leagues
2020 Stats: N/A
Kemoko Turay is a highly talented edge rusher, he just has a horrible time staying healthy. He has been on the PUP list to start 2020 though he finally has made it back to practice. Since he has been back with the team it has been said that he has looked great. Turay was expected to make a leap this year, our very own @ZmagsIDP wrote about it here. Now seemingly healthy he could easily jump in as the top edge rusher on the team, an are the Colts have been lacking in 2020.
Turay does a great job using his hands to get around offensive lineman. Watch the beautiful swim move he makes here to come up with the sack:
Kemoko Turay picking up right where he left off last week. 🚫 #CHIvsIND
📺 @Fox59 pic.twitter.com/vnFwCdsy0h
— Indianapolis Colts (@Colts) August 24, 2019
Turay also has a solid bull rush move in his arsenal. Watch here as he sits down the offensive lineman for the pressure:
The Colts pass rush has been quite good to start this season, totaling 8 sacks in the first two games. Kemoko Turay, Denico Autry, and notable FA signing Justin Houston have been major factors early on. My film room on the Colts improved pass rush drops tomorrow @StampedeBlue pic.twitter.com/YAXTJbrJvw
— Zach Hicks (@ZachHicks2) September 19, 2019
The Colts have an utterly impressive defense, though they have been lacking in the pass rush category, especially off of the edge. As soon as Turay is activated he should vault straight into the starting lineup.
Haason Reddick - Arizona Cardinals
Rostered: 7% of Sleeper Leagues
2020 Stats: 26 tackles (17 solo), 7 tackles for a loss, 5 sacks, 3 passes defended and 9 QB hits.
Haason Reddick is one of the most infuriating IDP players of all time. He was drafted to be an elite edge rusher...that did not pan out. He was moved to inside linebacker...that also did not pan out. Why not play him as a hybrid of both...now you are talking. Reddick is playing what many like to call the Leo role in a 3-4 defense and they finally got it right. They are calling up hybrid blitz packages for him and he is absolutely thriving.
Watch here as he blitzes off of the edge and easily beats the running back for the sack:
Haason Reddick now has five sacks.
He had five the last two years combined. pic.twitter.com/UcZM3lEzIb
— Rivers McCown (@riversmccown) October 27, 2020
Reddick has also been doing a great job covering running backs out of the backfield as well as dropping back on tight ends, finally showing off his versatility. Watch these couple of clips:
https://twitter.com/CardsGlendale/status/1320537679776215041?s=20
https://twitter.com/CardsGlendale/status/1320532201792888833?s=20
The Cardinals have been creative with their Haason Reddick usage since Chandler Jones went on IR. Over the past two games he has 16 tackles, five tackles for a loss, one pass defended, three sacks and five QB hits over the last two games. During those games he has also been on the field for 77.5% of the team's snaps. As long as the Cardinals stay creative with Reddick he could be an under the radar IDP game changer.
Xavien Howard - Miami Dolphins
Rostered: 4% of Sleeper Leagues
2020 Stats: 18 tackles (14 solo), 8 passes defended and 4 interceptions.
Xavien Howard has always shown lock-down potential in the NFL but could just never stay healthy. Through four and a half seasons he has 16 interceptions, including four interceptions in seven games this season. Through his last five games he has 14 tackles, eight passes defended and four interceptions, and has been terrific for IDP. Howard also has the luxury of playing across from one of the most lock-down corners in the league in Byron Jones. This allows for Howard to be targeted more often.
Howard has incredible ball skills and already has four or more interceptions in three of his five seasons. The only two seasons where he did not reach four interceptions were seasons in which he missed time. Howard does a great job tracking deep balls as you see here:
There aren't too many people who can say they've picked off Tom Brady...
Xavien Howard did it twice in one night#FinsUp https://t.co/3spDzdzhEF
— bobby greasy (@soflojesus) July 23, 2020
Howard also does a great job in press coverage as you can see here:
#TechniqueThursday via Dolphins CB Xavien Howard using patience and technique in press coverage for a 3rd down pass breakup pic.twitter.com/nGc7SQ5cZL
— The Scouting Academy (@TheScoutAcademy) June 25, 2020
Miami has been in some shootouts this year with a surprisingly high octane offense. Howard is the more targeted cornerback on the Dolphins squad and carries weekly value. Since he is a cornerback he is left on waivers in many leagues, even though he has been one of the top fantasy defensive backs over the past five weeks and is still an under the radar IDP target.
Summary
We are heading into the second half of the NFL season and between soft tissue injuries and Covid-19, your roster may still be in shambles. There are plenty of players still left on waivers though that can make a weekly impact on your fantasy rosters. Of the players I have here listed, Haason Reddick is the most rostered at 7%. Almost all of these players are likely still available in your dynasty leagues. All of these players, outside of Olivier Vernon, are 27 years old or younger. This means they still hold excellent dynasty value as well.
