It’s the most wonderful time of the year.

No, not Christmas—although that’s coming soon enough. Buy your significant other a new Lexus yet?

That SNL skit makes more sense than those damn commercials.

Hold on, I’m getting sidetracked.

It’s either the fantasy playoffs or the final week of the regular season. That means for the overwhelming majority of fantasy managers, there can be no more losses. From here, things end one of two ways—the disappointment of getting bounced from the postseason or the joy and glory of winning a championship.

Talk about the gift that keeps on giving.

Now, no one wants to be hitting the waiver wire as the playoffs get underway. But as we saw in Week 14 with Dallas (sniffle) Cowboys linebacker DeMarvion (sob) Overshown, injuries keep right (BWAHHHHHH!!!) happening no matter what time of year it is.

Sorry, that one really hit hard—including in the King’s Classic Butkus Division, where yours truly busted his arse getting a team from 4-7 to 7-7 and in the postseason as the No. 6 seed.

It’s a different game now, so the rules are a bit different here as well—you’ll see some names you have seen before, and the concern is less long-term than Week 15.

But all of these players are available in my Deathmatch IDP League, and if they are available there, they are likely as not available in your fantasy league.

DEFENSIVE LINEMEN

EDGE Leonard Floyd, San Francisco: Floyd is quietly having an excellent season for the 49ers—if he can log 1.5 sacks over the season’s last month, he’ll hit 10 for the second season in a row. Over the last month, Floyd has been a top-five defensive end in many scoring systems, and while the 32-year-old’s Week 15 matchup isn’t great, he’s about as hot as any edge-rusher in the league right now.

EDGE Alex Highsmith, Pittsburgh: Highsmith has been injured for a good chunk of the 2024 season, but the 27-year-old was back in action last week against the Browns, logging three tackles, two sacks, two tackles for loss, and a pair of QB hits. This week Highsmith and the Steelers take on a Philadelphia Eagles team that s been a surprisingly favorable matchup for edge-rushers this year—ninth in fantasy points given up to the position.

EDGE Matthew Judon, Atlanta: Might as well stick with the veteran set. Like Floyd, Judon is the wrong side of 30. His first season with the Falcons hasn’t gone according to plan, either. But as recently as 2022, Judon amassed a 15.5-sack season, and the ninth-year veteran has warmed up of late, with sacks in two of his last three games. He also draws a Raiders team in Week 15 that has allowed the sixth-most fantasy points to edge-rushers this season.

LINEBACKERS

LB Luke Gifford, Tennessee: This one carries a caveat—if Kenneth Murray Jr. (hamstring) is able to return to action this week, then Gifford will be cast back into IDP irrelevance. But Murray didn’t practice at all last week, and given the nature of hamstring injuries and the state of the Titans it’s not hard to imagine Gifford getting another week as Tennessee’s defensive signal-caller. In Week 14, that equated to a dozen total tackles.

LB Marist Liufau, Dallas: A third round rookie out of Notre Dame, it was Liufau who took over opposite Eric Kendricks when Overshown injured his knee against the Cincinnati Bengals Monday night. Liufau finished that game with two total tackles and 1.5 sacks, and while it’s far from a sure thing that he’ll see the same every-down role that Overshown did, that productivity can’t be ignored—especially with the waiver wire threadbare at IDP’s most important position.

LB Jahlani Tavai, New England: Tavai was a casualty of last week’s Byepocalypse in some IDP leagues, but he’s the closest thing the Patriots have to an every-down linebacker, with a snap share north of 80 percent in each of his last five games. Tavai hasn’t had more than four solos in a game in a month, but he’s shown capable of the occasional big stat line and three-down linebackers are awfully hard to come by 14 weeks into the season.

DEFENSIVE BACKS

CB Christian Izien, Tampa Bay: Izien has been in and out of Tampa’s lineup this season in multiple roles, whether it was as more of a traditional safety or manning the slot. Izien’s Week 14 numbers weren’t all that impressive, but that may well have had more to do with the sad state of the Raiders offense than Izien himself. The second-year pro has hit double-digit tackles twice this season, and his eligibility as a cornerback with some providers offers a measure of “loophole” appeal.

S Joshua Metellus, Minnesota: The safeties in the Twin Cities haven’t been as productive for IDP managers as they were a year ago, but with linebacker Ivan Pace on the shelf the Vikings have gone back to running more three-safety looks. That has led to a bump in statistical production for Metellus, who has logged 17 total tackles and an interception over the past two weeks ahead of this week’s home date with the rival Bears.

S Taylor Rapp, Buffalo: Rapp was all over the place in Sunday’s shootout loss to the Los Angeles Rams, tying for the team lead in total tackles with 13. It wasn’t just a one-off—since Week 9, Rapp has been a top-five fantasy defensive back in fantasy points per game, and there’s a good chance he stays on a roll in Sunday’s big matchup with the Detroit Lions—another game with more than a little shootout potential. This is Rapp’s second straight week here—get while the getting’s good.

For more of our IDP Waiver Wire content throughout the season, click here!

Gary Davenport (“The Godfather of IDP”) is a two-time Fantasy Sports Writers Association Football Writer of the Year. Follow him on Twitter (Can’t make him call it X) at @IDPSharks