I haven’t always been “The Godfather of IDP.” But so long as I’ve been writing, dating back to when Scott Fish and I started Fantasy Football Oasis together, I have always written this column—first at FFO, and then at Fantasy Sharks when I started there in 2011.
Over the past 15 years or so I have written over 200 of these columns. Spotlighted over 1,000 potential IDP waiver adds. At least three were actually good. So, when Fantasy Sharks decided to stop producing written content, I knew that IDP Waiver Wire (My IDP Waiver Wire) needed a new home. I reached out to my friend (and yours) Jorge Edwards, and voila—IDP Waiver Wire will be appearing weekly in 2024 here at Fantasy In Frames.
Before we get to it, a couple of quick notes. In order to determine which players are “available.” I generally use IDP leagues that I play in. This time, it was the Huddle IDP Experts League—a long-running league with a relatively standard defensive setup. That league’s draft wrapped on August 21, so it seemed a good starting point for managers whose drafts have also been concluded for a little while.
Also, I’m not generally the type who hammers on the same IDPs every week. This isn’t to say there won’t be a repeat appearance or two as the season moves along where warranted. But my ego needs soothing, so I assume that if someone as awesome as I mentions a player, there is immediately a stampede to grab them like a $3 towel at Walmart on Black Friday.
Whether that’s accurate or not isn’t relevant. If I believe it. It must be true.
Now that the introductions are out of the way, let’s highlight some IDPs who could be available to help shore up your defense as the 2024 fantasy campaign gets underway.
IDP PICKUP OF THE WEEK
LB Troy Reeder, Los Angeles Rams
Apparently, Rams general manager Les Snead likes throwing curveballs, because exactly no one expected the team to give away their leading tackler just before the regular season began. But the trade of Ernest Jones IV to Tennessee did just that. It also sets up sixth-year veteran Troy Reeder as the Rams’ defensive play-caller, and defensive coordinator Chris Shula told reporters he has every confidence Reeder is up to the task.
“Yeah, he’s just a consistent guy. No matter what, consistent demeanor, rarely makes a mistake, very smart and above the neck,” Shula said. “It’s like having a coach on the field so always enjoyed working with him and am excited to continue to do that. He had a good camp. He played fast. He plays hard and kind of the same as he has always been.”
Undrafted rookie Omar Speights was a trendy pickup in many IDP leagues after a stellar preseason, but it’s Reeder who has NFL experience (31 starts over four years with the Rams), including some wearing the “green dot” Reeder’s not an elite talent by any stretch, but if he’s going to be a three-down linebacker he should absolutely be rostered.
WEEK 1 IDP WAIVER WIRE TARGETS
EDGE Jermaine Johnson, New York Jets
With Bryce Huff chasing quarterbacks for the Eagles and Haason Reddick engaged in a nasty holdout with the team, Jermaine Johnson enters his third season as the Jets’ No. 1 edge-rusher. As Mark Cannizzaro wrote for the New York Post, after taking a big step forward last year, Johnson is ready to take on a leadership role with Gang Green.
“My rookie year wasn’t the best, because I felt — and still feel the same way — that I can go out on the field and change games,’’ Johnson said. “But that’s all right. God’s timing is the best timing. It’s worked out the way it was supposed to, and I’m just happy I am where I am. I’m just a big guy on you’ve got to earn your keep and your role on the team through what you do.”
After a quiet rookie year, Johnson looked more like the player the Jets thought they were getting with the 26th overall pick in 2022, logging 55 total tackles and 7.5 sacks in 748 snaps. It appears that the 2021 ACC Defensive Player of the Year will have an even larger role in 2024, putting 60 tackles and 10-plus sacks well within reach.
EDGE Byron Young, Los Angeles Rams
Along with defensive tackle Kobie Turner, Young was a surprise success story as a rookie last year, tallying 61 total tackles and eight sacks. Now the 26-year-old is looking to build off that early success, and Rams head coach Sean McVay told reporters that the 6’2”, 258-pounder stood out in camp as one of the team’s most improved players.
“He’s come a long way. He was a guy that came in, had a good career at Tennessee and I think he’s just continuing to learn how to add some tools to his arsenal, understand those looks to own,” McVay said. “He was arguably one of the more improved players on our football team because he’s got stuff in his body and now it’s continuing to say, hey, repetition is the mother of learning. What’s my primary? What’s my complimentary? Let me master that.”
In addition to those sacks and stops, Young also amassed 51 pressures, logging at least three pressures in 10 of the 18 games he played including the postseason. The Godfather has been talking Young up for months as a player who could be a value on the defensive line this year. It appears that in some IDP leagues at least, he can be had for free.
LB DeMarvion Overshown, Dallas
Overshown’s next NFL snap in a game that counts will be his first, after standing out in camp as a rookie, Overshown tore his ACL last summer and missed the entirety of his rookie season. Now the former Texas standout is fully healthy, and he told Patrik Walker of the team’s website that the adversity he has faced has made him appreciate the game he loves that much more.
“It’s a blessing to be able to strap on my cleats again,” he said. “It’s a lot of guys who called it a career [on cutdowns day] and the day before that. Just being able to do it — I’m already excited about playing football, in general, but doing it with this organization and with my brothers who’ve seen the process of me rehabbing, doing everything I could to get back to playing in regular season games; and all of the emotions, excitement is there. I’m ready to strap ’em up, for real.”
Overshown may not supplant Damone Clark as the No. 2 linebacker for the Cowboys right away—again, he has yet to take a regular season snap. But it’s coming. Coaches and teammates have raved about Overshown dating back to last season. He’s a faster, rangier, more instinctive player than Clark. And in the Godfather’s opinion, he’ll be starting next to Eric Kendricks in relatively short order—so the time to scoop him up is now.
LB Elandon Roberts, Pittsburgh
Had you asked 10 IDP pundits in June who the starter opposite Patrick Queen would be when the Steelers play the Atlanta Falcons in Week 1, exactly zero would have picked Elandon Roberts. But that’s who will be out there, and per Dale Lolley of the team’s website his father said it’s because playing linebacker in black and gold was what his son was born to do.
“He was born to be a linebacker. This kid was born to be a Pittsburgh Steelers linebacker,” Eli Roberts said. “And I say that because when I was coming up we’re looking at Elandon coming up and we’re looking at Pittsburgh and the way they play and their linebackers in the defense, it was just so physical. Like OK, this is Elandon. You’ll watch and say, ‘Don’t go downhill here this time. Boom. He goes downhill. When he makes up his mind to go, he’s gone.’”
Granted, Roberts starting may have more to do with Cole Holcomb opening the season on the PUP list and Payton Wilson’s durability issues following him from college to the pros than Roberts’ destiny, but how he got out there isn’t as important as his being out there. Roberts has quietly eclipsed 100 total tackles each of the past two seasons, and even if he’s a short-term answer for IDP managers with early injury issues that can come in handy to keep a season from starting on the wrong foot.
S Jordan Fuller, Carolina Panthers
The Panthers made a number of changes defensively in the offseason, including the addition of Fuller, who spent the first four seasons of his career with the Los Angeles Rams. As longtime Panthers beat writer Joseph Person wrote for the Athletic, Fuller has wasted no time making a positive impression on Carolina defensive coordinator Ejiro Evero.
“It’s the total package,” Evero said. “He’s a helluva football player. He’s a helluva player from that position, especially because of all the communication and pre-snap thinking you have to do. He can think fast. He can react fast. He can communicate to others quickly. The guy can make really good football plays, as well.”
Fuller has shown he can put a dent in the stat sheet—he quietly topped 90 total tackles last season in Los Angeles and logged 113 total tackles for the Rams back in 2022. The Carolina defense could be spending quite a bit of time on the field this season, and while the linebackers in front of Fuller aren’t terrible, they aren’t Patrick Willis and NaVorro Bowman, either.
S John Johnson III, Los Angeles Rams
Johnson spent the first four seasons of his career with the Rams, starting 48 games over that span before a stint in Cleveland. Johnson re-upped with the Rams late in the 2023 offseason, and as Stu Jackson wrote for the team’s website, Johnson’s return to Los Angeles was music to the ears of teammate Quentin Lake.
“I was happy, because JJ just brings an experience from a veteran’s perspective,” Lake said. “And not only that, he’s a locker room guy, hilarious, brings the guys together, and that’s a guy we needed. So, I was super excited about that, it had me jumping out my seat. I’m excited to see what he’s going to contribute to us, and just excited for what he’s going to do during the season.”
OK, so the format in the league I used as the benchmark for this week’s waiver wire is a little different—it requires three starters at defensive back. And I certainly didn’t plan for almost half of this week’s waiver claims to play for the same team. But the 28-year-old Johnson has logged a trio of 100-tackle seasons for the Rams and Browns, and with Johnson starting behind a suddenly shaky linebacker corps (and Kamren Curl potentially playing more deep safety) there could be the potential for him to post solid tackle numbers once again.
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