IDP Fantasy 2011 Free Agent Moves - Toler, Cromartie, Joseph, Session, Babin, Spikes, Mikell, Josh Wilson, Pollard???

• Texans were 30th in defense, 32nd against the pass. Joseph and Manning will start for sure. FS Glover Quin and CB Kareem Jackson should, 2. Where does this put Bernard Pollard? CB Joseph in Houston going to be huge for IDP.

• Clint Session signing with Jaquars next to Posluszny sure does make an interesting LB corp. Very excited about Pat Angerer left in Colt land though.

• Early hunch, but Rams may use Mikell at FS and that would keep the terrific sleeper value of Craig Dahl at SS intact for IDP 

• I like Takeo Spikes signing in San Diego. I'm not drafting him though. Between the history of trying to guess which SD linebacker will go off + Spikes age & change of scenery, I'd much rather grab Paris Lenon who has performed everywhere he's been in the past 4 years.

• Josh Wilson as a Redskin is something to watch. Seems dull, but he will be thrown at, unlike Carlos Rogers. I think this definitely drops DeAngelo Hall down the rankings as he is no longer across from a "semi" shutdown corner. Otogwe at FS is feeling more and more like a good pick to me. Lots of production out of both Redskin safety positions.

• I'm loving CB Greg Toler as a sleeper this year. Please just keep him quiet in the news, don't let the Cardinals pick up anyone and I'll gladly take him.  I'm feeling him as the second best CB behind Charles Woodson, but I hope no one else views him that way in our leagues.

Credit to Maze for asking the following questions: (lets answer them together in the comments)

Keeping my eye on: CBs: Prince Amukamara (NYG): Does he have value? What will it do to Terrell Thomas's value? Patrick Peterson (ARI): Will the starters be him and DRC? Is Toler worthless, you think? Ras I Dowling (NE): Will he start right away? How does his prescence effect Devin McCourty? DTs: Nick Fairley (DET): Does Suh's production go down? Does he increase the value of Kyle Vanden Bosch? Does he have value at the DT position himself or will he only play a fraction of the snaps? Marcel Dareus (BUF): Is Buffalo running a 34 anymore? Does he decrease the value of Kyle Williams? Increase the value of Chris Kelsay? LBs: I understand a lot of this will depend on which position players are listed at . For instance, I think Von Miller has a ton of value as a DE, but very little as a LB. Robert Quinn (STL): 43 end right? Von Miller (DEN): Will he play mostly 43 end, or are they trying to play him at LB? Ss: Are there any Safeties that have value as rookies like T.J. Ward did last year? I am also curious as to what you think of some of the offseason moves some teams have made such as New Orleans bringing in Shaun Rogers, New England getting Marcus Stroud, Washington getting Atogwe. That's all I can think of right now, but I look forward to your answers. -- Maze

IDP Week 2 NFL Fantasy Football 2009 Waiver Wire Pick Ups

IDP Week 2 - Digging for Waiver Wire Gold

DBs (Corners & Safeties)
Starting out in Detroit with new corner Anthony Henry
He finished with 10 solos 2 assts 1 INT and 1 deflection WOW!!!  So that tells you 2 things. The first is it's always worth a shot to start a decent corner against New Orleans. The second is Henry is worth a pickup regardless. Let's face it. All teams in the league feel they can do anything they want to Detroit so the throwing will not slow down on this team. 


Sticking with the same team, I really like SS L. Delmas for the Lions this year. He's going to get a lot of tackles on Detroit, both run & pass.  Against NO, in his first game as a pro, he got 6 tackles, 1 pd and 1 fumble recovery (for a touchdown, no less!). Not a bad first day of work straight out of school. Next week, he gets Minnesota who SS A. Elam (Browns) did very well against week 1 and Mr. "All Day" will only need to put in a half day against the Lions as C. Taylor will come in & earn his second string paycheck. Farve is a dinker and dunker to C. Taylor, V. Shianco and Harvin so SS Delmas should get the same opportunities that Elam (7-1 & a sack). Delmas is my highest recommendation of pickup and play this week.



The other rookie name that I think is a little better than L. Delmas (for the year, not this week) is Oakland's SS T. Branch. who finished with 8 solos 1 asst & 1 pd against the Chargers week 1. While you're in those same box scores, take a look at CB Chris Johnson's #'s. He's "the other corner" on the Raiders and will be VERY heavily targeted all year long. He finished with 7 tckls 1 asst and 2pd week 1. He'll be on WR Mark Bradley this week, in all probability, who Croyle liked throwing too. I just don't know how much the Raiders will be on D. These teams are pretty evenly matched and I don't see one defense being on the field significantly more than the other. It won't be near as lop-sided as the Det./Minn. game for instance. The Detroit d-linemen are going to need oxygen and I.Vs of fluids hooked up to their "Marathon running" butts Sunday.

So who has New Orleans next week? Philly.  And I recommend picking up Eagle corner Sheldon Brown. He got 2 INTs against Carolina week 1 and New Orleans will try to avoid Assante Samuel. Whether or not he gets an interception week 2,  I believe he'll get the tackles. Keep in mind the goal of this blog, however. I'm recommending guys I believe will be on your waiver wire. If by some miracle Samuel or Q.Mikell are on your wire, grab them first, but Sheldon Brown could be a sneaky play for next week if they are not available on your wire.

DB PICK UP OF THE WEEK is KC safety Mike Brown. The only reason Mike Brown is my "official" pick up of the week over Delmas is because you'll want to use him regularly all year. Though he will be a good play against the Raiders this week, I don't think KC will be on defense as much agaist the Raiders as Detroit will be vs. the Vikings. That's the only thing that gives Delmas the edge this week. Currently, Mike Brown is flying under the radar & you need to grab him if you play with other savvy people in your league. If you do not and your in a neighborhood "yahoos" league. Get Delmas & use him this week and drop him for M. Brown next week.


They cut very good SS Bernard Pollard for him so they must have seen something special (or else that head Coach is just plain nuts. Time will tell on that one because the one issue with Mike Brown is he's been injured more often than Bob Sanders. So keep that in mind.) They made this move just before the season started so there's a good chance Brown is still on your wire.  He had 8 solos and 4 assts week 1. Week 2, he gets Oakland and he will see lots of J. Russell's favorite target Zach Miller as well as plenty of tackles opportunities since KCs defensive line is NOT GOOD and their LBs are bad outside of D. Johnson. He has a decent chance for an INT too this week so the bottom line is you'll be fine between him & Delmas. Mike Brown will have a lot of opportunities this year and had a great nose for both the football & endzone when he played for Chicago.

LBs (Linebackers)
Urlacher down; Hillenmeyer Up - there's a new middle linebacker in "my kind of town":, Chicago. Urlacher is out for the season and that sucks for all NFL fans around the country. However, it brings some hope to the IDP world. Let's all be honest with ourselves in the Fantasy Football world. Although we are all human and do feel bad for a guy who works so hard in the off season to get ready for run at the Lambardi Trophy, all FF's count on injury as part of our game plan.  I won my season league last year riding both of Denver's LBs Winborn and Woodyard. So how will Hillenmeyer do? Good enough that Lance Briggs has already stated that he's staying where he is and feel fully confident in Hillenmeyer at MLB. However, it is a little disconcerning that he finished with the same amount of tackles as backup RB Garrett Wolfe (2). Urlacher went out fairly early in the game and I would have thought Hillenmeyer would have finished with at least 4 tackles. At this point, I would rank him as I would Bengal's Dhani Jones. And just like D. Jones, I would go get Bengal's Maualuga instead and put him on my bench sooner than Hillenmeyer. In otherwords, don't get too excited about this "new toy". He doesn't have much upside. Obviously, watch and see, but my gut says "Pass" on this one. 
 
Let's start in last years fantasy gold for waiver wire studs - Denver. I'm sure many of you who played last year fondly remember Winborn and Woodyard putting up monster numbers in place of DJ Williams and Nate Webster. The lucky candidate this year is Andra Davis. He's in position to make more tackles than fantasy stud DJ Williams and I fear this may be the case this year (I hope I'm wrong since DJ is on my team).  But doesn't that make Andra a very worthy guy to snatch and watch?

From there, we go to whoever is playing the New York Giants. Next week, it is the Cowboys where Keith Brooking is playing the role that Zack Thomas played last year on the Cowboys (the pre-retirement home for Linebackers). And he put Z. Thomas like numbers up week 1. Next week, he will do VERY well against the run first Giants. If Keith Brooking is available on your wire, grab him and use him this week. Look for him to put up LB #3 type numbers. (7 solos 2 assts 1 pass deflection)


DO NOT PICK UP Bills SLB K. Ellison who finished Monday nights game with 11 tackles and 5 assists. HUGE NUMBERS! Unfortunately, SLBs always do well against the Pats and Ellison's history since 2006 dictates that this is just one lucky game out of many, many mediocre starts.  He's very worthy to keep an eye on, but I'm afraid this may be just a one week wonder against a team that runs heavily to the strong side.

Another run heavy team, the Dolphins helped all 3 Atlanta Falcons LBs put up good numbers week 1. So instead of concentrationg on Falcons LBS, I'm going to look forward to who has Miami next week and that is Indy. This is where we'll find my LB PICK UP OF THE WEEK, Clint Session. Last year, he was very good at SLB and this year he moved over to the more tackle heavy position as WLB. He put up 5 solos 1 asst at Jacksonville and I could see 10 total tackles and a couple pass deflections from him next week. He also has a good knack for INTs.

DLs (Defensive Linemen)
Arizona's Campbell finished with 6 tackles and a pass deflection. Go get him if he's there!

Baltimore's Kelly Gregg, who led the Baltimore D in tackles week 1 from Nose Tackle, is one to go get

DL PICK UP OF THE WEEK is Chicago DE A. Brown if he is still on your wire. Why? Three great reasons! He plays opposite of sack master Ogunleye so he gets less attention. Two, he had 3 tackles and 2 assists week 1. BUT MOST IMPORTANTLY, they play PLEASE SACK ME "BIG BEN" next week. When a QB apologizes to his O line for taking the wrap on allowing so many sacks because he holds the ball so long, you gotta like your chances as the owner of a DE facing "the Burg".

Week 3 IDP & PPR Fantasy Football 2008 Waiver Rankings - Korean Robinson Dhani Jones

Week 3 IDP Waiver Pickups (Week 3 Offense PPR is below this article)

Seems like the year of the 'Corner and Safety'. They are leading in tackles and points so far. This trend may be here to stay. It makes sense since it is also the year of the 'Wide Receiver' rather that workhorse running backs. And since teams are passing more than that means more sacks as well. I have always been a Middle Linebacker guy, but maybe it's time to adapt with the times. There are still a handful of MLBs worth picking up from the wire.

If you get in a jam this year. Here is a weekly strategy. Start, by looking at a team with 2 strong WRs. Arizona, Detroit, etc. Then look at their matchup. Detroit went against Atlanta week 1. A first year CB named Brent Grimes from Division II Shippensburg University was matched up with Calvin Johnson. Brent Grimes led his team in tackles that week. Why? A good offensive coordinator will always try to exploit that CB and that CB will end up with a lot of work. More work, more chances = more tackles. Another example came this week. Rookie CB Tracy Porter was toasted by Santana Moss all day. As a result, they threw at him a ton and Porter finished with 8 tackles and 1 assist. If he continues to start at CB, expect other teams to follow this pattern.

MLB

I'm loving my Channing Crowder pick-up. It took guts for me to drop Keith Brooking for Crowder prior to the first game, but he's the best on my team. See if this MLB for Miami is still available on your wire.

Dhani Jones: Time for Cincinnati's MLB. We all shyed away because he does not have a proven past. However, Cincinatti will be on defense a lot and he's proven to have 2 consistent weeks in a row.

C. Session: LB for the Indianapolis Colts is a good guy to scoop of if you have the room.

E. Barton: LB for the Jets had 6 tackles & 2 assists. D. Harris hasn't even come close to living up to his 10 tackle average of last year. You can't drop him, but I took him with my 1st pick. (ouch)

* Wilhelm: LB for the Chargers has always been solid. See if he's available on your wire.

Keep an eye on Pat Thomas, the KC MLB. He could be an OK bench fill-in.


Week 3 PPR Waiver Pickups

Breaking News: WR Korean Robinson was picked up by Seattle for Week 3. Monitor closely. He's got talent.

WR Justin Gage Titans: With Kerry Collins slinging it, a good Titans D to get the offense back on the field, he's got #3 WR potential.

WR Brandon Lloyd Bears: is one to keep an eye on

WR James Jones Packers: Rodgers go to guy when he was running the second string O behind Farve. Very comfortable with him.

RB W. Dunn in Tampa Bay. He continues to get the reps and the catches. Might be a nice pick up.

RB Pierre Thomas: Decent Bye week fill in. Maybe more.

RB Chris Perry may have been dropped by some people in your league week 1, scoop him up if you have room on your bench. This team can go nowhere but up and he's their #1 RB. I'm as puzzled as everyone else why Watson is NOT the #1, but we don't make the rules in FF, we just try to take advantage of them.

RB Keep an eye on Michael Bush of the Raiders


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