IDP Week 13 Waiver Wire Advice:

Bye Bye, Bye-Weeks

Rather than give you a list of iffy players who may or may not break out this late in the season, and who you probably don’t need if your team is still in contention at this point, allow me to give some sounder advice for those lucky teams heading towards playoffs and glory. With the bye-weeks now officially over, you’re solidifying your IDP spots for the home stretch (if you haven’t already). While injuries are always a risk (especially with IDP where there’s no room to roster any backups/handcuffs on your bench), you can’t plan for them like you can on the offensive side.

The best you can do now is secure the top, most consistent performers available, and let it ride. And more often than not, those aren’t guys who come on suddenly in Week 13. They’re the guys who have been doing it all season long, some more quietly than others.

So when making these roster choices, it’s important to remember that those aforementioned words (“top” and “most consistent”) don’t necessarily mean the most recognizable names, or the most owned names. Everyone knows the names Clowney and Wagner, and their high ownership reflects that, but that doesn’t mean they’re the best choices (sorry ESPN rankings). While neither player is a bad option, neither has been very consistent this year either, and the safety of high floor IDP players is a great thing to have come playoff time.

A far better way to go about finalizing your IDP roster is to rely on the law of averages. In the end that’s all we really have in fantasy, and that’s never more true than with IDP. Not only averages, but recent averages in particular are key. How many tackles does a particular player average over the course of this season? What about over the past 5 games? If that turns out to be a guy whose jersey doesn’t sell, who cares? Give me him over the guy with the Nike deal having a down year all day.

DE Chris Jones is coming off a bye and likely was dropped in your league, but even before this week, Clowney’s ownership was way higher than his in most leagues. Same for Melvin Ingram. Why? Jones has clearly been the better player of the three this year, especially of late. If Jones, and other players with top numbers and boring names like him, are available in your league, then grab them over star names who haven’t helped you much all year without hesitating.

Now, I’m not advocating dumping any well-known defensive player (the Watt brothers can stay right where they are in your lineups). I’m just saying numbers don’t lie, but NFL marketing sometimes does. Sure — a little research might be a bit more work than grabbing the player whose name you immediately recognize, but isn’t it worth it if it helps you win your league? Here’s hoping. Good luck!

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