IDP Waiver Wire Pickups and Streamers for Week 16 (2023)

December 19, 2023

Mitch Blatt's top IDP waiver wire adds and defensive streamers for Week 1 of the 2023 fantasy football season. These LB, DL, and DB have matchups worth exploiting.

The fantasy playoffs are upon us. You need every edge, so you need to pick up the right IDP players to increase your chances of winning the championship.

If you started Bradley Chubb in Week 15, you must have won if it was round one of the playoffs. He made three sacks and forced two fumbles. He's a solid waiver wire add. A surprise performance came from the Saints' Tanoh Kpassagnon, who made six tackles and three sacks against the Giants.

Now here are some more good waiver wire adds at LB, DB, and DL.

IDP Waiver Wire Adds for Shallow Leagues

Bradley Chubb, DE, MIA

Bradley Chubb had his biggest game of the season against the New York Jets, making three sacks, two forced fumbles, and one fumble recovery. The Jets have been the second-most sack-prone team this season, so you shouldn't expect him to repeat this performance in upcoming games against the Cowboys and Ravens.

But Chubb is also good at making ordinary tackles. He has made over five tackles in four of the past five games. He made seven tackles last week. Even excluding the sacks, four tackles is a good showing for a defensive lineman. Chubb is rostered in 19% of Sleeper leagues.

Jonathan Greenard, EDGE, HOU

Greenard has made two or more tackles in four games this season, including each of the past two. He has come out of nowhere to make 12.5 sacks on the season. He does tend to boom against poor-quality teams. The past two games were against the Jets and Titans. Next week's game against the Browns isn't as favorable as the Browns have only allowed 2.9 sacks per game this season. But in Week 17, the Texans face the Titans again, against whom he made six tackles and 2.5 sacks. 

Boye Mafe, EDGE, SEA

Mafe has been on a cold streak lately. From Week 3 through Week 10, he made one sack in seven straight games. Since then, he hasn't made a single sack in five straight games. But in Week 16, he goes up against the Tennessee Titans. The Titans have consistently ranked as one of the bottom two offensive lines in PFF's weekly rankings, and they have allowed more sacks in the past three games than any other team. It is going to be a good week for Mafe to get back in the sack column.

IDP Waiver Wire Adds for Deep Leagues

Ifeatu Melifonwu, S, DET

Melifonwu, a third-year player out of Syracuse, has taken over as the starting safety in the place of Tracy Walker, and he has played over 60 snaps in each of the past two games. In those two games, he has made 12 tackles and (just this past week) a sack and a forced fumble. 

Casey Toohill, DE, WAS

Toohill is the leading Commanders pass rusher. Since Week 9, he's been on the field for 30 or more pass rush snaps in most games. He's made five sacks and 13 pressures this season. Next week, he faces the New York Jets. The Jets are allowing an average of 4.4 sacks per game, the second-most over the course of the season, and they've allowed 4.7 sacks per game in the past three, which is tied for the single most. 

Zach Wilson will start in Week 16 if he clears the concussion protocol. If he doesn't, it's up to Trevor Siemian, who has been sacked five times this season. Siemian has a 27.8% pressure-to-sack rate this season, and 19.2% of his pressures have turned into sacks in his career, an extremely high rate.

Mike Hilton, CB, CIN

Hilton has been on a tear since Week 9 when he made 10 tackles against the Buffalo Bills. He made five or more tackles in six of the past seven games. This past week, although he only made three tackles against the Minnesota Vikings, he made an interception, his second of the season. He has been one of the top-20 IDP players in the past six weeks in the IDP Invitational, yet he's only rostered in 5% of all MFL-hosted fantasy leagues.

Greg Newsome, CB, CLE

Newsome has been a consistent playmaker and tackle-maker. He has made 19 tackles in the past four weeks, and he has been one of the top 30 scorers in the IDP Invitational. His two interceptions this season are a career-high, and a matchup against the New York Jets in Week 17 could be a favorable opportunity for yet another interception in the fantasy championship week. 

IDP Waiver Wire Adds for Big Play Leagues

Charles Omenihu, DL, KC

Omenihu made a sack and a forced fumble in the Chiefs' 27-17 win over the New England Patriots. It was his third straight week with a sack. He now has 4.5 sacks on the season, all of which came in eight games. He missed the first six games of the season, as he was suspended after being charged with domestic violence.

Julian Love, S, SEA

Love has been on a tear in big play leagues. He has caused four turnovers in the past two weeks. His two interceptions this week ended one potential Eagles' scoring drive and sealed Seattle's victory by ending a last-gasp comeback attempt. Love has also been averaging 6.75 tackles in each of the past four games. So he is a viable starter in balanced leagues, too.

While both of the two Jalen Hurts passes Love picked off were underthrown, Love did have to make an extraordinary jump and acrobatic effort to keep his feet in bounds on the second one. It was not only a result of the questionable pass. Nonetheless, Love faces the Tennessee Titans next week, whose quarterback, Will Levis, also likes to take deep shots, and the Pittsburgh Steelers in Week 17, who benched Mitch Trubisky for Mason Rudolph this past week. Kenny Pickett could very well be back for the Steelers by Week 17, but it is not guaranteed. 

Leonard Floyd, DE, BUF

Floyd has gone under the radar. Despite having made a career-high 10.5 sacks (12 sacks by PFF's tally), he is only rostered in 4% of Sleeper-hosted IDP leagues. He added another sack this past week against the Dallas Cowboys, and next week he faces the Chargers who are falling apart. The Chargers have allowed 3.0 sacks in the past three weeks, and some Raiders IDPs ran up fantasy points against them in Week 15.

Grego Rousseau, DE, BUF

This is another Bills against the Chargers play. Rousseau has been less productive than Floyd when it comes to box score numbers, but he is the highest-rated player amongst the Bills' edge rushers, and his PFF pass-rush grade of 72.4 is also excellent. He leads the team in pressures, and he just needs to turn more of those into sacks.

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