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Mitchell's top Week 8 IDP waiver wire pickups, adds, fantasy football defensive streamers for 2025. Target these individual defensive players on Week 8 waivers.
Welcome back to our fantasy football IDP Waiver Wire Pickups and Streamers for Week 8. When I drafted my IDP fantasy football team in my home league, I picked a Lions player at DL (Aidan Hutchinson), LB (Jack Campbell), and DB (Brian Branch).
Well, now they all go on bye in Week 8, and, with Detroit, five other teams (Las Vegas Raiders, L.A. Rams, Arizona Cardinals, Seattle Seahawks, and Jacksonville Jaguars) are all on bye. Branch has effectively gotten a two week bye since he delivered a blow to JuJu Smith-Schuster after the Lions’ loss to the Chiefs.
If you are in the same boat as me and need bye week replacements for any of your guys, consider these 12 defensive backs, defensive linemen, and linebackers.
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Week 8 Waiver Wire Adds for Linebacker
Tremaine Edmunds, LB, Chicago Bears - Rostered in 25% of Leagues
A good add in shallow leagues, Edmunds is going under the radar and is still available for many. Edmunds is a tackling machine. He’s made over 100 tackles in every season of his seven-year career.
Currently with 61 tackles through six games, he’s on pace for a career-high 172 tackles, and, with three interceptions, he will likely surpass the career-high of four he made in 2023.
Blake Cashman, LB, Minnesota Vikings - Rostered in 13% of Leagues
Cashman had a modest showing in his return to action after suffering from a hamstring injury in Week 1. He only made four combined tackles, finishing fourth on the team, in a 28-22 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles.
After two straight seasons with over 100 tackles, that’s well below his expected production. The decline can be explained both by rust after missing five games and facing a team with a slow pace of play. The Eagles ran fewer than 50 plays in the whole game.
No Vikings player had double-digit tackles. Joshua Metellus led the team with eight. Cashman should have a more productive game next week against the Los Angeles Chargers, who are averaging 65.1 plays per game.
Shemar James, LB, Dallas Cowboys - Rostered in 4% of Leagues
Since he took the field in Week 4, James has been the team’s leading tackler. He made double digit tackles in Weeks 5 and 6. He’s made 32 tackles since Week 5, and he has taken down ballcarriers on an insane 21.8% of his defensive snaps.
His playing time has increased because of a concussion Jack Sanborn suffered early in Week 5. Sanborn missed Week 6 and, while he was cleared to play against the Washington Commanders, he did not make any statistical contributions.
E.J. Speed, LB, Houston Texans - Rostered in 27% of Leagues
Speed was one of the leading IDPs over his past two seasons on the Colts due to his high tackle numbers on a defense that benefited linebackers. He never graded well and didn’t earn himself the praise of the coaching staff, so when his contract was up, he didn’t get extended.
He ended up in Houston on a modest five-million-dollar, one-year contract and did not earn a starting job in Week 1. In Week 4, Speed was back on the field, having usurped Henry To’oTo’o as the LB2.
Speed played 56% snaps in Week 4, making four tackles, then he played 65% of the snaps and made six tackles in Week 5. He’s on the field for most of the nickel packages. To’oTo’o has played 60% or fewer of the snaps for two straight weeks.
The Texans were on a bye in Week 6, and they play the Seahawks on Monday Night Football, so the roles and volume of their two secondary linebackers should be monitored.
Week 8 Waiver Wire Adds for Defensive Line
Bryce Huff, DL/LB, San Francisco 49ers - Rostered in 3% of Leagues
Huff made a sack and forced a fumble in the Niners’ win over the Falcons on Sunday Night Football. With Nick Bosa and Fred Warner out, Huff’s production has been key to keeping the Niners on the right track.
Shoutout to Bryce Huff man, cuz these moves did NOT exist when he was with the Eagles. pic.twitter.com/9uvCcGDelF
— Emmanuel Acho (@EmmanuelAcho) October 20, 2025
Huff has made four sacks on the season and forced two fumbles. His PFF defense rating and pass rush rating are both over 80.0. He has been productive in the past, having made 10 sacks with the Jets in 2023 before a down year with the Eagles in 2024.
Von Miller, DL/LB, Washington Commanders - Rostered in 1% of Leagues
Miller, who has made half a sack or more in each of the past three games and has 4.0 sacks on the season, is one of the Commanders’ few healthy edge rushers.
Dorance Armstrong left the Commanders’ Week 7 loss to the Cowboys with a knee injury. Drake Jackson, Deatrich Wise Jr., and Javontae Jean-Baptiste are all on the injured reserve.
Miller has the third-most snaps of all Commanders edge rushers, behind Armstrong and Jacob Martin. If Armstrong misses time, the Commanders will have about 40 snaps to fill. Miller and Martin could see their snap counts increase by about a dozen per game.
K’Lavon Chaisson, LB/DL, New England Patriots - Rostered in 0% of Leagues
Chaisson is a former first-round pick who went under the radar after flaming out only making five sacks in four years with the Jacksonville Jaguars.
In the two years since leaving the cursed county that is Duuuuval, Chaisson has tripled his sack total. He had five sacks with the Las Vegas Raiders last season, and he’s already at 4.5 this season with the Patriots.
DeAngelo Malone, DL (LB), Atlanta Falcons - Rostered in 2% of Leagues
The Falcons’ starting LB2, Divine Deablo, hurt his forearm and was ruled out for the remainder of Atlanta’s Sunday Night Football loss to the San Francisco 49ers.
Malone, a two-time Conference USA Player of the year who the Falcons drafted in the third round in 2022, could step into an expanded role if Deablo misses time.
Having played edge rusher at Western Kentucky, Malone is listed as a DL on the Sleeper app, without linebacker eligibility, even though he is an off-ball linebacker on the Falcons’ depth chart.
Week 8 Waiver Wire Adds for Cornerback and Safety
Jordan Battle, S, Cincinnati Bengals - Rostered in 23% of Leagues
The third-year safety for the Bengals is dominating this season. He has played every snap in all but one game, and he has made seven or more tackles in four games. He’s a rare bright spot on a bad defense.
Intercepting Aaron Rodgers in a Thursday Night Football upset of the division rival Pittsburgh Steelers gives Battle three picks on the season.
Quentin Lake, S, Los Angeles Rams - Rostered in 17% of Leagues
Lake has improved in each of his seasons and may soon find himself in the top tier of defensive backs. He made 111 tackles last season and is on pace to approximately match that. He has added more impact playmaking ability this season. He ranks as the DB4 in RotoBaller Standard IDP Scoring.
Tyson Campbell, CB, Cleveland Browns - Rostered in 10% of Leagues
After being traded to the Browns, Campbell has remained a top-tier defensive back. While he only made two tackles in the Browns’ beatdown of the Dolphins, he did help by intercepting a pass and returning it for a touchdown.
Last week, he forced a fumble, his second of the season.
Marcus Jones, CB, New England Patriots - Rostered in 12% of Leagues
Jones is hitting his stride, having made impact plays in each of the past four games. His interception of Cam Ward in the Pats’ victory over the Titans was his second of the year.
His tackle floor remains low, but he’s one of those athletes who reliably get his hands on the ball and does something when he touches it.
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