DL Streaming 101: Week 13
Professor IDP looks at the best DE and DT streaming options in your IDP fantasy football leagues for Week 13.
Welcome to the Week 13 edition of DL Streaming 101! With no byes this week, games Thursday, Friday, Sunday, and Monday, and playoff pushes ending or playoff runs beginning we are going to shake things up a bit to help you find more DL streaming paths to victory!
This week will feature less discussion of results from last week and the season, fewer players written up for Week 13, but also more players highlighted and more data provided for each. Let’s get briefly to our weekly accountability check so that we can get to the 20 barely rostered DL Streamers to consider in Week 13!
Last week saw the average points per game among the 12 suggestions rebound over the 10-point mark thanks to seven of 12 calls being viable starters and the worst-featured player still putting up 3.75 points (despite 10 QB pressures!). Our season-long average stands at a respectable 11.19 points per game with the 12 Tier 1 plays for the season at 13.64.
For Week 13, I will dive into the top six DL streaming options this week and then follow up with a full list of 20 split evenly between DT and DE noting the metrics I am using for each, their tier placement, and percentage rostered on MFL and Sleeper.
Featured DL Streamers
Alim McNeill, DT, DET (🎓🎓🎓🎓)
McNeil is a staple of DL Streaming thanks to his consistently high snap counts and solid on-the-field play. His fantasy output is why he is still so widely available for streaming as he has shown capacity for big games (30+ point performances in Weeks 6 and 10) but also has six games where he has scored 6 fantasy points (or less).
It still feels like we haven’t seen McNeill’s fantasy ceiling yet as he is currently PFFs fifth highest-graded DT and his 36 QB pressures rank sixth at the position (but he is only tied for 19th in DT sacks). The Bears present the fourth-best fantasy matchup for DTs in 2024 having allowed multiple viable DT starters every week going back to Week 5 including five boom games.
Nick Herbig, DE, PIT (🎓🎓🎓)
Herbig rewarded fantasy managers last week with three tackles, two assists, and a strip sack. The question is if Alex Highsmith returns for Week 13, has this play warranted a bump in snaps beyond the 28-30% range we saw at the start of the season when the Steelers were at full strength? With Highsmith’s status very much up in the air as of this writing, Herbig should be penciled in for another high snap share.
The Bengals have been a difficult matchup for opposing DEs over the past four weeks (the 29th worst matchup in the league) as Joe Burrow has suddenly become very elusive. Still, Herbig has the talent to make a splash play in a rivalry game which keeps him in the DL streaming conversation for at least one more week.
B.J. Hill, DT, CIN (🎓🎓🎓)
On the other side of the Bengals-Steelers matchup is B.J. Hill of Cincinnati. Hill is tied with Kenny Clark of the Packers for the dubious distinction of most pressures in 2024 without a sack at 18. When healthy, as he is now, Hill regularly plays between 70-80% of snaps giving him ample opportunity for impact and he has capitalized with only one poor fantasy game this season (Week 11 against the Chargers).
The Steelers are a top-10 fantasy matchup for opposing DT since Russell Wilson took over at QB and this week, Hill will likely see plenty of Mason McCormick who does not rank in the top half of Guards in overall, pass block, or run block grade according to PFF making this a great opportunity to stream Hill.
Osa Odighizuwa, DT, DAL (🎓🎓🎓)
It is hard to do better than 89% and 91% of snaps for a DT, and that is exactly what Odighizuwa has done over the past two weeks. His fantasy production has seen an uptick as well with four tackles, an assist, two tackles for loss, and one sack all while posting impressive PFF grades (a top-20 pass rush grade) and advanced metrics (top-10 in QB pressures) on the season.
In addition to the ideal snaps and solid production, it is hard to ask for a better DL matchup than the Giants who the Cowboys will face on Thanksgiving. New York has allowed over 100 fantasy points to opposing DT over their past two games and might be starting another QB this week in Drew Lock.
Chauncey Golston, DE, DAL (🎓🎓🎓)
Again, you can do much worse when streaming than lining up players to rush the Giants as New York is the third-best matchup for DE on the season. Golston recorded an interception last week which saved his week from a fantasy perspective. With Demarcus Lawrence not yet designated to return from IR, Golston seems locked into a role that has seen him play a minimum snap share of 69% with multiple weeks over a 90% share.
Golston’s talent level is not elite but he does have serviceable grades exceeding 60 for overall, run defense, and pass rush according to PFF. Golston was projected to face off against Jermaine Eluemunor this week but an injury sustained early last week against Tampa Bay may create an even more advantageous matchup on Thursday.
D.J. Wonnum, DE, CAR (🎓🎓🎓)
In the two weeks Wonnum has played this season, he has posted six tackles, three assists, five tackles for loss, a forced fumble, and two sacks. That places him at DE3 overall for average scoring since Week 11 behind only Danielle Hunter and Andrew Van Ginkel. Granted, one of those performances was against the lowly Giants but the other was against the Chiefs who rate as one of the tougher matchups for opposing DE on the season.
With Charles Harris cut earlier this week, the cupboard is bare in Carolina so Wonnum will likely maintain or improve his 77% snap share from last week. The Panthers play the Buccaneers this weekend who just stymied the Giants edge room to 18 total fantasy points in Week 12. Wonnum has a tough matchup and limited sample size but still should be seen as a Solid streaming option in Week 13.
Full Week 13 DL Streamer List
Good luck and if you have any questions about deep DL plays, my office is always open on Twitter (@ProfessorIDP). While this article is a freebie, please consider supporting me, the show, and the broader IDP community by adding your league(s) to the 2024 State of IDP Survey!
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