It is hard to imagine that we are already a third of the way through the NFL season. Regardless of where your team is currently sitting, there is still plenty of time for you to either improve for a title run or add some pieces to get back into the playoff race. Many of this week’s targets are all about getting out ahead of your competition for just such a run. With many of the players listed this week coming off their byes, they can make for some easy lineup decisions as you do not have to worry about them missing a game over the gauntlet of byes in the coming weeks. These are players who have been performing well heading into their bye and show no signs of regressing anytime soon. With that said, let’s get after this week’s waiver wire targets.
Defensive Line
Previous Weeks: Carl Granderson, Drake Jackson, Harrison Phillips, Joe Tryon-Shoynka, Jonathan Cooper, Jarran Reed, David Onyemata, Nik Bonitto, Josh Uche
Tuli Tuipulotu, Los Angeles Chargers
Coming off a bye week, many managers will not be thinking about the Chargers rookie Tuli Tuipulotu, but you should be. The exciting 2nd round rookie out of USC, Tuipulotu has started the season off with a bang. After playing 22 snaps in the opener, Tuipulotu got the start in the next 3 games and racked up an impressive 13 QB pressures (5 sacks, 3 hits, and 5 hurries) to go along with 10 combined tackles.
He is second on the team only to Khalil Mack, who went absolutely nuclear against the Raiders. Tuipulotu has scored as a top 25 overall edge player at the moment according to PFF and also someone who is top 10 in many pass-rushing categories as a rookie. Bosa is always a health risk, but snaps shouldn’t be an issue for Tuipulotu who gets the Cowboys, Chiefs, and Bears over the next 3 weeks.
Yetur Gross-Matos, Carolina Panthers
After a slow start to his career with being drafted early in the second round out of Penn State in 2020, Yetur Gross-Matos is finally living up to the draft hype/status. Gross-Matos may have been a miscast early in his career as he was mainly deployed as an edge rusher. This season, the Panthers defensive coaching staff moved him to outside linebacker, opposite Brian Burns, and the results are speaking volumes.
Entering Sunday’s game versus the Lions, Gross-Matos had a 3-game sack streak and averaged 3 tackles a game in that same span. In his game versus the Lions, Gross-Matos had his sack streak come to an end but he did rack up 2 tackles and had 2 QB pressures (1 hit and 1 hurry) on the day. Gross-Matos is definitely a name to monitor over the next few weeks if you are in need of a DL3/4 for those bye weeks.
Defensive Back
Previous Weeks: Reed Blankenship, Christian Gonzalez, Camryn Bynum, Jason Pinnock, K’Von Wallace, Jordan Whitehead, Daxton Hill, Rudy Ford, Juju Brents
Devon Witherspoon, Seattle Seahawks
Week 4 provided IDP managers with some epic performances. I already mentioned Khalil Mack going off in Week 4 against the Raiders, but there was another performance in Week 4 that should have received a little more publicity and didn’t: the performance of Seattle Seahawks rookie cornerback, Devon Witherspoon.
Witherspoon was drafted 5th overall out of Illinois this past draft, so expectations were already pretty high on him. In Week 4 Witherspoon had 7 tackles, 2 sacks, and 1 INT that was returned for a touchdown, good for 50.2 points in Big 3 scoring. Don’t expect that type of stat line each week, but Witherspoon has already proven he can make plays and he offers a very high tackle floor from week to week.
In Week 2, he had his first NFL start and game, he had 5 tackles and he followed that up with 11 tackles in Week 3. Witherspoon is a must in cornerback-required leagues and is a strong play in 12-team leagues that start or flex 3 or more defensive backs. The Seahawks offense is good enough to keep opposing offenses attacking through the air, which will give Witherspoon more opportunities to make plays.
Marcus Maye, New Orleans Saints
Another player who didn’t play in Week 5—or really the last 3 weeks due to his suspension—was Marcus Maye. Maye was suspended after Week 2 due to a PED violation. Maye’s play prior to the suspension had been outstanding.
In Week 1, Maye had 6 tackles and 1 INT. In Week 2, he had 7 tackles and 1 sack. Maye will return from his suspension this week and will immediately return to the starting lineup and play his 60-plus snaps a game.
The Saints do not have their bye until Week 11, which is nice. You can add Maye to your starting lineup and not worry about it for the next month and a half. Maye had been playing about 30% of his snaps in the box prior to the suspension which is just good enough to help support some solid tackle numbers going forward.