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Waiver Wire Preseason Week 3 Pick-ups: IDP

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We are two weeks into the preseason. Here are some IDP

waiver wire Preseason Week 3 pick-ups (or late-round targets).

We’re officially through another week of preseason football and each team only has one final preseason tuneup left. Many teams have been extremely cautious so far, as this preseason feels like fewer stars are seeing high volume reps, making it hard to determine camp battles. These players make for potential Week 3 IDP waiver wire adds or draft targets. Hope your drafts or the waiver wires are fruitful!

With the second data point of games this week, we’ll dive more into specific players. These guys may not hold the role discussed, but reports in camps or gameplay have been promising. Let’s dive into some of the players to add or watch without further ado.

Disclaimer: All league sizes and formats are different. Meaning some of these players may or may not be available in your league. Each week I’ll be doing my best to cover a wide enough base of scenarios. If you ever have any league-specific questions, I’m always willing to help, and so is our fantastic team here at IDP Guys.

Linebackers

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Dre Greenlaw, LB, San Francisco 49ers

Dre Greenlaw is one I’ve held off on, not due to concerns with the player but the role. Last season, Greenlaw stayed on the field next to Fred Warner until going down with an injury, at which point Azeez Al-Shaair took over that role. The 49ers play predominantly two LBs, so the question lingered who would see that high snap count and who wouldn’t?

The minimum LB2 played in a game last year was 63% of snaps, and that with all 3 LBs missing games. There were only 4 of 17 games where the top 2 LBs didn’t play 80% or more of snaps, and mostly that was injuries. Reports from camp are saying that Greenlaw is sliding right back into his WILL role and seeing the field beside Warner. He’s going to be a steal, add if available on your week 3 IDP waiver wire.

Josey Jewell, LB, Denver Broncos

This one starts with the bad news, as Jonas Griffith, who I wrote about a couple of weeks ago, went down with an injury and is likely to miss some time early in the year. With that, I’d expect Jewell to be locked into a full-time role for at least the first few weeks, and longer if he plays well.

Alex Singleton and Joe Schobert are likely to compete to replace him, but neither is a great fit. Jewell should play a lot early, but watch out for some coverage limitations. He works extremely hard, but due to overall athleticism, I expect Griffith to be the full-time guy once he’s back up to speed. Buy Jewell now and be ready to sell after a couple of good games. Oh and stash Griffith behind him.

Zaven Collins, LB, Arizona Cardinals

Not sure what it is in the scheme in Arizona, but rookie LBs tend to struggle. Isaiah Simmons did as a rookie, and so did Zaven Collins. Now though, Jordan Hicks is gone, Simmons is playing more of a rover role on defense than pure LB. That leaves Collins and Nick Vigil competing for LB snaps in the middle of the defense.

Love to see Collins wearing the green dot as the play caller this preseason. As a rookie, he wasn’t startable as an IDP player, but he also never saw more than 57% of snaps in a single game. Vigil is now on his fourth team in four years. He only signed for a single season for under $2M this year. Not much in the grand scheme, while Collins was the 16th overall pick last year. Who does the team like more?

Defensive Line/Edge

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Justin Madubuike, IDL, Baltimore Ravens

Justin Madubuike seems primed for a breakout in year three. He’s mainly an IDL option for people playing leagues requiring DTs. As the Ravens continue building up the front seven of their young defense, Madubuike should continue to see single teams, which will make for a difficult time for whatever guard gets that assignment.

Madubuike has seen his playing time continue to ramp up, going from 40% as a rookie to 50% last season. If he can continue up towards two-thirds in the coming year, he should put up solid tackle numbers and a few sacks. He’s been beating top guard Kevin Zeitler in one on one drills in camp, and if that can translate into games, watch out for a breakout this year.

Greg Rousseau, Edge, Buffalo Bills

Call this one the Von Miller effect? Greg Rousseau, now going into year two in Buffalo, is a prime breakout candidate. He put up 50 combined tackles and four sacks as a rookie pass rusher with no star player on the line to draw the defense’s attention. After the Bills spent a lot of money to get Miller in town from the Rams, offenses will be focused on the other end of the line, opening a big opportunity.

By Pro Football Focus metrics, Rousseau is an elite run-defender and likely to explode as a pass rusher soon. Sometimes guys just get a little unlucky, which seems to be the case. First in a stat that counts hits and hurries points towards just being unlucky. I’d rather roster a guy like this early and hope he breaks out than a depth piece who is a known entity, get him now.

Anfernee Jennings, Edge, New England Patriots

Another battle I’ve been watching closely is the edge opposite Matt Judon in Foxboro. Originally thought to be Josh Uche, it appears Anfernee Jennings has now surpassed himself and the rest of the competition. Jennings has the size to hold up the edge against both the run and the pass and showed back in college that he could be a productive pass rusher.

It could be messy still to start the season, but Jennings has the size and athleticism to replace Kyle Van Noy in the Patriots scheme. Coach Belichick has been talking about Jennings regularly, and Jennings has been showing out on the field in practice and games. Again, with dart throw types like Jennings, hopefully, he shows up in week one or it’s easy to move to the next dart throw option.

Defensive Backs

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Jalen Pitre, S, Houston Texans

Jalen Pitre has been a camp standout in Houston. He’s blown by everyone on the Texans backend to be the likely starting strong safety in week one. Having safeties that can drop into the slot, blitz, and cover deep means no matter what he can stay on the field, and likely rack up some tackles.

Before playing in a preseason game, head coach Lovie Smith had this to say about Pitre: “He’s intelligent, smart, everything we’re looking for in a safety, he has. Can’t wait for him to actually play his first game.” Coaches like Smith can be coy when a battle is close, but it’s clear to everyone in Houston’s locker room that Pitre is the real deal. Snatch him up if available on your week 3 IDP waiver wire.

Talanoa Hufanga, S, San Francisco 49ers

Talanoa Hufanga seems to have locked down the 49ers starting strong safety spot. He’s playing more deep safety than expected, and Jon Macri highlights it in the below tweet. Most of the beat reporters seem to believe he’s got that spot locked up at this point, and coming out after just a quarter illustrates that the 49ers view him as an important piece to the defense.

Both returning starter Jimmie Ward and Hufanga lined up about 55% of snaps deep, so I believe they may be used relatively interchangeably, at least early. Ideally, Hufanga can be used in more of a box alignment and Ward deep, but this is something to monitor with both starting safeties early in 2022. Whichever can seize the box role could make for a good second safety.

Sidney Jones, CB, Seattle Seahawks

2021 was a breakout season for Sidney Jones in his fifth season, and first in Seattle. Seattle has struggled to find much help on the back end of the defense, but Jones played great down the stretch as a boundary corner for Seattle. If he plays like that, he’ll hold down the starting job this year and parlay it into a much bigger contract in 2023.

The best part is Seattle drafted multiple CBs to come in there, which is where most people will look for upside options. While both have played well in camp, including when Jones was out due to injury, if he plays like 2021, Jones will be able to hold onto his role and should continue producing points for your IDP squads!

Conclusion

Trying to read between the lines of what coaches are doing in the preseason can be a challenge, I hope the information was helpful and informative. As we continue joint practices this week and cuts start trickling in, we’ll gather more data to pass along. I look forward to helping as many of you as possible win titles this fantasy season — football season is here!

To get the low-down on everything IDP relevant from the full slate of games this week, check out Matt Record‘s IDP Rundown – Reaction and Analysis for Preseason Week 2!

Thank you for reading my article! Please remember to follow me for more content via Twitter @FFFBallers  and @IDPGuys as well as check out my IDP Guys author page and the IDP Guys website.

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