Welcome to Week 5, which means hello bye weeks. The Carolina Panthers and Kansas City Chiefs are off this week. So if you see any players from those squads that shouldn’t be on waivers, try to take advantage of someone else’s roster crunch.
Each week, we’ll highlight diamonds in the rough or some players that just need to be rostered in more leagues on the defensive side of the ball. Keep in mind your scoring system and roster restraints when heading to the waiver wire to grab these IDPs.
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Defensive Linemen
EDGE Khalil Mack, Los Angeles Chargers
The Future Hall of Famer has found the fountain of youth at 35. He has reached the quarterback in three straight games and is one of the few bright spots on a team off to a bad start. He has 14 total tackles and three sacks on the season.
DE Isaiah McGuire, Cleveland Browns
McGuire has put together three solid weeks in a row. He had four tackles in Week 2, and he had three tackles and a sack in each of the past two weeks.
Linebackers
LB Jake Hansen, Houston Texans
The Texans were without MLB Azeez Al-Shaair, and Hansen had himself a day. He had 12 total tackles and a sack. In Week 3, he put together seven stops. Hansen should be high on your waiver radar.
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LB Isaiah McDuffie, Green Bay Packers
McDuffie is a bit of a speculative pick as the Packers lost Edgerrin Cooper for the season with a torn Achilles. McDuffie has four total tackles in each of the last two weeks, but he has just six solo tackles on the season. With Cooper out of the way, those numbers should see an uptick.
LB Omar Speights, Los Angeles Rams
After a quiet Week 1, Speights has five-plus tackles in three straight games. Over the last two games, he has reached the quarterback for a sack in each. We’ll need that five-tackle floor to stabilize for him to have consisent value.
Defensive Backs
CB Amik Robertson, Washington Commanders
The Commanders’ secondary is in shambles with injuries to both starting safeties. Robertson has taken advantage with six, five, six and nine tackles in four games this season. He also has a whopping seven pass defenses.
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S Javon Bullard, Green Bay Packers
The former second-round pick has seven, seven and eight tackles over the last three weeks. Of his eight tackles in Week 4, only one of them was a solo stop, which hurt his value. That could be enough to pluck him off waivers, and it’s promising that he is in the area of the ball so much.
CB Mansoor Delane, Kansas City Chiefs
This one is more of an honorable mention because KC is on a bye, but the first-round pick has been busy on defense. He has 10 tackles and a pass defense in each of the last two weeks.
This article originally appeared on The Huddle: Fantasy football IDP free-agent report: Week 5
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