Gary Davenport is here with his favorite Championship Week IDP sleepers to help plug the holes and get you into the fantasy promised land!
Well folks, it’s the end of the line—both for the fantasy football season and this column at FantraxHQ.
In most IDP leagues, Week 16 brings the season finale. The Championship Game. It’s IDP Thunderdome—two teams enter, and one team leaves as champion.
For the most part, the teams that got this far don’t have a lot of holes on the roster. There are lots of shares of Minnesota Vikings defensive end Danielle Hunter, Cleveland Browns linebacker Joe Schobert, and Arizona Cardinals safety Budda Baker.
But there are situations where teams that make the championship wind up needing replacement starters at the most inopportune of times. Injuries don’t care what time of year it is—ask fantasy owners of New Orleans Saints safety Vonn Bell and Indianapolis Colts linebacker Anthony Walker. Some teams who perceive themselves as an underdog may want to ditch underperforming IDPs for higher-ceiling fantasy options.
Whatever the reason, there are folks out there who need help. An early Christmas gift in the form of a player owned in 20 percent or fewer of the IDP leagues at Fantrax who is capable of posting a solid stat line in this most important of weeks.
So, one last time in 2019, it’s into the fray I go. I hope this article was at least nominally helpful to you in 2019, and that the holidays and 2020 treat you and yours well.
Looking for more playoff reinforcements? Check out our Championship Week Waiver Wire to see which players you should be targeting to seal the deal on the 2019 Fantasy Football season.
WEEK 16 IDP SLEEPERS
Vic Beasley – DE, Atlanta Falcons (vs. JAX) (12 Percent Owned)
Beasley broke out in a big way with a league-leading 15.5 sacks back in 2016, but after tallying just 10 sacks in 2017 and 2018 combined, the 2019 season set up as a make-or-break campaign for Beasley. Over the first half of the year, Beasley struggled in a big way. But as Chase Irle wrote for Sports Talk Atlanta, it’s been a different story since Beasley and the Falcons came back from the bye week.
“After a miserable start that saw Beasley account for just 1.5 sacks in the first eight games, he’s turned it on considerably since the team’s bye week – much like most of the Falcons defense,” he said. “Coincidently, that’s about the time Dan Quinn gave up his playcalling duties and worked almost exclusively with the defensive line. Beasley’s tallied 5.5 sacks over the last six weeks, including two forced fumbles. He’s also been much more of a factor in the running game, totaling 18 combined tackles over that span, bringing his total to 37 on the season, just two off of his career-high.”
Beasley tallied five tackles and a sack in last week’s stunning win over the San Francisco, and since Week 10 the fifth-year pro has quietly been a top-10 fantasy option among defensive linemen in many scoring systems. There probably isn’t a better player up front who is available in four out of five IDP leagues.
Shaq Lawson – DE, Buffalo Bills (at NEP) (14 Percent Owned)
Another former first-round pick that hasn’t met expectations, Lawson’s having the best season of his four-year career—he’s three off his career-best in tackles and has set a new high-water mark with 6.5 sacks. Per ESPN’s Marcel Louis-Jacques, Lawson has also embraced his role as a defensive leader and tone-setter in 2019.
“Our role? The dogs, man. The dog in us — you can’t really teach that, coach that,” Lawson said. “You’ve just got to be born with it. I think me and [Jordan Phillips] — we’ve got a lot of guys who’ve got dog in them — but me and Phil, we’re the dog-setters. We set the tone. I feel like that’s been a big part of our success this year.”
Over his last three games, Lawson has 10 tackles, 1.5 sacks and a forced fumble—numbers that slot him in high-end IDP DL2 territory in 12-team fantasy leagues. Lawson’s road matchup at New England in Week 16 is admittedly poor, but sometimes beggars can’t be choosers.
Austin Calitro – OLB, Jacksonville Jaguars (2 Percent Owned)
It’s been a rough year for the Jacksonville Jaguars where injuries are concerned, and the linebacker position certainly hasn’t been spared—middle linebacker Myles Jack and weakside linebackers Najee Goode and Quincy Williams have all been lost to season-ending injuries. Those injuries have thrust Calitro into a starting role, and as CBS Sports reported in Week 15 at least the young linebacker acquitted himself well.
“Calitro had 11 tackles (eight solo) and one sack during Sunday’s win against the Raiders,” they said. “The 25-year-old received his second start of the season and was heavily involved in Jacksonville’s come-from-behind victory. Quincy Williams (hand) was placed on injured reserve last week, and Calitro is set to handle the starting role at weak-side linebacker for the final few weeks of the season.”
Much like Donald Payne, Calitro isn’t an elite talent. Or even an average talent—he’s playing purely out of necessity. But that necessity equated to a significant snap count last week—snaps that resulted in double-digit stops and a sack. This week the Jaguars face an Atlanta Falcons team that ranks 12th in fantasy points per game allowed to linebackers.
Will Compton – ILB, Oakland Raiders (at LAC) (2 Percent Owned)
Compton’s been the definition of a journeyman the past couple of years—from Washington to Tennessee to New Orleans to out of work much of the season to Oakland. Compton saw his most extensive playing time of the season last week against the Jacksonville Jaguars—an opportunity Compton intended to take full advantage of.
“Last week, they just said I was going to start getting more time on the field,” Compton said, via Matt Kawahara of the San Francisco Chronicle. “It kind of came out of nowhere a little bit, but you’ve got to be ready. A lot of credit honestly to Tahir (Whitehead), because he’s kind of been next to me and in my ear the entire time helping me in the defense, the terminology. But yeah, man, it’s wild how it all works.”
Compton was on the field for every defensive snap last week against the Jags, pacing the Raiders with nine total tackles. The seventh-year veteran has shown the ability to be IDP-relevant in the past when the snaps were there. It appears that they will be over the final two weeks of the season—including Sunday in Los Angeles.
Emmanuel Moseley – CB, San Francisco 49ers (vs. LAR) (3 Percent Owned)
Moseley was thrust into the starting lineup when veteran cornerback Ahkello Witherspoon got hurt earlier in the season. Per 49ers WebZone, San Francisco defensive coordinator Robert Saleh has been so impressed with Moseley that it afforded the team the luxury of taking things very slowly with working the now-healthy Witherspoon back into the lineup.
“Emmanuel’s played very, very well,” Saleh said. “He’s proven that he’s a starter in this league, without question, which is exciting for the future and all that stuff. Does it provide a luxury? I don’t know if it’s a luxury as much as it is for Ahkello, like ‘Hey, you don’t have to rush out. There’s a lot of football left.’ So, he’s out there just deliberately working to get back so he’s 100-percent. But yeah, to answer your question on Moseley, he’s played very, very good football.”
Playing on almost every snap last week with Richard Sherman on the shelf, Moseley had a second straight seven-tackle game last week against the Atlanta Falcons, adding a pass defended. With a loaded Rams wideout corps coming to town Sunday for an NFC West clash, Moseley has a good chance at making it three solid stat lines in a row in Week 16.
Sean Murphy-Bunting – CB, Tampa Bay Buccaneers (vs. HOU) (7 Percent Owned)
Murphy-Bunting had the best game of his brief career last week in a homecoming of sorts in Detroit, piling up eight solos and taking an interception back for a Buccaneers touchdown. As Robert Leeds of The Pewter Plank wrote, Murphy-Bunting is coming into his own after being thrown to the proverbial wolves as a rookie.
“This interception brings SMB up to three on the season,” Leeds said, “tied for the most of any rookie, and he also has 10 passes defended. These interceptions are a welcome sight for Buccaneers fans as they have often struggled in creating turnovers in the previous seasons. Assuming SMB can continue at this rate of production, the Buccaneer secondary will only continue to improve as he gains more experience and can become a true shutdown corner that the Bucs have so desperately needed.”
Murphy-Bunting’s play has improved as the season has worn on, but not so much that opposing quarterbacks have displayed any reluctance to target the youngster. This Saturday Murphy-Bunting will face a tall task indeed—covering superstar wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins of the Houston Texans. He’s going to be quite busy in Week 16.
Got a few IDP sleepers of your own? Let us know about them in the comments below. You don’t get to say, “I told you so,” if you don’t tell us so.
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