NFL Week 12 IDP Fantasy Football Waiver Wire Targets

As we head into Thanksgiving, trade deadlines have passed in most leagues, playoff contenders have separated themselves from the pack, and there are still some rosters that have work left to be done.

If you’ve been active on the waiver wire all season, don’t stop now. Depth will be crucial for a championship run because, as we’ve seen many times this season, star players could be lost at a moment’s notice.

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Here are the Week 12 IDP names to target on the waiver wire.

NAMES THAT BEAR REPEATING

To avoid repeating arguments for players previously mentioned in this piece, I'll list anyone who is still relevant who I have mentioned in the past three weeks with a link to that article and information.

David Onyemata, DI, NO (Week 9)
Zach Allen, DE, ARZ (Week 9)
Alex Highsmith, EDGE, PIT (Week 9)
Dawuane Smoot, DE, JAX (Week 10)
Jacob Martin, EDGE, HST (Week 10)
Dorance Armstrong, EDGE, DAL (Week 11)
James Smith-Williams, EDGE, WAS (Week 11)
Christian Barmore, DI, NE (Week 11)
Baron Browning, LB, DEN (Week 9)
T.J. Edwards, LB, PHI (Week 9)
Jarrad Davis, LB, NYJ (Week 9)
Ernest Jones, LB, LAR (Week 9)
Kwon Alexander, LB, NO (Week 10)
Zach Cunningham, LB, HST (Week 10)
Jayon Brown, LB, TEN (Week 10)
Curtis Robinson, LB, DEN (Week 11)
Monty Rice, LB, TEN (Week 11)
A.J. Klein, LB, BUF (Week 11)
Brandon Jones, S, MIA (Week 9)
Brandon Stephens, S, BLT (Week 10)
George Odum, S, IND (Week 10)
Juston Burris, S, CAR (Week 11)

DEFENSIVE LINE

EDGE TREVIS GIPSON, CHICAGO BEARS

With Khalil Mack’s season officially over, Robert Quinn is the obvious choice to pick up if he is available, but in most leagues, he’s not. That leaves Gipson as the best widely available option to replace Mack. Gipson started in Week 11 and performed well, posting five total pressures, one sack and five tackles. Gipson did this on a 64% snap share, which was the second-highest among Bears’ edge rushers, behind only Quinn. Gipson has been solid all season when given an opportunity, earning a 75.3 pass-rush grade for the year on the back of 16 pressures and three sacks.

Replacing Mack is no easy task for any IDP, but Gipson has put up comparable production so far on fewer snaps. The chart below should inspire some confidence that Gipson can be more than just a one-week wonder at the position and prove useful for the rest of the season.

Khalil Mack vs. Trevis Gipson in 2021:

Bears EDGE	Snaps	Pressures	Pass-rush grade	Sacks	Tackles
Khalil Mack	315	22	74.0	6	15
Trevis Gipson	278	16	75.3	3	15

EDGE TYUS BOWSER, BALTIMORE RAVENS

Bowser is quietly on pace to have the best season of his career in 2021. With 4.5 sacks, 35 tackles and 10 QB hits through 10 games, Bowser is proving that he should be on a lot more IDP rosters. After his Week 11 performance against the Bears, I suspect he will be, as Bowser finished with two sacks, five tackles and a forced fumble while also playing his largest snap share of the year (83%).

Bowser currently owns the second-highest pass-rush grade on the team (77.9) with 26 pressures on 183 pass-rush snaps. He also leads all Ravens edge rushers in total snaps this season (435). With his two sacks in Week 11, he now leads the team in the category (4.5) and is going to be a hotter commodity on the waiver wire than he was in previous weeks. The Ravens tend to rotate their edge rushers, but Bowser has been the leader of the pack for most of this season, making him a fine IDP depth piece at this point in the year.