Week 9 IDP Hits: It's Just Different with Myles Garrett
Let's Roll with the Big Guy
Most players would not find their way to my lineup in their first game back from eight weeks off for knee surgery. But most players aren’t Myles Garrett.
The Rams are finally expected to get their star edge player back for the first time since his surprisingly unimpactful season opener. That was the game that convinced Garrett he needed to get his knee issue fixed. And the deliberate return timeline makes it easier to believe he’s ready.
But how much will he play?
“He could be on a slight pitch count, but I think they’re going to let him go for the most part,” ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler said Saturday. “He’s not gonna play the whole game, but he’s gonna play a lot.”
Garrett played 61.5% of the defensive snaps while dealing with the knee issue in Week 1. It’s not hard to envision him getting back to that snap share, which checked in well below every previous full-season rate in his career.
It’s also not difficult to envision the stats following. Garrett gets to return against a Washington team that has both its starting QBs ranked among the league’s top half in pressure rate for the season.
LT Brandon Coleman has allowed the seventh-most pressures at the position, according to Pro Football Focus, including 3 sacks over the three games since Jayden Daniels returned.
Those three contests have seen Daniels take 5, 4, and 2 sacks, against defenses that rank tied for 29th, 19th, and 32nd (respectively) in sacks per game for the season.
So if you’ve been sitting on Garrett in your IDP league to this point, fire him up for Week 9. He sits low in DL2 territory for balanced scoring, but the ceiling climbs way beyond that, especially in pressure-friendly scoring formats.
One Return, One Absence Alter Houston’s Secondary
Houston DB Jalen Pitre hasn’t played since spraining the AC joint in his left shoulder in Week 5. But that’ll change this Sunday after he followed the bye with a full week of practice.
Pitre’s return meets a Chargers offense that has supplied more fantasy points to DBs than any other this season, and his role as the primary slot corner will keep Pitre heavily involved in coverage against Ladd McConkey and TE Oronde Gadsden.
The injury helped push Pitre’s rostered rate all the way down to 8% in Sleeper IDP leagues as of Saturday morning. Don’t be afraid to grab him and start him where available (as I did in my primary IDP league).
Safety Injury Presents Another Option
S Reed Blankenship will miss his second straight game, as Houston has ruled him out while the safety recovers from a concussion and a hand injury. That’ll mean a second straight start for veteran M.J. Stewart.
The journeyman compiled a game-high 12 tackles plus a half-sack and a pass breakup in the Week 7 OT loss to the Giants. He spread his playing time across “box” reps, deep safety, and the slot in that one.
Expect fewer slot reps with Pitre back, but Stewart should continue to see plenty of time in the box. Blankenship has been the more frequent box player vs. fellow safety starter Calen Bullock. And coverage has never been Stewart’s strong suit.
As with Pitre, Stewart will benefit from a high-upside matchup with the Chargers and becomes a sneaky starting option in the Week 9 DB rankings.
Week 8 Numbers Lied for Browns Rookie
Elsewhere at safety, I get interested whenever I see a spike in production from Emmanuel McNeil-Warren. The second-round pick had the kind of college career that gets you excited about his pro IDP upside.
So I took notice when he ranked second among Browns with 9 tackles in last Sunday’s loss to the Steelers, wondering if that meant a jump in playing time. It did not.
Well, to be fair, his 52.5% snap share against the Steelers did mark a significant increase vs. the 30.2% of the game before. But that’s not close to a usable level. And it’s the second-largest snap share we’ve seen from the rookie this season.
McNeil-Warren played 94.7% of the snaps in a Week 6 game that S Grant Delpit left early, but he’s been a part-timer otherwise.
Delpit remains signed through 2028, with dead-cap numbers that probably keep him around. But Ronnie Hickman -- the other starting safety -- has a contract expiring after this season.
That presents a path for McNeil-Warren to potentially start as soon as 2027, and he’s worth a dynasty stash where you can absorb it. Just don’t expect much this season unless a starter goes down.
Colts Rookie Gets Lucky
I included LB CJ Allen among this week’s waiver pickups after last week provided his first career start. That one game of evidence obviously isn’t enough to make us certain the second-round pick will stick in that role, but the team’s lead LB is trying to help.
Akeem Davis-Gaither will miss this Sunday’s contest with a knee injury that kept him out of practice all week. That series of missed days also casts doubt on his status for Week 10, though we’ll see about that.
Of course, it should help Allen’s chances that even a healthy Davis-Gaither remains not very good. Here’s what Colts blog Horseshoe Heroes said about the vet after the Week 8 stomping by Jacksonville:
“Akeep Davis-Gaither has been pretty bad this season, and he probably wouldn’t start on any defense not coached by Lou Anarumo. Notably, he had another disaster class against Liam Coen’s [offense], both on the ground and in coverage. Davis-Gaither missed a couple of tackles and didn’t do much but get some light cardio going while Brenton Strange and Brian Thomas Jr. hauled in passes right in front of him. He might be carrying the green dot, but he should be off the field in Week 9.”
That came before we knew injury would sideline Davis-Gaither, but it points to potential motivation for a rebuilding Colts squad to lean into its second-round rookie.
I’ve laid out before how Davis-Gaither’s career has pretty clearly displayed he’s no more than an NFL backup. Anarumo -- who previously coached him in Cincinnati, where Davis-Gaither spent nearly all of his time as a backup -- remains the DC. But I’d bet on that ending after this season, based on the poor results for this year’s defense.
So Allen should at least get a full run this week against the Cowboys. And then we’ll see beyond that. His speed and opportunity alone make Allen an intriguing LB3 for Week 9, with LB2 upside this week and beyond.
Will We Find a Sleeper LB in Detroit?
As I covered earlier this week, Lions MLB Jack Campbell appears done for the season after suffering a scary neck injury against the Vikings that sent him to the hospital. Now we’ll see what the replacement plan looks like.
The primary question will be who takes on green-dot duties, which means relaying play calls from the coordinator to the defense. And that matters because that player’s likely to see full playing time. (A team can only put one green-dot helmet on the field at a time.)
As of Thursday, DC Kelvin Sheppard said they hadn’t decided exactly how to approach it, with Derrick Barnes and Malcolm Rodriguez the primary candidates.
It matters less in the case for Barnes, who has played 80-100% of the snaps in five of seven games this year. He’s also a volatile stat provider regardless of where the snap share settles within that range.
Rodriguez, meanwhile, becomes a sleeper source for tackle production if he gets full or near-full playing time. He could hit that range even without wearing the green dot, but earning play-relay duties would solidify the role.
For now, Barnes remains the unit’s best playing time bet, while Rodriguez is in play for deeper IDP leagues. Even if you don’t want to use him this week, consider stashing Rodriguez in such leagues to potentially use him in future weeks.
Pay Attention to These Questionable Falcons
We don’t yet know whether LB Divine Deablo or Edge James Pearce Jr. will play Sunday morning against the Bengals. The team deemed both guys questionable. But the status of each will be worth watching even if they’re not candidates for your IDP lineup.
Deablo’s return from a two-week (so far) forearm injury would presumably knock Kendal Daniels back down from full time to far less. The rookie played no more than 67% of the snaps in any of the first six games, with snap shares varying below that level. He played every snap the past two weeks, though, and delivered double-digit tackle totals in each outing.
I’m expecting Deablo to play after he finished the practice week with a full Friday. But Daniels would be worth starting against the Bengals if Deablo turns up inactive again.
Pearce, meanwhile, came down with a late-week back injury. That makes him unusable in IDP lineups even if active for the game. Going inactive, though, would delay the return of a guy who spent the first eight games on suspension.
Pearce has been out because of legal issues stemming from a domestic-abuse case with a former girlfriend. If he misses this week, we’ll get just one more chance for him to return before the Week 11 bye.
On the other side of the bye, though, sit attractive sack matchups with …
- Minnesota in Week 12
- Cleveland in Week 14
- Washington in Week 15
- Tampa Bay in Week 16
So Pearce is worth a look as a potential stash in sack-friendly IDP leagues while we wait.
Who Belongs in Your IDP Lineup?
Have trouble figuring out which IDPs to get into your lineup each week? The Team Dashboard combines our 3D Projections with the specifics of your situation to give you a clear picture every week.
Jared and I talk through some offensive lineup decisions in this Week 9 video.
