Welcome to the 2025 IDP Waiver Wire For Week 15!
The good news is that if you’re reading this column, you have probably advanced to your IDP league’s playoffs. The bad news, if you’re reading this column, is that you are heading into the postseason with a potential hole in the starting lineup.
So it goes in fantasy football, unfortunately.
Hitting the waiver wire this week is made doubly tricky by the fact that we’re 14 weeks into the season. Sure, injuries can open up spots for players to slide into prominent roles on a weekly basis. But at this late juncture in the season, the waiver wire is pretty picked over—especially in deeper formats.
Feeling cheerful yet?
Still, there’s not much to be done other than to sift through the options that are available and try to find individual defensive players who can help fantasy managers move on to the semifinals—or, in the case of leagues with just four-team playoffs, make it into the postseason.
So, let’s start sifting through the sludge in the hopes of finding a nugget of gold at the best possible time.
You might want to put on some gloves.
IDP PICKUP OF THE WEEK
EDGE Travon Walker, Jacksonville
After amassing 10 sacks in back-to-back seasons in 2023 and 2024, the 2025 campaign has been a mess this season—the fourth-year pro has missed time and posted just 2.5 sacks. After returning to action in last week’s win over the Indianapolis Colts, Walker told reporters that it was difficult not being able to join his teammates on the field.
“Man, it’s always rough if you’re not playing,” Walker said. “I feel like that’s for anybody, it’s always going to be hard watching your teammates go out there and battle, and you not being able to go out there and battle with them. So, it’s definitely a little difficult.”
Walker didn’t get a sack in that victory over Indianapolis, but the former first overall pick did manage a season-high six total tackles. With the Jaguars now in first place, the team has plenty to play for down the stretch, beginning this week against a New York Jets team allowing the ninth-most fantasy points per game to defensive ends this season.
WEEK 15 IDP WAIVER WIRE TARGETS
EDGE Carl Granderson, New Orleans
Granderson hasn’t met expectations for IDP managers this season. Still, he had six total tackles and a fumble recovery a week ago against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and all three of his remaining matchups the rest of the way are at least somewhat favorable.
EDGE Alex Highsmith, Pittsburgh:
In what’s a theme this week, Highsmith has been a disappointment for fantasy managers in 2025. His Week 15 matchup with the Miami Dolphins isn’t great either. But Highsmith had 10 total tackles and a sack against the Ravens in Week 14, and that outburst can’t be ignored.
EDGE Chop Robinson, Miami
Since Jaelan Phillips was traded to the Philadelphia Eagles, Robinson has been playing a much larger role for the Dolphins. The second-year pro has responded in a big way of late, tallying six total tackles, 2.5 sacks, and a forced fumble over his last two games.
LB K.J. Britt, Miami
Tyrel Dodson has been a top-10 fantasy linebacker for much of the season, but he exited last week’s win over the New York Jets with a hamstring injury. If Dodson can’t go in Week 15, Britt would start and wear the green dot. In his only start for the Dolphins this season, Britt logged 13 total tackles.
LB DeMarvion Overshown, Dallas
Overshown didn’t light up the stat sheet last week, logging seven total tackles and three solos in a loss to the Detroit Lions. But the second-year pro saw a season-high 76 percent snap share in that game, and three-down linebackers aren’t easy to come by on the waiver wire in December.
LB Drue Tranquill, Kansas City:
The collection of linebacker talent available to fantasy managers this late in the season is, um, yeah. But Tranquill is a three-down linebacker coming off a game against the Houston Texans in which the 30-year-old logged 10 total tackles and a tackle for loss.
S Nick Emmanwori, Seattle
Emmanwori has been moving around the formation in Seattle as a rookie, including more than a few snaps as an off-ball linebacker. Last week against the Minnesota Vikings, Emmanwori went off—six tackles, two tackles for loss, a sack, and even a blocked field goal.
S Chauncey Gardner-Johnson, Chicago
This isn’t a recommendation for the faint of heart—“CGJ” is pretty big-play reliant for fantasy production. But since joining the Bears, Gardner-Johnson has done a good job of racking up those big plays, including a 10-tackle effort with an interception in last week’s loss to the Green Bay Packers.
S Kevin Winston, Tennessee
Winston has been a regular in columns like this over the past few weeks, but the rookie is still available in quite a few IDP leagues. He really shouldn’t be—over the past three games, Winston has tallied 23 total tackles, a sack, four tackles for loss, three QB hits, and a pair of passes defensed.
Thanks for checking out our recommendations for your league’s 2025 IDP Waiver Wire for Week 15. You can find all of our IDP Waiver Wire articles for 2025 by clicking here!
Gary Davenport (“The Godfather of IDP”) is a two-time Fantasy Sports Writers Association Football Writer of the Year. Follow him on Twitter (Can’t make him call it X) at @IDPGodfather.
