Welcome to the IDP Waiver Wire For Week 2!
Well, we’ve made it one week into the 2025 fantasy football season. And that means it’s time for an occurrence that happens as annually as the Cleveland Browns being terrible at football.
It’s time for IDP managers to PANIC!
I have legitimately written this same intro for the Week 2 IDP Waiver Wire for the past 15 years. Folks. Listen closely. Take a breath. Calm down. Have an adult beverage. Perhaps something in a nice horse tranquilizer.
Don’t do that last one—it’s dangerous.
Yes, it’s unfortunate that Detroit Lions edge-rusher Aidan Hutchinson had just one QB hit against the Green Bay Packers, but the Pack is a bad pass-rush matchup, and Hutchinson played all but two of Detroit’s defensive snaps. Indianapolis Colts linebacker Zaire Franklin had just four tackles in Week 1, but he faced a Miami Dolphins team that generated zero offense in a blowout loss.
This isn’t to say there aren’t players for whom concern is warranted—Jack Sanborn season may be over before it started after Kenneth Murray Jr. wore the green dot Thursday night for the Dallas Cowboys and Sanborn barely cracked a 75 percent snap share.
Making your team better is never a bad thing—especially early in the season when many waiver wires have more meat on dey bones. But every single year, I wind up picking up name players who are panic-dropped by managers who freak out over one bad stat line and a Week 1 loss.
Improving the back end of the bench? Well and good. Cutting bait on a player drafted relatively early after a single down week? It will come back to bite you.
IDP PICKUP OF THE WEEK
LB Devin White, Las Vegas
White has gotten something of a second chance in Sin City—after barely playing in his lone season with the Houston Texans in 2024, White opened the season as the green dot linebacker for the Raiders. While speaking to reporters, Raiders linebackers coach John Glenn said the 27-year-old has been a welcome addition to a linebacker corps that underwent major changes this offseason.
“Obviously, we’ve lost some key pieces, and we’re certainly sad to see people go,” Glenn said, “but it was also an opportunity for new faces and new players to get a chance at a new beginning. He can handle multiple things. We’re just delighted to have him around here.”
In his Raiders debut against the New England Patriots, White played all 71 snaps and posted 11 total tackles (eight solo) and a tackle for loss. White may never be the fantasy force that he was in his heyday with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, but he’s a full-time player who posted double-digit tackles in Week 1, and he should absolutely be rostered.
WEEK 2 WAIVER WIRE TARGETS
EDGE Haason Reddick, Tampa Bay
Reddick’s 2024 season with the New York Jets was a nightmare—the veteran held out into the season and ended up with just one sack. Now, Reddick is trying to resurrect his career in Tampa after signing a one-year deal, and Pass Game Coordinator George Edwards told reporters that Reddick has been a big addition for the Buccaneers this season.
“Well, I think Haason is a rare athlete as far as his ability to rush, his ability to drop [back],” Edwards said. “He’s done a great job of grasping what we’re doing defensively from a schematic standpoint. You can really see his athleticism and his ability to get his hands on the ball and be able to move around.”
Reddick’s Tampa debut was solid—he played 79 percent of the snaps against the Atlanta Falcons and posted three total tackles and a sack. Reddick has already matched his 2024 total after a single game, and he’s going to exceed it this week against the Texans and their offensive line of five matadors.
EDGE Byron Young, Los Angeles Rams
2024 Defensive Rookie of the Year Jared Verse got all the run this summer, but this analyst spent the entire offseason banging the drum for Young, who topped 60 tackles with at least 7.5 sacks in both of his professional seasons. Per ESPN’s Sarah Barshop, Rams outside linebackers coach Joe Coniglio was banging a drum of his own.
“Coniglio said he has noticed how “intentional” Young has been going into his third season,” Barshop wrote. “Coniglio said he challenged Young to continue to work on his ‘consistency,’ because ‘when he’s at his best, it’s a lot of fun to watch. I think he’s going to take another step forward in regards to his game, his ability to affect games, his ability to disrupt offenses and be the player that he’s capable of being,’ Coniglio said.”
Granted, it came against a Houston Texans offensive line that looked like hot garbage in Week 1. But Young was a force, logging nine total tackles and picking up his first sack of the 2025 campaign. Young is available in far more leagues than he should be, and this week, he takes on a Tennessee Titans team that just surrendered six sacks in Denver.
LB SirVocea Dennis, Tampa Bay
With the Anthony Walker experiment in Tampa ending before it ever started, the Buccaneers have asked a lot of Dennis, slotting the third-year pro as a full-time starter opposite Lavonte David. Dennis had an up-and-down Week 1, and David told reporters that the youngster needs to get better in a hurry.
“You know, he gotta get his ass going,” David said. “You know what I’m saying? You’ve got no time to wait. You gotta come out there ready to go. He had some tough times. It’s one game, but I know for a fact he’s going to be better. And, as you said, he came back on the very next play in the second half, stuffed the fullback, and made the play. I expect nothing less out of Voss, man. You know, he’s just got to get his feet under him a little bit, but I won’t expect that another time.”
From an NFL standpoint, Dennis may have scuffled a little bit. But Dennis played 95 percent of Tampa’s defensive snaps, finishing with 10 total tackles (seven solo) and a pair of tackles for loss. The Buccaneers don’t have a ton of depth at linebacker, so Dennis should be allowed to work through his growing pains.
LB Cedric Gray, Tennessee
For most of the summer, it appeared that James Williams was going to start opposite Cody Barton in Nashville. However, as we progressed through the preseason, fellow second-year pro Cedric Gray claimed the spot, and when addressing the media, Gray stated that he intends to make the most of the opportunity.
“I just think I have to keep doing what I am doing, being a smart football player, showing the coaches that I understand what is going on out there, that I can make the adjustments and can make the reads and continue to hone in on my technique, and just be myself,” he said. “I feel like I have the ability and all that stuff, I just have to keep growing, just keep trending upward, and I think I’ll be fine.”
Gray’s eight tackles in Sunday’s loss to the Denver Broncos isn’t a great stat line. But Gray was on the field for over 90 percent of the Titans’ defensive snaps, and the Broncos struggled to put together long drives much of the afternoon. If Gray is available in your IDP league, he shouldn’t be.
S Tykee Smith, Tampa Bay
It’s a Tampa trio! A bucket of Buccaneers! A plethora of pirates!
OK, I’ll stop now.
After playing mainly in the slot as a rookie, Tykee Smith moved to safety this season. While addressing the media, Antoine Winfield Jr. said that Smith has taken to the new role well, and he expects big things from Smith in 2025.
“You know, he played a lot of nickel last year, but nickel and safety are pretty much the same thing, it is just he is in the middle of the field a little bit more,” said Winfield. “He is good at it, he is used to it, so it is nothing new. We sit right next to each other, so we are always talking to each other, talking about disguises or ways that we can make a play, or he can make a play. We always bounce that stuff off each other.”
If the roles of Winfield and Smith in Week 1 were any indication, IDP managers who paid retail for the former in 2025 may be upset this year. Almost half of Smith’s 74 snaps against the Falcons were in the box, and he led the team with 11 total tackles.
S Craig Woodson, New England
New Patriots head coach Mike Vrabel wasted no time putting his stamp on the New England defense—including giving veteran starter Kyle Dugger the hook at safety. That opened the door for rookie fourth-rounder Craig Woodson to start, and he told reporters that he’s ready to do whatever the team needs in 2025.
“At Cal, we kind of used to do everything,” he said. “So, for me, whether that’s free or in the box, whatever it is, I’m just ready for the challenge. Whatever position the coaches want to put me in, I have to be ready.”
“Batterymate” Jaylinn Hawkins had the bigger stat line in New England’s Week 1 loss to the Raiders, but Woodson’s seven total tackles and two tackles for loss wasn’t cat food. The more important takeaway moving forward is that Woodson spent more time close to the line of scrimmage—35 percent of his 63 snaps.
