Welcome to the IDP Waiver Wire For Week 4!
Three weeks into the 2025 NFL season, we’re starting to get a feel for the IDP landscape this year. And for some fantasy managers, that feeling is indigestion.
For some, that rumbly in the tumbly is caused by injuries. San Francisco 49ers edge-rusher Nick Bosa was among the players who went down in Week 3 (with a season-ending ACL tear), and there were already some big names on defense watching from the sidelines.
For others, it’s underperforming players. For all the hoopla surrounding Micah Parsons’ arrival in Green Bay, he ranks outside the top-40 defensive linemen in The Godfather’s Default IDP Scoring. Indianapolis Colts linebacker Zaire Franklin has 16 total tackles in three games and sits outside the top-50 in fantasy points at his position. Tampa Bay Buccaneers safety Antoine Winfield Jr. sits at No. 61 in fantasy points among defensive backs—50 spots lower than batterymate Tykee Smith.
Then, of course, there’s the combo platter of injuries and slow starters that have contributed to a 1-2 or even 0-3 start. The prospect of the season spiraling out of control before we even hit October is enough to make IDP managers positively nauseous.
It’s a dangerous time of year. Managers have to walk a tightrope—panic-dropping slow starters can make a bad situation worse, but rolling out players who just aren’t putting up numbers can sink a season, too. Whether it’s plugging a hole caused by an injury or finding a short-term fill-in in the hopes a slumbering giant will finally wake up, more than a few IDP managers badly need to hit the waiver wire this week.
The farther into the season you get, the slimmer the waiver pickings generally get. But in Week 4, there’s still at least a little meat left on the bone.
So, let’s get after it.
IDP PICKUP OF THE WEEK
LB Ivan Pace Jr., Minnesota
Pace is a great story—an undrafted free agent who started 11 games as a rookie on the way to eclipsing 100 total tackles in 2022. Pace started 10 games for the Vikings last year and all three contests this season, and in the opinion of Bleacher Report’s Alex Ballantine, Pace has done enough to merit a second contract.
“Brian Flores has built a front seven in Minnesota that is hell for opposing offenses,” he said. “The Vikings have done a good job of identifying and developing talent that fits what they like to do, and linebacker Ivan Pace Jr. is the embodiment of that. He plays with the exact kind of edge you’d expect from someone who had to earn a role as a UDFA. He carried the third-highest pass-rush grade from any linebacker, according to PFF, last season. He was also top 15 against the run.”
With Blake Cashman on injured reserve, Pace’s snap counts have spiked the past two weeks—he played an 89 percent snap share last week and was actually on the field more than Eric Wilson in Sunday’s blowout win over the Cincinnati Bengals. Pace tallied 12 total tackles against Cincy, and he’s shown he can post robust stats when the snaps are there.
WEEK 4 IDP WAIVER WIRE TARGETS
EDGE Nick Herbig, Pittsburgh
Herbig has found his way onto the field with some regularity in recent years—the third-year pro started five games for the Steelers a year ago. Logging 5.5 sacks for the season. With Alex Highsmith sidelined Sunday against the New England Patriots, Herbig was back at it—and as Derrick Bell wrote for Steelers Now, the 23-year-old once again made the most of the opportunity.
“Herbig is truly one of the league’s best-kept secrets right now, as he seems to put on a show every time he gets the opportunity to play significant snaps,” he said. “He was matched up against a rookie tackle that was taken inside the top 5 of this year’s NFL Draft, and #51 won that matchup with ease. His strip sack on Maye was one of five turnovers that the defense forced on the afternoon. He registered a team-high eight pressures today per PFF.”
Highsmith has a high-ankle sprain, which more often than not means an absence of at least 3-4 weeks. That sets up Herbig to make at least a couple more starts, and Pittsburgh’s next three opponents (Home against Minnesota and Cleveland and at Cincinnati) have all struggled to protect the quarterback at times this season.
EDGE George Karlaftis, Kansas City
Karlaftis isn’t generally mentioned among the NFL’s better edge-rushers, but the Chiefs thought enough of the 24-year-old to ink Karlaftis to a contract extension that included over $60 million in guarantees. ESPN’s Aaron Schatz thinks Karlaftis is worth every penny, calling him one of the most underrated edge-rushers in the NFL.
“If you want to find an underrated edge rusher,” he said, “there’s a general rule to follow: Look for someone who ranks a lot higher in pressures than sacks. That means he’s getting to the quarterback and causing negative plays for the opponent, even if he isn’t getting the press. In 2024, Karlaftis was that guy. He followed up a 10.5-sack season in 2023 with eight sacks last season, but his pressure total was far more impressive. Karlaftis was tied for 14th in the NFL with 44 pressures.”
Karlaftis’ sack numbers were down in 2024 compared to the year before, but he had three sacks against the Texans in the playoffs and has a pair already this season. Against the New York Giants Sunday night, Karlaftis went ballistic, racking up 10 stops, a sack, three tackles for loss, and four quarterback hits.
LB Teddye Buchanan, Baltimore
Buchanan spent most of the summer as an IDP afterthought—a Day 3 rookie whose first year was going to be spent on special teams. But after impressing in camp and the preseason, the former Cal standout started climbing the depth chart to the point that by Week 2, he was starting opposite arguably the NFL’s best off-ball linebacker in Roquan Smith. While talking to reporters, Buchanan said he isn’t taking anything for granted.
“It’s a blessing, for sure, just to have that responsibility,” Buchanan said. “It means a lot to me, and I take that very seriously. I know the type of pedigree that the Ravens defense – especially Ravens linebackers – have. For me, that’s easy motivation to just do my best on the field.”
IDP managers shouldn’t take Buchanan for granted, either—as badly as Baltimore’s defense is playing, there is bound to be some personnel shuffling if things don’t turn around. But for now at least, Buchanan is playing full-time, and with each successive game this season, his tackle numbers have increased.
LB Noah Sewell, Chicago
Bears linebacker T.J. Edwards is one of those injured big names mentioned earlier—he missed Week 1 with a hamstring injury, only to return in Week 2 just long enough to re-injure it. With Edwards on the shelf, third-year pro Noah Sewell has been thrust into the starting lineup, and while speaking to reporters, head coach Ben Johnson told reporters that he’s been impressed by what Sewell has done with the larger role.
“Noah’s really taken the right approach,” Johnson said. “The confidence has just grown steadily as well. He’s a guy that takes a lot of pride in what he does. He’s a guy that goes out there, plays hard, and plays the game the right way. He’s the epitome of a linebacker. He’s a little bit of a throwback in this era, too, really physical, not afraid to see ball get ball. He strikes with aggression and gets off blocks. He’ll shoot a gap if he sees it open. I think he’s been a guy that really, from the springtime to camp, I’ve been pleased with how he’s progressed.”
In both of the full games Sewell has played this season, he has logged at least nine total tackles, including a season-high 11 total stops in Sunday’s win over the Dallas Cowboys. Sewell admittedly carries an expiration date, but in Week 4 at leas,t he’s a fine waiver wire target.
S Grant Delpit, Cleveland
Delpit got off to a sluggish start to the season, with just nine total tackles over the first two games combined. But he exploded in Sunday’s upset of the Green Bay Packers, logging nine stops and an interception. While talking with Go Long’s Tyler Dunne, Delpit said that’s what he wants to be on and off the field—a defensive leader.
“You can say all the right things off the field,” Delpit says, “but when you get on that field — and you’re not doing what you’re supposed to do, and I’m not punching the ball, I’m not thuddin’ how I’m supposed to be thuddin,’ I’m not doing everything I’ve got to do in practice to be a great player? What I’ve realized is I’ve got to make everybody else around me better, and that’s also going to elevate my game as well. I’m taking that step this year.”
This feels like cheating, but in one of the leagues I use (Deathmatch) to determine who might be on the wire Delpit is available in two of four conferences. If an impatient manager in your league kicked Delpit to the curb, scoop him up—as it turns out, the fifth-year pro may well be the DB2 we thought he was over the season.
S Xavier Watts, Atlanta
A third-round pick out of Notre Dame by the Falcons, Watts impressed throughout the summer—so much so that he earned the starting spot at safety opposite Jessie Bates to open the season. While addressing the media, Bates said that Watts is growing as a player with each and every rep.
“I think he’s starting to get comfortable,” Bates said. “He’s starting to actually talk to us, you know, in the meeting rooms and stuff. He’s just starting to understand the defense. I think things are starting to slow down for him. Sometimes, as a rookie, you just kind of second-guess yourself, like, ‘Do I got it? Do I got it?’ And I think he’s really starting to understand what we’re trying to do here.”
Two weeks ago, Watts had the game-sealing interception against the Minnesota Vikings. Sunday in Carolina, things did not go as well for the Falcons as a team (at all), but Watts made a fat dent on the stat sheet, logging eight solos and an assist. Playing in an IDP-friendly box role, Watts is worth a look from those wise souls who like to turn and burn defensive backs.
Thanks for checking out our IDP Waiver Wire for Week 4 article. You can find all of our IDP Fantasy Football 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.
