Week 9 IDP Free Agent Focus

By Matt Schauf 1:10am EDT 10/31/16

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Frank Clark, DE, Seahawks

Clark collected 6 tackles (3 solo) and a sack Sunday, in the 1st game without DE Michael Bennett. Now it looks like there will be at least a couple more.

ESPN's Adam Schefter reports that Bennett will have surgery Monday to repair cartilage in his right knee and likely miss 2-3 weeks. That should keep Clark in the starting lineup at least for matchups with the Bills and Patriots the next 2 weeks. Buffalo entered Week 8 ranked 2nd worst in Football Outsiders' adjusted sack rate. New England sat a much stronger 11th, but then allowed 5 sacks at Buffalo.

Clark, of course, should benefit from playing in 1 of the league's best defenses.

Marcell Dareus, DL, Bills

Dareus finally made his season debut Sunday against the Patriots, with 4 solo tackles and a sack, including 2 total tackles for loss. Buffalo tallied 5 sacks and 9 total QB hits against a Patriots O-line that has fared solidly in protection.

Next comes a run-leaning Seattle offense with inconsistent line play. A Week 10 bye follows, meaning that you don’t need to jump on Dareus just yet. But matchups with Cincinnati and Jacksonville look solid on the other side of that.

Adrian Clayborn, DE, Falcons

Clayborn produced his biggest fantasy line of the year with 2 sacks of Aaron Rodgers on Sunday, but he had been building up to that for a while. Clayborn has now registered QB hits in 5 straight games, with 9 total over that span.

This week brings a rematch with the Bucs, who also surrendered 2 QB hits to Clayborn back in Week 1. Tampa has allowed at least 2 sacks in every game since Week 2 and entered Week 8 as a top-8 scoring matchup for D-linemen.

Nick Perry, OLB, Packers

Perry had a quiet Sunday in Atlanta but will find a lot more upside in his Week 9 home matchup with the Colts.

Indy allowed 3.5 sacks to Chiefs OLB Dee Ford on Sunday. K.C. got 5 total sacks from OLBs in the game, making it 10.5 for 3-4 OLBs against the Colts over just the past 4 weeks.

For Perry, Week 8 marked just the 2^nd game this season that he has finished with no sacks.

Shaq Lawson, OLB, Bills

If you play in a deeper league with a sack-heavy scoring format, then this Buffalo rookie might be worth a pickup already.

Lawson delivered his 1^st pro sack Sunday among 2 QB hits in just his 2^nd game. He also watched team sack leader Lorenzo Alexander leave in the 1^st half with a hamstring injury.

Lawson should play a decent role in the rotation even if Alexander doesn’t miss further time. But if Alexander does sit out a week or more, then Lawson would face a shaky Seattle O-line on Monday night. QB Russell Wilson also remains clearly short of his usual mobility.

Daniel Sorensen, S, Chiefs

Sorensen broke through in Week 7 with a 6-tackle (all solos), 1-sack, 1 pick-6 effort against the Saints. He followed that with 7 solo stops – including 1 for a loss, plus a forced fumble -- in Sunday’s win over the Colts, making it 3 straight games with 6+ total tackles and 5+ solos.

Next up is a turnover-mad Jaguars team that’s good at falling behind (which tends to drive up the passing volume – and opportunities for opponent DBs).

Bradley McDougald, S, Buccaneers

McDougald defensed a pass for the 3^rd straight game in Sunday’s loss to the Raiders and reached 7 tackles for the 4^th straight time. He notched a season-high 8 solos against Oakland after collecting 7, 6 and 5 solos the 3 previous weeks.

Week 9 will bring a rematch with Atlanta, which afforded McDougald a decent 5-solo, 1-PD line back in Week 1. That marked McDougald’s 2^nd straight game with a PD against Atlanta – dating back to last year – and he tallied 8 tackles (6 solo) the meeting before that.

The Falcons entered Week 8 as a negative scoring matchup for DBs but had provided 12 passes defensed to DBs over 2 weeks before Sunday’s game against the Packers.