Plugging the Gaps: IDP Waiver Wire for Week 8

Quinton Dial, Defensive End

I wanted to recommend Quinton Dial in this column last week, but the San Francisco 49ers played on Thursday night, and I released this article late. Dial gets his due here, though, as the third-year defensive end has progressed in a major way since his 2013 debut. He was called on last year to help in rotational passing down situations at nose tackle and end, putting together 23 total tackles, 2 sacks, and 10 other quarterback pressures on just 329 snaps in 2014. This year, he’s on pace to beat those numbers: he should have around 37 total tackles, 2.5 sacks, and 18 other pressures.

In Week 8, he has a good chance to add to those counts. The 49ers take on their division rivals, the St. Louis Rams, who will be feeding the ball left and right to running back Todd Gurley. The same logic applies with the Rams it did with the Vikings: defensive linemen here are in a plus matchup, especially defensive ends. Over the last three games, defensive ends have produced an average 4.5 tackles, 0.5 sacks, and 1 stuff against the Rams. For a streaming option, that’s not bad. The Rams are tied for the highest stuff percentage allowed and the 10th-highest sack percentage allowed in 2015.

Dial is available in 100.0% of ESPN IDP leagues. We project Ian Williams for around 3.0 tackles and a total score of 3.28 balanced fantasy points in Week 8. Based on defensive tackle scoring against the Rams versus defensive end, I believe this will be Dial’s projection as a floor.