Plugging the Gaps: IDP Waiver Wire for Week 4

Ricardo Allen, Free Safety

It’s normally not good policy to recommend cornerbacks or free safeties for balanced scoring leagues, but here I am, going wild with both in one week. Ricardo Allen is actually a converted cornerback, interestingly enough, and he now fills the deep centerfield role for Dan Quinn’s Atlanta Falcons. We know from Quinn’s time as the defensive coordinator for the Seahawks, however, that the safety roles in this scheme are fairly interchangeable, and there are often as many tackle opportunities for the free safety -- the Earl Thomas role -- as there are for the strong safety.

With a test against the Houston Texans this week, Allen figures to thrive on tackle chances. As we stated before, the Texans have run the most offensive plays of any team in the NFL so far this year, and they will likely be in catch-up mode from kickoff. That means there will be plenty of passes for Allen to clean up on, and he might even be able to pick off the not-so-great Ryan Mallett if he’s lucky.

Allen is available in 98.8% of ESPN IDP leagues, and we project him for around 5.0 tackles, decent potential for an interception, a pass defensed, and a total score of 7.23 balanced fantasy points in Week 4.