Your fantasy football source for information and analysis regarding Individual Defensive Players.
Introduction
While some fantasy football leagues use Defense and Special Teams as one starting line-up spot, I much prefer leagues that use Individual Defensive Players. This allows for more options and opportunities. You can have several starting line-up spots for IDPs, which allows you to have opportunities for points in multiple games. Thus, maybe you do not have an offensive player in a prime-time game, but using IDPs in fantasy football gives you a better chance of at least having a defensive player in that game. And that sounds like a win-win situation.
Scoring
Scoring for IDP leagues can vary. You definitely want to check your league’s scoring to see which positions are most valuable. Higher point totals for sacks and tackles for losses make defensive ends more valuable while higher point totals for interceptions and passes defensed make defensive backs more valuable.
However, with a typical IDP scoring system, off the ball linebacker is the position you want. These are the players that get the tackles, which is much more consistent than sacks or interceptions. In addition, you want to target linebackers who do not leave the field. You want linebackers who play in the base defense, nickel package, and even dime package. If they are not on the field, they cannot score you fantasy points.
So, which linebackers are the valuable ones? In 4-3 defenses, they are usually the middle (Mike) linebacker, though some defense schemes provide more opportunities for the weak-side (Will) linebacker. These are the linebackers you want to pursue. However, production can also come from middle linebackers in a 3-4 defensive scheme. There are two in this scheme. Sometimes, they cancel each other out by splitting tackles, but sometimes one emerges.
In addition, consider grabbing linebackers on below average defenses, as those defenses are typically on the field for longer stretches of time, which means more opportunities for fantasy points.
For the purposes of our rankings, and to establish a baseline, we will provide IDP insight based on the following scoring:
- 1 point——-Tackle (solo)
- 0.5 points–Tackle (assist)
- 3 points—–Sack
- 3 points—–Interception
- 1 point——-Pass defensed
- 2 points—–Forced fumble
- 2 points—–Fumble recovery
- 2 points—–Safety
- 2 points—–Blocked kick
- 2 points—–Extra point returned
- 6 points—–Defensive touchdown
There tends to be less standardization regarding IDP scoring, but the above scoring system should be close to how your leagues is set up.
One last thing to consider is this: when drafting IDPs in fantasy football, there is less consistency from year to year regarding the scoring leaders than you may think. For example, only Bobby Wagner finished in the top 15 in IDP scoring in each of the three seasons from 2019-2021, and only he and Roquan Smith each finished in the top 15 in IDP scoring in each of the two seasons from 2020-2021. The point here is that I would advise waiting until the end of the draft (before kickers) in selecting IDPs, as there can be some unpredictability (even more so than usual in fantasy football) in how well defensive players score fantasy points from year to year.