IDP Start/Sit: Week 13

Updated: November 29th 2023

 

Welcome to week 13, our penultimate matchup before the playoffs! Let’s get those lineups ready again as we secure our first-round byes, or our spots in the playoff, or at the very least, play spoiler to those still in it!

Week 12 Recap

DL:

Start: Will Anderson Jr. (2 solos, 2 assists, TFL) 👎

Sit: Shaquil Barrett (3 solos, assist) 👍

LB:

Start: Ivan Pace Jr. (7 solos, 2 assists, sack, TFL, QB hit) 👍

Sit: Frankie Luvu (Solo, assist) 👎

DB:

Start: Jonathan Owens (8 solos, 4 assists, TFL, FR, Def TD) 👍

Sit: Jevon Holland (5 solos, INT, PD, Def TD) 👎

Week 13 Starts & Sits

START: Osa Odighizuwa, Dallas Cowboys, DL60 (DT18)

Osa Odighizuwa, he not only has a fun name to say, but he also has the production to get into our IDP lineups. This is especially true in week 13. Osa has had a great year in terms of his pass rush success. He has a pass-rush pressure rate of 13.65% and he has a pass-rush win rate of 24.25% on the season. These are outstanding numbers, however, they have not resulted fully in the sack numbers you’d expect. I’d expect to see him with close to 5 sacks versus the 3 he has produced year-to-date. Getting a matchup against the Seattle Seahawks should help with that this week. They are allowing pressures on 32% of all dropbacks while 15% of those are being converted into sacks. This is a strong matchup for Odighizuwa to add to his sack total this season.

SIT: Denico Autry, Tennessee Titans, DL40 (ED27)

Denico Autry has had a wonderful season. 8 sacks is a great season for most pass-rushers, but Autry is at that number through 11 games and obviously pushing for more. Autry has been an bit of an over-producer this season though, with those 8 sacks coming on 32 pressures. And as we looked at with Osa, we would expect his sack total to be closer to 5 sacks at this point. His pass-rush production numbers are solid, but not elite either that it would lead me to believe that he is a true outlier with 10.22% pass rush rate and a 15.0% pass rush win rate. This week, Autry gets a less than ideal matchup in the Indianapolis Colts who are allowing only a 23% pressure rate per dropback this season and only 7% of those pressures are converted into sacks. This is a week where Autry likely regresses back to the mean.

START: Jack Campbell, Detroit Lions, LB41

Jack Campbell has been an IDP rookie darling of mine since the draft cycles this off-season. Now, due to an unfortunate injury, he might get the full-time role I was hoping he’d have secured by this point. Either way, Campbell has been quietly delivering a respectable baseline for IDP production. He has 49 tackles at a 12.82% efficiency. This is very average, but for a first year player, that is a good baseline to be achieving already. He has added a handful of splash plays, too. Week 13 is a good matchup as well, heading to New Orleans Jack Campbell is facing a Saints offense that is providing an average of 19.2 tackles per game to the linebacker position. Even at an even split with Derrick Barnes, that is still likely to yield an 8 – 10 tackle floor for them and Campbell is should easily take advantage this week.

SIT: Markquese Bell, Dallas Cowboys, LB36

Markquese Bell has stepped up in his role with the injuries and uncertainty at linebacker this year for the Cowboys. Starting in week 6 we have seen snap percentages of 53%, 73%, 94%, 39%, 85%, and 77%. The numbers have been relatively consistent, but Rashaan Evans has slowly been seeing his integration and snaps increasing as well, even if smaller. But that reduction is coming at the extent of someone else at times, and it seems to be Bell. It also doesn’t help that they already have an established safety group of three as well in Kearse, Wilson, and Malik Hooker that limits Bell’s ability to stay on the field. Pair the snap count concerns with the Seattle Seahawks matchup this weekend in a team that is only yielding 14.7 tackles per game to the linebabcker position, I do not like Bell’s range of outcomes this week.

START: Jordan Battle, Cincinnati Bengals, DB32 (S28)

Rookie Jordan Battle is getting his opportunity this season due to injuries, but he has gone ahead and made the most of that. Filling in early two weeks ago and getting his frist fultime starting game, Battle quickly made the most of it with 19 total tackles. He projected as a strong tackling safety during the NFL draft process but has shown he can deliver that on the NFL field. While this is a small sample size, we love the production, but we also love the utilization. 58.26% of his snaps these last two weeks have come from the sweet spot alignments but his box utilization saw a jump from 18 snaps to 31 once after a week of preparing the defense with Battle known as the starter. Again, small sample sizes, but we are at the end of the season and we cannot wait several weeks to figure out some of these new roles and opportunities. But we can react to the information we have seen the teams already do. Battle should be a strong start while he maintains this role.

SIT: Richie Grant, Atlanta Falcons, DB25 (S23)

Richie Grants was a defensive back I had a lot of belief in coming into this season. Unfortunately, that has not been the case for his third season in the NFL. It has shown not only in his reduction in IDP production, but some of his worst PFF grades, especially is his overall defense and coverage grades. Most concerning though, is the last two weeks he has dipped below 100% snap percentage and this last week it was down to 75%! Up to this point, he has delivered slightly above average tackle efficiency, but if he isn’t producing outlier numbers and his utilization is going to drop, his IDP production becomes concerning on a week-to-week basis. Enter the New York Jets for this week, they are allowing the lowest numbers of tackles to opposing safeties at 9.9 per game.

 

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IDP Start/Sit: Week 11

Updated: November 16th 2023

IDP Start/Sit: Week 11

 

Week 10 was not our best outcome of the season with only 2 good picks, but the process looked good for most of them. Variance can be our friend, but this week, it was not. But let’s move forward to week 11 and talk through our lineups as we near playoff time.

Week 10 Recap

DL:

Start: Calijah Kancey (3 solos, 2 TFLs, 2 QB hits) 👍 – 2 big plays in the backfield, I like this as a good week.

Sit: Khalil Mack (4 solos, 1 TFL, 1 QB hit) 👎 – A borderline game, I took the W on Kancey, I’ll take the L on Mack

LB:

Start: Patrick Queen (6 solos, 3 assists) 👎 – I thought we would see more beyond on just standard tackles this week. I’ll take the L on that.

Sit: Alex Anzalone (4 solos, 5 assists, PD, QB hit) 👎 

DB:

Start: Alontae Taylor (4 solos, 1 assist, TFL, 2 PDs) 👍

Sit: Keisean Nixon (2 solos, 2 assists, PD, 151 return yards) 👎

Week 11 Starts & Sits

START: Kyle Van Noy, Baltimore Ravens, DL42 (ED33)

Kyle Van Noy has done it again, he has found a team, he has found a role, and he is finding a way to deliver IDP value. The Ravens’ defense as a whole has been excellent this year and many are finding success but it is fun to see a veteran role player making such an impact. He has had a nice run over his last three games as well. 12 pressures, 2 sacks, but he has been so close on quite a few, too. Add an additional QB hit and 9 hurries to go along and you can see how he has been not only delivering, but the potential to have more on top of that. He was dealing with a groin injury this week but was a full participant on practice on Wednesday so you can feel confident about his usage this week which over the last 3 weeks has been good as a more of the pass rush specialist, at 36 snaps per game. This does limit his tackle floor and explain his lowered ranking, but when you need to stream that DL spot or are chasing sack upside, Van Noy is our guy this week. His matchup against the Bengals should be a plus matchup overall as well with the Bengals allowing just over 17 pressures per game over their last 3 as well. The Ravens offense has played very well this season and his likely to keep this in a negative game script or at least neutral for the Bengals, meaning more pass rushing opportunities overall. The intersection of Van Noy’s performance and the Bengals looking like a plus matchup make Van Noy a great streaming candidate.

SIT: Montez Sweat, Chicago Bears, DL15 (ED14)

Montez Sweat has had a very good IDP season so far and has done so in a consistent fashion that really shouldn’t warrant a sitting or fading of him in our lineups. 27 pressures on 239 pass rush snaps for a very respectable 12.29% pass rush pressure rate. He has done well to convert those pressures into sacks with 8 on the season already. Additionally, he has delivered an average of 3 tackles a game too as a nice little baseline. So why are we considering fading Sweat? It is a little bit his change of scenery and a lot more his unfavorable matchup against the Detroit Lions. In his 2 games, he has shown a lot less activity in the run defense of the game and has only compiled 2 total tackles. Small sample, I know, but it is still a bit concerning at this point and takes away from the floor he had in Washington. Then, enter the Detroit Lions and their 3rd best pressure rate allowed 2nd best sack conversion percentage. Sweat has shown an ability to deliver and if you don’t have many other options, he is still capable from talent alone to make his week on one big play, but for me, I am lowering my expectations on Montez Sweat this week.

START: Elandon Roberts, Pittsburgh Steelers, LB26

Elandon Roberts seems to be the last man standing in Pittsburgh with Kwon Alexander suffering a significant injury last week, and Holcomb is already on IR, it is Robert’s show to run at this point for the Steelers’ LB room. Roberts is well known as a solid run defender but not so much for his coverage skills, well enter a Cleveland Browns team that already surrenders some of the most tackles per game to their opponents’ linebackers and now has lost their starting QB in Deshaun Watson for the season. And a team without its starting QB is likely to lean into its run game to help “cover up” its lesser QB. To say this is an ideal matchup for Roberts, might be one of the biggest understatements. Roberts should be in all of our lineups this week.

SIT: De’Vondre Campbell, Green Bay Packers, LB27

De’Vondre Campbell, after missing some time earlier this season, has ended up back in the lead role with Quay Walker experiencing his own injury issues. His production was strong in his first week back against Minnesota with 14 tackles and a handful of other plays. However, the last two weeks he has averaged 5.5 tackles, with only 4 of them as the solo variety. And early in this week, he might be moving back into a smaller role with Quary Walker logging a limited practice on Wednesday already and McDuffie showing his viability during the injuries of Campbell and Walker, too. Reduced opportunities aren’t always the end of an LB’s IDP viability, however, the lowered opportunities paired with a matchup against the team allowing the lowest tackles and IDP scoring to their opposing linebackers is not a good thing. And that is what Campbell has in facing off against the Los Angeles Chargers.

START: Kevin Byard, Philadelphia Eagles, DB35 (S27)

Kevin Byard had his chance of scenery this year, just like Montez Sweat, and Byard has done a nice job maintaining his IDP production with the Eagles. His tackle floor has dipped just shy of 1 tackle per game, but he has maintained a great “sweet spot” utilization at 51.7% the last two games. In week 11, Byard gets the Kansas City Chiefs and Patrick Mahomes. Mahomes has normally been a QB who doesn’t make many mistakes, however, this year has been a bit different, he already has 13 turnover-worthy plays this season through 9 games, whereas last 3 years he has averaged closer to 20 a season. Byard, who is normally a consistent play-maker, has yet to make that mark this season. And in a matchup with a team that has the 6th highest pass rate, a QB who is making more mistakes than usual, and a defender in Byard who likely has positive regression towards making a splash play to go along with a solid tackle floor, gives me a lot of confidence in firing up Kevin Byard in all my lineups.

SIT: Jalen Pitre, Houston Texans, DB23 (S18)

Jalen Pitre was the IDP darling last season with his other-worldly tackle production. His 2023 production has not matched this at all, but has been viable for our IDP lineups this year. However, last week we saw a shift away from Pitre as a box safety and get his lowest “sweet spot” utilization at 25% and it resulted in his worst tackle performance of the season with 1 solo tackle. Week 11 opponent, the Arizona Cardinals, don’t help Pitre’s overall opportunities with their bottom-third plays run per game at 61 plays. Even with Murray back last week, they still only ran 60 plays. They are not the higher-tempo offense we saw under Kliff Kingsbury. With the potential shift in his alignment and usage and the lowered ceiling of opportunities in fewer plays to defend, I am lower on Pitre’s potential outcomes.

 

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IDP Start/Sit: Week 10

Updated: November 8th 2023

 

Week 10 is upon, we are halfway through the NFL season and a bit further through our fantasy seasons. Week 9 was a bit of a hit and miss, but we definitely found some values and we have some great values for you here going into week 10 that will hopefully help you make your push into the fantasy playoffs.

Week 9 Recap

DL:

Start: Jadeveon Clowney (2 solos, 1 assist, 2 PD) 👎 – 2 PDs keep this from being a bad week at least

Sit: Jonathan Greenard (2 solos, 3 QB hits) 👍 – Very close to being a big week though!

LB:

Start: Blake Cashman (5 solos, 5 assists, 2 TFLs) 👍 

Sit: Kaden Elliss (5 solos, 4 assists, PD) 👎 

DB:

Start: Trent McDuffie (8 solos, 2 assists, FF) 👍

Sit: Trevon Moehrig (5 solos, 1 sack, TFL, QB hit) 👎

Week 9 Starts & Sits

START: Calijah Kancey, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, DL61 (DT16)

If you heard any of my offseason chatter, you probably know that Kancey was one of my favorites and I really loved the landing spot in Tampa Bay for him. He got off to a rough start battling injuries. He saw 11 snaps week 1 and then didn’t play again until week 6. But since then, Kancey has 4 straight games of 40+ snaps and just saw 59 in week 9. He is averaging 4 pressures, 2 tackles, 0.5 sacks over that span as well. While these are not “stop-the-presses” type of numbers, what they are is consistent. And this is for a rookie has already missed a quarter of the season. I feel good about his continue prospects with what he has shown in his smaller sample this season. This week he gets to face off against the Tennessee Titans, who are allowing the 2nd most pressures per drop back at 33% this season. It’s not just the pressures, but also the conversions into sacks is 6th worst in the NFL at 17%. This is an ideal pass-rush matchup for the Buccaneers as a unit, but I think we see more growth and more importantly, production, from Calijah Kancey this week.

SIT: Khalil Mack, Los Angeles Chargers, DL29 (ED24)

Khalil Mack has shown us some explosive performances already this season. In week 4 he has 6 sacks and week 9 he had 2 sacks. These 8 sacks came against a rookie QB who just kept holding on to the ball in first regular season start, Aidan O’ Connell,  and a QB who is constantly being questioned if he should be a starting QB in Zach Wilson. This accounts for 8 of his 9 sacks and also 18 of his 39 total pressures this season. He is capable of capitalizing in ideal matchups, however, week 10 does not appear to be one of those matchups as the Chargers take on the Detroit Lions. The Lions have the 5th best pressure rate allowed (23%) and 2nd best sack conversion percentage (8%) and have shown a clear desire to run the ball with the 9th highest run percentage and Mack has not been the Mack of his prime and his tackle floor is severely limited to less than 2 tackles per game as well this season.

START: Patrick Queen, Baltimore Ravens, LB15

Telling you to start a top 15 LB rank maybe seems like a silly thing to say, but Patrick Queen has shown that he can deliver an average tackle floor, but what is the real kicker is he has consistent pass-rush utilization. He averages over 7 pass rush attempts a game and has converted 4 of his 64 pass rush attempts into sacks this season. Queen has the clear upside each week with his pass rush ability, but this week, against the Cleveland Browns, we will see his tackle floor and production increase. The Cleveland Browns are the 2nd most friendly team for LBs in terms of tackle production, with an average of 19.3 tackles per games to LBs. And Roquan and Queen are the essential LBs that play nearly every snap, so most of the tackles should be piled up between them.

SIT: Alex Anzalone, Detroit Lions, LB32

Alex Anzalone continues to be the lead LB in Detriot even after they spent a first round pick on Jack Campbell. And Jack Campbell seems to be coming on as the LB2 (maybe LB1 of the near future), but even with Anzalone holding down the lead role, he has not been the pinnacle of efficiency. His tackle efficiency on the season is below league average with his 11.6%. This shows too as he has only had 7 or more tackles twice this season. His upside has been relatively limited outside of his week 8 game against Las Vegas where he had 8 pass rush attempts and converted it into 2 sacks. Every other game this year he had less than 5 pass rush attempts and only converted it into 1 sack. Now with his week 10 matchup against the Chargers, we have a less than ideal one as the Chargers are providing the lowest number of tackles per game to LB’s at 13.4 (thank you to PFF’s Jon Macri for this tidbit).

START: Alontae Taylor, New Orleans Saints, UNRANKED

Alontae Taylor has a seen the football plenty this year. He is tied for first among all defenders for total targets faced this season at 66. He hasn’t turned this into earth-shattering numbers, but very stable numbers. He is averaging 4.25 tackles and 1 PD per game. While 5 of his 8 PDs did come in week 3 against the Packers, this highlights the kind of boom upside he can deliver along with a solid tackle floor. It helps that he is playing a lot of his snaps out of the slot defender position to the tune of 391 of his 487 snaps coming from the slot alignment. Then enter the Minnesota Vikings and their 3rd highest passing percentage this year at 65.3% of all their plays being pass plays. And don’t fret that Joshua Dobbs is coming into to town, he took 38 drop backs after coming in for the injured Jaren Hall. With a full week of prep and learning, I think it is safe to say they will still be passing at a higher volume. The safe floor, the volume of opportunities he should see this week, and his ability to show us boom weeks are the reasons we should be getting Alontae Taylor into our lineups this week.

SIT: Keisean Nixon, Green Bay Packers, DB38 (CB8)

Keisean Nixon burst onto the scene last year thanks to his explosive play on special teams and some injuries to the Packers’ secondary. He has done a great job carving out his role as the primary slot defender and delivered IDP relevance as well this year. He has taken 279 of his 364 snaps in the slot alignment and delivered 33 tackles and 3 PDs this season. While this is very viable in our lineups (especially CB required), this week he faces off against the Pittsburgh Steelers. The Steelers are 11th in percentage of plays that are passing plays, however, the do not like to utilize their slot WRs with regularity. Over the last 3 games, they have only targeted them a combined 7 times. Whereas Nixon, over that same span, has seen 14 targets. If you are going to cut the tackle floor of my IDP in half potentially based on the matchup and utilization, he quickly becomes a concern for me and since the new kickoff role and the limited returns seen this season, I lose confidence in starting them.

 

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IDP Start/Sit: Week 9

Updated: November 2nd 2023

 

Week 8 we had every team playing again and lots of options. We looked good and the efficiencies checked out for our starts. For our sits, the process didn’t check out for on Holcomb and Grant. But holy cow, Bryce Huff needs to get a bit more run (or a competing team should have tried to nab him at the deadline) because this man is on fire this year. Might be worth a stash on your dynasty roster if he is available and you have the spot.

Week 8 Recap

DL:

Start: Bryce Huff (2 solos, 3 assists, 1 sack, TFL, QB hit) 👍 – Only on 37% snaps!?!

Sit: Jonathan Allen (1 assist, 2 QB hits) 👍

LB:

Start: Denzel Perryman (6 solos, 3 assists, TFL, QB hit, 0.5 sacks) 👍 – Only on 48% snaps!?!

Sit: Cole Holcomb (7 solos, 4 assists, FR) 👎 

DB:

Start: Jamal Adams (5 solos, 3 assists, TFL, PD) 👍

Sit: Richie Grant (6 solos, 3 assists, PD) 👎

Week 9 Starts & Sits

START: JeDeveon Clowney, Baltimore Ravens, DL46 (ED35)

Clowney has had a bit of a career flip here in his season with the Ravens. A defender once known for his strength in run defense and ability to make tackle plays in the backfield is now really showing some chops as a pass rusher. He is pacing out for 72+ pressures this season, his best since 64 in 2017. But he is going to do this on 200 fewer snaps. His efficiency is up and he is delivering strong pass-rush metrics in other spots, too. He is top 25 in the NFL in terms of his win rate at 22.8% this season. The one downside to Clowney’s season is his tackle floor has dropped to its lowest of his career as he is pacing out to have 29 total tackles this season. This week, Clowney gets the Seahawks whose offensive line has been a line that has allowed a 30% pressure rate on the season. This is one of the bottoms in terms of pressures allowed but only 11% sack conversion, one of the better marks this season. So for Clowney, he has been successful in creating pressures and should realize that this week, but his ability to convert a sack is good enough that he will have success this week, too, making him a viable starting option this week.

SIT: Jonathan Greenard, Houston Texans, DL27 (ED21)

Jonathan Greenard had an amazing week last week with 7 pressures and 3 sacks against the Panthers! He has delivered some solid metrics to go along with these recent eye-popping stats. He has a 19.1% win rate in pass rush sets and an 11% pash rush pressure rate. However, he has overproduced a bit on his sack production, where I would expect to see him closer to 3.5 sacks vs. the 7 he has. The potential negative regression in his sack production while coming into a matchup with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers this week, has me a little concerned about Greenard being a strong play this week. Tampa has the third-lowest pressure rate allowed and the third-lowest sack conversion rate, too.

START: Blake Cashman, Houston Texans, LB26

Blake Cashman has been absolute money once stepping into the full-time role in this Demeco Ryans’ Houston Texans defense. Since getting the full-time role he has delivered a solid 13.42% tackle efficiency. The real kicker on top of that is the splash play he has added to that strong tackle floor. 6 TFL’s, 3 QB hits, 1 sack, and 2 PDs. With the strong tackle production and the addition of the big play upside, Bashman is firmly cemented as an LB2. This week against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, it is a bottom-half matchup scoring-wise, but Cashman is the primary LB in this offense has the best likelihood of absorbing the bulk of the LB scoring this week.

SIT: Kaden Elliss, Atlanta Falcons, LB29

It pains me to say to sit Kaden Elliss, he was a flag plant of mine and someone I was very excited about this season. Now, he hasn’t been a complete busy by any stretch of the imagination either. He is wearing the green dot for the Falcons and he is seeing nearly 100% of all snaps this season. However, is tackle efficiency is below average at 10.9%. While this is not ideal, we can normally work with this when there is upside in other aspects of their game. And with Kaden Elliss with thought we might have that with his pass-rush upside from his time with Saints and his DC Ryan Nielsen. Elliss is actually on pace to surpass his pass rush opportunities from last year by 21 chances while playing well over 400 snaps more than last year. This lower ceiling, plus a matchup against rookie QB Jaren Hall and the Vikings, with an offense that is not likely to be very efficient week 1 with this big change, I am expecting a lower set of opportunities for Elliss this week.

START: Keanu Neal, Pittsburgh Steelers, DB74 (S52)

Minkah Fitzpatrick is out and Keanu Neal was one of the biggest benefactors last week when Fitzpatrick was out due to injury. This gave him the opportunity to see his best utilization in the box and the slot alignments. What did that do for him in terms of his production? His best tackle production of the season with 7 solo tackles. And Minkah is officially out for the Thursday night matchup against the Titans and we should be ready to expect another solid night from Keanu Neal against an offense that maybe has some renewed juice with Will Levis behind center.

SIT: Trevon Moehrig, Las Vegas Raiders, DB39 (S30)

Trevon Moehrig had a wonderful week 8 with 10 total tackles for our IDP lineups. It did not hurt that he also had played all 86 snaps in that game! But that is still a very good 11.1% tackle efficiency, which we would be more than happy to have from a DB. He has also back-to-back weeks of 30 box snaps as well. These are both positive things for IDP production, however, prior to this week, his tackle efficiency sat at 7.5%, a good step below average tackle efficiency for DBs. In a matchup against a struggling New York Giants offense (especially if Daniel Jones sits), I would expect limited upside from most Raiders IDPs, but especially those that play further off the line, like Moehrig.

 

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IDP Start/Sit: Week 7

Updated: October 18th 2023

IDP Start/Sit: Week 7

 

It was not a great week 5, but just like teams dealing with all kinds of injuries, we need to press on and find the right guy this week and make our teams better for it! And we might want to even consider where we are going to be next week when we get hit with a ton of teams on their bye week as well.

Week 6 Recap

DL:

Start: Grady Jarrett (1 sack, 1 solo, 1 assist, 1 TFL, 2 QB hits) 👍

Sit: Jonathon Cooper (1 sack, 3 solos, 1 TFL, 2 QB hits, 1 PD) 👎

LB:

Start: Tyrel Dodson (2 solos, 5% of snaps) 👎- This is clearly Dorian Williams’ job

Sit: Frankie Luvu (5 solos, 4 assists, TFL) 👎 

DB:

Start: Devon Witherspoon (4 solos, 3 PD) 👍

Sit: Marcus Maye (2 solos, 2 assists) 👍

Week 7 Starts & Sits

START: Dexter Lawrence, New York Giants, DL45 (DT09)

Dexter Lawrence has an amazing 2022 campaign, for the NFL and IDP. Career highs in snaps, pressures, sacks, hits, tackles, you name it. His start to 2023 has not been nearly as productive with 0 sacks so far through 6 games. The nice thing is, his underlying metrics are in line or better than his 2022 season. His pass-rush pressure rate is up about 1.5% to 13.7% and his tackle efficiency is up 0.5% to 7.7%. And his win rate is up 2% to 27% as well. However, this just hasn’t delivered results for IDP quite well yet.

Now enter the Washington Commanders. In their last game against one of the leagues worst pass rushes (over the last several years), they still managed to allow 11 pressures and 5 sacks on Howell’s 29 drop backs. I can’t imagine a better way for someone to deliver a sack than to get the Commanders. Lawrence will continue his dominance, but I think he also maximizes that with at least a sack this week.

SIT: Leonard Floyd, Buffalo Bills, DL25 (ED19)

Leonard Floyd has been a great addition to the Buffalo Bills defensive front with the absence of Von Miller. Floyd has delivered some great weeks already for IDP with 7 total sacks through 6 games. The floor is a bit limited for Buffalo Bills pass rushers as they rotate pretty consistently and his shows with his 7 total tackles as well. Their matchup against the Patriots is a fairly average one for pass rushers. But the thing we are looking at here is a pass rusher who has an average win rate at 12.3%, and a solid 11.8% pass rush pressure rate. But he has also greatly over-produced with his 7 sacks on 16 pressures. On average, we would expect to see 2.5 sacks from that level of pressure created. So with a lower floor for his play, some likely negative regression in terms of his sack production, and an average matchup, Floyd is a fade for me this week.

START: Dorian Williams, New England Patriots, LB34

Dorian Williams looked like he might be on a short leash or even on his way to the dog house in week 5 after stepping in for the injured Matt Milano. Williams played first but was pulled in favor of Tyrel Dodson who finished up the game. However, it seems a week of practice and planning have gone a long week to help Dorian. His PFF grades looked better this week and he delivered a much better IDP performance, too.

His 9 tackles on 65 snaps was a great start to his first game with as a starter. This week he gets the New England Patriots which seems to have made a greater focus on utilizing their running backs in Elliott and Stevenson last week and their increased utilization means increased opportunities for the Bills’ LBs. Dorian is looking like a strong start weekly for us moving forward with this role in his hands.

SIT: Eric Kendricks, Los Angeles Chargers, LB35

Eric Kendricks may have lost his 3-down role with his most recent absence due to his injuries. In his return, with seemingly no limitations, Eric Kendricks was at 68% snaps in week 4 and saw that increase in week 5, but it was still limited to 83% while Kenneth Murray was at 100% of snaps. His tackle efficiency is at 11.2%, which is slightly below league-average, but not terrible. However, when you compare below-average production (even if slightly) with reduced utilization, it is a recipe to under-deliver for IDP value.

Kansas City does present more opportunities for opposing defenses with its total plays ran, however, the Chargers are an above-average offense as well, which means fewer overall opportunities for the Chiefs’ offense, too. I don’t believe this to be as much of a plus matchup for Chargers’ linebackers and all that wrapped up together, I am not in on Kendricks as top 36 LB this week.

START: Grant Delpit, Cleveland Browns, DB30 (S27)

Grant Delpit has had a strong year for IDP so far. He has averaged 5.5 tackles, has 2 PDs, FR, and in INT. He has done a little of everything and has a strong tackle floor as well. 4 out of his 5 games he has hit at least 5 tackles, the one game he didn’t and only recorded 2 tackles? He played his season low snaps in the box. So why do we like Delpit this week? Besides his normal usage in the box alignment, the Jaguars have shown us in two matchups this season that to slow down the Colts offense, you use a base alignment with a box heavy front. With Delpit’s experience and capability and how Jim Schwartz has historically ran his defenses, I think it is safe to believe we will some of Delpit’s best usage there. Pair that with his proven success already, I believe this will be a great week for Delpit’s production, especially his tackle production.

SIT: Rudy Ford, Green Bay Packers, DB21 (S21)

Ford has been a regular contributor for IDP relevance this year for the Green Bay Packers. 37 tackles on his 351 snaps, for a strong 10.54% tackle efficiency. He also has a pair of passes defensed and an interception. So why would we want to take someone with this level of production out of our lineup? Well, the Denver Broncos on the otherside of the ball are averaging the lowest plays ran over the last three games of 51.3 plays per game. Taking his tackle efficiency, that gives him about 5.4 tackles this game, which isn’t terrible. Their last game, Ford didn’t have a full game of Quay Walker to limit the opportunity that Ford would have to make his own plays. With Quay expected to be back this week and the lowered opportunities due to facing a struggling Broncos’ offense, I am looking at Ford more as a back-end DB3.

 

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IDP Start/Sit: Week 6

Updated: October 11th 2023

 

It was not a great week 5, but just like teams dealing with all kinds of injuries, we need to press on and find the right guy this week and make our teams better for it! And we might want to even consider where we are going to be next week when we get hit with a ton of teams on their bye week as well.

Week 5 Recap

DL:

Start: David Onyemata (2 solos) 👎

Sit: Sam Hubbard (3 solos, FR) 👍

LB:

Start: Chad Muma (4 solos) 👎

Sit: Demario Davis (3 solos, 3 assists, 1 PD) 👎 – let’s call it a split

DB:

Start: Jayron Kearse (1 sack, 1 QB hit, 4 solos, 2 TFL) 👍

Sit: Jalen Pitre (7 solos, 4 assists, PD, FR) 👎

Week 6 Starts & Sits

START: Grady Jarrett, Atlanta Falcons, DL62 (DT17)

Grady Jarrett and the Atlanta Falcons have the lowest sack total in the NFL with only 5. Grady has 1 of those 5. Taking a team that has such low production doesn’t seem like such a good bet. However, the Washington Commanders are a salve that can help solve this! Sam Howell has been taking an average of 6 sacks a game so far this season and pressured 18 times! This is one of the best “get right” matchups for a team struggling to generate pressure.

Jarrett has been one of the few bright spots so far this season for the Falcons front. He is averaging 2.6 pressures a game. This has equated to a 9.4% pass-rush pressure rate which is an above-average rate. Average production meets optimal matchup, making Jarrett a confident play this weekend.

SIT: Jonathon Cooper, Denver Broncos, DL40 (ED29)

Cooper has had a nice start to the season, producing 24 tackles and 3 sacks on 11 pressures. However, most of his pass rush production has come in two games against the Chicago Bears and the Washington Commanders (8 pressures, 3 sacks). These are two of the most advantageous matchups so this upside needs to be taken with a grain a salt. His tackle floor has been solid for an edge defender and should maintain some value in that regard. But his matchup on Thursday against the Kansas City Chiefs leaves us concerned about his potential value this week.

Kansas City and Patrick Mahomes continue to limit the amount of pass-rush plays made against them. Mahomes is the least sacked QB this season (assuming at least 75 dropbacks). This is not an anomaly either, this is what Mahomes has been like for the last several years. If game script puts the Chiefs into a run-heavy situation, Cooper could provide value through his tackle efficiency, but with the limited pass-rush upside, I am looking to fade Cooper’s overall production this week.

START: Tyrel Dodson, Buffalo Bills, LB41

Tyrel Dodson, Dorian Williams, and Terrel Bernard were all up in the air this off-season as to who would be playing alongside Matt Milaon. It eventually fell into place they had very specific roles and specific backups. When Milano got injured, they started with Dorian Williams. But his poor play led to them bringing in Dodson. Dodson is not just a “warm body” stepping in either, he has shown competency in the Bills defense as well as an IDP. He has an average 11.2% tackle efficiency (just below league average) but he also has shown he can make plays in the pass-rush portion of his game with a strong 25.6% pass-rush pressure rate. Now these are smaller samples, but still positive-looking numbers.

Taking on the New York Giants this week is a favorable matchup for LBs and is what helps push Dodson into that ideal play this week. Linebackers playing against the Giants is the 3rd best scoring matchup for them. Dodson should see the full complement of snaps and enjoy the favorable matchup.

SIT: Fankie Luvu, Carolina Panthers, LB29

Frankie Luvu has been a revelation for IDP since bursting on to the scene last year as a consistent tackler with some great pass-rush upside and legit play-making ability. However, the Shaq Thompson injury has thrown a wrench in to this utilization for Luvu this season. His tackle floor has stayed relatively the same from his production last year, however, the pass-rush has seemingly shifted away from him as he has had to step up in place of Thompson. Last season he averaged 9.7 pass rush opportunities last season and was on pace for the same this year. But since week 3, he is averaging 3 opportunities per game. That limited upside definitely hurts Luvu’s upside. Additionally, it is a less than ideal matchup for LBs this week.

The Miami Dolphins are the 6th worst matchup for LB scoring for IDP as well. They have shown the ability to win via big plays and downfield, away from the primary locations of the LBs. This has limited the ability for LBs to rack up points and I don’t see this changing for the Panthers and Luvu this week.

START: Devon Witherspoon, Seattle Seahawks, DB37 (CB3)

Devon Witherspoon has burst on to the IDP scene this year. He has shown us a “quiet” game with 6 total tackles and a pass break up. He has shown us 11 tackles with 2 pass break ups. And most recently, 2 sacks, 5 tackles, and of course the pick 6. Now we obviously cannot count on some of these big plays to always break the way of our IDPs. However, in an opponent limited in its offensive options with the Cincinatti Bengals, I believe the Seahawaks will have a very precise approach in deploying Witherspoon to try and counter-attack and find ways to make big plays in their matchup.

SIT: Marcus Maye, New Orleans Saints, DB40 (S36)

Marcus Maye generally has some value as even as a deep safety, however, this week against the Houston Texans presents some limited upside. With CJ Stroud at the helm for the Texans, they have had a much more precise passing approach. This approach has led to them being focused on the intermediate portion of the field and limiting deep shots to specific times and situations. They also have protected the ball very well. Maye should have an OK floor with his historical production, but in a week with a limited upside based on his opponent and his alignment and utilization, I am not as confident in Marcus Maye’s production this week.

 

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