While the Docs strive each and every year to provide the most accurate fantasy
football rankings and projections available, we do not have Individual Defense
Player (IDP) rankings at this time. However, we have played in numerous
IDP leagues and offer our draft strategy, advice, and player commentary for
fantasy football leagues with IDP formats. After writing several individual
replies, we decided it would better serve the masses to post a compilation
of those replies in an IDP article. Our responses to those questions
are provided below, and we conclude with an unofficial FootballDocs IDP ranking
list. This article is more or less a compilation of our various responses
to these questions. Whether you are completely unfamiliar with IDP,
on the fence regarding whether or not to play IDP, or a seasoned veteran
of IDP play, this article has something for everyone.
Fantasy football leagues with Individual Defense Players (a.k.a. IDP Leagues)
are slowly becoming more and more prevalent; however, they still remain in
the minority with most leagues opting for a Team Defense approach.
This is neither good nor bad, but just a reality of the current state of
fantasy football. Personally, we do not like IDP leagues as much as
standard fantasy football leagues that use a Team Defense format. We
have played in expert and highly competitive leagues that used IDP, and while
we did have success in those leagues playing for the title in the championship
game, we did not enjoy the experience nearly as much as your standard fantasy
football league that uses a team defense. For one, you can dominate
the highlight reel with players on NFL Primetime and lose your fantasy football
game by a collection of defensive players on your opponent’s roster that
recorded several tackles (not necessarily sacks). We have been both
the recipient and provider of such loses, and neither was much fun.
In our opinion, part of the excitement of fantasy football is watching a
high-light reel and knowing your fantasy team did well (or poorly).
Individual tackles rarely make the high-light reel, yet factor in significantly
to most IDP scoring formats. Second, more players required for the
start means watering down the performance of your primetime players.
A Peyton Manning being 1 of 8 (standard format) total fantasy players is
more significant than a Peyton Manning that is 1 of 15 fantasy players (IDP
format). The extra players dilute his performance. However, opinions
are like noses, and everybody has one. Other folks will disagree and
would prefer nothing else than to play only in leagues that offer IPD.
That is what is great about fantasy football – the ability and flexibility
to incorporate new systems and new ideas to tailor to individual interests.
Regardless of where you stand on the issue, we would recommend trying an
IDP league at least once to see for yourself if you like it or not.
As noted above, we have had good success playing in IDP leagues and will
outline our strategies that have helped us be successful in IDP formats.
We will start with the basics and work our way up to IDP strategy and player
commentary. The information is presented in a very scannable format,
so depending on your level of experience with IDP, feel free to skip sections
that are not relevant to your particular level of IDP expertise:
What is IDP?
OK – let’s start with the basics. IDP is simply that, a league that
incorporates individual defense players into fantasy football scoring.
Traditional fantasy football leagues use a team defense, where the aggregate
play of an entire defensive unit (i.e. Atlanta Falcons Team Defense) contributes
to the overall score of the fantasy defense. Typically fantasy team
defenses (D) are but one factor in an overall fantasy football team output.
Other positions include QB, RB, WR, TE, and K. Somewhere along the
way someone wanted to try to incorporate individual defense play into fantasy
leagues – after all, we don’t have team offense in traditional systems do
we? So hence started the concept of IDP leagues, where now you also
draft (and start) Linebackers (LB), Defensive Backs (DB), and Defensive Line
(DL) players rather than an aggregate team defense for your fantasy football
team.
How do leagues incorporate IDP players into
the line-up?
There is a large range in regards to the level of detail each fantasy league
incorporates IDP into the starting requirements for each fantasy football
roster. On the one hand, you have leagues that still start a team defense,
but incorporate a single IDP flex player (LB, DB, or DL) as an additional
start to the team defense (i.e. QB, RB, RB, WR, WR, TE, K, D, IDP Flex).
On the other hand, you have more dedicated IDP leagues that only start IDP
players with no team defense. Typically, these leagues start players
at each of these positions (2 DL, 2 LB, 2 DB, 1 Dflex). This makes
the league go relatively deep at IDP: Eight offensive players and seven defensive
players. The fantasy points awarded for tackles, sacks, INTs, and passes
defended can vary from IDP position to IDP position. If the same system
is used for all IDP players, LBs will dominate since they are involved in
all categories consistently. As with anything, adjustments are made
as experience is gained, and most IDP leagues now incorporate a weighted
scoring system for each IDP position in an effort to equilibrate scoring
a little better between the positions of DL, LB, and DB.
IDP Draft Strategy:
Even in an “expert IDP league”, there are plenty of IDP players available
off the waivers each week. There are just too many D players available. Just
for starters, 5 of the 11 offensive players on a NFL team aren’t even usable
(the O-line). On defense, all 11 starting defensive NFL players (plus a few
reserves) are draftable and available for a potential fantasy football start
each week. Basically, the numbers create an excess of IDP, players.
This means that in the draft and regular season the following hold true:
1) Go after offensive players first. (Show them your “O” face.)
Again, supply and demand. High quality offensive skill position players
will be more of a commodity than defensive players given the large selection
pool.
2) Wait on your kicker until the end of your draft. (Write this on your hand
before the draft if you are still having trouble remembering it.)
3) Take most IDP players later in the draft (late rounds), but it is OK to
grab the top couple of guys at each position a little early (mid rounds).
4) Work the waivers and don’t worry if you have never heard of a guy before.
If he is hot, find a spot on your bench for him. (For those of you
that play fantasy baseball, it is very similar. That same mentality
will serve you will in IDP fantasy football leagues).
5) Don’t let the IDP players take up too much room on your bench. It is still
all about the O (offense).
6) Don’t even bother trying to get the top LBs. The price will be too high
relative to the benefit of having them on your fantasy football team.
7) If you do get a couple of the top IDP guys, you should free fall on your
#2 guys at each IDP position. (By free fall, we mean wait several rounds
before selecting another IDP player).
8) If your league doesn’t weight points by IDP position, get LBs and lots
of them.
IDP Player Commentary:
As for IDP players, here are a few players we like for later in the draft
(i.e. at the right price). We are omitting the top picks because you will
probably be letting the rest of your league take them if you are following
our advice. You will notice that many of these players are younger and therefore
stand a better chance of being drafted at a bargain (later rounds of your
draft).
Defensive Linemen (DL) – After the “Studs” are Gone List to be updated in 2008.
Linebackers (LB) – After the “Studs” are Gone List to be updated in 2008.
Defensive Backs (DB) – After the “Studs” are Gone List to be updated in 2008.
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