"What'd you say about IDP?!"  (Todd Kirkland/Icon SMI)

Fantasy Football IDP Rankings
and IDP Draft Strategy

For leagues with individual defensive players (IDP)

August 23, 2012

We strive each and every year to provide the most accurate fantasy football player rankings and fantasy football projections available, and we wanted to offer our Individual Defense Players (IDP) draft strategy, advice, fantasy football IDP rankings, and IDP player commentary to help those playing in fantasy leagues with an IDP format. 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 rankings list. So 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 and based on our experience from having played in numerous IDP leagues.

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 team fantasy defense rankings in their draft. 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 have used IDP, and while we did have success in those leagues, 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 ESPN's 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 highlight reel and knowing your fantasy team did well (or poorly). Individual tackles rarely make the highlight 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. Tom Brady being 1 of 8 fantasy players (traditional format) that compose a starting fantasy roster is more significant than Tom Brady (see our fantasy quarterback rankings) being 1 of 15 fantasy players that compose a starting fantasy roster (IDP format). The extra players dilute the impact of his fantasy scoring 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 our IDP Draft Strategy, Rankings, 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 are but one factor in an overall fantasy football team output. Other positions include QB, RB, WR, TE, and K.

For those interested, links to our free player rankings for these positions are provided below:
Position:   QB   |   RB   |   WR   |   TE   |   K   |   D

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, and 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, and 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 serviceable IDP players available off the waivers each week. There are just too many defensive 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 by using our custom fantasy football cheat sheets) Again, this is just a simple matter of supply and demand. High quality offensive skill position players will be more of a commodity than defensive players given the large selection pool of defensive players.

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 well in IDP fantasy football leagues).

5) Don't let 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.

Fantasy Football IDP Rankings and 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).