IDP Fantasy Football Primer for 2024

Everyone claims they "know ball," but over the years, it's become cool in some circles not to know defensive players' names because DeFeNsE dOeSn'T mAtTeR!

Fantasy footballer's quest to find an edge led to a spike in cornerback versus wide receiver matchups content, and over time, that edge was dispelled because so few cornerbacks shadow opposing wide receivers for more than 50-60% of snaps in a given game. The whiplash effect of that was, and still is, routinely championed by the best ball crowd. Defense doesn't matter.

"Play the best plays" has slowly been replaced by Week 17 correlation and stacking. These are all relevant strategies, especially in the top-heavy lottos that drive a lot of the best ball content during the offseason, but these tenants of alleged ball-knowers have crept into other aspects of the fantasy game. It's time to return to the roots and play a game where every player matters.

One could argue that true ball-knowers play IDP. Imagine watching an NFL game and ignoring 11 of the 22 guys on the field. It wouldn't be you. That's why you're here.

I'm relatively new to the IDP space, but I've been creating weekly tackle projections for a few years for our 4for4 betting subscribers, and it's changed how I understand and watch football. Now I'm here on the fantasy side of things, here to expand on the edge that our betting subscribers have exploited with me over the past few seasons.

How Does One IDP??

That's a great question. The more I've researched this over the years, the more I've realized there's no consensus way to play IDP fantasy. There are no standard roster requirements and no standard scoring system. That makes catering advice to you, the reader, a bit challenging, but it's also a great thing since playing fantasy with an IDP element is completely customizable.

If you're in a long-time home league that feels a bit stale, IDP is a great wrinkle to add to spice things up.

If you're looking to start a new keeper or dynasty league, add IDP spots!

Expand your knowledge of the game, and change how you watch it. Because you will watch the game in an entirely new way, and it'll help you be a better offensive fantasy player along the way.

Lineup Requirements

How 'in the weeds' do you and your league mates want to get? Regardless of the answer to that question, make sure you're crystal clear on your league's settings so you're prepared to draft.

At the most basic level, IDP began with three positions:

• Defensive Line (DL)
• Linebacker (LB)
• Defensive Back (DB)

If you're looking to just dip your toes into the IDP pool, start here. Set your league up to require one of each, and if you're feeling crazy, allow for a FLEX or two like you would in an offense-only league.

But are you BASIC??

You're here, so you're likely more advanced and more knowledgeable than most. There are two ways to expand on this basic setup.

The first would be to require more starters for each of the three positions (DL, LB, and DB), bringing a deeper pool of players into the fold.

The other would be to break up defensive linemen and defensive backs into more specific positional requirements that better reflect their positions.

• Defensive Tackle/Interior Defensive Linemen
• Defensive End/EDGE rusher
• Linebacker
• Cornerback
• Safety

IDP Stats and Scoring Options

The most common stats used are:

• Tackles
• Sacks
• Pass Breakups
• Interceptions
• Forced Fumbles
• Fumble Recoveries
• Touchdowns

How they're scored? Well, that depends on your league's scoring format.

Tackles

Tackles can be broken down into solo tackles, assists, or combined as total tackles, which includes both solo tackles and assists. The determination of these tackle categories is made by the official scorer at the stadium where the game is taking place. It is worth noting that different scorekeepers have different tendencies in how they award tackles, and this is something that we actively exploit when betting on tackle performance week to week.

In certain scoring formats, tackles for loss are even more valuable, as they include every tackle a defensive player makes behind the opponent's line of scrimmage, including sacks.

Sacks

Like tackles, sacks are awarded at the mercy of the stadium scorekeeper and can be solo or split between two players. More advanced IDP formats incorporate QB hits, hurries, and pressures. I'm all for it since it's a better representation of a player's impact than the binary yes/no outcome of a sack.

Pass Breakups

You'll see this as pass-defended in some places, but it's pretty straightforward. When a player in coverage defends a pass and knocks it away, preventing it from being completed, it's ruled a pass breakup (PBU). Just like sacks can also be tackles for loss and a QB hit, interceptions are typically scored as both an interception AND a PBU.

Fumbles

I believe forced fumbles should be worth more fantasy points than fumble recoveries, but you can take that up with your commissioner. Forced fumbles should also count, regardless of whether or not the defensive team recovers it.

Touchdowns

Another pretty straightforward one. This should be a 6-point play for any defensive score. What about special teams touchdowns? It's a great question and one that you and your league mates should discuss before starting your IDP league.

What Scoring System Should I Use?

Perhaps we'll evolve to a universally accepted standard scoring over time, but in the meantime, let's explore what's currently out there. The most important piece of advice is the most obvious: understand your league's scoring system before you draft. Because there are more variations than your standard PPR, half-PPR, or standard options on the offensive side, it's important to take a moment to understand what your league is doing before you're on the clock.

Balanced Scoring

My IDP rankings on the site use a standard scoring system based on FantasyPros scoring.

Linebackers (LB) and defensive linemen (DL), particularly EDGE rushers, are the priority in balanced scoring. Keep an eye out for platforms that classify EDGE rushers like Micah Parsons as both DL and LB, as this provides more flexibility for your roster and changes the draft strategy quite a bit. We're seeing more platforms move to 'True Position' as it pertains to positional eligibility, which is ideal.

Ideally, your league's balanced scoring settings would adjust for position. Tackle rates and interception opportunities are not created equally, so let's not score them that way! And let's use more positions, too!

Most leagues are baked down to DL, LB, and DB, but I'm of the belief that if you're prepared, you're more likely to benefit from your league mates having to make more decisions. Breaking up defensive linemen into defensive tackles (DT) and defensive ends/EDGE rushers (DE) is ideal. The same goes for the defensive backs because the way cornerbacks (CB) and safeties (S) score fantasy points can look quite different.

Tackle-Heavy Scoring

If it were up to me, some iteration of tackle-heavy scoring would be the universal scoring format. I'm biased, but tackling is the most bankable skill that a defensive player can show as it relates to fantasy points. Elite EDGE rushers can collapse the pocket and put pressure on the quarterback at an elite rate, but unless they get the quarterback to the ground, that snap is likely a zero in the fantasy point column. Don't get me wrong; pressures are important, just like quarterbacks avoiding sacks are important, but this is fantasy football, and we're an end-game business.

In a tackle-heavy format, linebackers are king. With sub-packages like dime and nickel becoming more and more common, there are fewer linebackers on the field than ever before. Traditional 4-3 fronts with three linebackers are basically extinct, even on early downs. 31 linebackers played in 90+% of their team's snaps last season, with just 16 linebackers topping 1,000 total snaps. Think of these alpha linebackers like you would workhorse running backs a decade ago. Whether it's offense or defense, nothing matters more in fantasy than opportunities, and it doesn't require a lot of mental gymnastics to realize that linebackers who rarely come off the field are extremely valuable. Foye Oluokun (JAX), Zaire Franklin (IND), and Roquan Smith (BAL) are a dying breed of highly efficient tackle producers who never come off the field.

The increase in sub-packages changes the calculus of other positions as well. With more defensive backs on the field, certain styles of defense lean heavily on defensive backs, particularly safeties, who can play near the line of scrimmage and drop in coverage when needed. If a defensive unit overplays their hand pre-snap, smart offensive coordinators and quarterbacks will often audible out of a disadvantageous look. We also see a number of teams play Cover-1 or single-high safety looks, with the free safety back in coverage and the strong safety in a more traditional linebacker spot pre and post-snap.

Safeties like Jaquan Brisker (CHI), Kamren Curl (LAR), and Derwin James (LAC) play hybrid roles for their teams that often put them closer to the line of scrimmage, which increases their opportunities for tackles and overall disruption, which leads to fantasy points. Projecting some of the other stats that tend to be more defensive back-focused, like interceptions and touchdowns, is a fruitless labor year-to-year, which is why you see so much turnover in defensive back rankings from one year to the next.

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