Week 2 IDP Matchups to Exploit & Streaming Options

Sep 11, 2024

Brett Davis-Imagn Images

Last week's column highlighted the Colts' linebackers (18 combined tackles for Zaire Franklin and E.J. Speed), the Falcons' defensive line (two sacks and eight pressures), Tyrel Dodson (10 tackles, his prop opened at 6.5), and all of your Vikings (17 pressures, three sacks, and a pick-six from Van Ginkel). It was a pretty good debut, I must say. The Texans linebackers were the lone 'dud,' but the Colts ran just 43 offensive plays, roughly 20 below the league average last season. That's tough to overcome.

Ideally, you drafted a set-it-and-forget-it IDP roster, rendering this column useless to you all season long, but that's not how life works. The Waiver Wire column should help as well, but I want to use this space weekly to highlight some of the best matchup spots on the slate, along with any corresponding defenders who are in line to benefit.

Sometimes, I'll reference a player who's nearly universally rostered across all IDP leagues, but perhaps that'll help you with a potential start/sit decision you were wrestling with.

There's a lot of variance in how defensive players score fantasy points, but the most bankable skill set is tackles. It provides a projectable floor for all players when other categories like interceptions and touchdowns are so hard to predict year-to-year, let alone week-to-week. But there's a subjectivity to exploit that doesn't exist with other statistics.

For example, a reception is a binary outcome. A catch either happens or it doesn't. But a tackle and who's credited with it in the box score is entirely at the discretion of the official scorekeeper for that game. Was that a solo tackle or assist? That presents an exploitable opportunity for IDP gamers.

In this space, the weekly targets will range from individual players and positional groups to entire defensive units. IDP leagues are like snowflakes, so if you have specific questions, jump into our subscriber Discord, find the IDP channel, and tag me with any questions you have. Some of you play in leagues where all of these players are already owned, and some of you play in IDP leagues where only 3-4 players are rostered on each team, so the players listed below might not even be on your radar, so don't be afraid to reach out.