Week 3 IDP Matchups to Exploit & Streaming Options

Sep 18, 2024

Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images

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.

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Week 3 IDP Matchups to Exploit

Budda Baker and Jalen Thompson (vs. Detroit)

This is about as good of a spot as we can get. So far this season, the Lions offense is providing the most tackle opportunities in the league at 73.5 combined tackles-against-per-game through the first two weeks. That's roughly 19.5% more tackles per game than the league average. This is a hot start, but not far off from their 2023 showing, where they ranked third overall in total combined tackle opportunities per game.

With offensive skill position and play-caller continuity in Detroit, it's no surprise that some of last year's trends are carrying over. Jared Goff and the Lions lead the league in pass rate in the middle of the field at 30%, along with balance to both the left and right side of the fields. This, combined with their willingness to consistently run the ball, creates an ideal setup for opposing safeties who frequently play in the box.

Both of Arizona's safeties live in the box. Budda Baker plays deep more than Jalen Thompson does, but Baker is the more efficient tackler even though Thompson has the edge in box snap rate. In this spot, they're both set up to shine. So far, a whopping 33.3% of all tackles against Detroit's offense, 24.5 per game, have come from opposing safeties. That's 10.9% above the league average.