Well, folks, it’s time for this guy to try to convince fantasy managers to ditch boring and irrelevant team defenses for the additional strategy and excitement of individual defensive player (IDP) leagues.
The notion that IDP leagues are too complicated is poppycock (poppycock I say!) — just as we draft wide receivers and running backs who score points for yardage and touchdowns, in IDP, we simply draft defensive linemen, linebackers and defensive backs who are awarded points for tackles, sacks and interceptions.
Yes, the draft is longer — but since when do fantasy managers hate draft day? Don’t let fear of a new format stop you from having more fun playing fantasy football. With just a few strategy tips and a decent set of rankings, you can roll into your first (or 15th) IDP draft, kick some butt and take some names.
The tips and rankings are forthcoming. Whether they are good or not is … I’m sorry.
Know your scoring!
Knowing a league’s scoring is one of the most fundamental concepts in fantasy football, yet managers often ignore it. In IDP leagues, it’s important to know two things about the scoring.
The first is the ratio between the scoring for tackles and big plays like sacks and interceptions. If a league leans toward tackles (a ratio of 3:1 or less), then high-end linebackers are Gwen Stefani, and everyone else is another member of No Doubt who literally no one remembers. If a league slants toward big plays (4:1 or higher), then edge rushers and ballhawk defensive backs get a boost.
The second is how the top IDPs score relative to their offensive counterparts. Elite defensive players often score on par with a high-end WR3, which can hint at when top defenders will start coming off draft boards. If players like Indianapolis Colts linebacker Zaire Franklin crack the top-12 overall?
Well then, it’s on like Donkey Kong.
When should you start drafting IDPs?
It’s the magic question — the one I am asked more often than any other by fantasy managers new to the format. Unfortunately, there’s no pat answer. In the Huddle IDP Expert League (a long-standing IDP league with a fairly standard setup), the first defensive player (Baltimore Ravens linebacker Roquan Smith) was drafted with the first pick of Round 6 last year. But in the King’s Classic Dick Butkus Division (a league where the IDP scoring is, um, juiced), four defenders were taken in Round 1 in 2024.
In a fairly standard IDP league (two starters at defensive lineman, linebacker, defensive back and maybe a flex spot), the top defenders will usually start being drafted in Rounds 4-6.
That’s not especially specific, but there’s a silver lining — you don’t have to set the pace on defense to field a solid lineup of IDPs. I’m rarely the manager to break that seal. After the first defensive player is selected, a handful of other elite options will trickle off the board. Then, after a round or so, the first real run on IDPs will take place.
Get in on that run, and it’s all good. You’ll have your centerpiece.
Defensive linemen
There was a time not that long ago when the keyword with defensive linemen was scarcity — with so many edge rushers like T.J. Watt of the Pittsburgh Steelers classified as linebackers, there weren’t enough reliable starters up front to go around in many formats. That second starter’s spot could be problematic if you weren’t aggressive at the position.
However, the advent of “True Position” (thus including players like Watt with the defensive linemen) has changed that dynamic. The player pool along the defensive line is significantly deeper than it once was.
A compelling case can still be made for rostering at least one high-end defensive lineman — the weekly consistency they provide can be welcome at a position where there can be quite a bit of variance. But IDP drafters can show some patience at the DL2 slot while hammering away at linebacker without creating an issue up front.
Undervalued DL: Travon Walker, EDGE, Jacksonville
The first overall pick in the 2022 draft, Walker has yet to have a truly gonzo season, but he has topped 50 tackles with double-digit sacks each of the past two years — including career-highs in stops (61) and sacks (10.5) a year ago. Those numbers were good enough for a DL9 finish in The Godfather’s Default IDP Scoring — yet Walker will often be available well into DL2 territory on draft day.
Overvalued DL: Trey Hendrickson, EDGE, Cincinnati
Hendrickson is rapidly nearing the tipping point between “risky pick” and “stay far away.” Yes, Hendrickson has posted 17.5 sacks and top-10 IDP numbers each of the past two seasons. But he is on the wrong side of 30, has never posted big tackle numbers and remains embroiled in the kind of nasty contract impasse that wrecked Haason Reddick’s 2024 campaign.
Sleeper DL: Byron Young, EDGE, Los Angeles Rams
Young was my pick in this very column in this spot a season ago, and given that he finished as DL24 in 2024, it was a “win” in a column short on them (What? I already said I’m sorry). But while Jared Verse is being drafted among the top-10 defensive linemen in some leagues, Young is an afterthought. He has tallied at least 60 tackles and 7.5 sacks in both NFL seasons. That’s the kind of “depth” IDP managers should crave.
Linebackers
In most IDP leagues, the linebacker position is like running backs in fantasy in the 1990s. Like Godzilla rampaging through Tokyo (After about the third time? Move. It’s his island). The linebackers are generally the highest-scoring defensive players and the most consistent, thanks to their big tackle numbers.
Simply put, you can never have too many good ones.
The flip side of “True Position” is that for every linebacker who switched designations, the pool at the position became shallower. Those big-play edge rushers were more inconsistent, but still, the questions start piling up fairly quickly at linebacker now.
The players to target in this era of the nickel as the NFL’s base defense are the “every-down” linebackers — players who rack up snap shares north of 90% and don’t leave the field in obvious passing situations. If that linebacker wears the “green dot” helmet communicator, all the better.
Attack the position with at least two of the first three defensive picks. Those “three-down” players are valuable commodities.
Undervalued LB: Jamien Sherwood, New York Jets
Someone explain why Sherwood is falling as far as he is in drafts. Explain it to me like I’m 5 years old. All Sherwood did last year was lead the entire NFL in solo tackles with 98. He ranked ninth in fantasy points among linebackers. He was just handed a three-year, $45 million extension and will be New York’s “green dot” linebacker again in 2025. And yet he’s available outside the top-20 at his position with regularity.
Overvalued LB: Nick Bolton, Kansas City
To be clear, Bolton is an excellent NFL linebacker with three 100-stop seasons in four years. In 2022, he posted 108 solos, a gonzo 180 total tackles and finished third among all linebackers in fantasy points. But if last year’s so-so numbers are any indication, Bolton’s role in Steve Spagnuolo’s defense now is more about making an NFL impact than racking up stats.
Sleeper LB: Elandon Roberts, Las Vegas
Roberts garnered some early offseason buzz as the proverbial last man standing at linebacker in Las Vegas, but after the team signed Germaine Pratt, many IDP managers just sighed and relegated Roberts back to the scrap heap. But as things stand right now, Roberts is still wearing the dot in Sin City, and if that carries into the regular season, he’ll destroy his modest asking price.
Defensive backs
In IDP leagues, defensive backs are two things. The first is plentiful — as so many teams play with five or more defensive backs, it is far and away the deepest IDP position. The second is unpredictable — DB is easily the position with the most variance from year to year. The top-10 at the beginning of the year and the top-10 at season’s end are very different lists.
Every. Single. Year.
Some players have shown they can be relatively reliable IDP options over multiple years, but it’s a short list. Big names will fall flat on their faces statistically in 2025. There will be surprise standouts who emerge from nowhere to post top-10 numbers. It happens every single season.
Given that, patience is generally a virtue with defensive backs. Fill out the defensive line and linebackers. Maybe even add a reserve. And then target upside plays late. If they hit, jackpot. If they don’t, startable DBs will be available on the waiver wire well into the regular season in most formats.
Generally speaking, safeties who spend a lot of time near the line of scrimmage are the players to target, and cornerbacks are wildly inconsistent options best avoided unless required in your league.
With that said, there might be one massive exception this year.
The Travis Hunter dilemma
I have already written at length about Hunter here at The Athletic. Here’s the Cliffs Notes version. If Hunter plays predominantly wide receiver (the more the better), is half the talent we think he is and has positional eligibility as a defensive back, he could be to defensive backs (and even IDPs overall) what Travis Kelce was to tight ends in his heyday.
That’s right. I said it.
*If Hunter is DB-eligible
Undervalued DB: Nick Cross, S, Indianapolis
From an NFL perspective, Cross isn’t a great safety or even an especially good one in coverage. But folks who view the signing of Camryn Bynum as evidence of Cross’ IDP demise are missing a crucial point. That Bynum is so much better than Cross in coverage could easily mean more snaps in the box for Cross. There’s a disconnect between NFL-good and IDP-good at defensive back. Take advantage of it.
Overvalued DB: Budda Baker, S, Arizona Cardinals
This has nothing to do with Baker as a player. He’s one of the rare defensive backs who has shown the ability to consistently do damage, including a staggering 164 total tackles last year — the most of any defender in the NFC. But that season will be nigh impossible to duplicate, and even if Baker is a top-five defensive back again, he’s being drafted at his IDP ceiling.
Sleeper DB: DeShon Elliott, S, Pittsburgh
After bouncing around the NFL for the first five seasons of his career, Elliott appears to have found a home with team No. 4 — the 28-year-old got an extension from the Steelers after recording a career-high 108 total tackles in his first year in Pittsburgh in 2024. That production was good enough for a top-10 fantasy finish in fantasy points per game, and with Minkah Fitzpatrick gone, Elliott’s opportunity should get a bump this season.
Top 100 IDPs overall
As always, this list of the top 100 IDPs in 2025 isn’t a “draft by numbers” list where IDP managers should just take the highest player listed on the board when they decide to make a selection on the defensive side of the ball. That sort of rigid draft strategy is a bad idea.
It’s a barometer for how the positions stack up against one another — nothing more.
Draft flow, league scoring and roster requirements matter, of course. Flexibility while drafting is as crucial to success in IDP as when drafting offensive players. But there’s a relatively simple blueprint to a solid defense.
Get after the linebackers — a pair of the top-15 at the position are good, and three inside the top-20 (if one drops) is all the better. Have one defensive lineman around whom you can anchor the position. Get Zen with the defensive backs and wait for late values — unless you want to pay the loophole tax that comes with Travis Hunter.
We’ll all be seeing how that goes together, y’all. Anyone who says they know for certain is either psychic or fibbing.
If you do that, your team should be in every IDP draft, no matter how many you have participated in. And as IDP veterans know, once you’re in it, there’s no escape.
You’ll be at the cool kids’ table.
*If Hunter is DB-eligible
**If Hunter is not DB-eligible
Gary Davenport (“The Godfather of IDP”) is a two-time Fantasy Sports Writers Association Football Writer of the Year. Follow him on X at @IDPGodfather.
(Photo of Travis Hunter: James Gilbert / Getty Images)
