Hello again to all of you IDP fantasy football fanatics. It is great to have you swing by for another week of ‘The Only IDP Sit/Start You Need to Win Week 6’. I hope you are able to cash in on some of the good calls! As well as avoid some of my own misses.
As always, the goal of this series will be to take a look at those players we are not quite certain on each week and help identify at each level (DL, LB, DB) an individual you should be starting with confidence (maybe even pursuing if he isn’t on your roster) and one you should be fading at least this week or maybe more.
The big question mark with IDP though is what scoring format are you using. IDP fantasy football leagues haven’t reached a level of a “standard” scoring that the vast majority of leagues play with. So for our purposes, we will focus on a format known as ‘IDP123’ (examples: Tackles 2 points, FF/FR 3 pts, Sacks/Ints 6 pts) With that being said, let’s get into why you came here!
Defensive Line, Start – Darrell Taylor, DL, Seattle Seahawks
Darrell Taylor is off to one of the hottest starts for a rookie this year. He has already amassed 4 sacks, 5 QB hits, a FF, and 12 total tackles. While this is strong production regardless of tenure in the NFL, the real amazing stat is he has done this only 141 defensive snaps through 5 games! He is insanely efficient and his PFF pass-rush grade supports this with an astounding 80.3. The other kicker to this is Taylor’s lack of success in the run game. He has a poor grade of 47.8 via PFF and it explains why they save him specifically for passing situations versus giving him the additional snaps on 1st and 2nd down which Kerry Hyder and Rasheem Green have held down.
With their matchup against Pittsburgh, this should be a game script that is still a negative or neutral one most of the game for the Steelers which should require them to still get into passing situations consistently. Yes, I am aware Geno Smith will be out there and not Russell Wilson. However, he still has DK Metcalf and Tyler Lockett and while he has them, I am still willing to bet on this offense keeping pace. And with Darrell Taylor, that is what all we are looking for. If you can keep the game script to the point where he will get 25-30 snaps a game, expecting a sack versus one of the weaker offensive lines is a great chance. A multi-sack game is not even out of the cards.
I wouldn’t get too concerned about the Steelers moving away from the passing attack completely either with just one week of success running the ball. Plus, factoring in Big Ben’s complete lack of mobility within the pocket, it will not take nearly as much to get home against him.
Defensive Line, Sit – Trey Hendrickson, DE, Cincinnati Bengals
A week ago I told you to start Trey (and it paid off, 4 tackles, 2 sacks… victory lap.) and now this week, we are benching him. This can be the nature of the beast though when it comes to IDP defensive linemen (outside of your top talents). This week Trey has a much different matchup in the Detroit Lions.
Detriot Lions are enjoying the benefits of Penei Sewell being passed over by the Bengals and have put together a competent offensive line that has worked well with the gameplan that Dan Campbell is trying to do with the roster that he has. And what we have seen so far? A game plan that is designed to shorten the game (in terms of total plays ran) and get the ball out of Jared Goff’s hands quickly.
What does that kind of game plan equate to for an IDP player? It is great for 3 down LBs, not so great for those edge rusher type of defensive linemen. Goff is not looking to hold on to the ball very long while routes develop further down the field or away from the line of scrimmage. He is looking for a first or second read then finding a check-down or release and taking his 2-3 yards (or more if they can make a play out of it). This leads to limited success for an edge rusher like Hendrickson who thrives on longer developing types of plays.
Linebacker, Start – Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah, Cleveland Browns
Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah (JOK for short) really couldn’t have landed in a better situation opportunity-wise than the Cleveland Browns. There was not exactly a plethora of talent in front of him in that LB room. However, he has not gotten the chance on the field, until this last week! He went from playing around 1/2 the snaps to 91% this last week. Surprisingly, it took this long since JOK graded out as the top LB on his team across almost all categories (85.0 overall, 77.9 run defense, 71.6 pass rush, 77.3 coverage). Yes this is only one week and at this point in the season we try to avoid 1-week trends if possible, but let’s get in early on this guy since he has been nothing but consistent in his performances.
Coming into a week where they are going to playing against a play-extending and play-making team in the Arizona Cardinals, this is the exact type of opponent where you can see JOK flash his abilities from side-to-sideline. He can line up in the slot against Rondale Moore or Christian Kirk. He can control the middle of the field and keep Chase Edmonds limited in his ability to make plays in the passing game. He is a strong enough pass rusher and athletic enough to run down a Kyler Murray or limit his escapes from the pocket and rack up those broken play tackles too. Get JOK in your lineups if you haven’t already and if you don’t have him, you might want to try and find him now. After this week, he might not be a player you can buy anymore.
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As we highlight JOK from the Browns and Cardinals game, don’t forget to check out the Prop Bets from PlayPickUp.com. Looking at the JOK’s increased snap counts and ability to stay on the field all three downs, can we say that JOK will be the leading tackler for the Browns this year? #SpoilerAlert, he will be! Be sure to enter your phone number to verify your pick and you could win free stuff!
Linebacker, Sit – Tae Crowder, New York Giants
Tae Crowder was one of those fantasy darlings that “experts” like myself appreciated and had high hopes for coming into the 2020 season after a nice athletic profile from the draft season and some strong work in the preseason. With Blake Martinez out for the year, those same people were nothing short of stoked to see what he would do with this chance. He has shown solid IDP production with 8 and 9 combined tackles the last two weeks which is a solid floor play if you are starting 3 LBs. However, those matchups were against teams who wanted to try and run the ball and did so successfully along with positive game scripts to continue pounding the rock.
Coming into week 6 against the Rams, McVay does like establishing the run as a part of his offense. But he also likes to utilize all of his weapons on his offense to the fullest ability and keep teams from keying in on one part of his offense and he clearly showed an affinity for attacking the middle of the field with Cooper Kupp and especially Robert Woods last week and at this point, I think we will so more and more of that. Normally this would mean more opportunities for our LBs, this is great! Except for he has shown a lot of inefficiencies in the passing game in the last two weeks that I would have limited-to-no confidence in his ability to clean up the plays this week.
At this point, if Tae is your LB3 and you are struggling to find another option, he is still playable in those types of situations, but I would still be looking for LBs with the same floor and perhaps more upside like a David Long from the Titans or other waiver wire options.
Defensive Back, Start – Trevon Diggs, DB, Dallas Cowboys
That is it. I am late to the part but I am jumping on board the Trevon Diggs hype train. All aboard and let’s get this thing rolling even faster! I think the hardest part of the article this week may have been deciding which interception picture of his to use this year. So MANY great options. And I very much mean MANY. Trevon has shown some of the best ball skills this year and is playing at another level we have yet to see from a cornerback in quite some time.
One of the most exciting things is that he is making these plays at all levels of the field. He can play the deep routes successfully and make plays on the ball. Same for the intermediate routes, the middle of the field, outside the hashes. He is just doing something special this year and why shouldn’t we capitalize on it enjoy the ride with him!
This week Dallas is going into New England with a matchup against a battered New England team that barely escaped the clutches of the miserable Houston Texans and rookie QB Davis Mills. How will they fare against an offense that is clearly firing on all cylinders and defenses need to be on point and really just a strong unit to hope to contain Dak and all those weapons. Considering how this game is destined to turn out for the Patriots defense, it means the most likely scenario is a rookie in Mac Jones who has looked like a starting QB for this league at times but is still prone to making errant throws or trying to do much given the lack of skill position weapons around him.
All of that sounds like the ideal situation for a ball-hawking cornerback to continue feasting. Look for the trend to continue for Trevon and if you aren’t already on the Trevon train. Hop on now before this thing is too far down the tracks!
Choo-choo, baby!!
Defensive Back, Sit – Minkah Fitzpatrick, DB, Pittsburgh Steelers
Speaking of ball-hawking and play-making types of players, Minkah Fitzpatrick fits that bill to a T! However, one of the biggest things Minkah needs to make the play, is the ball to be put into his area of the field. Minkah plays a much great portion of his snaps in the deep safety role which normally is great against a deep shot taking QB like Russell Wilson! Unfortunately, this week we are getting Geno Smith.
With the change of QB for Seattle in this week’s matchup for Minkah, we will see an attack that sees more underneath work to allow his playmakers in Lockett and Metcalf to get the ball and make something happen after the catch versus the deeper shots into Minkah’s portion of the field. This is not to say that Minkah won’t get some opportunities thrown his way at some point this year. This is great though, right? He will capitalize and make one of his patented big plays that shifts the game or heck, he houses it for the huge IDP fantasy week! However, the strategy this year from the Steelers seems to have a greater focus on keeping the ball in front of their deep safeties which hasn’t played to Minkah’s strengths so far this year.
This shift has allowed Fitzpatrick to put up some stronger tackle numbers (on pace for 129 over 17 games which would greatly surpass his previous high of 80 in 16 games) which makes him an option to keep in your lineup again if you truly have no other options. But you might want to look at moving on from an option like Minkah on namesake if you can at this point and find a stronger upside option for your team.
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