Welcome back from quite possibly my worst week of sit/start work to date. So if you are reading this, bless you for coming back for what has to be a much better week! We are back to a bye week with some heavy hitters sitting out for all of us IDP Fantasy Football fans and we may need to do some digging to find the right plays. So let’s get rolling with the ‘The Only IDP Sit/Start You Need to Win Week 9’.
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 – Jonathan Greenard, Edge, Houston Texans
If you were here last week, you saw I said to sit Greenard. That was the wrong call. And that may be the wrong call for quite a while going forward. If you have not had a chance to watch Greenard play, you need to see try and watch some of his highlights from this year. More importantly, if this man is somehow still available in your leagues, you need to pick him up ASAP. I at least had the callout from last week!
This play is about as straightforward as they come. Houston has a terrible secondary that teams just love to throw against. Miami has been throwing the ball the sixth most this season. The Dolphins also have one of the bottom three offensive lines according to PFF. And Greenard has gotten a sack in every… single… game (he has played).
You play Greenard. You enjoy your 1-2 sack minimum (do we get crazy and dare say 3?!?!) and you have a wonderful first weekend in November. You can use all the extra time saved from this decision being so easy to get a head start on your holiday shopping!
Defensive Line, Sit – DeForest Buckner, DT, Indianapolis Colts
DeForest Buckner or ‘DeFo’ for short as Chris Collinsworth loved to keep telling us Sunday night, is usually a rock-solid play as high-end DL2 or more with a very strong tackle floor and the ability to create hits and get sacks with pressure up the middle. ‘DeFo’ is still a streamable option thanks to the talent, but with what looks like to be a reduced set of opportunities based on how the New York Jets won last week, I think we want to see what other options may be available on your IDP roster or waivers.
What did New York do last week to find success? They focused on the short, quick passing game with rookie Mike White’s first start and found consistent success in working through Michael Carter and Jamison Crowder (17 combined receptions). Now, it was Mike White’s first start in the NFL ever, so I am sure they had a limited play call sheet for him. But with the success (they knocked off the Bengals and put up 34 points) they had, there is no reason for them to stray heavily away from that. They will most certainly add in a few new wrinkles and take their shots downfield (especially if Corey Davis is healthy and playing), but the bulk will focus on short, outside looks to Michael Carter and Ty Johnson as well as underneath quick-hitters to Crowder.
For this week, we look away from Buckner, but we are not looking to drop him or move on. He is too talented and should have plenty of top performances left this season.
Linebacker, Start – Nick Bolton, Kansas City Chiefs
The rookie out of Missouri, Nick Bolton, has really come on strong the last three weeks and looks to continue to do so as Anthony Hitchens remains sidelined for at least another week. The even crazier part is his efficiency. He has not received a snap share over 85% (66%, 84%, 72%) for the last three weeks. However, in that time he has managed to produce tremendous tackle production of 9, 15, and 11 (with the 15 tackle week including 4 TFLs!!).
So now we have an efficient and productive linebacker, going up against a top NFL opponent in the Packers who are now without their elite QB in Aaron Rodgers (positive covid test and no vaccination status) and have third-year QB Jordan Love coming into man the reigns. Sounds like a perfect time to lean on Aaron Jones and AJ Dillon like they did last week against the Cardinals for a victory. So we are looking at a matchup with a hyper-productive linebacker against a team that is looking to run the ball 30+ times? Sign me up!! Nick Bolton is a smash play this week and should have an easy 10+ tackle game plus anything else he might pick up against an (NFL) inexperienced QB.
As we highlight Nick Bolton from the Chiefs and Packers game, don’t forget to check out the Prop Bets from PlayPickUp.com. This week we are looking at our LB start with Bolton and asking, can he get to 100+ tackles this season? The number of snaps he is taking and the way he has been playing sideline-to-sideline, absolutely he will get there. He has had three strong weeks and is already at 66 combined on the season and 43 solo tackles also. Either way, be sure to enter your phone number to verify your pick and you could win free stuff!
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Linebacker, Sit – Kyzir White, Los Angeles Chargers
Kyzer White, Derwin James, and Nasserly Adderly have been soaking up the vast majority of all the IDP fantasy football production the last few weeks, especially the last two for Kyzir as his snap share has jumped up to around an additional 10-20%, netted him about 10 more opportunities per game and he has taken advantage for sure.
Kyzir is a nice piece to have picked up and enjoyed the benefits the last few weeks, however, this week he runs into a tough matchup against an Eagles offense that has struggled to move the ball (except against the Lions). Now the Eagles ran the ball about 40 times last week which would be a juicy matchup for any linebacker. And the Chargers have been struggling against the run all season. So why wouldn’t we just see more of the same?
The reason is, they are not facing a Lions offense this week that can’t put up points. This week they face a Chargers’ offense that will put up points. The talent difference between the Lions and the Chargers is significant. And the difference will cause the Eagles the need to throw the ball a lot more than they did last week. And when the ball is in Jalen Hurts’ hands, this Eagles offense is less productive and will struggle. Which just means less chances for Kyzir White overall.
Defensive Back, Start – Malcolm Jenkins, S, New Orleans Saints
Malcolm Jenkins checks all the right boxes for the needs of a strong IDP fantasy football play. 100% snap share almost the entire season so far (last 5 weeks in a row). This week presents us a great opportunity for Malcolm Jenkins for IDP production against the Atlanta Falcons.
The Falcons do not have a prolific offense as it stands and with Calvin Ridley stepping away for mental health reasons, which, Kudos to him, take care of yourself and get the man better than we will get back to football. But for what we are looking at for this week, we have an offense that has Kyle Pitts and Cordarrelle Patterson and limited down-the-field threats. This leaves us with an ideal situation for Jenkins to thrive in making stops and plays against the Falcons.
The additional bonus of Matt Ryan who has shown struggles against tougher defenses this season and his usual first-year shortcomings of a new offense. This is a wonderful week to get Jenkins into your starting lineup as your DB1!
Defensive Back, Sit – Adrian Amos, S, Green Bay Packers
Adrian Amos has had a strong start to the year. His tackle numbers have come back down to more “normal” numbers the past few weeks and he’s still been a startable option as a DB2 or DB3. With the safe floor and his snap share consistently at 100%, why would we want to bench Amos this week? The new approach to the Kansas City Chiefs that a lot of teams seem to be taking.
The chiefs’ opponents have taken a bit of the blueprint where the defense focuses on a 4-man pass rush (and the Chiefs have struggled in pass protection) with a 2 deep safety look and the linebackers play the intermediate routes consistently and attack downhill on the run plays. This has significantly limited the Chiefs’ downfield success and plays as well as the opportunities for those safeties playing so deep.
Between the proven success of this defensive approach and Amos’ production slowing down a bit the last few weeks, this is a time to make sure Amos is on your bench. He is a viable option most other weeks, but for week 9, let’s try and find a better option.
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