IDP Strategy For Newbies

Guest Submission posted 8/22 by Shawn Williams, Exclusive to Footballguys.com

Many fantasy football fanatics have been involved with fantasy leagues for years now. There are dozens of different formats to participate in, but what happens when your league all-of-a-sudden ends up adding Individual Defensive Players to the mix? For years, the "team defense" principle trumped all other defensive formats in fantasy leagues. As we head into the 2007 season Individual Defensive Player ("IDP") leagues are more prevalent than ever. When I entered into my first IDP league there was no "How To" beginners guide that I could find anywhere on the Internet. That is where the inspiration for this article came from. Rather then join an IDP league and draft on a trial by fire basis, why not educate yourself and understand just how to build a winning squad. Most will find that the defensive side of the ball is more than just an ancillary "add-on" to a fantasy league. A strong defensive roster and knowledge of how defense works in general can propel any fantasy team to a championship. While others spend the first 10 rounds drafting 5th string wide receivers, you could be building a powerhouse of a squad from both sides of the ball. In this article, I will start with the very basics and gradually build towards giving you the advanced tools to dominate your fantasy league from the defensive side of the ball.

The IDPs in fantasy leagues typically will function just as the offensive players do. Your individual players will acquire points based on what defensive actions they perform in a game. The most common categories are Sacks, Tackles, Safeties, Assists, Forced Fumbles, Fumble Recoveries, Interceptions and Touchdowns. Later on in the article I will explain how you should weight each category depending on your leagues scoring system. Some leagues reward heavily for Tackles while others reward more special plays like Interceptions and Touchdowns. There is a way to determine how your league is weighted without prior experience.

The IDPs can be fielded on your fantasy roster in any number of ways; either by individual position or by a general position assignment. The most common set up is to group your nose guards, tackles, and defensive ends together as the defensive line ("DL"). The next grouping will be your linebackers ("LB"), and these are comprised of any combination of the linebacker positions (ILB, OLB, MLB, etc). Finally, the cornerbacks and safeties are typically denoted as Defensive Backs ("DB"). The DL, LB, and DB all play an integral part in the overall success of your team's defense. While most consider the LB position to be the "Running Back of Defense," there can be any variation of scoring nuances that gives an edge to a particular position.

Understanding the way NFL defenses are structured is an absolute must when planning your IDP draft approach. The type of defense a team plays is the most important factor in determining how successful a player might be. The meat of the issue lies in determining whether a team plays a 4-3 or 3-4 defense. A 3-4 defense uses only 3 down linemen and 4 linebackers; concurrently a 4-3 defense utilizes 4 down linemen and 3 linebackers. This is absolutely crucial knowledge to have when drafting. Teams in the NFL who currently play in a 3-4 defense (or will be converting to one for the 2007 season) are:

New England Patriots
Dallas Cowboys
San Diego Chargers
New York Jets
Cleveland Browns
Pittsburgh Steelers
San Francisco 49ers
Arizona Cardinals

Why is a separation in the 3-4/4-3 important? It can tell you everything you need to know about what players to target and those to stay away from.

In most leagues you are going to want to concentrate more on categories like tackles, assists, and sacks. The interception and touchdown categories can be very varying from year to year and I will provide evidence of this later on. Real hunker down and focus in on the tackling categories and you can easily breeze your way to success regardless of your leagues scoring setup.

That being said, I have found that the single greatest piece of information or rule of thumb one can take with them into an IDP draft is this:

Draft defensive linemen that play in a 4-3 defense
Do NOT draft defensive linemen that play in a 3-4
Draft linebackers that play in a 4-3 defense
Do NOT draft linebackers that play in a 3-4 defense (there is an exception which I will discuss later)

All-in-all, try your best to stay away from the 3-4 formats. While they translate to overall team success very well, individual players involved in these defensive formats will wreck havoc on your fantasy team.

Before looking at specific facts and statistics that back up this claim, just consider the logic involved. When an offensive team sets, they will have 5 down offensive linemen opposing the defense. Imagine a 3-4 defense first - the 3 DL are easily picked up by 5 offensive blockers. Those 3 DLs are drowning in blocking schemes, and without a 4th member on the down line, the opportunities for tackles and sacks become almost nonexistent. Because there are 4 LBs, tackles are much tougher to come by, after all, you are sharing the opportunities amongst FOUR linebackers.

In a 4-3 defense, those 5 offensive blockers have one extra body to worry about coming off of the defensive line. There are less double team opportunities and more opportunities for the LBs to pick up tackles and assists. Because there are 4 defensive linemen rushing, there also becomes a greater opportunity that one will break through for a sack or backfield tackle. In fantasy terms, linebackers in a 4-3 defensive are indispensable. There are only 3 in the backfield so there is less distribution of fantasy stats.

In any fantasy league where tackles are worth 1 point apiece (and sacks are only worth 2-3 points), this is the best nugget of knowledge one could ever have. I would much prefer having Antonio Pierce to owning Shawne Merriman simply because of the tackle point opportunities.

However, I did say there was an exception! If your league is sack heavy (think 5 points or more per sack and only 1 point or less for tackles), guys like Merriman are very important. Players in a 3-4 defense that play on teams which run multiple blitz packages become much more indispensable (i.e. the Chargers). A league in which the sack value outweighs the tackle value is rare, but use the point guidelines I have provided above to determine what style your league fits. A good rule of thumb is: if a sack is worth 4 times the points of a tackle, you are in a sack heavy league and should load up on big sack guys as opposed to ferocious tacklers.

To further back up my point, take a look at last years statistics and consider the example of a typical IDP scoring structure (1 point for tackles, 3 points for sacks, .5 for assisted tackle). I have listed LBs that are "Big Sackers" and "Big Tacklers" and see for yourself the difference in fantasy productions:

BIG SACKERS

Shawne Merriman - 107 Fantasy Points
DeMarcus Ware - 93.5 Fantasy Points
Shaun Phillips - 88 Fantasy Points

BIG TACKLERS

DeMeco Ryans - 151 Fantasy Points
Lance Briggs - 123.5 Fantasy Points
Zach Thomas - 143 Fantasy Points

Mind you, this is not even including points for assisted tackles. The big tacklers will typically be loaded up on assists which will further boost the fantasy productions. The moral of the story: TARGET TACKLERS. Unless there is a wacky variation in your leagues scoring format, you want to be after the guys who have a nose for the ball. The guy who always make tackles, always makes assists, and end up always being involved during fumbles in one form or the other.

Up until now, I've basically ignored the secondary. Why? I feel you should concentrate on building a core of solid tackling LBs and DLs. When it comes to cornerbacks and safeties, the same rules apply - look for the guys who have a nose for the ball in the form of heavy tacklers. Put less weight into how many interceptions a player had the season before, or how many "Pick Sixes" he was able to get a hold of. The CB and S positions are just too unpredictable. Who knows when Rex Grossman is going to loft up a "gimme" for Champ Bailey. There is proof to my assertion as well - let's look at some facts:

If we look at league leaders in interceptions from the year they lead the league in picks to the next, we can find a startling statistic that proves just how interceptions can be "catch as catch can" (no pun intended):

Rod Woodson
2002: 8 INTs
2003: 2 INTs

Brian Kelly
2002: 8 INTs
2003: 1 INT

Brian Russell
2003: 9 INTs
2004: 1 INT

Tony Parrish
2003: 9 INTs
2004: 4 INTs

Ed Reed
2004: 9 INTs
2005: 1 INT

Delta O'Neal
2005: 10 INTs
2006: 1 INT

Ty Law
2005: 10 INTs
2006: 4 INTs

Need I go any further? Once again, it is absolutely critical for you to focus on the "nose for the ball" categories like tackles and assists. These are the categories that consistently translate into defensive fantasy success. Going for the "flashy" safety or cornerback is IDP suicide.

I have provided you with the FACTS and the tools to understand how IDPs work in this article, all you have to do is not get caught up in the big names, and look into the statistics and statistical projections for yourself. If you've read this article thoroughly, you know what lines to look for when your projecting your IDPs, and you also know have a great "jumping off" point for how to understand how your leagues IDP scoring system will translate to fantasy points (and thus, success). There are some great no-fail rules provided, use them, and smile as you are running all the way to the bank. Let's face it, not many people are "in-the-know" about IDPs. We are focused on the flashy offensive categories; the laid-out WR catches and Reggie Bush's jukes. Don't ignore these things, but prepare to go up in flames if you don't take your leagues IDP format seriously. While others are waiting until Round 20 to make a move on the defensive side of the ball, you could have already won your championship by being an informed player.

Good luck.