Reading the Defense: Week 1

Photo: USA Today Sports

ten years

It seems unbelievable to me, but this is my tenth season writing this column. I'm not certain, but I think it's the second longest running IDP column in the industry -- behind John Norton's Eyes of the Guru. If it isn't, it's pretty close. While I've added the injury beat to my weekly schedule and am proud of what it's become, RTD is still my first love. 

That's entirely thanks to you.

From our Forum posters to our podcast listeners to my Twitter followers, the people of our IDP community are the most knowledgeable and respectful anywhere in the fantasy world. Thanks for providing me an outlet to write and for being so gracious and encouraging over the past decade.

And I'm thankful I made it far enough to post that clip.

If you've been reading since the beginning, I'd love to hear from you. Thanks again.

back to the roots of the rtd

Although I enjoyed doing last year's team by team updates, I often wished I had more time to drill down on why players were underperforming or showing signs of a breakout. So, I'm going back to the roots of the RTD this year.

I'm bringing back video breakdowns when something catches my eye and taking an extended look at whether a player's game film accurately reflects his boxscore. And I'm bringing back some more matchup discussion and (when time permits) some actionable metrics.

Instead of the longer team vignettes, I'm going to post a list of depth chart changes, both known and projected. If there's a situation that's on your mind, email me at bramel@footballguys.com by Monday night and I'll address it here.

I'll try to have this column out as early as possible to help with waiver wire decisions. For the most part, I'll still write with the intent of including the important things you didn't realize you didn't know yet. I'm just not going to break down every team every week.

EVERY-DOWN LINEBACKER PROJECTION

I was hoping the lack of preseason injuries would have this chart firmed up for Week 1. It's not. We're just not going to know the personnel packages for some of these teams until after Week 1. What follows is my best educated guess per team.

I'll update this table every week between now and Week 17.

final CAMP depth chart NOTES

Expanding a bit more on the notes in the every-down linebacker chart:

**I believe the plan in Arizona was for Sean Weatherspoon to be the lone linebacker in the dime subpackage. A hamstring injury threw a wrench into that plan and I wouldn't bet a lineup slot on him, but I'm projecting him as the lone every-down inside linebacker for now.

**The Browns final preseason depth chart elevated Chris Kirksey over Craig Robertson. There's been no indication an every-down linebacker will emerge from the ongoing rotation, but I'll have more next week.

**Anthony Hitchens and Lawrence Timmons both look likely to practice on Wednesday and resume their expected every-down roles in Week 1.

**Danny Trevathan didn't play in Week 4. In Week 3, he was replaced in nickel packages by Steven Johnson. The Broncos cut Johnson and kept only four inside linebackers on the final 53. I think we'll see Trevathan alongside Brandon Marshall on every down this week.

**Gerald Hodges won the starting middle linebacker job in Minnesota. Since the team moved him inside, however, it's been Eric Kendricks in the nickel with Anthony Barr and Hodges on the sideline. Unless we hear otherwise later this week, I'd assume the Vikings follow the same rotation this week.

We don't have to worry about whether Sio Moore will be healthy enough to bump Malcolm Smith from the starting lineup in Oakland. The Raiders traded him to Indianapolis, where he's arguably in a worse roster situation for 2015. Long term, a healthy Moore could push one of the Colts' veterans aside. The big winner here is Smith, who is a favorite of defensive coordinator Ken Norton and a favorite to play weak side linebacker every down.

The Niners waived Nick Moody after a hamstring injury derailed what looked like a strong bid to unseat Michael Wilhoite earlier in the season. It's time to put Shayne Skov back on the deep dynasty radar. If there's an injury, I think Skov gets the nod over Nick Bellore, who's more of a special teams body.

We are well into Week 1 preparations and there's been no movement on the Kam Chancellor holdout. Dion Bailey is in line to start right now. The Seahawks do expect to have Earl Thomas back. The issues in the secondary are good news for K.J. Wright, especially when Seattle is on the road away from their assist-heavy home stat crew.

Following up on a few key injury situations:

**You shouldn't be surprised Vontaze Burfict ended up on inseason PUP. The July report about a possible return for the third preseason week was never realistic. The Bengals are extremely stingy with injury information, but I'll try to keep you updated as the PUP deadline approaches in case Burfict looks like a strong pre-emptive midseason roster addition.

**Jason Pierre-Paul finally made it into see the Giants' medical staff this week. There were rumblings that he could be ready to play in a week or two, but he left without signing the franchise tender and a Tuesday note suggested he's still a month (or more) from playing shape.

**San'Derrick Marks and Dontari Poe made their teams' active rosters this week. Neither are good bets to be full strength for some time, but there's a glimmer of hope for both to have fantasy value this season. Jairus Byrd also stayed off the inseason PUP list.

Will Allen was named the starter over Shamarko Thomas in Pittsburgh. Duke Ihenacho never lost his hold on the strong safety job in Washington. Eddie Pleasant has won the Houston safety job over Andre Hal.

Subscribe to The Audible on iTunes or download our weekly IDP podcast here every Thursday for injury updates, player analysis and matchup discussion. Follow and ask questions on Twitter @JeneBramel.