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Drafting Individual Defensive Players By Michael Rauch

The biggest majority of fantasy football leagues don’t use individual defensive players, just team defenses. However, it seems that more and more private leagues are leaning this way. If you enjoy playing in a league that utilizes individual defensive players, then I hope to make your job just a bit easier come draft day. Just note - this is meant to be a primer course to get you started, not an in-depth analysis.

In my first draft that involved IDP’s (Individual Defensive Players), I was in an autopick league and when I looked at my team, was left scratching my head wondering who some of these guys were. Part of that was very poor preparation on my part, but part of it was the lack of an adequate ranking system in yahoo. Yahoo’s rankings are based on offensive numbers, so if you’ve got a garbage time DB who happened to pick off a pass late in the game and run it in for a touchdown, his ranking will be much higher than a lot of other quality players.

What to look for……

A lot of what type of IDP’s you’ll be looking for depends upon the league settings. First determine how the points are weighted for each stat category and go from there. Since all leagues with IDP’s are private, points in each category vary widely. I will reiterate this from time to time, but the most important aspect of drafting a quality defensive team is the weights of the categories.

To elaborate, if your league values sacks at 10 points a pop, you will definitely want to look at the big sack producers. However, if the league only awards 3 points for a sack and 1 point for a tackle, go for the guys with big tackle totals. That will far and away outweigh the big sackers, who generally don’t get that many tackles.

Which brings me to another point; when drafting IDP’s, generally the most important stat is tackles. Or better yet, weight of solo tackles. Generally, .5 points per solo tackle is a good standard. If they are weighted any higher, then pick your huge tackles guys high. Any lower, check your league’s point weights and pick accordingly.

If solo tackles are weighted at .5 (which I recommend), then sacks should be weighted 3 to 5. I prefer three, which gives a good mix of sack experts and tackle guys at a comparable rating.

One player to stay away from is the shutdown corner. While probably one of the best players on the field, his fantasy value is minimal. While chasing wideouts up and down the field all day, he won’t get in on many tackles. And if he truly is a shutdown corner, teams won’t throw his way very often, making interceptions hard to come by as well.

Again, if one category is way out of whack with the others, then definitely draft the players who will score well in that category first. For instance, if for some strange reason your commissioner decides INT’s are worth 15 points, the by all means put DB’s with high INT totals at the top of your defensive draft board.
Another thing to look for is leagues that include points for return yards. This puts a much higher premium on DB’s also doubling as return men. They are a bonus, because they won’t take up a spot on your offense and will garner points from both defensive stats and return yards.

Another thing to be aware of is that in most leagues there are three IDP categories: DB, DL, and D. The aspect that stands out is that LB’s are placed in the DL category. Everything else is pretty much self-explanatory.

Draft day strategy…….

In my experiences, it is much easier to get quality IDP’s late in the draft than it is offense. In live drafts, unless there just becomes such a run of IDP’s that you can’t hold out any longer, I would fill up all of the offensive starting positions first and keep drafting offense until a run starts. Don’t be the first to grab an IDP as a general rule (unless there is one guy who you think you can’t do without).
In autopick leagues, rank the top 100 or so offensive players first before you start ranking defense. For the most part, a lot of other players are clueless on how to rank the IDP’s, so if you fill out your offense first, you should still get very good quality on defense.

How the IDP’s stack up…….

Based on last season’s statistics, not taking into account team changes, scheme changes and rookies, here are the top performers in the four main categories: tackles, sacks, INT’s and passes defensed. Most leagues will also count forced fumbles, fumble recoveries, safeties and touchdowns, but those categories rely too much on luck to be considered when drafting.

Tackles
Jonathon Vilama (NYJ) - 128
Donnie Edwards (SD) - 114
Zach Thomas (MIA) - 107
London Fletcher (BUF) - 104
Shelton Quarles (TB) - 103
Keith Bulluck (TEN) - 102
Jeremiah Trotter (PHI) - 102
Demorrio Williams (ATL) -100
Brian Urlacher (CHI) - 99
Mike Peterson (JAX) - 95

Sacks
Derrick Burgess (OAK) - 16
Osi Umenyiora (NYG) - 14.5
Simeon Rice (TB) - 14
Kyle Vanden Bosch (NYJ) - 12.5
Aaron Schobel (BUF) - 12
Jason Taylor (MIA) -12
Robert Mathis (IND) - 11.5
Michael Strahan (NYG) - 11.5
Jared Allen (KC) - 11
Dwight Freeney (IND) - 11

Interceptions
Deltha O’Neal (CIN) - 10
Darren Sharper (MIN) - 9
Champ Bailey (DEN) - 8
Nathan Vasher (CHI) - 8
Chris Gamble (DET) - 7
DeAngelo Hall (ATL) - 6
Ken Lucas (CAR) - 6
Greg Wesley (KC) - 6
Dre Bly (DET) - 6

Passes Defensed
Sheldon Brown (PHI) - 27
Brian Dawkins (PHI) - 24
Champ Bailey (Den) - 23
Ronde Barber (TB) - 20
Ike Taylor (PIT) - 20
Deltha O’Neal (CIN) - 20
Shawntae Spence (SF) - 19
Quentin Jammer (SD) - 19

My top picks…..

These would be my top picks of returning players based on a league with stat categories as follows:
Tackle Solo (.5)
Sack (3)
Interception (2)
Fumble Force (2)
Fumble Recovery (2)
Touchdown (6)
Safety (2)
Pass Defended (1)
Again, these are based on last season’s stats, not taking into account rookies, team changes, scheme changes, etc. This is not meant to be an end-all to drafting IDP’s but rather a good starting point. So here goes. In no particular order:

Terrence McGee (BUF) - Didn’t make the top 10 in any one catergory, but had 60 tackles, 4 INT’s and 15 PD’s

Jason Taylor (MIA) - Good sack total (12) to go along with 52 tackles. Also knocked down 10 passes.

Mike Peterson (JAX) - 95 tackles, six sacks.

Jonathon Vilma (NYJ) - Can’t go against 128 tackles. If he could get to the QB more than 0.5 times, value would improve.

Brian Dawkins (PHI) - He’s around the ball enough times where FF, FC and INT’s could net you good points. Plus, the 70 tackles don’t hurt.

Adrian Wilson (ARI) - Another name not mentioned in the top of any category, but close in tackles with 93. Also had eight sacks from a DB position.

Donnie Edwards (SD) - Mr. Consistency. Always ranks high in tackles and near the top of the stat sheet. All around good LB (DL).

Keith Bulluck (TEN) - See Donnie Edwards above, only slightly less so.

Champ Bailey (DEN) - OK. So this goes against the shutdown corner advice above. But he is just good and when they do throw his way, he seems to always have a hand on the ball. Besides, he managed to get in on 60 tackles last season as well.

Ronde Barber (TB) - Just a good football player. He has preformed at a consistent level for the past few years, so you know you’re going to get quality out of him.

So, there it is. My top ten (in no particular order) based on the stat cats listed above. Do a little homework and you can draft an awesome array of IDP’s

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