Top 5 Hidden IDP Gems In 2018

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By: Wyatt Berckenhoff (@MRRookieNFL)

Excited NFL fans regularly pay attention to the high flying, speedy, and high stakes types of offenses that the sport provides. What gets unnoticed is the everyday grinders, the hard-hitting defensive players that comprise today’s modern NFL defenses. More and more fantasy football fans are taking this into account and are now paying closer attention to Individual Defensive Players or IDP’s. They’ve even gone as far as including them in their fantasy football leagues, and this phenomenon has taken fantasy football community by storm. Understanding how to pick and choose your IDP players consists of knowing about the various defensive positions and their usage on their respective teams.

The top IDP players are easy to find, much like the top performers you’ve come to know on offense. Finding the middle and late-round IDP gems can be difficult. Therefore, for the purpose of this article, we will cover the top five defenses from 2017 and one IDP player from each team. Specifically, we’ll be focusing on gems at the defensive back position, specifically cornerback as it is the toughest position to predict success from in my opinion. As a reminder, those top 5 defenses from 2017 are as follows in order: Minnesota Vikings, Jacksonville Jaguars, Denver Broncos, Philadelphia Eagles, and Pittsburgh Steelers.

• Minnesota Vikings: Mackenzie Alexander-CB (0% Owned On ESPN last year)

 Mackenzie Alexander, the two year CB from Clemson University, in his short time on the field has made a name for himself on the team. Last season the 2017 season had one interception vs the Kirk Cousins Vikings, increased his overall tackle totals from his rookie season, and appears to be the heir-apparent to nickel cornerback Terrance Newman. While he didn’t have a great performance in the playoffs, click here, his ability to make plays and subsequently fantasy points derived from the opposing team’s quarterback targeting receivers matched up against him leading to a potential increase in tackle production which is the hallmark of a good IDP player. Consider a stash worthy candidate in dynasty leagues.

• Jacksonville Jaguars: Jalen Ramsey-CB (76.5% Owned On ESPN last year) 

 What can I say about this player that hasn’t been said from a performance standpoint already? Not much. And yes while he was on ~77% of rosters in 2017 his “ball-hawking” ability, his relatively high tackle solo tackle to assisted tackle ratio and volume overall, 15.5 passes defensed average his first two years in the league, and three interceptions per year average he’s had since entering the NFL makes him a worthy IDP start as an IDP-DB, despite the unpredictability of the CB position in fantasy football.. Using our own website’s scoring rubric he averaged 5.3 fantasy points per game in 2017, a higher total then newly acquired L.A. Ram Marcus Peters. Click here to view our scoring rubric.

• Denver Broncos: Bradley Roby-CB (21.1% Owned on ESPN last year)

He is a player you can get in the later rounds that has a high upside with some risk attached. That risk primarily being playing time as starting cornerbacks Aqib Talib and Chris Harris ahead of him on the depth chart. However, going into 2018 with Talib being a potential cap casualty Roby would be thrust into the starting role. And playing opposite of Harris he would likely be the corner targeted more often than not allowing for more passes defensed and tackle opportunities, thus increasing his IDP stock value.

• Philadelphia Eagles: Patrick Robinson-CB (0% owned on ESPN last year)

Robinson is one of my favorite targets for IDP dynasty leagues and even worthy of an IDP-DB start in 2018. His 47 tackles, 4 interceptions, and a rare sack this past season made him a mid-round pick in my book going forward into 2018. He is one of my favorite targets of this season as a stash- and even start both in standard IDP and dynasty leagues.

• Pittsburgh Steelers: Mike Hilton-CB (0% owned on ESPN last year)

Mike Hilton, a rookie for the Steelers last year, played a full sixteen games and tallied 48 solo tackles, one forced fumble, and even produced four sacks, rare amongst cornerbacks. In IDP redraft leagues he is a late round player to target and stash just in case he receives more playing time in his sophomore season. Replacing injured veteran Joe Haden last season you saw what makes him a dynasty IDP stash going forward. 

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