For most IDP managers, draft day has already come and gone. Their teams are assembled for the upcoming season. But some like to wait (wisely, it can be argued) until the preseason has concluded. Until roster cuts to 53 have been made across the NFL. Until the final weekend before the regular season begins.
And if you’re one of those prescient few, the biggest day of the year is coming up. You have no doubt researched everything there is to research. When it comes to the early rounds of your IDP draft, you know who want to roster—or at least target. You know who you want your first linebacker to be (or at least have a short list). Who you want to try to get at value in the middle rounds.
But by the 25th round or so of an IDP draft, it happens to the best of us. You look at the pool of remaining players, and either it’s less pool than hole filled with dirt, or you just get vapor lock after hours of drafting. You miss on a chance to get a potential gem late, and then when the draft is concluded kick yourself for not thinking of it in the moment.
Well, intrepid late drafter, you will now be entering the draft with a list of names in your pocket. Players who should be available late who have the potential to make a real impact in 2024.
You’re welcome.
Since IDP ADP data is like Bigfoot (There are allegedly some grainy photos, but little evidence outside that it exists) the Godfather used the recent King’s Classic Butkus Division Draft at the Pro Football Hall of Fame as the barometer for a “deep sleeper.” Each of the players listed here was drafted outside the 20th round of a 14-team league featuring 13 of the industry’s top IDP minds (including Fantasy In Frames’ own Jorge Edwards) and, well, me.
If they were available in this league (where top IDPs score on par with elite offensive players), they are all but certainly going to be available in your draft.
IDP DEEP SLEEPERS
EDGE YaYa Diaby, Tampa Bay (Pick No. 306)
Like Byron Young with the Los Angeles Rams last year (Like I wasn’t going to sneak one more Byron Young plug in this summer.) Diaby was quietly solid in his first season with the Buccaneers, posting 38 total tackles and 7.5 sacks in just 515 snaps. Now, with Shaq Barrett gone, Diaby is arguably the best pass-rusher on Tampa’s roster—and Good Morning Football host Peter Schrager said recently he expects Diaby to break out in a big way this year.
“Here’s my bold take – YaYa Diaby will have 15 sacks this season,” Schrager said. “One of my favorite players. Calijah Kancey, also a draft pick from last year, working the inside, Vita Vea working the inside, and of course you got YaYa… he is a breakout player.”
Now, 15 sacks would be—that’s the kind of production that wins IDP leagues. It’s also the optimistic side of Diaby’s projection for 2024. And then some. But a 55-tackle, 10-sack second season is well with reach, and getting a viable DL2 this late in a draft has been known to help a team as well.
EDGE Baron Browning, Denver (Pick No. 437)
After the Broncos traded Von Miller, Browning was converted to edge-rusher, and it didn’t take long for everyone with eyes to realize that’s where he should have been playing all along. The issues with Browning have been health and consistency, but head coach Sean Payton told reporters that experience will improve the latter.
“Just from a career standpoint with pressure players, they’re kind of like pitchers,” Payton said. “Generally, when they come to our game, they have one pitch, whether it’s speed or power. I think they have to develop the other pitch. I think that’s important. … I think it’s rounding out their game and having a handful of pitches that become problematic for guys that are blocking them.”
Browning is admittedly a dart throw—he has missed 10 games over the last two seasons, including seven last year. However, while Jonathan Cooper’s 8.5 sacks drew more eyes in 2023, when he’s healthy, Browning is the most talented edge-rusher on the team. He’s healthy entering the 2024 season. Just saying.
With college football underway, I’ll just mention that both Cooper and Browning attended Ohio State University. Go, Buckeyes!
Jeer away.
LB Isaiah McDuffie, Green Bay (Pick No. 318)
McDuffie made eight starts last season for the Packers, finishing second on the team with 86 stops. But after the Packers drafted both Edgerrin Cooper of Texas A&M and Ty’Ron Hopper of Missouri on Day 2 of the 2024 draft, it appeared McDuffie was headed back to the bench. But dating all the way back to last year, Green Bay head coach Matt LaFleur has maintained that he has every confidence in McDuffie as a starter.
“I think just his ability to step in there and play at a really high level,” LaFleur told reporters. “Obviously, he’s been contributing for some years now on special teams, but every time we ask him to go in there and take on a larger role, he seems to excel at it. So, we’ve got a ton of confidence in him. I view him as a starter, whether he’s starting or not.”
A funny thing happened on the way to kick coverage. Cooper spent most of the last month sidelined by injury. Hopper never really challenged for the starting spot opposite Quay Walker. And when the Packers face the Philadelphia Eagles in Brazil in Week 1, McDuffie will be out there. In five of McDuffie’s eight starts last year, he logged at least nine total tackles.
LB DeMarvion Overshown, Dallas (Pick No. 353)
I can’t recall a player in recent memory who has received more hype without playing a game than Overshown—he was the talk of the offseason last year in Dallas but tore his ACL and missed his entire rookie season. But that didn’t stop Kevin Patra of NFL.com from calling out Overshown as a potential first-time Pro-Bowler.
“Overshown’s rookie season was preempted by a preseason ACL tear, and Dallas sorely missed the depth he might have provided in 2023,” Patra wrote. “Thus far, the former Longhorn has received rave reviews. Micah Parsons said he’s been “unbelievable.” Mike McCarthy noted the LB’s play “jumps off the tape at you.” If that praise turns into regular-season production (and he stays healthy), Overshown could be in the mix not only for a Pro Bowl nod but also for Comeback Player of the Year chatter.”
That Overshown has missed some time this summer with a hip issue ain’t ideal. But if what limited game action we have seen from Overshown is any indication—he’s significantly better than Damone Clark. Faster. Stronger. More instinctive. If he’s healthy, he will be the No. 2 linebacker for a Cowboys team that desperately wants to improve against the run.
S Justin Reid, Kansas City (Pick No. 379)
A third-round pick of the Houston Texans in 2018, Reid has quietly spent six seasons being a good (if not great) NFL safety—including winning a pair of Super Bowls with the Kansas City Chiefs in the process. Lorenzo Reyna of Pro Football Network went so far as to call Reid the most underappreciated player on a team that receives no shortage of appreciation.
“The Super Bowl champs were solid at cornerback during their title run,” he wrote. Justin Reid, though, was the enforcer at safety with 95 tackles, including 74 solo stops and three sacks off blitzes. He’s one of Kansas City’s go-to guys when the Chiefs need a blitz from the secondary. Reid has also swatted seven passes the last two years.”
Reid’s 95 stops last year were admittedly a career-high—and that lack of a 100-stop season is part of the reason he’s being all but ignored by IDP managers. But Reid was also quietly 18th among defensive backs in fantasy points a year ago. Given Kansas City’s offseason, that may well be closer to his IDP floor than his ceiling. Reid isn’t a sexy pick, but he’s a value with the potential to become a bargain.
S Jordan Poyer, Miami (Pick No. 409)
Jordan Poyer’s IDP career has run the gamut. For years with the Buffalo Bills, Poyer was a criminally undervalued fantasy asset. Then, people got hip and were drafted much earlier. Then injuries and age, and a move to a new team all but rendered the 33-year-old a fantasy afterthought. For his part, Poyer told reporters his intent is to add some swagger to a Dolphins defense he thinks may have lacked it in the past.
“Playing against this team over the past few years,” he said, “you get a sense of, ‘OK, if you get on top of this team, they might fold.’ What is that? What is it that happens in those moments when we get hit in the mouth? What happens in those moments? It’s continuing to just play the game. Don’t get stuck in that play that you didn’t make or don’t get stuck in X, Y, X of the past. Keep playing. Keep staying together. That’s the biggest thing, being able to stay together as a team.”
It has been a little while since Poyer was one of the more valuable defensive backs in IDP. But despite finishing outside the top-25 defensive backs in fantasy points last year, Poyer hit 100 total tackles for the fourth time in the last six seasons. That’s just outside DB2 territory—for free. The top 20 is 10-15 fantasy points away. The top-15 is within 20. And there will be opportunities on the back end in Miami as teams try to match scores with the Dolphins’ offense.
