No one wants it to happen, and yet it happens to everyone. As your IDP draft progresses, things start to go sideways. Your carefully laid plans for round-by-round draft strategy gets shredded by league-mates who zig when you expected them to zag. Your list of IDP targets is decimated by snipers more efficiently than Marine Force Recon. The first big run on IDPs comes—and you get frozen out of it.
It’s a draft-day disaster. A fiasco. A catastrophe. A debacle. You throw your hands up in the air, head for the liquor cabinet and write off the season to come as a lost cause.
The thing is though, that’s the one thing you absolutely cannot do—just give up and throw in the towel before the season even starts. The next fantasy football draft that goes completely according to plan will be the first in history—and even if one did, it would make The Godfather incredibly nervous (You have to know a “perfect” draft is doomed—DOOMED!).
Just because your draft has veered off course from Easy Street to a bumpy dirt road doesn’t mean that your team is destined to wind up in the ditch. There are strategies that can be employed and players who can be targeted who can help get things back on track. With a cool head and a savvy move or two, you can overcome just about any obstacle draft day throws at you—and come out of it with a team capable of competing for a postseason spot.
DON’T PANIC!
This is the single most important thing to keep in mind when your IDP draft starts to veer off course. Do…not…panic. If you’re picking 10th, decide that 4.03 is too early to take an IDP and then 15 IDPs come off the board before you select again at 5.10 (An unlikely example, but an example nonetheless), don’t freak out and panic draft a defensive player when there is better value to be had on offense. Every draft is different. Unique. And no matter how it progresses, keeping a cool head is absolutely critical.
DON’T REACH!
Again, this is all about attempting to gain maximum value with every draft pick. If there’s a long run of IDPs, don’t feel like you have to take a defensive player—especially if the options available are on a lower tier in your draft-day rankings. Consistently picking at the tail end of runs is a sure-fire way to wind up with a mediocre roster. If a fistful of linebackers come off the board in rapid succession, that means there are going to be values available on the defensive line. Or at wide receiver.
Yes, you are going to have to grab some linebackers at some point, and waiting too long can leave a team with a weakness at IDP’s most important position. But reaching at any position solely because you feel forced to draft a player at that spot is bad juju.
BE FLEXIBLE!
Frankly, this should be a mantra for all IDP drafters, whether their draft is going swimmingly or has descended into utter chaos. Rigidly adhering to any pre-draft strategy regardless of how a draft unfolds is just a terrible idea. Every IDP manager goes into their draft with a plan. Every IDP manager should be willing to abandon or at least adjust that strategy at a moment’s notice.
If your pre-draft plan is to avoid IDPs altogether until Round 7, but defensive players start getting drafted in earnest in Round 4, you have two choices. Stick to the plan and know that having anything resembling an elite linebacker or defensive lineman is no longer an option, or switch things up and take an IDP earlier than planned.
Just remember—no panic reaches!
PUNT DEFENSIVE BACKS!
If you have read the Godfather’s work for any amount of time (And really, hasn’t everyone?) you know that I do this in every IDP draft anyway. It’s just part of my usual strategy to wait to draft defensive backs—always. But if you find yourself with a potential deficiency on either side of the ball, one way to turn things around is to join the party.
Punt on the idea of drafting an elite defensive back like Los Angeles Chargers safety Derwin James. Or taking a top-10 defensive back at all.
Defensive back is far and away the deepest position in IDP. Each and every year there are defensive backs ala Minnesota Vikings safety Camryn Bynum who come from nowhere to post big numbers. Are you guaranteed to find this year Bynum in the later rounds? No. But you can use draft capital to patch holes in the middle of your draft and then hit upside options in the secondary late.
VALUE TARGETS
If IDP managers are going to build a solid defensive roster despite being on the wrong side of a run or two, they need to have some undervalued targets to bear in mind who have an excellent chance of outperforming their draft slot. Here’s a quick look at a couple of guys at each of the three main IDP positions who could fit the bill in that regard.
EDGE Travon Walker, Jacksonville: It got lost a bit in Josh Allen’s career year in Jacksonville in 2023, but the No. 1 pick in the 2022 draft had over 50 stops and 10 sacks in his own right. If Walker takes the next step as a player in his third season, it’s not hard to imagine him working his way into the Top-12. The talent is there.
EDGE Carl Granderson, New Orleans: Granderson recorded a whopping 78 tackles and 8.5 sacks last year on the way to top-15 fantasy numbers. But IDP drafters appear to be skeptical that Granderson can back up that breakout campaign—he’s coming off the board outside the top-25 at his position as often as not.
LB Azeez Al-Shaair, Houston: That’s right, I’m just going to keep hammering on Al-Shaair—for the second year in a row. Reunited with DeMeco Ryans in Houston, Al-Shaair should thrive as the defensive play-caller after topping 160 tackles last year. Al-Shaair possesses top-10 IDP upside available outside the top-15 linebackers in many drafts.
LB Jordan Hicks, Cleveland: Hicks was a productive asset with the Philadelphia Eagles. And the Arizona Cardinals. And the Minnesota Vikings. He’s eclipsed 100 total tackles in five straight seasons. Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah may be the better talent at this point in their careers, but I expect Hicks to lead all Browns linebackers in fantasy points in 2024.
S Julian Love, Seattle: Love has been productive in consecutive season despite changing teams, including amassing over 120 stops and a career-best 85 solos last year with the Seahawks on the way to a seventh-place finish in fantasy points among defensive backs, The 26-year-old offers top-10 IDP upside with a DB2 sticker price on draft day.
S Julian Blackmon, Indianapolis: Once Blackmon shifted into more of a typical box safety role for the Colts last year, both his statistical production and his overall level of play took off. Now entrenched as a starter, Blackmon is primed for the best season of his career. One of my favorite later-round DB targets this season.