There are a number of reasons why people play fantasy football. The quest for eternal and everlasting glory. The opportunity to win a few bucks. Or a good old-fashioned love of the game of football.
What doesn’t square with that last one is that so many fantasy leagues all but ignore half of the game. The NFL may feature three- and four-wide sets and rules that favor the offense, but defense still wins championships. However, in standard fantasy leagues, defense is all but irrelevant. You grab a team defense late on draft day and it scores a handful of points per week.
Individual Defensive Player (IDP) leagues restore order to the universe. Defensive stars get to make a fantasy impact just like running backs and wide receivers.
A Note on the Top 100 IDPs Overall
The Top 100 IDPs overall isn’t necessarily a “draft by numbers” list, where you can just take the highest-ranked available player and all is well and good in the universe. There are a lot of variables in any draft — rigidly adhering to a list is usually asking for trouble.
Where this list can come in handy is as a tiebreaker between similarly-ranked players and as a way to get a general feel for how the main IDP positions stack up against one another.
- Roquan Smith – LB, BAL
- Foyesade Oluokun – LB, JAX
- Nick Bolton – LB, KC
- J. Watt – DE, PIT
- Bobby Wagner – LB, SEA
- Myles Garrett – DE, CLE
- Nick Bosa – DE, SF
- J. Mosley – LB, NYJ
- Maxx Crosby – DE, LV
- Zaire Franklin – LB, IND
- Bobby Okereke – LB, NYG
- Shaquille Leonard – LB, IND
- Aaron Donald – DT, LAR
- De’Vondre Campbell – LB, GB
- Fred Warner – LB, SF
- Derwin James – S, LAC
- Brian Burns – DE, CAR
- Cole Holcomb – LB, PIT
- Danielle Hunter – DE, MIN
- Jalen Pitre – S, HOU
- Logan Wilson – LB, CIN
- Josey Jewell – LB, DEN
- Joey Bosa – DE, LAC
- Dre GreenLaw – LB, SF
- Jaquan Brisker – S, CHI
- Micah Parsons – DE, DAL
- Matthew Judon – DE, NE
- Minkah Fitzpatrick – S, PIT
- Devin White – LB, TB
- Haason Reddick – DE, PHI
- Azeez Al-Shaair – LB, TEN
- Eric Kendricks – LB, LAC
- Kayvon Thibodeaux – DE, NYG
- Kevin Byard – S, TEN
- Pete Werner – LB, NO
- Budda Baker – S, ARI
- Ernest Jones – LB, LAR
- Kyle Dugger – S, NE
- Frankie Luvu – LB, CAR
- Quinnen Williams – DT, NYJ
- Jordan Poyer – S, BUF
- Nakobe Dean – LB, PHI
- Harold Landry – DE, TEN
- Kyle Hamilton – S, BAL
- Alex Highsmith – DE, PIT
- J. Edwards – LB, CHI
- Talanoa Hufanga – S, SF
- Chris Jones – DT, KC
- David Long – LB, MIA
- Harrison Smith – S, MIN
- Jonathan Allen – DT, WAS
- Alex Singleton – LB, DEN
- Jaelan Phillips – DE, MIA
- Kamren Curl – S, WAS
- Lavonte David – LB, TB
- Aidan Hutchinson – DE, DET
- Tremaine Edmunds – LB, CHI
- Eddie Jackson – S, CHI
- Quay Walker – LB, GB
- Shaquil Barrett – DE, TB
- Donovan Wilson – S, DAL
- Jamin Davis – LB, WAS
- Divine Deablo – LB, LV
- Antoine Winfield Jr. – S, TB
- Cameron Jordan – DE, NO
- Von Miller – DE, BUF
- Patrick Queen – LB, BAL
- Justin Simmons – S, DEN
- DeForest Buckner – DT, IND
- Kaden Elliss – LB. ATL
- Jessie Bates – S, ATL
- Sam Hubbard – DE, CIN
- DaRon Payne – DT, WAS
- Matt Milano – LB, BUF
- Jeremy Chinn – S, CAR
- Jalen Thompson – S, ARI
- Gregory Rousseau – DE, BUF
- Kyzir White – LB, ARI
- L’Jarius Sneed – CB, KC
- Za’Darius Smith – DE, CLE
- Jamal Adams – S, SEA
- Devin Lloyd – LB, JAX
- Christian Wilkins – DT, MIA
- Rayshawn Jenkins – S, JAX
- Demario Davis – LB, NO
- Josh Allen – DE, JAX
- J. Gardner-Johnson – S. PHI
- Alex Anzalone – LB, DET
- Xavier McKinney – S, NYG
- Rashan Gary – DE, GB
- Troy Andersen – LB, ATL
- Cameron Heyward – DT, PIT
- Jayron Kearse – S, DAL
- Brian Asamoah – LB, MIN
- Uchenna Nwosu – DE, SEA
- Ryan Neal – S, TB
- Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah – LB, CLE
- Zaven Collins – DE, ARI
- Richie Grant – S, ATL
- Jordan Hicks – LB, MIN
(Top photo: G Fiume/Getty Images)
