IDP rankings for fantasy football 2024: Top 100 overall, top 50 by position; plus undervalued, overvalued and sleepers

Playing in an Individual Defensive Player (IDP) fantasy football league adds a whole new layer of strategy and excitement to the game. Rather than boring team defenses that are essentially afterthoughts, managers select defensive linemen, linebackers and defensive backs just as they do quarterbacks, running backs and wide receivers.

One of the biggest reservations I hear from managers reluctant to play IDP is that it’s too complicated. But that just isn’t the case. Just as offensive players get points for passing yards, rushing yards, receiving yards and touchdowns, IDPs get points for tackles, sacks and interceptions. That’s it.

Yes, the draft is longer. But how is more of a good thing bad? It’s arguably the best day of the entire season. And with a set of IDP rankings and a few strategy tips, even novice IDP managers can come out of their draft with a solid defensive roster.

WHEN SHOULD I START DRAFTING IDPs?

It’s the $64k question — the one I am asked more often than any other by inexperienced IDP managers. The simple answer is that there is no simple answer — league settings and scoring can affect when defensive players should start coming off the board significantly.

In a fairly standard IDP setup with a couple weekly starters at each position and tackle-heavy scoring, the first IDPs will start trickling off the board somewhere between Rounds 4-6. A round or two after that, the first real run on defensive players will happen.

You don’t have to be a draft-day trendsetter defensively to field a competitive team. But you also probably don’t want to be frozen out of that first big IDP run.

DEFENSIVE LINEMEN

It used to be that defensive linemen were the shallowest position in IDP — the number of reliable weekly starters and the number of starters required often didn’t add up. If IDP managers didn’t prioritize grabbing a pair of starters fairly early, they could wind up with a DL2 who made for some worrisome weeks.

However, the advent of “True Position” has changed that dynamic. With NFL teams spending so much time in sub-packages nowadays, most fantasy providers now group 3-4 “rush” linebackers like T.J. Watt of the Pittsburgh Steelers with the defensive linemen. It makes sense — Watt has the same role as Myles Garrett of the Cleveland Browns, they just go about it slightly differently.

That change in positional eligibility has significantly added to the player pool along the defensive front. There’s still a compelling argument to be made for making an investment in at least one higher-end defensive lineman, but you can (in theory) wait to draft a second starter, attack the linebacker position and still be just fine.

UNDERVALUED DL: Haason Reddick, DE, NYJ

Reddick has been a consistent producer in recent seasons — he has amassed at least 11 sacks in each of the past four seasons despite playing for three teams over that span. However, due to another team switch and a down 2023 season tackle-wise, he’s falling well into DL2 territory in most drafts. He’s a value in that spot.

OVERVALUED DL: Will Anderson Jr., DE, Houston

Anderson is a wildly talented young player with a bright future who brought home Defensive Rookie of the Year honors last season. But his 45 total tackles and seven sacks weren’t enough to land him inside the top 50. Drafting Anderson among the top 12 defensive linemen is reaching.

SLEEPER DL: Byron Young, DE, LAR

Young’s rookie season didn’t attract the sort of attention in 2023 that Anderson’s did, but the third-round pick of the Rams actually had more total tackles (61) and sacks (8) than the DROY. But while Anderson is being drafted among the top 12-15 defensive linemen, Young is a late-round afterthought in most drafts.

LINEBACKERS

In most IDP leagues, linebackers are the foundation of a successful defensive lineup. Their ability to rack up tackles makes them both the highest scoring and most consistent defensive players. Simply put, having a good cadre of linebackers is absolutely essential to IDP success.

Given that, it’s important to be fairly aggressive in drafting linebackers. Your first defensive player will likely play the LB position. At least two of your first three IDP picks should probably be linebackers. Fantasy managers can’t have too many quality linebackers… They just can’t.

It’s important for IDP managers to target linebackers who don’t come off the field in obvious passing situations — “every-down” linebackers. Look for the linebackers who wear the “green dot” helmet communicator for teams, and other linebackers who log a snap share north of 85 percent. After all, players can’t make stops if they aren’t on the field.

UNDERVALUED LB: C.J. Mosley, NYJ

Mosley’s first two seasons with the Jets didn’t go as planned, but he has been a machine over the past three campaigns — three straight seasons with over 150 total tackles, an average of 94 solos a year and a pair of top 10 IDP finishes. The veteran offers LB1 fantasy upside with a price tag in the back half of LB2 territory.

OVERVALUED LB: Lavonte David, TB

Make no mistake, David is a great player — he’s arguably the best coverage linebacker in NFL history and will all but certainly be inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. But David’s 134 tackles a year ago was his first season with over 125 since all the way back in 2015. Drafting names in IDP leagues won’t win titles — drafting numbers does.

SLEEPER LB: K.J. Britt, TB

Might as well stick around in Tampa. Buccaneers head coach Todd Bowles likes to be aggressive with his linebackers, so while David is dropping into coverage, Britt will be attacking the line of scrimmage. Tampa Bay did very little to address Devin White’s departure in the offseason, so Britt appears locked into an every-down role as David’s batterymate.

DEFENSIVE BACKS

In IDP leagues, defensive backs are two things — plentiful and unpredictable. With so many teams playing with five or more defensive backs, it is far and away the deepest IDP position. It’s also easily the one with the most variance from year to year — the top 10 at the beginning of the year and the top 10 at season’s end are perennially very different.

This isn’t to say that there aren’t any players who have shown that they can be relatively reliable weekly producers over multiple seasons, but it’s a short list. There will be big names who come up well short of expectations. There will be defensive backs who come from nowhere to post top 10 numbers. It happens every single year.

Given that, the name of the game with defensive backs on draft day is patience. Go after linebackers early. Fill out your starters along the defensive line. Then hit defensive back in the later rounds. If they pan out, you’ll have gotten a weekly starter at a discount. If they don’t, there will be startable options who emerge on the waiver wire.

UNDERVALUED DB: Reed Blankenship, S, PHI

All Blankenship did last year was pile up 113 total tackles, intercept three passes and finish as a top 10 fantasy defensive back in many scoring systems. But despite that breakout, he’s falling outside the top 20 at the position in many drafts. Blankenship is the poster guy for the type of defensive back savvy IDP managers should target.

OVERVALUED DB: Antoine Winfield Jr., S, TB

To be clear, Winfield is an excellent safety who had a great season in 2023 — a career-high 122 total tackles, six forced fumbles, three interceptions and the top spot in fantasy points among defensive backs. But the season before, he missed four games, had just 80 stops and finished outside the top 30 fantasy defensive backs.

SLEEPER DB: Jordan Fuller, S, CAR

Fuller had four up-and-down seasons with the Los Angeles Rams, although he surpassed 100 total tackles in 2021 and amassed 94 total tackles with three forced fumbles and three interceptions a season ago. As the starting box safety behind an unimposing duo of linebackers, a second 100-stop season in 2024 is a real possibility.

TOP 100 IDP OVERALL

This list of the top 100 IDPs for 2024 isn’t so much a “draft by numbers” list where IDP managers should just take the highest player listed on the board when they decide to address the defense. That sort of rigidity when drafting rarely works out.

Generally speaking, I won’t be the first person to draft an IDP. I might not be the fifth person to draft one. But I will make an effort to secure two of my top 15 linebackers and one of my top half-dozen or so defensive linemen. Since “True Position” deepened the pool on the defensive line, there’s added flexibility as to whether to grab a second starter first on the defensive line or fill out the starting linebackers (including any “flex” options, which will almost always play that position).

Just as on offense, the key to a successful IDP draft lies in two areas. The first is the same as always — value. Drafting players who outperform their draft slot as the season progresses. And in order to get that value, managers need to be flexible — you have to be willing to change up on the fly. To abandon the plan going in, or at least adjust it.

Rest assured — once you try an IDP league, there will be no going back.

Gary Davenport (“The Godfather of IDP”) is a two-time Fantasy Sports Writers Association Football Writer of the Year. Follow him on X at @IDPSharks.

(Top photo of Foyesade Oluokun: Mike Carlson/Getty Images)