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IDP Hits: Dynasty Edge Targets

Edge Players with Bright Futures?

I gotta say, I’m a little mad at Chase Young this week.

When I hit on LB stashes in this space last week and planned to talk edge players this week, Young was a key part.

At that point, he had just 3.5 sacks for the season but sat tied for 10th-most total pressures among all defensive players, according to Pro Football Focus.

But then he went out and delivered 2 sacks in a narrow loss to Washington. Guess I should have factored in the “revenge-game” potential …

Young Still Worth a Look

The overarching goal here is to highlight some young edge players to try to stash on dynasty rosters, and Young still fits that pursuit.

A 2-sack game will certainly make him tougher to buy right now, assuming he’s already rostered. But he’s still sitting on just 5.5 sacks for the season.

Young’s no lock for future value. He’s actually sitting on the worst overall PFF grade of his career and a lower pass-rushing grade than last season.

But if he keeps his current pace, he’d finish two straight seasons among the league’s top 20 in total pressures. And then he’d hit unrestricted free agency again ahead of his age-26 season.

*IF* you can get him cheaply, there’s still some upside.

Four More Non-Rookies to Stash

Here are four other upside edge players beyond their rookie campaigns who can probably be acquired more cheaply than Young.

YaYa Diaby, Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Diaby sits just 1 pressure behind Young on 44 fewer pass-rushing chances. The second-year player ranks 19th among all edges in PFF pass-rushing grade, and he has dramatically improved in both categories vs. his rookie season.

His sack total, on the other hand, sits at just 2.5 after Diaby tallied 7.5 as a rookie.

That’s why you might be able to swoop in a swipe the former third-round pick from an unsuspecting league mate – or even off waivers.

Diaby closed out his college career with 9 sacks and 14 tackles for loss in his final season. He then delivered a 98th-percentile speed score at the Combine. There’s plenty to like here.

Joseph Ossai, Cincinnati Bengals

Ossai has quietly accumulated 4 sacks over the past five games. I say quietly, because here’s how he has ranked among fantasy D-linemen in “balanced” scoring for those sack games:

• Week 11: DL43
• Week 13: DL34
• Week 14: DL17
• Week 16: DL3 (pending the Monday night game)

That loudest of those four games coincided with a season-high 77% snap share, thanks largely to Edge Sam Hubbard going inactive Sunday against the Browns.

Hubbard’s endured a rough season that has included managing a hamstring issue since summer. Now a knee injury is the primary issue, and that threatens to keep him out Week 17.

Grab Ossai for Now … And Later

You might still find Ossai on waivers in many dynasty leagues, because he had no sacks before that aforementioned five-game stretch. And he entered this season with just 4.5 for his career.

Ossai arrived as an impressive athlete – 74th-percentile speed score, 99th-percentile burst score – who was still developing as a pass rusher. He began college as an off-ball LB but amassed 30 tackles for loss over his final two seasons – in just 22 games.

He’ll hit unrestricted free agency in March, which will either allow him to head elsewhere or force Cincinnati to make decisions on him and the cuttable remaining portion of Hubbard’s contract.

Ossai will be just 25 when the 2025 season begins.

Myles Murphy, Cincinnati Bengals

Of course, the Bengals are paying and will need to pay plenty of guys on offense. So they might decide they can’t retain Ossai and decide to break it off with Hubbard ahead of his age-30 season – the final year of his deal.

That would leave opportunity for Murphy, the 28th-overall pick from 2023 who has just 3 sacks through his first two seasons.

Murphy has yet to show us anything to get excited about in the pros. But he spent all three of his Clemson seasons as a starter and delivered 11+ tackles for loss in each.

He topped out at 7 sacks and might remain a limited pass-rushing producer. But his pedigree and potential opportunity make him worth a low-cost stash.

On top of the potential Hubbard contract decision, the Bengals and Edge Trey Hendrickson have been at odds over his contract – which also has a year left. (He just turned 30 in early December.)

Lukas Van Ness, Green Bay Packers

This is a bet on talent.

Similar to Myles Murphy, Van Ness has yet to do anything exciting in the pros. But that’s not shocking for a couple of reasons:

1. He has hovered mostly in the 30-45% range of playing time through two seasons in a crowded D-line group.
2. He was a young prospect with limited experience.

Van Ness played just two years at Iowa (he redshirted as a true freshman) but delivered. He earned freshman All-America honors in 2021 and then led the Hawkeyes in sacks and tackles for loss in 2022.

And he did so while playing snaps both on the edge and the interior.

Van Ness then posted a 91st-percentile 40 time for his position and 80th-percentile 3-cone time at the Combine.

And like I wrote in profiling him as a rookie, the 13th-overall pick of 2023 was probably still getting used to his body. He hit college at 240 pounds and left at 272.

Breakout Ahead for These Rookies?

We get so excited about rookies – especially highly drafted ones – that we can often turn on them too quickly amid disappointing debut campaigns.

If someone else in your league has any of these guys, check to see if they’re already giving up …

Laiatu Latu, Indianapolis Colts

I thought just a few weeks ago that we might be in the midst of the breakout for the top-drafted edge player from the 2024 class. But since racking up 5 QB hits across his final two games of November, Latu has totaled just 4 pressures, 0 hits, and 0 sacks across matchups with the Patriots, Broncos, and Titans.

That’s disappointing. But he’s also a rookie.

Latu closed out his college career leading his conference in sacks and all of FBS in tackles for loss. PFF credited him with FBS’ second-highest pass-rushing productivity rate last year among 872 edge players with at least 100 pass rushes.

See about acquiring Latu before a Week 17 upside date with the Giants … and a potential second-year breakthrough.

Dallas Turner, Minnesota Vikings

Turner has endured an even more challenging rookie season than Latu. But he’s also two years younger than his draft classmate.

The Vikings clearly wanted Turner to play a key defensive role right away. They played him on 51% of defensive snaps in the season opener. But they also quickly realized he wasn’t ready for that much. And they didn’t need to push him.

A Week 2 knee injury cost Turner a game, but he returned to only a small role and has reached 40% playing time in just two of 12 games since.

Here’s what HC Kevin O’Connell had to say back in October:

Minnesota drafted Turner 17th overall after he spent three years starting at Alabama – including his true freshman season.

Turner tallied 10 tackles for loss and 8.5 sacks over 15 games in the SEC as an 18-year-old in 2021. He led the conference in sacks his final season. And then he notched a 99th-percentile speed score for his position at the Combine.

That’s a profile worth betting on.

Jalyx Hunt, Philadelphia Eagles

Hunt’s a sneakier target than the two first-round picks that preceded him here.

He landed with the Eagles in Round 3 after playing the past two years at FCS-level Houston Christian. That followed Hunt beginning his college career as a safety at Cornell.

Hunt earned second-team all-conference honors in his first season on the D-line and followed that by winning Southland Conference defensive player of the year. He also landed invites to the Senior Bowl and Combine.

More recently, Hunt has already elevated to a half-time role with the Eagles. Front-seven injuries have certainly helped. But that Philly’s already willing to give that much time to a safety-turned-FCS rusher who only weighs around 250 pounds suggests he’s coming along well.

Hunt might take patience in your dynasty league. But he also might be ready to compete for a bigger role as soon as 2025.

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Matt Schauf, Editor

Matt has earned two Fantasy Pros accuracy awards for IDP rankings and won thousands of dollars as a player across best ball, dynasty, and high-stakes fantasy formats. He has been creating fantasy football content for more than 20 years, with work featured by Sporting News, Rotoworld, Athlon, Sirius XM, and others. He's been with Draft Sharks since 2011.