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Week 3 IDP Hits

Breaking Down the Buccaneers

Where the hell did that Bucs defense come from?

I wasn’t shocked to see the normally run-enjoying Lions lean pass in Week 2. Tampa Bay has been soft against the pass anyway and was missing Antoine Winfield Jr. after a Week 1 ankle injury.

But Jared Goff managed only 5.6 yards per pass attempt on 55 throws, and the Bucs held Detroit to just 16 points – including three FGs.

It was obviously an impressive team effort. But there are also plenty of individual performances to break down for IDP purposes.

Secondary Standouts

S Christian Izien stepped into Winfield’s spot and delivered 9 tackles, 2 passes defensed, and an INT.

Although he’s capable of manning the slot, Izien spent nearly all of his snaps at deep safety against Detroit (68 of 85 – 80%). That kind of alignment won’t often be so friendly to tackle production. But we’ll see if anything changes when he’s not facing so pass-heavy an attack – or a team with the deep speed of Jameson Williams on one edge.

CB Zyon McCollum added a decent 6 tackles against Detroit but really showed out with 4 passes defensed and an INT. He made plays in coverage on both Williams and Amon-Ra St. Brown.

This week’s matchup with Denver holds upside for both Bucs DBs. I’m not sure either will be a long-term answer outside IDP leagues with CB requirements, though.

Sneaky Pressure

Tampa didn’t record a sack in the victory at Detroit, but the D racked up 10 QB hits. That included 3 apiece from edge players YaYa Diaby and Anthony Nelson.

The production for Nelson looks fluky. He played just 29% of snaps for the game. He’s also in his sixth season with the team and has topped out at 5.5 sacks for a season. If the 27-year-old were headed for a breakout, we’d have seen it by now.

Diaby’s more interesting. The second-year man arrived in Round 3 last year and tallied 7.5 sacks and 12 tackles for loss as a rookie.

A high-ankle sprain in training camp limited his August practice schedule and Week 1 playing time. But that grew from 54% to 76% against the Lions – despite an abnormally high number of offensive plays for Detroit.

If you play in a deeper league that’s friendly to sack/pressure stats, consider stashing Diaby before the stats arrive. That could happen as soon as this week against Denver.

Sorting the LBs

Lavonte David’s as known an entity as any LB in the league at this point. The rest of the Bucs’ corps seems to be developing, though.

Week 1 found starter K.J. Britt playing 66% of snaps to SirVocea Dennis’ 36%. That shifted to a basically even 52-48 in Dennis’ favor vs. Detroit.

That level of playing time won’t commonly support a 10-tackle outing as it did for Dennis. And 52% snap share won’t usually put you on the field for 44 plays.

It’s obviously worse news for Britt. We’ll see if either LB proves useful for IDP rosters going forward.

Now let’s hit some notes from around the league … 

Baltimore Ravens

If I fractured a freakin’ eye socket, I don’t think I’d be playing football the following weekend. But I guess Kyle Van Noy and I are built a little differently. (In case you were wondering.)

Van Noy not only played against the Raiders in Week 2, he racked up 2 sacks, 3 QB hits and 3 tackles for loss.

That kind of stat line makes you wonder whether you should grab a guy off waivers. But Van Noy did so on just 41% playing time. Perhaps his injury return limited that, but Van Noy played just 52% of the snaps over his 14 games for the Ravens last year.

He also totaled 30 tackles and 9 sacks that season, breaking his previous sack high by 2.5.

So we’ll see. But I’d bet the big game was at least as much a signal that we should target the Raiders with pass rushers as it was an indicator that Van Noy will help your IDP lineup.

(And probably more of a matchup spotlight. Baltimore racked up 5 sacks in all.)

Buffalo Bills

S Damar Hamlin followed a quiet Week 1 (4 tackles, 2 solo) with a much bigger Week 2 (10 tackles, 8 solo, 1 TFL). But it’s tough to tell if we can expect either to be closer to his average.

Hamlin has made exactly 7 tackles on both run and pass plays so far, with a matching 5 solos on each. And his alignments differed quite a bit between the games.

Here’s where he spent his Week 1 snaps, according to Pro Football Focus:

• 61 total
• 25 in the box (41%)
• 2 in the slot
• 34 at free safety (55.7%)

And Week 2:

• 71 total
• 10 in the box (14.1%)
• 4 in the slot
• 1 at wide CB
• 56 at free safety (78.9%)

Typically, more time in the box helps safety tackle production. Of course, Miami’s speed makes it sensible to keep your safeties a little deeper. And 6 of his 10 total tackles against the Dolphins did come on run plays – plus another two on passes of less than 10 yards.

“Free safety” also might have been a little closer to the line after Skylar Thompson replaced Tua Tagovailoa in that game.

Ultimately, we should probably expect something between those first two stat lines for Hamlin on average. But I’ll be watching his production and usage.

When he started 13 games in 2022, Hamlin spent 56.4% of his snaps at free safety, 23.4% in the box, and 17.5% in the slot.

Dallas Cowboys

Pretty rewarding to spend all those words on DeMarvion Overshown last week and then watch the Cowboys dramatically change their LB usage …

Eric Kendricks led again vs. the Saints. But this time he stayed on the field for 95% of snaps, tying S Donovan Wilson for the team lead. You wouldn’t know it by his stat line – 8 tackles, just 3 solos – but that jump from 67% in the opener would be great for Kendricks’ fantasy viability going forward.

Here’s how the rest of the off-ball LB crew deployed:

• Damone Clark 69% (34% in Week 1)
• Marist Liufau 66% (12%)
• Overshown 31% (58%)
• Vigil 5% (33%)

If you’re familiar with how the Cowboys-Saints game went … the defensive plan didn’t work. And why did Overshown all but disappear? HC Mike McCarthy just said his team wound up running its base defense more than expected – and that Overshown’s more involved in sub packages.

Baltimore’s run-leaning approach should mean plenty of “base” again. But we’ll see how the Cowboys choose to rebound.

You should play Kendricks confidently against the Ravens. Beyond that … we’ll have to see.

Denver Broncos

S Brandon Jones saw his playing time jump from 69% in Week 1 to 86% in Week 2.

The limited start wasn’t surprising for a guy who missed most of training camp and the preseason with a hamstring injury. Now we’ll see whether this is the range where coaches want to keep him or whether Jones is headed closer to 100%. 

Only five Broncos defenders played more snaps vs. Pittsburgh:

• LB Alex Singleton (100%)
• CB Pat Surtain (100%)
• S P.J. Locke (97%)
• CB Riley Moss (92%)
• DL Zach Allen (92%)

Jones doesn’t appear headed for pass-rushing usage like he saw in Miami. Jones has rushed the passer once through his first two Denver games.

He also brought a foot issue into Week 3, which kept him out of Wednesday’s practice. But Jones returned for a limited Thursday workout, practiced in full Friday, and didn’t carry a game status on the final injury report. So he should be fine.

Los Angeles Chargers

LB Daiyan Henley increased his lead at the position in Week 2, climbing from 67% playing time in the opener to 90% against the Panthers. Henley also delivered a team-high 9 tackles, including 6 solos and 1 tackle for loss.

The Chargers have ruled rookie LB Junior Colson out for Week 3 with a hamstring injury. That certainly won’t hurt Henley’s chances of more strong playing time.

You’ll find him inside the top 30 of our Week 3 LB rankings. And expect Henley to remain in that range unless his role changes.

Miami Dolphins

Jordyn Brooks sits outside the top 60 fantasy scorers at LB so far, but he and David Long have each played every defensive snap through two games.

It’s Brooks’ first season in Miami, so we’re still learning how he’ll score in his new digs. He wasn’t a big cross-category producer in Seattle but delivered strong tackle collection whenever healthy.

He’s worth holding for now in tackle-friendly leagues of at least modest depth.

Pittsburgh Steelers

Rookie LB Payton Wilson has interestingly played exactly one more snap than veteran LB Elandon Roberts in each game so far.

That has meant just 43% and 36% snap shares for Wilson – as the leader between them. So we’re not talking about real IDP value for either player.

But I’ll be watching for change in either direction. I’ve conveyed my excitement for Wilson’s upside before. And Roberts has proved to be an efficient tackle collector when on the field enough.

Who Belongs in Your IDP Lineup?

Have trouble figuring out which IDPs to get into your lineup each week? The Team Intel page combines our 3D Projections with the specifics of your situation to give you a clear picture every week.

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.