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Week 7 IDP Hits

Texans Turn to (Lots of) Fill-Ins

It’s a rough week to be a Texans defender … unless you’re a backup.

The Houston defense will be missing four starters when it heads to Green Bay on Sunday:

• LB Azeez Al-Shaair
• CB Kamari Lassiter
• LB Henry To’oTo’o
• S Jimmie Ward

That, of course, means opportunity for some others – with maybe an IDP sleeper mixed in.

LB Replacements

Neville Hewitt and Jake Hansen will take over the top two LB spots. Hewitt’s a 31-year-old in his fourth year with the team and should be the better bet for full playing time. He replaced Al-Shaair when the starter left in Week 6.

Hansen might get full time as well, but snap shares for To’oTo’o have varied a bit more. Here’s how his playing time went over the first five games (before last week’s concussion):

• 89%
• 73%
• 87%
• 98%
• 100%

Hansen’s in his third year with the team but hasn’t started a game since 2022 (two starts that season) and has yet to exceed 40% playing time in an NFL game.

DB Replacements

Lassiter will miss his second straight game, leaving a starting spot to CB D’Angelo Ross.

The former undrafted free agent originally signed with the Patriots back in 2019 but has appeared in only 21 games since then. Last week marked just the second time Ross has played 10+ snaps in an NFL contest. 

His Week 6 stat line included just 1 solo and 1 assist.

S Eric Murray fills in for Ward, who will be missing his third game and made it through just 20% of the Week 5 snaps between his prior two absences.

Murray has collected just 14 total tackles across those three weeks of near-full playing time. He does have 49 career starts across three teams and can put up numbers at times. But Murray shouldn’t be in play for most IDP leagues.

There’s been nothing special about the Green Bay matchup for DB scoring so far.

A Return Up Front

Houston is also losing DL Mario Edwards Jr. to a four-game suspension starting this week. But DL Denico Autry returns from his season-opening six-game ban to help.

Autry signed a two-year, $20 million deal in March with the Texans – his third AFC South employer, after the Colts and Titans.

The 34-year-old racked up a career-high 11.5 sacks last season, his fourth straight with at least 7.5 sacks and third straight with at least 17 QB hits.

Autry brings inside-outside versatility but played on the edge more in Tennessee. He figures to play more DT with the Texans, in a role similar to what Edwards has filled. That could be a productive spot between high-end edge rushers Danielle Hunter and Will Anderson Jr.

Autry’s worth a look in plenty of IDP leagues, especially if he qualifies at DT and your league requires you to start one.

Atlanta Falcons

The Falcons remain without LB Troy Andersen, who will miss his third straight game Sunday with a knee injury.

They got LB Nate Landman back from IR last week, though, and played Landman for 79% of the defensive snaps.

We’ll see if that number grows in his second game back, but it might not. Landman and Andersen split time in Week 1: 54% for Landman, 46% for Andersen.

Andersen finally practiced (limited) Friday for the first time since suffering his injury in the fourth quarter of the Week 4 win over the Saints.

Green Bay Packers

Packers CB Keisean Nixon has significantly changed his role over the past three weeks.

He played almost exclusively in the slot for the first three games, same as he did last season. But Week 4 found him splitting time between the inside and outside, with CB Jaire Alexander sidelined. Nixon then played even more of his snaps outside in Week 5, with Alexander out again.

Alexander returned for the Week 6 win over the Cardinals, but Nixon stayed outside. Green Bay instead pulled CB Eric Stokes from the lineup after a rough start to his season.

The shift has also meant more playing time for Nixon. His snap shares for the first three weeks:

• 68%
• 84%
• 74%

Past three weeks:

• 97%
• 100%
• 100%

The shift isn’t necessarily good for Nixon’s production. Playing outside rather than the slot will make tackle opportunities less consistent. But he has also defensed passes each of the past two weeks.

Playing Nixon in fantasy has been more about chasing the big-play upside of one of the league’s top return men than counting on tackles. That aspect certainly doesn’t change.

We’ll keep watch on how his numbers trend – and, of course – whether Green Bay sticks with its new secondary alignment.

Las Vegas Raiders

Edge Tyree Wilson – the seventh overall pick in 2023 – remains a disappointment.

Vegas seemed to start trying to force a breakthrough by ramping up his playing time after he returned from a Week 2 knee injury. But it quickly declined again.

Wilson went from 46% snap share in his Week 3 return to 71% in Week 4, but then 54% and 34% the past two weeks.

He played less last time out than Charles Snowden, a former undrafted free agent with 1.5 career sacks despite being out of college since 2020.

Pittsburgh Steelers

So much for LB Payton Wilson’s increasing role.

After climbing to 56% and 58% in consecutive outings, he reverted to 43% snap share for last week’s win over the Raiders. That matched LB Elandon Roberts, whose shares had declined the previous two games.

It seems like we might need a Roberts injury to make Wilson potentially IDP-relevant this year.

LB Cole Holcomb, at least, doesn’t appear likely to re-enter the picture anytime soon. Gerry Dulac of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette said earlier this month when asked if Holcomb will return this year: “I highly doubt it. And, right now, there is no reason to play him.”

Holcomb has been out since suffering a season-ending knee injury last November.

Washington Commanders

Washington went with a three-safety lineup to open the Week 6 game against the Ravens. That meant Percy Butler seeing the field much more than usual.

He played 72% of the defensive snaps, well up from his previous season high of 47% and more than double Butler’s snap shares from the previous two games.

Butler joined Quan Martin (93%) and Jeremy Chinn (82%) in the altered setup.

It didn’t seem to work, by the way. Baltimore racked up 484 total yards and 30 points.

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.