Welcome back to everyone who loves both sides of the ball, and congratulations to all the first-timers for taking the step to enjoy fantasy football on a deeper level.
I have always enjoyed drafting individual defensive players (IDP) over team defenses because it gives me players to watch on both sides of the ball stack up points for my teams. If you have any appreciation for the defensive side of the ball, adding IDPs to your fantasy football league will enrich your experience.
Knowing the defensive players helps to understand free agency signings, draft picks and matchups for your offensive players. The last point I’ll make is that it just feels better when your defensive player has a spike week and helps put you over the top for a win.
I will admit that a defensive player getting shut out and losing by a few points does hurt a little more, but at least it’s not the weakest link in the team’s defense getting torched and ruining a week.
- Fantasy Football Rankings
- Fantasy Football ADP
- 2025 Best Ball Fantasy Football Draft Kit
- Free Fantasy Football Mock Draft Simulator
2025 IDP Fantasy Football Draft Guide
Here is everything you need to know when joining an IDP fantasy football league or adding IDPs to your current league.
IDP Scoring
Scoring is the biggest issue in IDP leagues because there isn’t an industry standard. Some leagues have the IDPs score just as much as the offensive players, but most have the IDPs score a little less, with a few of the top-scoring linebackers averaging close to the top running backs and wide receivers.
FantayPros scoring we see displayed in the points per game report features the following:
- Solo Tackle – 1.5 Points
- Assisted Tackle – 0.75 Points
- Tackle For Loss – 2 Points
- Sacks – 4 Points
- Interception – 4 Points
- Fumble Forced – 4 Points
- Fumble Recovery – 4 Points
- Defensive Touchdown – 6 Points
- Safety – 2 Points
- Pass Defended – 1.5 Points
This scoring is very close to Sleeper and ESPN’s scoring, which each offer a little more for splash plays. Safeties and blocked kicks on Sleeper get a boost, while ESPN offers a scoring boost for interceptions. Yahoo’s standard IDP scoring is significantly dulled compared to FantasyPros and Sleeper. CBS offers more points for tackles but fewer points for splash plays.
How to Draft in IDP
A regular draft or auction with all players involved is typical, but some prefer to draft IDPs separately.
If it’s mixing, then we need to know how the depth works for the IDPs and how they score against the offensive players.
Drafting IDPs separately and adding them might be better for a league taking the initial plunge into IDP, and makes drafting them a little less stressful.
IDP Starting Requirements
Three to four starters is ‘dipping the toe in’ to see if your league mates enjoy IDP, but doesn’t allow for a lot of strategy-based drafting. Typically, we see one at each position of defensive line, linebacker and defensive back, and maybe a Flex thrown in (which is always a linebacker with so few starters). This provides a very stress-free introduction to IDP. While it isn’t pushing managers too much, it still involves more strategy than a plug-and-play team defense
Six to seven starting IDP players is where we start to add some strategy. Now we have to dive a little more into matchups, checking injury reports and working the waiver wire. Adding this many IDPs should come with the expansion of bench players as well. There is a little danger in the wire thinning out because managers are stashing a lot of offensive players, but once injuries start to happen, that strategy is blown up quickly in most cases.
A full 11 starting lineup is not for everyone, but it does add a lot of strategy, not only in roster construction but also trades, free agency budgeting and bench construction. In this set-up, IDPs can start to outscore your offensive side with this many players. A starting group of 11 also allows for defensive ends/EDGE players and defensive tackles to be drafted separately. Cornerbacks and safeties can be split up or have three at each position, with two Flex spots.
DE/EDGE/LB Positional Qualifications
This is also not completely standardized and has become a little difficult with defensive strategy changing and players being moved around.
The biggest issue is between linebacker and defensive end, which can be solved by switching defensive end to EDGE designation, but some providers don’t allow for it. Outside linebackers in primary 3-4 defenses will lose a lot of value by only getting linebacker qualification, even though they have the same job as a defensive end on most plays. Some other quirks may allow for an advantage, like the potential for Travis Hunter to be the No. 1 IDP as a cornerback, but most is fairly straightforward.
2025 IDP Fantasy Football Rankings
Subscribe: YouTube | Spotify | Apple Podcasts | iHeart | Castbox | Amazon Music | Podcast Addict | TuneIn
