Navigate
    Scott Bogman | Sat, Jun 27th 2026, 7:09am EDT

Fantasy Football IDP Draft Guide (2026)

Welcome back, my IDP people, and to anyone who is reading this! IDP makes your fantasy experience a little more complete, in my opinion, and gives us an extra layer of control. Team Defense is fine, but they are only as good as your weakest link. It’s true that IDPs, specifically DL and CB, can be difficult to predict week to week, but everyone in the league will deal with these issues. It is the same issue for everyone.

For the purposes of this guide and my position primers, we will be following the IDP Scoring provided by FantasyPros. I will give you a quick rundown on where to start drafting IDPs, how to structure rosters for your league from very shallow to 11 starters, and a short overview of each position, which is expanded in each position’s primer.

Fantasy Football IDP Draft Guide (2026)

Roster Building

How many IDPs are best for your league to replace a team defense? This depends on how willing or unwilling the managers in your league are to make the jump.

4 IDPs – This is my favorite way to introduce IDPs to a redraft league. We can go with one at each position and a flex, or go with four spots and make them all flex IDPs, which will put a bit of a strain on the LB market in 10-team leagues. The flex option ensures that the high-end DLs and DBs remain on the roster and are used. Four IDPs only means there will always be decent options on the wire, and give managers little to complain about.

7 IDPs – Seven gives us a little more stress. We can break these up a few ways, with my favorite option being two at each position and one IDP Flex. 2 LBs, 1 DL, 1 DB, and 3 Flex is another good one, but LBs are harder to find on the wire. A more complicated version would be 2 LBs, 1 DE, 1 S, 1 CB, and a Flex. This makes injuries impact starting lineups and thins out the wire enough to make IDPs a viable part of the wire.

11 IDPs – This is a real starting lineup usually saved for dynasty leagues or the deepest redraft leagues. The roster requirements are usually 2 DEs, 1 DT, 3 LBs, 2 CBs, 2 Safeties, and a Flex spot; 11 IDPs can also be 2 DLs, 4 DBs, 3 LBs, and 2 Flex spots. Any way it is organized, this is where we get into very deep spots. DEs get frustrating, DTs can be tough, LB injuries are tough, CBs get churned, and Safeties tend to be the most stable. Only do this for a new league if most rosters are very enthusiastic about adding IDPs.

Drafting

An easy mistake to make is assuming that every IDP scoring system is the same; they can vary widely from league to league, so be sure to check whether averages in your league are higher or lower.

Typically, IDPs score around 85% of what their offensive counterparts do. The highest average non-QB in 2025 (Half-PPR) was Jonathan Taylor at 18.8 PPG, and the IDP highest scorer was Jordyn Brooks at 15.9 PPG.

I wait until I have all my starting RBs and WRs before drafting any IDP. So the 6th round is the absolute earliest I will reach for an IDP, and usually I wait until after I have a backup RB and a starting TE or QB too.

Defensive Linemen

Defensive linemen are what I want to draft first because they play the fewest snaps and are the hardest to predict. Only 14 DL players averaged over 10 PPG in 2025; 39 LBs, and 20 DBs averaged over 10 PPG. There is also a massive difference in the depth of the DL position, with 32 players averaging 7.5 PPG; 70 LBs, and 94 DBs averaging at least 7.5 PPG. I try to get DL early; premier EDGE rushers and DTs are the thinnest resources we have in IDP, and rarely last long on the wire when breaking out.

Over the last five seasons, there have been only two DL who have had at least two Top-12 IDP seasons: Maxx Crosby in 2022 and 2025, and TJ Watt (who is LB-only in some spots) in 2021 and 2023.

The other DLs with Top-12 Overall IDP seasons in the last five seasons are:

Here are the highest scoring DTs over the last five seasons (175+ Total Points):

  • Aaron Donald (14th, 2021 – 211 Total, 12.4 PPG)
  • Cam Heyward (15th, 2021 – 210.5 Total, 12.4 PPG)
  • Christian Wilkins (34th, 2022 – 192.8 Total, 8.5 PPG)
  • Jeffery Simmons (27th, 2025 – 182.5 Total, 12.2 PPG)
  • DeForest Buckner (46th, 2023 – 182.5 Total, 10.7 PPG)
  • Chris Jones (51st, 2022 – 178 Total, 11.1 PPG)
  • Cam Heyward (53rd, 2022 – 175.8 Total, 10.3 PPG)
  • Leonard Williams (49th, 2024 – 175.3 Total, 11 PPG)

Linebackers

LBs are the backbone of your IDP roster; they score the most points, have the most consistency, and the position is deep. I consider LBs to be the RBs of the defense; they have the highest volume, deliver the highest consistency, and are the first to be added off the waiver wire when they break out. There is a cap to the depth of LB because most teams have one or two primary LBs, and the backups don’t see the field too often. For the 2026 season, every team except two has a Top 50 LB, and this is where the cliche ‘someone has to do _____’ catch the ball, run the ball, or, in this case, tackle the ball carrier. Sometimes teams are led by Safeties, but it’s an LB in most cases.

How many LBs were in/near the top of total scoring IDPs on a year-to-year basis?

Year Top 12 Top 24 Top 36 Top 50
2025 9 20 25 41
2024 9 18 28 31
2023 8 18 22 30
2022 10 21 27 33
2021 11 18 22 30

The position might score like RBs comparatively, but the more your league requires to start, the harder it is to keep up in the ‘arms race,’ a lot like the current state of WRs. When starting two or more LBs, you need to get one in the Top-10 to stay with the competition; the need increases the more we start, and two inside the top 30 if starting more than two. LBs do tend to thin out at about 30ish over the last 5 seasons, so starting three or more makes this position a little more dicey.

Defensive Backs

DBs are the easiest to draft because there are five on the field on almost every snap, which gives us a very deep pool to pick from. The wild swings in scoring make the position very unpredictable and difficult for a manager to pin down.

There have been ZERO DBs with more than one Top-12 IDP scoring finish over the last five seasons, and only four that finished inside the Top 12.

If we expand this to the Top 36 in total points over the last five seasons, it looks like this:

Only five of those 32 DB in the top 36 IDP scoring seasons were CBs. I dive more into that in the DB primer, but just know that the most elite CBs are good enough not to draw targets or allow very low. Reception percentage doesn’t do much for us in fantasy.

Pat Surtain II (123rd), Derek Stingley (100th), Sauce Gardner (164th), Christian Gonzalez (89th), and Quinyon Mitchell (119th) are some of the best in the NFL, but a lack of targets and catches allowed means fewer opportunities for interceptions and tackles. We want guys like Riley Moss, Kamari Lassiter, or Cooper DeJean that get thrown at because QBs don’t want to throw to their teammates, or CBs that get picked on constantly because they cover No. 1 WRs and can tackle like Alontae Taylor or Mike Jackson Jr.

Conclusion

Any single way that you decide to add IDPs is appropriate. I prefer it way more than Team Defenses, and it adds more layers to your fantasy experience. People are busy, and a lot won’t want to add the extra layer to their fantasy team. I don’t think there is a ‘proper’ way to play fantasy, but I prefer this way to Team Defenses every time. The defensive side of the ball becomes more interesting, the draft is more exciting, and you don’t have to worry about the weakest link ruining your week.

Subscribe: YouTube | Spotify | Apple Podcasts | iHeart | Castbox | Amazon Music | Podcast Addict | TuneIn

    Recent News

  1. Fantasy Football Mock Draft: Superflex Dynasty Startup (2026)
  2. Superflex Fantasy Football Draft Rankings & Tiers (2026)
  3. 13 Fantasy Football Players to Avoid (2026)
  4. Third-Year Player Outlooks: QBs & RBs (2026 Fantasy Football)