Fantasy Football Tips | Individual Defensive Players

So you’ve decided to cross over to the dark side of fantasy football and ditch the D/STs? You’d better know your stuff because you aren’t always going to be able to draft the households names on defense. Names like Clinton Hart, Barrett Ruud and Darnell Dockett might better serve you in your run to the championship versus using high draft picks to draft big names. But I’m getting ahead of myself.

Note that the tips ahead should be taken with a grain of salt. Not every scheme is exactly the same, nor in every player playing within them. A quick look at your league’s top 30 positional players should tell you what players to focus on.

1) Knowing the positions

Most leagues will differentiate three IDP positions. Defensive line (DL) emcompasses all defensive ends, defensive tackles and nose tackles. Linebacker (LB) encompasses all linebackers; inside or outside. Defensive back (DB) encompasses all cornerbacks, nickel and dime backs, and safeties. Usually the software you use will make the determination of what position a player is designated as if he blurs the lines (Ex: Terrell Suggs)

As a general rule, you will find that most top tier linebackers will be the highest IDP scorers, perhaps even rivaling the consistency and quantity of scoring of a runningback. Defensive backs may score decent in some games but are generally more inconsistent than linebackers, similar to many wide receivers. Finally, defensive lineman rarely are impact players unless they connect on a sack or two during their game, similar to a tight end scoring a touchdown but not having much impact otherwise. Defensive ends are usually the players to target on the line as they have more opportunity to amass sacks.

In actuality, the specific role that your defensive player plays in his team’s defensive scheme will say a lot as to what his production will look like. I will cover this in the next section.

2) Defensive Schemes

Even if you don’t know the ins and outs of defensive scheming, a quick listen to a sports show or a brief walkthrough a Madden videogame will give you a snapshot of how certain defenses work. Here’s a better break down.

The 4-3

This scheme involves 4 down lineman; 2 ends and 2 tackles, 2 corners on the sides, 2 safeties deep and 3 linebackers whose positions are named in relation to what side of the play they are responsible for. The strong side linebacker or “Sam” plays on the strong side of the play. He is usually picked up in blocking first and as a result, will rarely be a productive player. The weak side linebacker or “Will” plays on the weak side of the field and is more apt to make tackles than the Sam due to less blockers in his way. However, in a base 4-3 defense, the Will is asked to man up on tight ends and runningbacks that run routes often. The middle linebacker or “Mike” plays behind the line predominantly and most run defense in the base 4-3 is designed to funnel the runner toward him. More often than not, the Mike will be the most productive player in a base 4-3 with a good safety being a close second. An example of a good 4-3 Mike is Kirk Morrison of the Raiders.

DL:
DE > DT > NT
LB:
MLB > WLB > SLB
DB:
SS > CB1 = FS > CB2

The 3-4

Exact same secondary as the 4-3 but this scheme employs only 3 lineman; 2 ends and a nose tackle and 4 linebackers; 2 inside and 2 outside. The inside linebackers may be differentiated by weak side-strong side or some systems simply stay with a left side-right side setup. Similar to the 4-3, run defense is designed to funnel towards the inside and as you would expect, the weak side LB should have the best opportunity for tackles. The outside LBs will have less opportunity for tackles but more opportunity for sacks. Usually, this scheme gives less opportunity for safeties and more for corners but not always. Defensive ends in the 3-4 scheme are less likely to be as productive as a 4-3 end. An example of a 3-4 WOLB is Shawne Merriman of the Chargers.

Teams that employ the 3-4:
San Diego
New England
Cleveland
Dallas
Pittsburgh
New York Jets
Miami (hybrid)
San Francisco (transition)
Arizona (transition)

DL:
DE > NT
LB:
LILB > RILB > LOLB > ROLB
DB:
CB1 = SS > FS = CB2

The 46/Bear defense

This defense is employed generally only by the Ravens currently. The first incarnation of the 46 defense was a base 4-3 with the strong safety in the box. The Ravens defensive coordinator Rex Ryan uses many different looks with his defense and his version of the 46 is closer to a 3-4 base with the strong safety in the box. The positional benefits are similar to the 3-4 with an increase in production from the safeties.

Tampa 2

This actually isn’t a base defense. Teams that run a Tampa 2 are merely a 4-3 defense that use a specific coverage shell for the majority of their plays. However, the effects of a Tampa 2 style of defense are profound on a defense which is why I gave it its own heading. The Tampa 2 defense is a combination of standard Cover 2 and Cover 3 shells. The safeties drop back and defend against the deep pass, one to each half of the field. The Mike generally drops back a few steps to defend short passes other the middle. Because of this, the cornerbacks have an increased duty on run support. Also, since the Mike is usually occupied in coverage, the Will sees the most opportunity as far as run stopping tackles. An example of a Tampa 2 Will is Lance Briggs of the Chicago Bears.

Teams that use the Tampa 2:
Indianapolis
Tampa Bay
Minnesota (transition)
Detroit
Kansas City (transition)
Chicago

DL:
DE > DT > NT
LB:
WLB > MLB > SLB
DB:
CB1 > SS = CB2 > FS

3) How to look for good matchups

Usually one can predict when his offensive players are going to have a big game based on the defense they are up against. The defensive side of the ball can be somewhat predicted in the same way. If you understand where the majority of your players points come from, you can predict good matchups for them.

Defensive ends and 3-4 WOLBs obtain much of their production through sacks. Therefore, teams that struggle with pass protection or have injuries on the offensive line denote a good matchup.

4-3 Mikes, 3-4 ILBs, Tampa 2 Wills and strong safeties get most of their production through solo tackles stopping the run. So when teams like Baltimore come to town and pound the ball for 30-40 times a game, it spells a good matchup.

Finally, your corners/safeties are in for a good matchup if you have a team that is not afraid to chuck the ball 40-50 times a game.

These are generalities of course but it is easy to spot trends if you look for them. Each team plays defense a little differently and each offense will provide different tackle/sack/INT opportunity based on what they like to try to accomplish on offense. By knowing what to expect from your defense and what the offense should provide for you, you should have little WDIS conflicts come Sunday.

IDP fantasy football is gaining more popularity every year. It adds a dimension to the game that may force you to start cheering for your starting runningback to break off a huge run of 20 yards but get tackled by your starting safety. My breakdown should give you enough knowledge to not go into your draft blind but it is by no means the bible on IDP fantasy. Wiki has an excellent writeup of specific football defenses at the following address.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_football_strategy#Defensive_strategy

Best of luck in your new league!

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