The 10 Must-Have IDP League-Winners as Fantasy Draft Season Opens

Happy Birthday, America!

OK, so it's not the 4th of July yet. But July 3rd is the day my hometown (Columbus, Ohio) has its big "Red, White and Boom" fireworks brouhaha, so where I come from, we just turned one day into a four-day weekend.

How we roll in C-Bus. And the fireworks are no joke.

I will be watching on TV. There will be hundreds of thousands of people downtown. The traffic afterward is a nightmare beyond comprehension. 

Independence Day isn't the only upcoming holiday. On July 7, online drafts for the Scott Fish Bowl will begin--and that marks the unofficial start of fantasy draft season. SFB may not be an IDP league (outside Travis Hunter), and most won't draft for a while. But some early birds are already getting ready to roll, and even if the draft is weeks away, the time has come to start doing homework.

Researching player values is just as important in IDP as it is on offense. Knowing who to target. When to target them. Who to steer clear of. But it's trickier on the defensive side of the ball. Some intrepid souls do their level best to provide it, but reliable ADP information for IDP is next to impossible to come by. The best way to get a feel for when defenders are going to be drafted is to, well, draft. 

Hasn't been much of that just yet.

So, while on offense this week, I used ADP as a barometer of sorts for identifying potential league-winning draft targets. On IDP, I admittedly wing it a bit more on defense (never stopped me before). These are players I expect to be available later than they should. Perhaps they are coming off a down year. Maybe they are annually slept on. Perhaps people simply don't realize the potential productivity of a player in 2025.

Whatever the reason, IDP managers want these players on their rosters.

They are going to win fantasy championships this year.

League-Winning IDP Picks

EDGE Jonathon Cooper, Denver

Cooper has quietly become a quality NFL edge rusher over the past two seasons. The fifth-year pro out of Ohio State has amassed 130 total tackles and 19 sacks in that time. Last season, Cooper racked up 58 stops, added a career-best 10.5 sacks, and finished as a top-15 fantasy option in The Godfather's Default IDP Scoring.

His four-year, $60 million contract extension now looks like a bargain.

Cooper and Nik Bonitto are arguably the most underrated pass-rush duo in the NFL. But where Bonitto's No. 2 overall fantasy finish among defensive linemen in 2024 will likely cause a spike in his asking price, Cooper is still flying somewhat under the radar. If IDP managers can land an elite edge-rusher like Myles Garrett and then pair them with a reasonably-priced DL2 with DL1 upside, they just might be on to something.

EDGE Byron Young, Los Angeles Rams

Another year, another round of my recommending Young to fantasy managers. Rookie Jared Verse got all the hoopla and the hardware last year, winning Defensive Rookie of the Year honors and leading the Rams with 8.5 sacks. But Young wasn't far off that pace, and thanks to 62 total tackles, he finished the season with more fantasy points than Fiske.

Whether you look at Young as an ideal depth add after hitting the defensive line early or a cheap DL2 after slamming away at linebacker really isn't important--it all depends on how your roster is constructed. What is important is that Young will be drafted outside the top-30 on the defensive line far more often than not--and those kinds of later-round values win leagues.

EDGE Haason Reddick, Tampa Bay

Reddick has a couple of things working against him in IDP leagues in 2025. The first is that he's on the wrong side of 30, and to many fantasy managers, that makes him an undraftable geezer. The second is that his 2024 season with the Jets was a full-on dumpster fire--a contract impasse followed by a whopping 14 total tackles and one sack in 393 snaps over 10 games.

But in four consecutive seasons preceding last year, Reddick logged at least 11 sacks--including a pair of campaigns where he added over 60 tackles. In 2022, Reddick was a top-five fantasy asset at his position. Asking for that again isn't especially realistic, but playing opposite YaYa Diaby in Tampa, sailing past an all-but non-existent asking price isn't.

LB Josey Jewell, Carolina

On some level, it's not all that surprising that Jewell doesn't inspire a ton of IDP enthusiasm. He's not an elite talent. Injuries have also been an issue for the 30-year-old--Jewell has missed at least four games in two out of the past three seasons. 

However, when Jewell has been on the field, he has been as productive as just about any linebacker in fantasy football. He has topped 100 total tackles two of the past three seasons, and barely missed the mark a year ago. Jewell has had at least 2.5 sacks in all three of those seasons. And twice over that three-year span, Jewell has been a top-10 linebacker in terms of fantasy points per game.

LB Kaden Elliss, Atlanta

IDP managers will notice something about the players listed in this column--none are especially expensive in drafts. Folks don't need me to tell them that Zaire Franklin of the Colts is a tackling machine. Or that Jamien Sherwood of the Jets is well-positioned to back up last year's breakout. News flash--elite linebacker production is incredibly important in IDP leagues.

The thing is, Elliss provided just that kind of production a year ago--a career-high 151 total tackles, five sacks and a third-place finish in fantasy points among linebackers. Yes, there have been reports that free-agent addition Divine Deablo could usurp green-dot duties from Elliss. But it's barely July. Let Falcons head coach Raheem Morris watch Deablo play a little more. It'll all work out.

Still five more IDP league-winners left...

LB Cody Barton, Tennessee

Back in the long-ago days of 2022, Barton was a darling of IDP pundits--the average talent who took advantage of a favorable situation to top 130 total tackles in Seattle and crack the top 20 in fantasy points. Since then, there have been stints in first Washington and then Denver--but while the 28-year-old hit 100-plus tackles both years, he hasn't been as fantasy-relevant.

Well, folks, Cody Barton season is back! Barton got a three-year, $21 million deal from the Titans that includes $9 million in guarantees. This year at least, he is the unquestioned No. 1 linebacker and probable defensive signal-caller for a Titans defense that will be spending quite a bit of time on the field. His asking price is going to be all over the place based on individual leagues, but LB1 upside with an LB4 asking price is how trophies get got.

LB Tyrel Dodson, Miami

Dodson is no superstar. He's made 27 starts over his five professional seasons, including 12 in a 2024 campaign split between Seattle and Miami. He's not an impact player, or he wouldn't be getting dealt in the middle of a season because the Seahawks wanted an upgrade. Last year was also the first time the 27-year-old has eclipsed 100 stops in a season.

Are you sold yet?

However, by the end of last year, Dodson was relaying the defensive play calls for the Dolphins, and there has been no indication that this will change in 2025. The NFL has a long history of average talents posting big numbers and even landing big contracts (Looking at you, Robert Spillane. Looking. Right. At. You.) because they finally got the snaps. The opportunity to amass stats. This could be that year for Dodson.

S Kevin Byard III, Chicago

Despite an NFL career that has included 138 starts in the NFL, 29 career interceptions, and a pair of Pro Bowls, Byard is something of the Rodney Dangerfield of NFL defensive backs. And even after finishing fourth last year in fantasy points, he's still ranked by some outside the top-15. Or even the top-20. After all, he's almost 32. That's practically dead.

But Byard's fantasy production a year ago wasn't a product of big plays--he piled up a career-high 130 total tackles, marking the second straight year Byard has hit the 120-stop plateau. It also marked the second straight year Byard has cracked the top-12 among defensive backs--savvy IDP managers who fade the position early should have him on their target list.

S Reed Blankenship, Philadelphia

Two years ago, Blankenship was the kind of out-of-nowhere defensive back who is the reason The Godfather waits to draft at the spot. The 26-year-old sailed past 100 total tackles and finished eighth among all defensive backs in fantasy points per game. However, last year Blankenship's numbers dipped (and he missed time again), so it's back to the scrap heap he goes.

But should he? With Nakobe Dean's status for early in the season very much in doubt, the Eagles have major questions at linebacker next to Zack Baun. There will also ostensibly be a rookie starter opposite Blankenship at safety in Andrew Mukuba. Blankenship isn't just some rando safety for the Eagles anymore. He's a defensive leader for the defending Super Bowl champions. Life can be weird like that.

S DeShon Elliott, Pittsburgh

Elliott's first year with his fourth team was the best of his six in the NFL--a career-high 108 total tackles, three fumble recoveries, and a seventh-place finish among defensive backs in fantasy points per game. Now, with last week's stunning trade that sent Minkah Fitzpatrick back to Miami, Elliott has gone from veteran journeyman to the Steelers' No. 1 safety.

There's some danger in that for IDP managers--not so much in regards to Elliott's role (Juan Thornhill should assume Fitzpatrick's spot as Pittsburgh's deep safety) as his price tag. If the added notoriety jacks up Elliott's cost, there's a point where the value disappears. But if he remains just another "no-name" defensive back available at a position of value--well then it's time to get after it.

Gary Davenport ("The Godfather of IDP") is a two-time Fantasy Sports Writers Association Football Writer of the Year. Follow him on Twitter (Can't make him call it X) at @IDPGodfather.