IDP Start-Sit, Studs and Duds: Week 1

The moment of truth is here—again.

After months of preparation and pontification from proselytizing pundits, IDP draft season has ended. Thursday night, the Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles and Dallas Cowboys will kick off the 2025 season—and another season of fantasy football will begin with it.

It’s a time of year that is equal parts exciting and maddening. Every fantasy team is a contender right now—everyone is 0-0. But show me an IDP manager who isn’t nervous about the first week of the season, and I’ll show you a Zombie IDP Manager. No one wants to go 0-1. To start the campaign off with a clunker.

This doofus should know. My overall record in Week 1 is 2025 North Carolina Tar Heels football bad.

We need something to inspire us all. Something to pump us up ahead of Week 1.

There. That’s better.

Of course, IDP managers also need to know who to roll out this week. For the most part, it’s a week to start the players you drafted as starters. Don’t overthink things. But not everyone has a full lineup of no-brainer beefcakes. And matchup plays can be tricky early in the season—it will be a few weeks before we truly know which teams are the best (and worst) IDP matchups in 2025.

But we’ve never let silly things like facts and reality get in the way here at IDP Studs and Duds—and we’re certainly not going to start now.

Each week during the 2025 season, I'll point out some Individual Defensive Players who could be set to exceed expectations this week (Studs), as well as some that, for whatever reason, are riskier plays than normal (Duds).

This isn't necessarily to say that every "Stud" is a must-start (it depends on your other options) or that every "Dud" should be glued to your bench (just that the odds of a letdown week are greater than usual).

Numbers in parentheses denote ranking in fantasy points allowed to that position in 2024 in The Godfather's Default IDP Scoring. 

IDP Stud of the Week

LB Jack Sanborn, Dallas (at Philadelphia) (7)

When the Cowboys roll into the City of Brotherly Cheesesteaks Thursday night, it will be with a rebuilt linebacker corps led by Sanborn, who will wear the “green dot” helmet communicator after spending most of his first three season with the Bears as a reserve. Sanborn played for new Cowboys DC Matt Eberflus in Chicago, and he told reporters that knowledge of Eberflus’ scheme will pay off in his new role.

"I've obviously been with Coach Eberflus and then Coach Borgonzi and really some of the other guys on the staff too for the past three years, and I think a lot of it, a lot of it does excite me as I've gotten a lot of experience in [that defense]," Sanborn said. "I've played multiple positions in it, too, and just kind of what he's about and what he wants to accomplish. He's aggressive, he wants to stop the run, he wants to get up to the quarterback and he wants to make game-changing plays”

To be clear, Sanborn isn’t an elite talent. But when pressed into a larger role with the Bears due to injuries, Sanborn showed the ability to post some truly gaudy tackle numbers. There will be no shortage of opportunities to make stops in the opener against Saquon Barkley and the champs—this could be the start of a gonzo statistical season.

OK, that was excessive.

IDP Dud of the Week

S Budda Baker, Arizona (at New Orleans) (21)

Entering his ninth season, Baker is a seven-time Pro Bowler, one of the best safeties in the NFL and the leader of the Arizona defense. Baker’s 164 total tackles in 2024 were the most by any player in the NFC, and while addressing the media, defensive coordinator Nick Rallis said that explosion was simply a matter of figuring out how to best utilize the team’s most talented defender.

“Budda definitely changed how (the defense) evolved and how it gets called,” Rallis said. “I look back at some of the tape from 2023 and I’m like, ‘Why did we have Budda right there? We should’ve had him right here.’ And then once you saw him go to work within the initial foundation, you started to create stuff for him.”

This call has nothing to do with who Baker is as a player—and everything to do with how feculent the Saints offense is expected to be this year. Let’s not mince words—New Orleans has the worst quarterback in the NFL. And maybe the CFL.

Teams that struggle to generate offense also fail to create tackle opportunities for defenders.

Week 1 IDP Studs