IDP Start-Sit, Studs and Duds: Week 2

It's Week 2. And that means that exactly half of IDP managers are Chicken Little. The sky is falling.

Detroit Lions edge rusher Aidan Hutchinson posted the dreaded Week 1 donut in many IDP leagues. Indianapolis Colts linebacker Zaire Franklin had all of two solos. More than a few weekly fantasy starters either missed Week 1 with an injury or picked one up over the weekend.

That's it. Season's over. We're doomed. Might as well just pack it up and go bowling. Play pickleball. Walk into traffic.

Don't do the last two. Bowling? Acceptable. 

Pete Weber is my spirit animal. 

It's equal parts natural, inevitable, and silly. After a long offseason, of course, fantasy managers are going to overreact to what happens in the first game. But edge rushers (even ones as fantastic as Hutchinson) are up-and-down by nature. Franklin's day was ruined by a Miami Dolphins offense that was barf-inducingly bad in Week 1. It happens.

Being 0-1 is no fun. No one wants to go 0-2. But the best advice I can offer in Week 2 is to take a breath. Chillax. Have a beverage. One week (or two) doesn't define the season. Don't start overthinking things and turn one bad week into three. So long as the players you drafted as starters are getting the snaps (we won't talk about last week's Jack Sanborn call—damn you Matt Eberflus), they should still get the nod—especially the obvious calls.

IDP Studs and Duds will guide you through the non-obvious calls.

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

EDGE Byron Young, LA Rams (at Tennessee) (2)

Last week's Sanborn debacle aside, Young also made an appearance in last week's column. They say even broken clocks are right twice a day, and against the Houston Texans, it struck Gary O'Clock. Young finished the week as a top-10 fantasy option, and as Brock Vierra wrote for SI, the third-year pro was the Rams' best defender in a 14-9 win.

"(Young had) nine total tackles, five solo tackles, and had the Rams' first sack of the season. He was also critical against the run, blew up plays as soon as the ball was snapped, and his underrated play recognition skills made the difference on the defensive line. No matter what happened, the Rams' defensive line failed to yield the advantage at the line of scrimmage to the Texans, and Young was the biggest reason why."

Young has a great opportunity to continue his hot start to the season Sunday when the Rams travel to Nashville. Cam Ward looked every bit like a rookie quarterback making his first NFL start last week in Denver, and the Broncos dropped him six times. His line isn't good, and far too often, Ward just panicked and started running backward.

That's unwise.

IDP DUD OF THE WEEK

LB Terrel Bernard, Buffalo (at NY Jets) (29)

Last week's clunker against Derrick Henry and the Ravens aside, the Bills aspire to have an excellent defense. Bernard is the brain of that defense—the team's "green dot" linebacker and a team captain for the second year in a row. While addressing the media, Bernard said both are responsibilities he is dead serious about.

"[To be someone other players can look to is] what I've been trying to do since I've been here," Bernard said. "So, to have that, set that as an example and to be kind of a point that other guys can look at, it's a big thing for me, and I really don't take it lightly."

Bernard's value to the Bills isn't in question. But after watching every snap of Sunday night's wild win over Baltimore, his IDP value is. Bernard dropped into coverage quite a bit and, far too often, was caught in the wash when he didn't. It took a late fumble recovery to salvage even a so-so fantasy outing, and this week Bernard gets a bad matchup for his position with the Jets.

He's hard to sit in deeper IDP leagues. But in shallower formats? Pass.

WEEK 2 IDP STUDS