John Norton ("The Guru") and Gary Davenport ("The Godfather of IDP") are two of the most experienced and knowledgeable IDP analysts in the fantasy football industry.

It's Week 12 of the 2025 IDP campaign, which means that only three weeks remain in the fantasy regular season. Some teams are cruising. Others have been crushed. But for most, the next few weeks will determine whether they move on to the postseason or pack it in after Week 14.

The playoffs have essentially started. Win and move on. Lose and go home. It's the Final Countdown.

Let's Get Headed to Venus.

Redemption and Despair

With just three weeks left in the fantasy regular season, the IDP leaderboards look exactly like we expected, said no one ever.

Which IDP who has disappointed to date has the best chance of making a late push to salvage the season? Which defender farther up leaderboards is most in danger of fading at the worst possible time?

Guru: After plummeting from the top three last year to outside the top 40 right now, I am cautiously optimistic that Indianapolis Colts linebacker Zaire Franklin will get a little boost for the stretch run and into the IDP playoffs. His best game of the season came right before last week's bye. The week off will provide some rest for weary legs, and there are no poor matchups on the remaining schedule. There is also the hope that the Colts might have tweaked their approach a bit, as teams often do during the bye.

I love me some Payton Wilson of the Pittsburgh Steelers, but recent developments leave me less than confident that he can maintain his current top ten status. He has virtually become a matchup-based play due to the time share that had Cole Holcomb and now Malik Harrison poaching 30% or more of the snaps on most weeks. Since their bye in week five, Wilson has recorded single-digit points in four of six games. Looking at the remaining schedule, the only matchup I am confident he will reach that level in is Week 13 versus the Bills. 

Godfather: It may not be fair to say that Philadelphia Eagles edge-rusher Jaelan Phillips has disappointed, in that expectations weren't especially high entering the season. But that was in Miami, and since the Eagles acquired Phillips at the trade deadline, the story has been much different. Over his last three games, Phillips has 15 total tackles and a pair of sacks—numbers that slot him inside the top 10 at his position over that span in the Godfather's Default IDP Scoring.

Where defensive backs are concerned, the IDP Gods are fickle and cruel. They giveth and then taketh away. Derwin James Jr. II of the Los Angeles Chargers is one of the biggest names in the secondary in IDP leagues. But James has been in a month-long funk, and in leagues with shallow benches and plentiful potential replacements available, he isn't a hust-hold over the Bolts' bye week.

The Battle in the Trenches

Time to start getting folks that badly-needed Week 12 win. Which spot-starter along the defensive front is best-positioned to explode this week? Which big name on the D-Line is set to leave fantasy managers hanging?

Guru: Josh Hines-Allen is a talented former top-ten pick who had 17 sacks just two seasons ago and 8 last year. It is hard to put a finger on why he had just half a sack before the team's week eight bye, or what happened during the bye week to flip the switch back on. What we do know is that he has 11 stops, 2.5 sacks, and a batted pass over the last three games, and a Week 12 date with the Cardinals, who have allowed the most points to the edge position on the season, by a fairly wide margin.

On the other side of the coin, we have Byron Young, who currently ranks third, but has not produced a sack since before the team's Week 8 bye. In fact, no Rams player has a single sack in any of the three games since the bye. Some might look at this and reason that he's an excellent player on a productive, aggressive defense and is overdue for a big game. While I can't argue with that thought process, as a manager who is clawing and scratching to claim one of the last spots in the playoff field, I can't help but see a player that has done nothing since week seven despite having three middle of the pack opponents, and is facing a Buccaneers offense that has allowed the sixth fewest points to the edge position since Week 5.    

Godfather: Couldn't agree more on Hines-Allen, who is my IDP Stud of the Week in Week 12. That stuff Norton said about my guy, Byron Young. Heresy. Blasphemy. Herephemy, even.

There isn't much that has gone right for the Tennessee Titans this season, except maybe firing Brian Callahan. That includes allowing 41 sacks, easily the most in the NFL. The Seattle Seahawks employ an "it takes a village" approach with their pass-rush—there's no star anchoring the edge. But eighth-year veteran Uchenna Nwosu is pacing the team with 5.5 sacks, and Seattle should be all up in Cam Ward's business on Sunday.

New York Giants edge-rusher Brian Burns is stuck in the Garrett Zone—he's having a fantastic season for a terrible team, pacing the NFC with 13 sacks for the year. Given that I'll be starting Burns and Young in the King's Classic Dick Butkus Division this week, I'm not especially excited about listing Spider-Man here, but the Lions are allowing the eighth-fewest fantasy points per game to edge-rushers this year, and the likely game script in this contest is—disconcerting.

Living La Vida Linebacker