Eyes of the Guru IDP Info: Week 8

Guru's IDP Notes: Arizona Cardinals

The Broncos have been a weak matchup for all positions this year. It was never more evident than last week when no Arizona defender totaled more than 9 fantasy points. Budda Baker, who is usually Mr. dependable, turned in 2 tackles while middle linebacker Mack Wilson Sr. had 3. Both players saw their normal every-snap workload. Despite Denver reaching 30 points, the opportunities just weren't there.

Kalen King and Dadrion Taylor-Demerson continued to share time at the safety position, with King seeing slightly fewer snaps. He managed a respectable 5-1 and led the team in solo tackles, but King only played 26 snaps, so the production is not sustainable.

Mack Wilson Sr. managed a tackle and 2 assists on all 61 snaps. Meanwhile, as we've come to expect, Jack Gibbens outproduced him, going 4-3. The note of interest is that Gibbens saw a reduction in snaps, with Cody Simon poaching a chunk. I've not seen anything suggesting Gibbens was banged up, so unless something comes out later in the week, we'll have to assume that Simon could be on track for an expanding role.

Guru's IDP Notes: Atlanta Falcons

Divine Deablo missed week seven with a forearm injury. The question going into last weekend was if the Falcons would trust their two rookie linebackers or promote a veteran backup. Some managers picked up Christian Harris when he was brought up from the practice squad, thinking he would see action. He did, but only on special teams.

Atlanta rolled with Kendal Daniels as the every-down guy and Harold Perkins Jr. as his sidekick, with an 85% playshare. Daniels lit it up to the tune of 9-2 with a pick and a fumble recovery, while Perkins turned in a solid 9 combined stops. Now the coaching staff has a decision to make. Do they try to put the Jeanie back in the bottle when Deablo returns, or do they roll with their two young guns who appear to make the defense better? From the outside looking in, the decision is simple: play the rookies. That said, wouldn't it be nice to have a dollar for every obvious decision coaches fail to make? One thing seems certain: we know who the future is at linebacker in Atlanta.

The coaching staff is looking to shake things up at the edge position as well. Samson Ebukam played 16 snaps and Za'Darius Smith 11 against San Francisco. Meanwhile, Drake Jackson and Charles Snowden logged 35 snaps between them in their first action of the year as the coaches look for a spark. They didn't find one yet, but stay tuned.

The Falcons secondary got healthy with the return of A.J. Terrell Jr. and C.J. Henderson. Both played virtually every snap, relegating Mike Hughes to spot duty and a 26% share of the action. It was a rude awakening for many managers who had been leaning on Hughes.

Guru's IDP Notes: Baltimore Ravens

Roquan Smith missed some snaps early in the 4th quarter to have his knee looked at. He returned to the field to finish. At 5-3, he was the only Baltimore defender with more than 7 points. It is safe to expect more from our Baltimore defenders this week against the Bills, who are a solid matchup for safeties and linebackers.

If Trey Hendrickson was hyped up to face his former team, we sure couldn't tell it from the stat sheet. Maybe there was a good reason Cincinnati didn't want to pay him big money. As for IDP managers, it's time to move on if you haven't already.

Guru's IDP Notes: Carolina Panthers

The Panthers seem to have tweaked things a bit. Coming out of the week five bye, it has been Bobby Okereke in the lead role at linebacker. Both he and Devin Lloyd were full participants in week six. In week seven, Lloyd's snap count slipped below 80%. In the two games since the bye, Lloyd is a combined 3-5-1 while Okereke is 14-4-1 with 3 passes defended. It's only two games, so there might be some other circumstance involved, but it feels like this is becoming Okereke's team. Lloyd's slip in snaps was not a case of personnel groupings. The Panthers continued to field two linebackers, with Tyrel Dodson picking up Lloyd's lost snaps. Keep a close eye on the situation and see if a different explanation comes out later in the week.

Guru's IDP Notes: Chicago Bears

Kyler Gordon showed up again and continued to see plenty of blitz opportunities. This time he only got to the quarterback once, finishing at 3-2-1. His snaps nearly doubled from his season debut in week 6, up to a 57% share. It should go up a little more this week against Seattle, though it is unlikely he will see more than a 75% role on most weeks. Gordon is a great fit as one of those move-around slot defenders with a nose for the ball and a knack for the big play. If he can stay on the field, he can be a significant contributor for us.

Chicago's linebackers are still stuck in neutral when it comes to production. It is interesting that, instead of making Devin Bush the lead linebacker, D'Marco Jackson assumed the green dot responsibilities coming off the bench when T.J. Edwards was shut down.

Rookie Daniel Hardy made a nice showing in his two-game audition, totaling 7 tackles, a sack and a half, and a batted pass. He played well enough to earn a piece of the rotation when Montez Sweat returns from suspension this week.

Guru's IDP Notes: Cincinnati Bengals

Is Boye Mafe the next Trey Hendrickson? He seems to be following the same script. A two-down pass rush specialist with his former team comes to Cincinnati and excels in a three-down role. Mafe is 7-4-3.5 over his last three games, giving him 4.5 sacks on the season, and he's played over 70% of the snaps in five straight games.

There was a time early in his career when Dexter Lawrence II was an elite IDP option. Could the Bengals have awakened the production in him? After posting 2-2-1 and a batted pass against Baltimore, Lawrence is 9-6-4 over the last 4 games. The Titans don't give up many sacks and, despite the team's commitment to running the ball, often between the tackles, they have given up the fewest points to defensive tackles thus far. If Lawrence is productive with this matchup, it would be a great sign, but we shouldn't count on it.

Guru's IDP Notes: Cleveland Browns

Mason Graham returned to his usual workload, seeing about 65% of the snaps against Tennessee, but he did not look completely healthy. He was lacking the explosion we were seeing before the injury, and he limped off the field at one point, leading to concerns that he might have aggravated the injury. The most telling sign, however, was the stat sheet where Graham was blanked. As I just mentioned, Tennessee is the worst matchup for tackles, so don't read too much into his zero. That said, we might want to keep him on the bench until we see the production return.

Whether he was productive or not, the return of Graham pushes Maliek Collins back to the nose tackle role, which likely will have a negative effect on his production.

Guru's IDP Notes: Dallas Cowboys

Are the Cowboys back, or did they just feast on an Eagles team that's decimated by injuries? We won't know the answer for at least another week or two. What we do know is that DeMarvion Overshown gave them a boost with excellent play from the linebacker position. This group remains a moving target, however. Overshown was impressive, going 5-1 with an interception and 2 passes defended on a 65% playshare. One might assume that he was on some sort of pitch count, if not for the fact that Dallas has had one linebacker play more than 80% of the snaps in a game all season, and that was Shemar James on Monday night.

Jaishawn Barham had his playing time slashed to 21 snaps against Philadelphia, leaving two questions surrounding this situation. What will this unit look like when Dee Winters returns and everyone is available, and will Overshown stay healthy, or is he the next great Cowboys linebacker that's always hurt, following in the footsteps of Shane Lee and Leighton Vander Esch?

Guru's IDP Notes: Denver Broncos