IDP Start-Sit, Studs and Duds: Week 1

We are officially underway.

On Wednesday night, the Patriots and Seahawks kicked off the 2026 season in Seattle. On Friday, the Los Angeles Rams and San Francisco 49ers will play in Australia—a game that will be televised on Thursday night, because time is a flat circle or something. It's an odd way to start the season, but no one cares about weird. All that matters is that it has begun.

Because if NFL games are going on, then that means another year of fantasy football is as well.

That means it's time for IDP managers to party.

And when it's time to party, we will party hard.

It's time to put all the research and effort and drafting and blood and sweat and tears that have occupied the summer into wins in the fall. To take the roster they have assembled and start notching victories. Taking steps toward the playoffs. Beginning the quest for glory.

It's a time of great excitement. But it can also give IDP managers a raging case of the yips.

Sure, there are situations that have changed since draft day. Injuries are a constant pain in the keister. There are multiple linebacker situations that remain fluid as we head into Week 1. It's all quite frustrating.

But if the players you drafted to start for your IDP squad are healthy and set for a full-time workload, start them. We don't know enough yet about this year's matchups to say definitively that one is great and another's awful. The matchup data from 2025 is a factor to consider, but not enough so to turn starters into reserves and vice versa.

Go with the guys you drafted to be your guys. Don't get cute. Cute gets you beat.

With that in mind, it's time for the first 2026 edition of IDP Studs and Duds here at Footballguys.

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 2025 in The Godfather's Default IDP Scoring. 

IDP STUD OF THE WEEK

LB Mack Wilson Sr., Arizona (at LA Chargers) (2)

Wilson was a popular target of some incredibly handsome and intelligent IDP analysts over the summer—one of the least-expensive "Green Dot" linebackers in the league in 2026. Heading into his third year with the team, Wilson told reporters that he hopes his third professional team is his last.

"I love it here. Honestly, it's the first place – I'll say I felt the most comfortable," Wilson said. "Just the camaraderie that this team has. It's the first team I've ever really been on where it's no egos and the coaches just pour into you. It's just a blessing. It's a team that I feel like really took me in and accepted me for who I was, and I was able to flourish here. And so, I feel like it's only right for me to end my career here."

Wilson isn't an elite talent, but he was on pace to flirt with 130 total tackles last season before his season was cut short by injury. It's hard to ask for a better matchup to start the season for Wilson's IDP prospects than the Chargers—a run-heavy team that was an excellent IDP matchup last year who will all but certainly be playing from ahead in the second half.

IDP DUD OF THE WEEK

EDGE Jaelan Phillips, Carolina (vs. Chicago) (16)

Despite never having more than 8.5 sacks in a season and battling injuries for a chunk of his five-year career, Phillips got $30 million a season in free agency to anchor Carolina's pass rush in 2026. Phillips told reporters that his impact on Sundays goes beyond sacks—but he wants more of those, too.

"I guess, really, the only knock you can say about me is that I don't have a bunch of sacks," he said. "Obviously, production matters, but at the end of the day, as long as you're being disruptive, as long as you're making an impact and making plays. This game is about a lot more than sacks. "I do want to get those sack numbers up. Turning all that disruption into production. I've always known that I can be a 10-plus, 13-plus sack guy."

This writer actually has quite a few shares of Phillips—he presented an interesting ceiling late in drafts if he can convert more pressures into sacks. With that said though, it's going to be tricky to flip that switch at home in the opener against the Bears—only two quarterbacks were sacked fewer times last year than Caleb Williams.

WEEK 1 IDP STUDS