IDP Start-Sit, Studs and Duds: Week 7

The 2026 fantasy football season is just about halfway over—and it has been a wildly different experience for some than for others.

For some, it has been a fall carnival, with pumpkin spice lattes and hay mazes and bobbing for apples and all that good stuff. They drafted Buffalo Bills edge-rusher Greg Rousseau as a low-end DL2. Rostered Las Vegas Raiders linebacker Nakobe Dean in the middle rounds. Scooped up Green Bay Packers safety Evan Williams late. The wins are rolling in. Please pass the cider.

For other IDP managers, the first six weeks of the season have been a catastrophe. The defensive players are separated into two equally depressing camps. There are the guys who are injured, and the ones who haven't sniffed expectations. Neither have been especially helpful, and as we head toward the midway point of the regular season aspirations of even making the playoffs are hanging by a thread.

2026 has been a slasher flick, and they're a teenager hiding in a closet.

What? It's that time of year. I'm festive.

With all that said, whether the season has been a delight or a disaster. What has happened is in the past. If IDP managers want the future to be bright, they have to live in the present and get a win.

That's where IDP Studs and Duds here at Footballguys comes in.

Each week during the 2026 season, I'll point out some Individual Defensive Players who could exceed expectations this week (Studs), as well as some that, for whatever reason, are riskier than normal (Duds).

This isn't necessarily to say 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).

Week 7 is another four-team bye week. The Buffalo Bills, Jacksonville Jaguars, Los Angeles Chargers, and Washington Commanders are all on siesta. No Rousseau. Or Foyesade Oluokun. Or Tuli Tuipulotu. Or Sonny Styles.

Numbers in parentheses denote ranking in fantasy points allowed to that position in 2026 in The Godfather's Default IDP Scoring. 

IDP Stud of the Week

LB Bobby Okereke, Carolina (vs. Tampa Bay) (2)

Until the final day of the month of August, Okereke was a man without a team—but by the season opener the 30-year-old was playing a three-down role opposite Devin Lloyd on an improved Panthers defense. While speaking to reporters after logging eight total tackles and a sack in last week's win over the Philadelphia Eagles, Okereke was quick to deflect praise for that improvement off of him and onto his teammates.

"Yeah, it took all three phases, complimentary football," Okereke said. "They've got a really good defense on that side of the ball, so we told ourselves throughout the week that we had to outplay their defense like we did, and our offense obviously closed in the end, and that's the type of football that's going to take us where we want to go."

Okereke ranks second on the Panthers in stops with 34, and his solo-to-assist ratio has been excellent. While Carolina's defense is better, that doesn't make it good—the Panthers are 27th in the league in run defense, so the Buccaneers will lean hard on the run game Sunday whether Baker Mayfield is out there or not.

IDP Dud of the Week

EDGE Maxx Crosby, Las Vegas (vs. LA Rams) (28)

After a 3-0 start, the Las Vegas Raiders have lost three straight—and Maxx Crosby isn't happy about it. Despite being traded and then not traded to the Baltimore Ravens in the offseason, Crosby has resumed his role as the leader of the Vegas defense, and he told reporters after last week's close loss to the Bills that the Raiders have to find a way to get off the field and close games out defensively.

"I's tough every time," Crosby said. "You want to win every single game, and we got to be better. We have to find ways to get better right now, and that's the challenge; we know we still got to play a lot of good teams, so we have to find ways to improve fast. We know we're a really good team [and] we just got to finish games better for sure."

Crosby needs to get better at closing in his own right—through six games he has just two sacks. He hasn't had a full sack since the season opener and last week was his first game of the campaign with five total tackles. None of that is especially likely to improve in another terrible matchup for edge-rushers—Matthew Stafford is too old to be sacked. It makes his sciatica flare up.

Week 7 IDP Studs