IDP The Guru and The Godfather: Week 5

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. Each week during the regular season, they gather to answer the most looming questions facing IDP managers that week.

We're one month into the 2026 fantasy campaign, and as it usually is, the fantasy landscape is chaos. For every edge-rusher who has smashed expectations and led fantasy squads to hot starts, there have been two linebackers who have faceplanted and left IDP managers sitting in the basement staring at cinderblock.

There's a lot of season left, but for quite a few folks it's getting late early—at some point an early hole just becomes a hole.

Have no fear, fellow Mole People. The Guru and The Godfather brought shovels to dig you out—and to kabong the 4-0 managers with.

Show-offs.

Fish or Cut Bait

The list of prominent IDPs who have disappointed over the first month of the 2026 season is as long as it is depressing.

Which one of those slow starters has the best chance to turn things around and meet expectations this year? Who is it time to throw in the towel on before Ivan Drago beats them to a pulp?

Guru: Alex Highsmith actually started fast, with 3 sacks in the first two games, but they've started printing his picture on milk cartons after a pair of goose eggs in the last two weeks. Ok, he had 1 tackle, but you get the point. The Colts are a middle-of-the-road matchup this week. After that, Pittsburgh faces the Buccaneers, who have allowed 16 sacks on the season, which is three more than anyone else, and the Saints, who have given up 12, which is the fourth-most.  

After an outstandingly productive rookie season, nearly everyone had Carson Schwesinger as a top-ten linebacker. Most of us considered him top-five, and he was the first off the board at the position in many drafts. Heading into Week 5, he is LB42. I do believe he will climb the ladder a bit between now and the end of the season, but I don't see him getting anywhere near the expectations. There are a couple of major factors at work here. The Browns are playing much better football than expected. The offense is functional and keeping the defense off the field much more than last season, so there are fewer opportunities. The other factor is the presence of Quincy Williams, who is creating more competition for tackles.

Godfather: The good news with Jack Campbell (the No. 1 linebacker on many boards over the summer) is that he's coming off his best fantasy effort of the season in last week's loss to the Carolina Panthers. The bad news is that he still ranks outside the top-30 at the position in The Godfather's Default IDP Scoring after four weeks despite the Detroit defense's complete inability to get off the field. But Campbell will turn things around—the Lions have to do something differently on that side of the ball, and turning Campbell loose rather than miscasting him in coverage is one of the steps they need to take.

Do not get me started on Tennessee Titans linebacker Cedric Gray. Last year, Gray's 164 total tackles ranked fourth in the NFL. He was a legit top-10 option at the position in IDP drafts—or so we thought. But Gray wrecked a UTV over Labor Day weekend and missed the opener as a result, and he's been supplanted on the depth chart by Cody freaking Barton. A month into the season, Gray hasn't seen a 50 percent snap share yet. At this point, I'd just let Drago pummel him—but it'll be with Gray on the waiver wire.

Trench Warfare

Let's get down to getting IDP managers a win in Week 5.

Which under-the-radar defensive lineman is about to make a quarterback cry and post a fat stat line? Who is about to make like Krispy Kreme and throw up the dreaded IDP donut?

Guru: Nik Bonitto is arguably the biggest non-injury bust of the season at the edge position. He has 4 solos, 3 assists, and a sack to his credit. That would be good production for one game, not so much for a quarter of the season. He has a golden opportunity to step up this week against a Chargers offense that is clicking like a wet playing card on bicycle spokes. Los Angeles is tied for the fourth most sacks allowed. They are without starting left tackle Rashawn Slater, while his batterymate, Joe Alt, left last week's game with a neck injury and may not play either.    

Despite a ride through the Krispy Kreme drive-through where he picked up a donut last week, Leonard Williams remains the top-ranked tackle in most formats after a blazing start to the season. He probably won't be there after Week 5. Williams is expected to play on a sore ankle that caused him to miss some time in week four, so he could be limited physically. Then there is the matchup with a 49ers offense that has not yet allowed a sack in 2026.

Godfather: Great minds think alike, apparently—Bonitto and Williams are both in this week's edition of IDP Studs and Duds here at FBG. Just saying.

It's a little weird to see Aaron Rodgers near the top of the list of the NFL's most-sacked quarterbacks, but here we are—as a matter of fact, there isn't a signal-caller in the NFL who has been taken down more than the 13 times Rodgers has been dropped. Indianapolis Colts edge-rusher Laiatu Latu has been quiet this season—the first defensive player drafted in 2024 has yet to log a full sack in a game this year. That dry spell ends Sunday in the Steel City.

To say that things haven't gone according to plan for the Los Angeles Chargers is a massive understatement. But edge-rusher Tuli Tuipulotu has been a bright spot—he's fifth in fantasy points among defensive linemen after a month. But this week's home tilt with the rival Broncos is a mess of a matchup—the Broncos have allowed the fourth-fewest fantasy points to edge-rushers this year and gave up the second-fewest fantasy points to the position in 2025.

Mayhem in the Middle