IDP The Guru and The Godfather: Week 7

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.

Six weeks in, IDP managers are all over the place—because defensive players have been all over the place. It has been a wild start to the season. For every surprise star, there's a disappointment. For every manager who hit the jackpot, there's one that crapped out. Some fantasy managers are racking up wins. Others are reaching for a cold can of maybe next year. And many, many others are hovering around .500, trying desperately to convince themselves they're alright.

The Guru and the Godfather have convened yet again. Whether you're cruising, bruised, or treading water matters not to these IDP sages.

All that does matter is getting a win in Week 7.

And nachos. Maybe a pizza. And lawn care.

Attaboys and Uh-Ohs

There's still a lot of season left, but six weeks is enough time to have an idea of which preseason calls we hit out of the park—and which ones we whiffed on.

Of your summer player proclamations, what was your most shining success? Which IDP do you wish you could have a mulligan on talking up during draft season?

Guru: About two weeks after the NFL draft, I started calling 2026 the year of the rookie linebacker. I foresaw several incoming players becoming future stars. Even then, I had no idea how quickly it would happen. Here we sit, six weeks into the season, and there are multiple rookie linebackers in starting lineups across the NFL and in fantasy leagues. If I were forced to narrow it down to my best call, I'd go with Jacob Rodriguez. I had him penciled in as a starter for the Dolphins and for IDP managers the day after the draft. Even in experts redraft leagues, I watched people take Tyrel Dodson in the middle rounds, then picked up Rodriguez 3 or 4 rounds later.

If only my expectations for Chase Young had turned out as well as my rookie linebacker picks. He had it going on over the second half of 2025. I saw the Saints as an up-and-coming unit and believed that Young would be a major contributor for their team and ours. He's stumbled into a few big plays here and there but has been a major disappointment in general.  

Godfather: The Godfather has long been a proponent of fading defensive backs in drafts and then targeting upside plays late. My favorite safety in that regard (Atlanta's Xavier Watts) has been OK but not much more, but another safety I wound up with several shares of (Green Bay's Evan Williams) appears well on his way to being "that guy" at defensive back—the player who comes from nowhere in the secondary to be an elite IDP option. Six weeks in, no defensive back has more fantasy points in The Godfather's Default IDP Scoring, and even better, he has been consistently productive.

So far as misses? Where do I flipping start? You're looking at the guy who passed on Facebook because he was sure MySpace was an unstoppable juggernaut. I've been that wrong this season. I blame Taco Bell.

Kidding aside, I beat the drum hard for New York Giants edge rusher Abdul Carter over the summer, convinced that his advanced metrics last year were the harbinger of a breakout second season. The loss of batterymate Brian Burns (the NFC sack leader in 2025) hasn't helped matters, but at any rate a DE49 ranking after six games is more of a bustout—without the "out."

On the DL

OK, enough looking back—time to look forward.

Along the defensive line, who is set to go from relative unknown to game-wrecker in Week 7? Which star up front is going to wink out this week and leave IDP managers in the cold?

Guru: This was supposed to be a breakout season for Laiatu Latu of the Colts. Instead, it's been more like a broken season. The guy who was supposed to be a cornerstone of the defense at the edge position has shared two sacks, but not yet landed a full sack of his own. Latu is a forgotten player as we quickly approach the halfway point of the season.  I think we will get a reminder of him when the Colts face Minnesota. The Vikings are allowing solid tackle numbers to the edge position, along with nearly two sacks and half a turnover per game.

Here's a bone for those in tackle-required leagues. The Giants are giving up the second most points to interior linemen. Most of those points are coming from tackles, with the position averaging nearly 12 combined stops, just short of one sack, and over half a turnover against them. Tommy Togiai is not known for his pass rush or big-play ability, but he has at least 5 tackles in every game since week two. He's not likely to be the DT1 at the end of the week, but he is a safe play with a high floor. Togiai might only have three or four splash plays all season. There is a pretty good chance one of them will come against the Giants.   

Godfather: Since The Guru double-tapped the first part of that question, I guess that leaves it to me to be Double Debbie Downer.

Not a problem. I'm in a mood.

We'll start with defensive tackle, since apparently we're highlighting them this week (I'd have known that if I ever attended the G&G staff meetings and brunch. The only thing I hate more than meetings is brunch). Leonard Williams was drafted as a high-end weekly starter in leagues that require the position. Three weeks in, he was a top-five option at defensive tackle, but he has cooled off since then and will stay in Frostyville in Week 7 in a terrible pass-rush matchup with Patrick Mahomes II and the Chiefs.

From the "wait, what?" files, here's an interesting little nugget: through six games, Kirk Cousins of the Las Vegas Raiders has been sacked just eight times—the fourth-fewest times among all quarterbacks. The Raiders have also given up the seventh-fewest fantasy points per game to edge rushers so far this season. You won't find a bigger Byron Young stan than this guy. But the Rams edge rusher is headed toward a down Week 7.

The Wild, Wild West