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 deep enough into the 2026 season that while there's still time for IDP ships to be righted, some are headed to the bottom faster than, well, you know...the iceberg boat (There was room on the door, Rose). Many more have ditched the sails for oars and are paddling like crazy in an effort to make the playoffs. And some fantasy managers are sailing along without a care in the world.
That's the music they listen to. Seriously. What a bunch of jerks.
The Guru and the Godfather are the tide that has arrived to lift all boats. Even if they find some annoying because one of them is having a waking nightmare of a season.
It's The Godfather. He's terrible. In so many ways.
The Crystal Ball
A lot of times, we kick off this column by looking back at what has transpired. This week, it's a look ahead with a couple of second-half predictions.
Offer up the name of one player you believe will be a second-half superstar, and another who is headed from the IDP Penthouse to the IDP Outhouse.
Guru: How it took the Colts almost half a season to recognize that CJ Allen is their best linebacker is puzzling, but they finally got there. Allen takes the reins just in time for the team to mail it in for the 2026 season, trading some of their best players. IDP veterans will tell you that a good linebacker on a bad team is a golden ticket to value. We've seen him put up 20 tackles and a sack in two starts so far. That's the tip of the iceberg. I think Allen is a top-15 linebacker between now and the end of the season.
How many times over the years have we seen a highly productive player nose-dive after changing teams? Most of the time the change comes over the off-season, but mid-season trades can bring the same results. Amani Hooker finished week 9 as the fifth-ranked safety. Take him off a struggling team with a defense that's on the field a lot, and put him in a Bills secondary where the best fantasy option currently ranks 26th on a unit that hasn't given us a top 20 safety since Jordan Poyer in 2023. Hooker may not make it all the way to the outhouse, but his stock is set to crash.
Godfather: I'd "predict" that Los Angeles Rams edge rusher Myles Garrett will make quarterbacks cry from here out, but that's just lazy—and I don't get lazy until at least the second question here.
The Green Bay Packers keep piling up wins despite numerous injuries on defense, including the loss of their top-two linebackers. As he has so often in the past, Isaiah McDuffie has answered the call when needed—over the last three weeks he's fourth among all linebackers in The Godfather's Default IDP Scoring. Even once Zaire Franklin returns I expect McDuffie to stay on the field, and with a strong second half he's going to go from waiver claim to top-10 fantasy option for the season.
Rookie Josiah Trotter was fantasy's highest-scoring linebacker by a wide margin back in the halcyon days of Week 1, and Tampa Bay's "green dot" linebacker ranks inside the top-10 in points after nine weeks. But Trotter is just LB34 since that huge first game and LB30 over the past month. He's more of a so-so LB3 than the LB1 his season-long stats indicate.
Big Ups to the Big Men
OK, it's time to live in the now and help IDP managers log a win in Week 10. Which defensive lineman will rise from the middle of this week's rankings to wreak havoc? Which big name will fall flat and flirt with the dreaded donut?
Guru: It's been a while since we saw a fully healthy Maxx Crosby, which is the reason he's not in Baltimore right now. The story can be told simply by looking at his snap counts and production over the last couple of seasons. When Crosby was an elite IDP option, he was playing every snap on most weeks and recording elite numbers. He reached a 90% snap share in week six and has been above that line in every game since. The production started sneaking back in a couple of weeks ago. He is 2-2-1 in each of his last two games. It feels like he is close to being himself again. I think the renaissance continues this week against a Seattle Seahawks squad that's a top-10 matchup for the edge position.
Green Bay and Minnesota square off in a game with major implications in the NFC North. The numbers suggest that at least one of the Vikings' outstanding edge defenders will have a tough day. My gut tells me it will be Andrew Van Ginkel. The Packers throw the ball a ton, so pass rushers won't be short on opportunities. Yet the position as a whole averages 3.4 tackles, 2 assists, and 1 sack against them. Those would be good numbers for one guy. Spread among two or three, not so much.
Godfather: While Will Anderson Jr. has been rampaging across the NFL, batterymate Danielle Hunter has had a down year by his standards—he's on pace for his first season with fewer than 10 sacks since 2021. But if ever there was a "get right" spot for the 32-year-old, it's this week in Cleveland—the Browns have surrendered a whopping 38 sacks this year—easily the most in the league.
The New York Jets' decision to select Texas Tech edge rusher David Bailey with the second overall pick in the 2026 draft is paying off. Nine weeks in, Bailey has already surpassed 40 total tackles. His 7.5 sacks are far and away the most by a rookie and tied for third in the NFL. He's the highest-scoring defensive lineman in fantasy football to this point. But he also draws a bad matchup this week with Josh Allen and the Bills, so don't be surprised if Superman looks more like Clark Kent temporarily.
Linebacker Love
In most IDP leagues, defenses will go as far as the linebackers take them? Who is set to be this week's biggest surprise star at linebacker? Who will be the biggest disappointment at the position in Week 10?
Guru: This one is more about situation than matchup. The Lions' linebackers were rather quiet last week in their first game without Jack Campbell. New England is an above-average matchup for the position. It's the numbers inside the numbers that tell us that Detroit fields two linebackers virtually all the time. Derrick Barnes played every snap last week while Malcolm Rodriguez was on the sideline for 2. Barnes has the potential to give us big numbers, but he tends to be hit-or-miss. It's been a while since Rodriguez had an opportunity like this, but when the guy plays, he is consistently productive. His 8 total stops led the team last week in a poor matchup with the Dolphins. I see him repeating as the team tackle leader in Germany, but this time I think the numbers are much bigger.
As a manager with shares of Nate Landman of the Rams, I'm a little nervous. He missed Week 7 with a concussion. After returning, his role has been limited to fewer than 70% of the snaps in each of the last two contests. Pair that with a game against an Arizona team that has a rookie quarterback making his first start, no healthy starting receivers, and their best running back on IR, and you get a game that could be plumb ugly.
Godfather: No one likes plugly games. Of that there is no doubt.
The Carolina Panthers are apparently big on recycling, because they have spent the entire season rolling out linebackers they plucked off the scrap heap just before the season. Usually, that linebacker is Bobby Okereke, but he missed last week with a foot injury and has yet to practice this week, which sets up Tyrel Dodson for his second start of the year. In the first, Dodson led the team in total tackles and solos, and this week Carolina travels to face a Saints team allowing the third-most fantasy points per game to linebackers in 2026.
One side of that NFC South slapfight (What? The entire division stinks.) is a potential IDP smorgasbord for opposing linebackers. The other is fantasy famine—the Panthers are a bottom-three offense in terms of rushing attempts and fantasy points per game surrendered to linebackers. Neither number bodes well for Saints linebacker Kaden Elliss coming off a big Week 9.
Baby's Got Defensive Backs
Defensive back can be a maddening position in IDP. Last week's treasure can easily become this week's trash—and vice versa. Who will be this week's gold strike in the secondary? Which high-end option will be nothing but iron pyrite?
Guru: Nick Scott has been steady but unspectacular so far, but he can put up a big game. I think the matchup with New Orleans will be the trigger that brings one. The Saints' running game improved significantly with the return of Audric Estimé last week, and there is a chance Travis Etienne Jr. could play. They like to throw to the tight end and running backs underneath in the middle of the field, which is strong safety territory. Both teams are inconsistent but evenly matched. It just feels like this one could become a shootout that keeps the safeties busy.
In a situation similar to Amani Hooker's, Jessie Bates III finds himself on a new team with a much better defense in Jacksonville. He has a good front seven between him and the ball carrier and a matchup with a Titans offense that is far from prolific, but takes good care of the ball. I like the chances of Bates being closer to his previous production levels than Hooker in general, but I think he'll struggle to show it in this matchup.
Godfather: I will forever have a soft spot for guys like Nick Scott and Tony Adams of the Titans. Not only because they are the sort of freebie defensive backs I've been rostering for years. But because they stick around the NFL for years and make me wax nostalgic when I see them on the waiver wire.
It hasn't been a great year for the Miami Dolphins in so, so many ways. But the team appears to have stumbled upon a player in fifth-round rookie Michael Taaffe, who has started so many games I can almost spell his last name. There isn't a team in the NFL that has given up more fantasy points to safeties this year than Danny Pennies (his value's headed, um, yeah) and the Colts—Taaffe gets interception No. 3 Sunday in the most unwatchable of games.
Kevin Winston Jr. of the Tennessee Titans has taken a big-time step in his second professional season—at this point he sits 11th in fantasy points per game among safeties. This could be a good week to consider other options, however—the Jaguars are an IDP wasteland across the board, including allowing the fewest fantasy points per game to safeties of any team playing this week.
Playing Tag
This is simple. Just like the kids' game. And Davenport.
"Tag" one IDP (Any position—dealer's choice) ranked outside the top 40 in Footballguys Week 10 IDP rankings at their position who will wind up a viable (top 24) fantasy starter.
While you're at it, tag one inside the top 15 who will finish outside the top 30. A little boom/bust action. Who is "it"—for better or worse.
Guru: We currently have Tyrel Dodson of the Panthers as LB54. That likely has much to do with the potential return of Bobby Okereke; however, Okereke has not practiced as of Thursday. Dodson is a marginal NFL starter, but we've seen enough of him to know he makes plays. A tackle six yards downfield counts just as much as one for a two-yard gain, and the Saints have allowed the third-most points to opposing linebackers to date. Unless Okereke improves greatly between now and game time, I think Dodson has a strong outing.
Dee Winters is our LB15 as of Thursday evening. I'm not sure where that comes from. He was 2-1 in a tight game against the Colts last week and has reached double-digit fantasy points once in his last five starts. It's pretty evident that Shemar James has become Dallas' lead linebacker, at least until DeMarvion Overshown manages to play in more than two games a month. Winters is a capable player; there are just too many reasons to think his production will not be that great this week.
Godfather: There's that echo again. Check your waiver wire. If Dodson is available, he shouldn't be.
Trey Hendrickson (DL81) was the worst consolation prize ever this year—after the Crosby trade fell through, the Ravens panic-signed Hendrickson to a four-year, $112 million contract. So far, all that cheese (including $60 million in guarantees) has produced two sacks and 10 total tackles in seven games. Things get better (if only briefly) Monday night against the Chargers—at this point, if Justin Herbert feels a bit of a breeze on his cheek, he curls into the fetal position and starts sobbing.
The Dallas defense is still awful, but defensive tackle Quinnen Williams (DT1) has been playing like the game-changer the Cowboys traded for—over the past month, only one defensive lineman overall has more points than Williams. But this week's matchup with the San Francisco 49ers is as bad as it gets for pass-rushers—Brock Purdy has been sacked just once per game on average this year.
John Norton (The Guru) and Gary Davenport (The Godfather of IDP) have over 45 combined years of IDP experience. Follow John on Twitter (still not calling it X, so there) at @JohnPNorton and Gary at @IDPGodfather.
