Fantasy Football IDP Schemes and Philosophies- February 2008
by Robert the IDP Guru

When playing in a league where IDP's are included, finding sound free fantasy football advice is not always easy. But if you pay attention during the off-season you can find that there is plenty of fantasy football news to be found for these types of leagues. For example, three seasons ago in a fantasy football draft I selected Jonathan Vilma as my top pick at linebacker. This was higher than where he had been going (he was the fourth overall linebacker drafted) and most of the owners in my league looked at me like I was a complete moron. But I had Vilma as the top LB on my fantasy football rankings for the position and I was promptly rewarded with the leagues leading tackler.

Two seasons ago, I made up my mind to pass on Vilma unless for some reason he would have been there as my #3 linebacker (I am in a league that lasts 30 rounds and we draft 5 linebackers each). Vilma was the first linebacker taken that year, and obviously the owner who took him thought he got the steal of the draft, but at the end of the season, wondered what happened to the tackling machine from the year prior.

So what did I know that other owners didn't? I had paid attention and done my homework. NFL news is fantasy football news in leagues where you play individual defensive players. And I knew that the Jets had changed coaching staffs and were also changing the style of defense they had run from a 4-3, which featured Vilma as the MLB, to a 3-4, which meant Vilma would be sharing the middle. In essence, this change put him in a scheme that first, did not favor his abilities. And second, put him in an unfamiliar role making him struggle.

In 2006, Troy Polamalu was a must have in the secondary, and was easily one of the top 3 defensive backs in the fantasy football rankings for the position. Unfortunately, due to injuries, he really did not produce as expected. Then in 2007, many still had him in the top 3 in their fantasy rankings despite the departure of Bill Cowher and hire of Mike Tomlin as Head Coach. The reason for that was probably because Tomlin chose to retain defensive guru Dick Lebeau, master of the 3-4 and zone blitz defense. However, Tomlin, who is a defensive-minded guy himself, was raised on the Cover 2 (which is sometimes called the Tampa 2) and did some tweaking along the way. With Lebeau, Tomlin created what some are now calling the "Tomlin 2", which seemed to totally confused Polamalu, or at least did not play to his strengths. The end result was that his numbers, even before the injuries he incurred, suffered greatly.

Right now some of you are as lost as Vilma and Polamalu, and that's why you ended up drafting the wrong IDP's and are destined to do so again in 2008 unless you pay attention to how coaching philosophies can affect your favorite player.

There are many magazines out there on the news stands that have some stats on IDP players, and they'll even get a few correct in the beginning. Picking who the superstars are is pretty easy. But it's those mid and late round picks that will make you the talk of your league and help compel you to a fantasy football championship. Allow me to pat myself on the back for taking Patrick Willis this past season with my #5 pick at linebacker and 30th overall. I waited that long because I knew no one else was doing their homework and pulled off a coup. There are also many national TV shows who have former players or so called "experts" who, again, will tell you the safe picks (mainly because they don't want to look foolish as in some cases, because there's always someone out there to replace them, or they really don't understand how important IDP players are to scoring) but don't go into the next tier of guys you will have to draft to have a great fantasy football roster of individual defensive players.

I have devised a mathematical system that I use to rate my players. I don't have a job on TV to lose, or write for a magazine and get paid. I do this for myself because I want to draft the best team available, and I want to share that with you. I evaluate and create my fantasy football rankings of the top 100 Defensive Linemen, the top 100 Linebackers and the top 100 Defensive Backs. The rankings include both veterans and rookies and then I narrow them down to 50 each. And don't worry; I will be posting them once again this year.

To understand which defensive players you should draft, you first must know the scoring system for your league, as an example, my league awards as follows for IDP players:

TD's: 6 points
Solo Tackles: 2 points
Assisted Tackles: 1 point
Forced Fumbles: 2 points
Fumble Recoveries: 2 points
Sacks: 3 points
Interceptions: 4 Points
Safeties: 5 points.

My fantasy football strategy is simple: I draft the players who are the most consistent and solid tacklers. Tackles are the one stat you can count on to happen in every game and guys who make them consistently are better choices than gambling on players who may or may not get more sacks or interceptions. It is near impossible to predict an individual player's sacks and interceptions, so your best bet is to be consistent. Be consistent and you will be rewarded later.

The most challenging thing when first joining an IDP league is learning to understand defenses. It's not just drafting a blanket "team" defense. You actually have to understand how a defense matches up against a particular style of offense as this has a great influence on how your IDP player may score.

To better help you understand defenses, I'll give a brief description of the most common, and how they're designed to work.

The 4-3:

This is the most commonly used defense around the league. It features 4 D-Lineman, and 3 Linebackers (as well as the 4 DB's). The 2 outside lineman or "ends" are generally the guys who get the majority of the glory with sacks and good run tackles, they are usually faster and more athletic then the 2 interior lineman or "tackles" who are mainly designed to take up space in the middle and control the runner or QB.

Of the 3 linebackers, the middle or MLB is the player you should most covet. This is especially true if he plays for a team that has a weak defensive line. The MLB is going to be busy all day scoring tons of fantasy points. The next most coveted guy is the "weak side linebacker". He is called this because he defends the side of the field where the opposing offense does not have a Tight End lined up to block. In some 4-3 schemes, the weak side LB can actually lead a team in tackles.

Finally you have your 4 defensive backs. You have 2 corner backs (who line up to cover specifically the wide receivers on every play) and 2 Safeties. CB's don't get nearly as many tackles as they primarily play the WR they are lined up against only, and that limits the amount of plays they'll actually be active in (since not every play goes to the same WR over and over again). There are very few who actually make tackles on a regular basis. But your safeties, in particular the Strong Safety, can make tons of tackles. He is essentially, for lack of a better term, a backup Middle Linebacker. Better still is that he is also usually there when the QB is trying to hit a back out of the backfield or a tight end.

The 3-4:

Once the feature defense in the league, only a few teams run it now. A complete opposite from your 4-3, the 3-4 features 3 D-Lineman and 4 Linebackers. The D-Lineman are generally poor choices in IDP drafts, especially the Nose Tackle who mainly takes on 2 and sometimes 3 offensive lineman all so the linebackers can steal all the glory.

In this defense, the weak side outside linebacker is generally your best athlete and will get the most sacks with a good number of tackles. But your money men are the 2 inside backers who get the most tackles. Unfortunately, in this scheme though, you have 2 guys sharing the middle so one guy generally is taking away from the other. The secondary works almost the same as the 4-3 with the safeties in most cases a little more active than a 4-3 and can score more points.

Cover 2:

Is a variation of the 4-3 defense where your 4 D-Lineman apply the pressure while the linebackers and D-backs are each responsible for a particular zone or area on the field. It is mainly designed to keep the opposing offense from getting a big play by keeping everything in front of the defense. This forces opponents to be patient. If you have a D-Line that is firing on all cylinders, this is an incredible defense for IDP stats.

Zone Blitz:

As a Steelers fan, I have seen this on a weekly basis, it is mainly run out of a 3-4 and it is designed to confuse offensive coordinators and opposing quarterbacks. You may see a 290lb D-Lineman drop into pass coverage on a tight end while a 190lb corner uses his 4.3 speed to sack the QB or stuff the run. You never know who is coming or who is staying put. This style of defense, while exciting to watch, is a big risk/reward type defense and depends a lot on solid play from all the linebackers.

Hopefully this gives you to some degree a better understanding of the types of defenses that are out there, once you understand this, you can see why coaching changes and philosophies can be so important to your draft.

If a coach comes into a team that runs a 3-4 defense and he wants to switch to a 4-3 and tries to implement it right away, he will not have the athletes to do it which means he's either going to have to get new players via the draft and free agency, or go with what he's got. In either case there is a whole problem with ability and continuity and can lead to disaster if trying to make a wholesale change, and can be really trying if done over the long haul.

At the time I wrote this article, you had Bobby Petrino leaving the Falcons, leaving both players and coaches in a dilemma for next year.

Also gone are Head Coaches Cam Cameron, Brian Billick who got the axe, and Joe Gibbs who has retired and gone back to his NASCAR team.

Also effected are the following teams coordinators:

Miami: Fired both offensive and defensive coordinators
Cincinnati: Fired defensive coordinator
Kansas City: Fired offensive coordinator
Detroit: Fired Mike Martz offensive coordinator
San Francisco: Fired there offensive coordinator but hired Mike Martz
St. Louis: Fired offensive coordinator
Cleveland: Fired defensive coordinator

So there you have some names of people who are coming and going, I really see Martz in San Francisco as being a real challenge to his offensive coordinator abilities as he's mainly known as a coach who knows how to handle WR's and the 49'ers are lacking in that department, but should help Frank Gore next year.

Soon, I'll be looking at the 2008 NFL Free Agency period, along with the 2008 NFL combine and the players on the defensive side of the ball who could make an impact. I'll also eventually be getting to the upcoming 2008 NFL Draft in April and the defensive players who might be able to provide the immediate fantasy football help if they end up in the right system, with a defensive coordinator who runs the right scheme for that player.