DL Streaming 101: Week 13
With no team on bye and lots of DL hungry for production, Professor IDP covers who is primed to step into your lineup as a streaming option in Week 13.
Welcome to the Week 13 edition of DL Streaming 101!
Happy Thanksgiving! I’m particularly thankful for a bounce-back performance of streamers in Week 12 after a Week 11 that I’d rather not think about anymore!
Week 12 streamers averaged a respectable 8.4 points per game, but this was dragged down by the bottom tier of the ratings, which averaged only 5.6. A special shout-out to Browns DT Maliek Collins, who made his 10th appearance this season and celebrated this milestone with a 32.7 point performance (good for DL4 in Week 12).
The overall streaming average for the season is a respectable 9.4 points per game. Top-tier plays are averaging 13.7, the second tier is at 9.3, and tier three (despite Week 12 struggles) is at 7.8. It’s been a while, so let’s do a quick check of how DL streaming is going compared to drafting and holding studs (based on preseason ECR).
As expected, studs are outperforming streamers in most categories (thanks in no small part to Myles Garrett’s incredible season). While I have only identified 38 Tier 1 streaming plays this season, it is encouraging that they are going toe-to-toe with the preseason ECR. Whether the metrics justify the strategy, I will leave up to you since you know what you had to spend in your leagues to get a stud DL (and what you had to give up).
The full sorted list of streamers (with underlying data) is below. In the spirit of doing things big on Thanksgiving, there are two unique features of the article this week.
First, I have two bonus names in the full list this week (I was agonizing over who to leave out, so I thought, “Why agonize when I can just give you more?”). Most of which are in tiers 1 or 2 and are available in 75% or more of IDP leagues.
I’m also returning to my DT-streaming roots and highlighting four interior defenders this week.
Featured DL Streamers
Chris Jones, DT, KC (🎓🎓🎓🎓)
While I don’t have to convince you that Chris Jones of the Kansas City Chiefs is a phenomenal football player, I understand if you have some hesitancy about his fantasy outlook. Jones has clearly been a fantasy disappointment this season.
Using Big 3 scoring, Jones is averaging 7.145 points per game in 2025. This average currently ranks as DT29 (DL83). He has five games in which he has scored fewer than five fantasy points and zero games where he has broken the 20-point mark. He has been a low-floor, low-ceiling play for most of 2025 and has been dropped in many leagues that do not require DT.
Despite all of this, I am still rolling Jones out in my leagues and am excited for Week 13. The metrics I use show the potential for a boom game. Jones routinely plays more than 80% of snaps. His PFF pass rush grade of 84.6 is the fourth-best at the position. His matchup against the Cowboys is middle-of-the-road, but a deeper dive into each of these areas provides even more optimism:
Jones has a high snap share. The Cowboys rank fifth in the NFL in plays per game for the season and over their past three games.
Jones has an elite pass-rush grade. He is also fourth in pressures but 22nd in sacks, suggesting positive regression is incoming.
The Cowboys have been a meh matchup for DT. They are also only two games removed from allowing 26.3 to Calais Campbell and 22.1 to Walter Nolan of the Arizona Cardinals.
Jones is due, and I suspect this could be the week where he finally provides some ROI for managers who drafted and held him (like this one). As a free streaming option in 59% of leagues on MFL and 92% of Sleeper IDP leagues, he is incredibly hard to pass up.
Jowon Briggs, DT, NYJ (🎓🎓🎓)
When the Jets traded away Quinnen Williams, it was very unclear who would get his snaps. After three consecutive weeks of increasing snap shares (41% in Week 10, 60% in Week 11, and 65% in Week 12), Jowon Briggs seems like the primary beneficiary and he has been making good use of his new opportunity.
Since Week 10, Briggs ranks #1 among interior defenders in PFF pass rush grade (81.0) and second in QB pressures (14). Despite these metrics, Briggs has only one sack over the same period. As noted above with Chris Jones, I love to see a combination of talent, opportunity, and lower-than-expected sack totals in a streaming option (you often would be happy with two out of three).
The risk of playing Briggs comes from his matchup against the Falcons, who only allow 16.57 points per game to opposing DT (3rd least in 2025). Since Kirk Cousins has taken over at QB, no DT has scored more than 5 points in a single game.
Adetomiwa Adebawore, DT, IND (🎓🎓🎓)
While Adetomiwa Adebawore of the Indianapolis Colts has also stepped up in the absence of a star DT (in this case, DeForest Buckner), he has a markedly different profile than Briggs. In his two games as a starter, Adebawore has an impressive eight QB pressures. While eight pressures is good for sixth among interior defenders over this two-game span, his underlying pass rush grade of 54 ranks him 42nd. While this suggests an unsustainable pressure rate, he is still a solid streaming option in Week 13.
Since Buckner’s injury, Adebawore is leading the interior defense in snaps over the last two games with an average of a 73.5% share. Prior to becoming a starter, Adebawore posted a pass-rush grade of 74.4. This allows for hope that he has just had a bad stretch against the Falcons and Chiefs (both of whom have top 12 offensive lines according to PFF). The Colts play the Texans this week, whose line ranks 21st.
Christian Barmore, DT, NEP (🎓🎓)
Finishing up the theme of players who are ‘due’, we have the Patriots’ Christian Barmore. I previously highlighted how Chris Jones has 39 pressures but only 3 sacks. Barmore has 37 pressures and only one sack to his credit in the 2025 campaign. While Barmore’s underlying pass-rush grade is nearly 15 points lower than Jones at a respectable 70.1, this 37:1 ratio is unsustainable, and Barmore is also likely to have a big game soon.
Enter the New York Giants, who allow the sixth most points per game allowed to opposing defensive tackles in 2025. The Giants have also allowed the fifth most pressures and the most sacks of any team this season. The Giants are also looking at the potential return of rookie Jaxson Dart this week, which would also be good for Barmore (and his teammates) as Dart leads the league in percentage of pressures generated at 44%. This suggests that even when the Giants’ line plays well, Dart has been placing himself into trouble.
Given that Barmore does not have much of a tackle floor, this matchup represents the kind of high-risk, high-reward play that I love in my managed best-ball leagues (or playing as an underdog in a traditional league).
If you enjoy this series, please consider filling out the 2025 State of IDP survey here. This year’s survey is a new, shorter format that you only need to fill out once (goodbye, one survey per league!) and contains only five questions. It is the data we received from past surveys that has partially helped to shape this article from DT streaming to DL streaming (given how many leagues use DL vs separate DT and DE).
Good luck, and if you have any questions about deep DL plays, my office is always open on Twitter (@ProfessorIDP).
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The Chris Jones call is intresting. 39 pressures with only 3 sacks feels like the kind of inefficiency that has to flip at some point. I've been hesitant to trust anyone on the Chiefs D given how their schedule turns, but that 37:1 ratio on Barmore makes me think he's the riskier play worth considering for a must-win week.