DL Streaming 101: Week 14
Professor IDP looks at the best DE and DT streaming options in your IDP fantasy football leagues for Week 14.
Welcome to the Week 14 edition of DL Streaming 101!
We have made it to the final round of byes for the 2025 NFL season! Despite four teams getting a well-deserved rest, there are still many great DL streaming options in the now-jumbo-sized weekly streaming primer. While you are likely here for the players to help you get into the playoffs, transparency is vital to what I do so let’s take a quick look back at Week 13 and the season so far.
In Week 13, I provided 32 names to navigate games spread across Thursday, Friday, Sunday, and Monday. Two players were injured early, but the remaining 30 averaged 9 points using Big 3 Scoring. Three players were rated as Tier 1 streaming options (Jalen Carter, Chris Jones, and Chase Young), with this trio averaging 16.5 points (minimum = 7, maximum = 26.5). The average for the season stands at 9.3 points per game. Top-tier plays are averaging 14, the second tier is at 9.2, and tier three is at 7.9.
The full list of streamers (with underlying data) is presented below for your consideration. Be sure to check the injury status of these players close to game time. I tried to filter out most players who have a level of uncertainty I was not comfortable with, but your risk profile might be different than mine, so proceed accordingly!
Featured DL Streamers
Joseph Ossai, DE, CIN (🎓🎓🎓🎓)
While Joseph Ossai of the Cincinnati Bengals has been featured several times this season, his recent usage and performance make him an ideal play for the first time this season in Week 14.
His usage profile is encouraging from two perspectives. First, he has played increasing snaps each of the last four games, rising from 60% in Week 9 to a season-high 83% in Week 13. With Rookie Shemar Stewart on injured reserve and star Trey Hendrickson looking unlikely to ever play for the Bengals again, it is hard to imagine this usage decreasing. This snap share is particularly encouraging on a Cincinnati defense that is allowing the third-most offensive plays per game in 2025.
While snaps are the strongest correlate of fantasy output, performance matters as well. From a talent perspective, Ossai is one of now four Bengals defenders to have a season-long grade of greater than 60, according to PFF. In his two-sack performance in Week 13, Ossai posted an elite PFF pass rush grade of 85 while generating eight quarterback pressures.
The Bengals have a must-win game against the Bills on Sunday and it is unclear if the Bills will have either starting offensive tackle available for the game. While the patchwork line overperformed in Week 13 against the Steelers, shutting down Watt, Highsmith, and Herbig, count me among those skeptical that such a performance will be repeated against a functional offense.
Mason Graham, DT, CLE (🎓🎓🎓)
Mason Graham, the third overall pick in the 2025 NFL Draft, will need to step up the rest of the season due to an injury to teammate Maliek Collins that has ended his outstanding 2025 campaign.
I focus heavily on pass rush metrics to chase sacks since there is no better way to be a viable DL streamer than to pick up a sack, but Graham’s performance as a run defender suggests a solid floor. Over his past four games, he has averaged 9.25 fantasy points per game on the strength of 14 tackles (three for loss). His run defense grade for the season is a middling 56.5, but run defense grade is far less predictive of tackles than pass rush is of sacks.
Speaking of sacks, readers of this article and listeners to my spots on IDP Bets know that I love to look for players who are due for a sack to swing for upside. For the season, Graham has 29 pressures but only 4 hits and 1 sack. Over his past four games alone, he has posted 16 pressures and a PFF pass rush grade averaging 70.8. In short, he is due for a sack and facing the team that has allowed the most this season in the Tennessee Titans. I’m not a guest on IDP Bets this week, but if I were…
Jalyx Hunt, DE, PHI (🎓🎓🎓)
Eagles edge rusher Jalyx Hunt was a favorite dart throw pick for many in the preseason. His ADP was DL87 (DE65). While he has significantly outperformed this expectation (he is currently DL36 and DE28), fantasy managers are still only rostering him in 35% of leagues on MyFantasyLeague (2% on Sleeper). While his splashy self-tipped interception on Black Friday will likely draw more to him this week, his usage and talent are just good enough to make him a matchup-driven Tier 3 streaming option in Week 14.
The addition of Jaelan Phillips, the return from injury of Nolan Smith, and the unretirement of Brandon Graham have not helped Hunt’s usage, but they haven’t killed it either. PFF lists Hunt as a non-starter in each of the games since the group was assembled, but he has still played between 58-70% of snaps over this period. The rotational use appears to suit his pass-rush game as his two highest graded games of the season were both over this stretch (81.3 in Week 11 and 80.7 in Week 13).
This usage and talent profile suggest Hunt might be a risky play, but it is the matchup that gives him week-winner upside. For the season, the Chargers allow an average of 40.72 fantasy points to opposing edge rushers, which is the fourth-highest mark in the NFL. Over their past three games, this number has ballooned to 57.02 points per game. This bodes well for Philadelphia’s outside pass rushers and makes Hunt a very high-ceiling play.
Dre’Mont Jones, DL, BAL (🎓🎓)
I promise I am not being stubborn, nor am I a glutton for punishment by recommending Dre’Mont Jones a week after he put up a zero as a Tier 2 play last week. Jones has extra motivation in Week 14 after the NFL took Christmas presents away from his kids with a fine announced Saturday night.
Motivations and my swing and a miss last week aside, I would be comfortable firing up Jones against the Steelers in Week 14 if I were in need of a streamer. Despite the lack of stats, he played the third-most snaps of all Ravens’ defensive linemen last week. He also had an uncharacteristically bad game, posting no QB pressures for the first time since Week 3, a season-low pass rush grade, and a 22.9 tackling grade after routinely being in the 70s.
Pittsburgh has been good for one nice game to an opposing edge each of the last three weeks, allowing 16.9 to Joey Bosa in Week 13, 34.95 to Montez Sweat in Week 12, and 20.35 to Myles Murphy in Week 11. I would be shocked if a Ravens’ edge rusher doesn’t continue this trend, and I have Jones graded out just above teammate Mike Green.
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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