DL Streaming 101: Week 8
Professor IDP looks at the best DE and DT streaming options in your IDP fantasy football leagues for Week 8.
Welcome to the Week 8 edition of DL Streaming 101! We get a well-deserved break from byes this week which means many great streaming options. If you are only here for this week’s selections, please skip down to the list of players available in 75-90% of IDP leagues. If you are curious about how past selections have fared, read on for a look at some article alumni, last week’s performances, and some season-long metrics.
Now that we are a bit further along in the season, I will be highlighting some great performances in the previous week from players who were featured earlier in the season as well as doing a bit of ‘where are they now’ in terms of overall season rankings. In Week 7, Grady Jarrett put up a DT11 performance while YaYa Diaby filled the stat sheet with a DE5 performance. Some season-long studs in the interior include Jarrett who is currently DT5 (first featured in Week 2), Jarran Reed who is DT9 (Week 4), Maliek Collins at DT10 (Week 4), and Gervon Dexter at DT10 (Week 2). At edge, the list is not as extensive since teams tend to roster more DE than DT making streamers harder to identify but Derick Hall stands as DE10 for the season (debuted as a streaming option in Week 3) with Anfernee Jennings (Week 5), A.J. Epenesa (Week 6), and Nik Bonitto (Week 3) as honorable mentions inside the top 30 scoring edges.
Week 7 had some ups and downs but with no 0s, an overall average of over 10 points per game, and 8 out of 11 calls breaking the 10-point threshold, I would call it another successful week for DL streaming. With Mike Danna ruled out early, I suggested Anfernee Jennings as a good replacement and he rewarded fantasy managers with a 20-point performance. Jennings was the only boom performance of the week with most other calls being solid and only B.J. Hill and Travis Jones truly disappointing DL streamers. Hill played a great snap share (75%) and generated one pressure with a solid pass rush grade (72.7) so his dud feels a bit flukey. Jones will need to earn back the trust of fantasy managers (including this one) after playing a pitiful 30% of snaps with no reports (as of yet) about any injury.
For the season, we are still over 10 points per game overall and within each of the three top tiers (we have not yet had to dip into Tier 4 - Educated Dart Throw territory just yet). It is getting more difficult to find available players in the Ideal tier so some of those metrics are still lagging behind but this is likely due to small numbers since grades and snap shares for that group are aligned with expectations. Across all DL in Week 7, my model had a .325 correlation with actual performance and was the second-best predictor of performance (next to snap shares alone) so there are no significant changes as we head into Week 8!
DL Available in 75% of IDP Leagues
B.J. Hill, DT, CIN (🎓🎓🎓)
As I foreshadowed above, I’m not ready to give up on B.J. Hill just yet since he played an ideal snap share and performed well despite a lack of fantasy production. Over the past three weeks, the Eagles have allowed two 15+ point performances, two 20+ point performances, and a 40-point performance to opposing DTs. While Hill is not as talented as Dexter Lawrence so the ceiling is not quite as high, his snap shares and underlying numbers are better than several other DTs who have thrived against the Eagles as of late making Hill a solid play in Week 8.
Azeez Ojulari, DE, NYG (🎓🎓🎓)
Azeez Ojulari will likely be scooped up in most leagues very soon but if he is out there in yours, he is in another great position to score in Week 8. Coming off an 83% snap share and a game in which he generated three pressures (one sack) despite a dip in play (a modest 58 PFF pass rush grade), Ojulari looks to continue his fantasy output in Week 8 against the Steelers on Monday Night Football. The Steelers’ offensive line and QB play have been hit or miss for opposing DEs but overall represent a slightly advantageous matchup as they have allowed 10-point performances as of late to players such as Charles Snowden, Tyrus Wheat, and Chauncey Golston.
Emmanuel Ogbah, DE, MIA (🎓🎓)
Emmanuel Ogbah missed Week 7 with a biceps injury but there is some optimism that he will play in Week 8 since he was questionable up until game time against the Colts. Ogbah tends to play high snap shares in the depleted and young edge room for the Dolphins with shares of 83% and 75% in his last two outings. Ogbah is third on the team with 10 pressures and is a competent run defender (PFF 64.4 grade) which helps his floor. The Dolphins play the Cardinals in Week 8 and are hopeful for the return of Tua Tagovailoa which should make them more competitive than in recent weeks. In last week’s tight win over the Chargers, Arizona only allowed 25 fantasy points across all DEs but they also have three games this season where they allowed 50 or more to the position.
Grover Stewart, DT, IND (🎓🎓)
Grover Stewart is about as solid of a DT as you will find in recent memory with good snap shares (54-67% in 2024), solid play (an overall PFF grade of 77.9), and consistent fantasy output with only one performance of less than 9.5 points dating back to Week 14 of the 2023 season. Outside of last week, the Texans have been a fantasy-friendly matchup for opposing DTs and allowed a 35-point performance to teammate DeForest Buckner when these teams met in Week 1. Buckner may return this week but time will tell if this will help or hurt Stewart’s fantasy production in Week 8 (and beyond).
A.J. Epenesa, DE, BUF (🎓🎓)
A.J. Epenesa has scored the fourth most points across all fantasy defenders over the past two weeks but is still available in 75% of IDP leagues. While a 30-point-per-game average is unsustainable, Epenesa played a season-high 76% of snaps in Week 7 and appears firmly established as the Bills second DE alongside Greg Rousseau. Epenesa has been incredibly efficient tallying four sacks on only 12 pressures despite a 57.7 PFF Pass Rush grade. While all signs point to a decline this week (including a tough fantasy matchup for DEs against the Seahawks) a 50% decline would still make him a solid play in Week 8 and is certainly in his range of outcomes as he had a 17-point game against the Jaguars in Week 3 while playing a season-low 38% snap share.
Vita Vea, DT, TBB (🎓🎓)
The return of teammate Calijah Kancey has eaten into Logal Hall’s snaps but not Vita Vea’s with his (healthy) shares ranging from 59-68%. While Vea had a down week for fantasy against the Ravens, he still recorded 3 combined tackles and a season-long PFF pass rush grade of 77.1 which ranks 7th among DTs who have played at least 50% of snaps this season. The Buccaneers take on division rival Atlanta this week who gave up a combined 92.2 fantasy points to Seattle DTs in Week 7. This is also the second meeting between the teams this season and Vea scored 16.55 against the Falcons in Week 5. While the snap share is not ideal, he is a great player with a highly exploitable matchup this week making him a viable Week 8 streamer.
DL Available in 90% of IDP Leagues
Alim McNeil, DT, DET (🎓🎓🎓)
I’m ready to be hurt again! Many saw Alim McNeil’s two-sack performance in Week 6 against the Cowboys as his emergence to fantasy relevance. He followed up with a zero-point performance in Week 7. McNeil had his worst graded game of the 2024 season per PFF but still finished the day with 3 more pressures to his credit. While pressures do not always equal sacks, 13 over the past three games is hard to ignore, particularly against a Titans offensive line that does not feature a single player graded above 64 (for reference these grades rank the tackles 52nd and 67th, the guards 41st and 55th, and the center 32nd).
Daniel Ekuale, DT, NEP (🎓🎓🎓)
Daniel Ekuale and teammate Davon Godchaux have identical grades in my model this week thanks to stellar Week 7 snap shares of 89% and 82%, comparable PFF grades with Ekuale slightly better overall but Godchaux with a slight edge as a pass rusher. I lean Ekuale this week since he has been consistently playing a few more snaps than Godchaux each week but if any other player from this week is out, Godchaux is still a viable option as the Patriots are playing a reeling Jets team who allowed four viable fantasy performances to DT when these teams previously faced one another in Week 3 with Ekuale posting four combined tackles.
Keeanu Benton, DT, PIT (🎓🎓🎓)
Keeanu Benton saw a season-high 68% snap share (his second straight week over 60%) in Week 7 and took advantage of these opportunities as PFF’s highest-graded Pittsburgh defender and the highest-graded interior defender in the NFL last week. Benton’s ascendency is correlated with Larry Ogunjobi’s decline in terms of snap shares and on-field performance. The Giants have allowed big games to a DT in each of the last two weeks (B.J. Hil in Week 6 and Jalen Carter in Week 7). While Cam Heyward is still the preferred player for fantasy, Benton’s time is rapidly approaching as is some positive sack regression as he has an 84.4 pass rush grade, nine pressures, and zero sacks in his sophomore campaign.
DeMarcus Walker, DE, CHI (🎓🎓)
DeMarcus Walker returns from the Bears bye and right back into the streaming conversation for the sixth time this season! Walker is coming off his season-best fantasy performance in Week 6. Walker’s snap floor this season has been 73% with a ceiling of 91%. A solid PFF pass rush grade (68.7), 15 pressures, and possibly facing a Mariota-led Commanders team in Week 8 combined with the snaps make Walker a strong streaming option who just missed the tier 2 cutpoint.
Josh Paschal, DE, DET (🎓🎓)
A 3rd-year player out of Kentucky, Paschal was never able to emerge as a true number two to star Aiden Hutchinson. While there is a talent chasm between the two players, Paschal appears to be getting the first opportunity to play Hutch’s snaps as he only left the field for 8 plays in Week 7 on his way to an 87% snap share. This volume led to fantasy production in Week 7 and good enough play (other than an abysmal 38.3 tackling grade) to keep him in the same role in Week 8 against a highly suspect Titans offensive line as noted above when discussing Alim McNeil.
Michael Clemons, DE, NYJ (🎓🎓)
While our long national nightmare is over with Haason Reddick and the Jets reaching a deal, it remains unclear if he will hit the ground running or look more like James “The Grim Reaper” Roper. In the (possibly very) short term, Clemons should continue to see a healthy snap share (62-77% since Johnson’s injury) particularly with Will McDonald being a liability against the run (he currently has the second-worst PFF run defense grade and the fourth worst tackling grade). Clemons only posted 5.8 fantasy points when the Jets first played the Patriots in Week 3 this season but that was on a season-low 40% snap share. Clemons is likely a one-week volume play at this point but if you are desperate in Week 8, give him a look!
Good luck and if you have any questions about deep DL plays, my office is always open on Twitter (@ProfessorIDP). While this article is a freebie, please consider supporting me, the show, and the broader IDP community by adding your league(s) to the 2024 State of IDP Survey!
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