IDP Recap: Week 13
With Week 13 complete, let's get you up to speed with a recap of the biggest IDP headlines from each game.
If you have friends who don’t play IDP, Week 13 is the perfect elevator pitch to get them on board for next season. It wasn’t just Seahawks fans cheering as Leonard Williams hauled his oversized bulk down the sideline for his touchdown.
The Jameis Winston experience is so much more exciting when you can get a game-winning play from either side of the ball like Nik Bonitto and Ja'Quan McMillian. Watching your QB play the Steelers or Eagles is no longer as annoying if you’ve got T.J. Watt, Cam Heyward, Zach Baun, or Jalen Carter on your squad.
Who else was a poster boy for IDP in Week 13? Let’s find out together.
Bears 20, Lions 23
I wrote last week about Za'Darius Smith's promising trajectory with pressures, even though his snap share wasn’t enormous. This week he rewarded those who kept the faith coming through with his largest snap share and best IDP performance as a Lion in his first 20+ point game since Week 16 of 2023.
Back in Week 5, I was all abuzz about Gervon Dexter and how well he’d started the season with 4 sacks through 5 games. Well, this week marked his first sack since that Week 5 article as the 2nd year pro went through a large dry patch of production. At this point, he’s more of a dynasty stash for the future, than a reliable every-week play.
Brian Branch started the season at a pace similar to that of Antoine Winfield last season. However, Winfield continued that scoring level and put up one of the better DB seasons in recent memory. Branch has completely dropped off since Week 7, averaging just 9.38 PPG (by Big 3 Scoring). That number is also largely supported by a 23.5-point game in Week 10, remove that and he’s at 6.55 PPG with no games in double-digit scoring.
Since arriving in Chicago in 2023, Tremaine Edmunds has always been a more volatile scorer than his running mate T.J. Edwards relying a lot more on splash plays. However since their Week 7 bye week, the ceiling has completely gone from his play as he averages just 8.25 PPG, with just 1 game over 10 points in their past 6, and no games over 13.5 PPG.
Giants 20, Cowboys 27
R.I.P. “Sexy Dexy” season. Dexter Lawrence was placed on injured reserve Monday all but ending his season, after dislocating his elbow in Thursday's game against the Cowboys. The big man was carrying my personal IDP madness squad at the beginning of the season but had cooled off immensely production-wise since his last game with a sack came in Week 7.
I’m starting to think the boys on the main show might know what they’re talking about. During rookie hype season, one of the main DBs the guys talked about was the Giants’ incoming rookie safety, Tyler Nubin. Well, they were onto something, as that’s now 3 straight games of 12 total tackles for Nubin, putting just 1 tackle behind Okereke for the team lead on the season.
DeMarvion Overshown had one of the best pieces of individual skill I’ve seen this season to collect the first pick-6 of his career. At this point waxing poetically about how good he is wouldn’t tell you something you didn’t already know, so I’m just here to give props to an absurd play that would be the icing on top of a magnificent second season in the NFL.
Another game with a majority snap share for Kayvon Thibodeaux, and another game without a sack. It’s been an injury-ruined season for Thibodeaux and when he’s been on the field it’s been a lot of “almost” for the former first-round pick due to a whole bunch of unconverted pressures. For 2024, I’m close to dropping the curtain on him, but at only 23 years old I’m looking at his manager in dynasty leagues and seeing if the slump has created a buy-low window.
Fantasy Football is primarily “What have you done for me lately?” IDP or Offensive only, it makes no difference. I’m not immune to it, I will freely admit it and am often proved wrong after writing certain guys off. However, those folks who were preaching that it was time to move on from Micah Parsons leading up to, or during his injury absence, you can probably stop consuming their content. Parsons added another 1.5 sacks this past Thanksgiving and gets Cincinnati, Carolina, and Tampa Bay in his next 3 matchups.
Dolphins 17, Packers 30
Since Green Bay’s Week 10 bye, Quay Walker has been averaging 18.28 PPG over those 3 games. Not only is he filling up the fantasy score sheet, but his on-field play has been better too. In his first 8 games, Walker only had 2 with an overall PFF grade higher than 62.0. He’s his that mark in all 3 games since the bye, with a 68.5 coming this past week thanks to an 83.3 run defense grade, an 82.0 tackle grade, and a 76.9 pass rush grade.
Lukas Van Ness saw his snaps drop right back down to just 31% on Thursday against the Dolphins, while Kingsley Enagbare was back up to 61%. Both players were able to get to Tua for a sack, but I was too quick last week to announce that Green Bay had committed to the switch, so we’ll continue to monitor this situation closely.
Tyrel Dodson was back to his tackle-getting ways notching over double-digits for the first time in a Miami uniform, however, it only netted him 10 points on the day, and his 21.4% miss rate and 43.1 PFF tackle grade leaves a lot to be desired from the former Seahawk and Bill.
Jordan Love has only taken 10 sacks on the year through Week 13. His avoidance was displayed consistently on Thanksgiving as neither Chop Robinson nor Zach Sieler could continue their red-hot form. In fact, Chop was a “Cardio King” on Thursday night, not recording a single fantasy point on just 31 snaps.
Raiders 17, Chiefs 20
I know we always preach about being patient in the face of the inconsistency that is scoring at the DL position. But, Chris Jones has been as frustrating as it gets this season. You would have benefitted from his 15-point game in Week 1, and we’re probably just considering benching him in Week 4 when he blew up for a 2-sack, 27-point game. But very few would have had the stones to play him this week after 7 straight dud games, even if it was against the Raiders.
We’re over the moon to welcome Maxx Crosby back to his first sack since Week 7 against the Rams. Crosby only has 7.5 sacks currently, after posting 27 in the past 2 seasons combined, yet in terms of actual scoring at 17.41 PPG, he’s not that far behind his past 2 seasons of 19.27 PPG in 2023, and 19.92 PPG in 2022. And that’s with just one 30+ point game in 2024 after posting 8 across his past 2 seasons.
Robert Spillane has been a model of consistency, even if that model is extremely boring, and hasn’t won you a week since Week 3. Through 13 weeks, Spillane is 7th in total tackles in the NFL and has 10/12 games with double-digit points. That sort of consistency is the backbone of an IDP roster and allows you a more high-upside flex play knowing “Big Bob” has the baseline locked down.
It’s time to have the conversation about what to do with Tre'von Moehrig. I wrote last week about his small slump since coming out of the bye. Well, that continued this week as Moehrig posted a measly 3.25 points against the Chiefs. Taylor Rapp Kevin Byard, and Amani Hooker. These might be names on your waivers and are guys at this point of the season I’d trust over Moehrig in a must-win Week 14 matchup with fantasy playoff implications.
Texans 23, Jaguars 20
Azeez Al-Shaair only played 19 snaps in this game before taking football back to “the golden age” and deciding to try to take a sliding defenseless player’s head off like a lunch-pail backer right out of the 80’s. Trevor Lawrence had the old, rigor mortis arms after the hit, so you know he was out cold before getting stretchered off. The Texans have a bye in Week 14, but I’d expect to be without him for the majority of your playoff run due to suspension. Check Mike Woellert’s article for a suitable replacement here.
Is it the beginning of the end for Foyesade Oluokun? Aside from missing 4 games through injury, the decline in not just snap share - (99% in 2022, 100% in 2023 to 84% in 2024), but also the quality of play - (69.8 and 71.3 run defense and tackle grades in 2022, 70.2 and 73.4 in 2023, down to 56.0 and 62.4 in 2024) has meant a decent drop in production - (17.72 PPG in 2022, 17.14 PPG in 2023 down to 14.08 PPG in 2024) Is the former assumed top-3 Linebacker hitting the age/production cliff earlier than assumed at just age 29?
That’s another sack on the year for Travon Walker, taking his tally to 8.5 for the season. That pace will take him to a career-high of 12 on the season if it continues after the 3rd-year man posted double-digits for the first time, last year. His running mate Josh Hines-Allen was able to get one also, giving him 6 for the year so far and an assumed pace of 8.5 for the year after he exploded for 17.5 in a career and contract year in 2023.
Neither Danielle Hunter nor Will Anderson were able to get to Trevor Lawrence or replacement QB, Mac Jones. IDP Managers will also be without both this upcoming week, as Houston has a brutally late bye week of Week 14 leaving you without 2 massive IDP contributors in the last week before playoffs.
Titans 19, Commanders 42
Amani Hooker has turned into a little bit of a Xavier McKinney “light” after collecting his 4th interception in his last 8 games. In games with an INT, Hooker is averaging 24.13 PPG, and in games without, just 5.3 PPG. Next up is Mac Jones and the Jaguars, and while I’d never be confident enough to predict who’ll throw a pick in any given week, Jones did throw 3 of them in his 2 starts earlier this year and averaged 12 picks a year in his 3 years in New England.
I was too quick to judge Arden Key after Week 8 saying: “I will note that even though last season he had a 5-game stretch where he picked up 3.5 sacks, I’m not trusting it.” So, about that, I was completely wrong. Since Week 7, Key has had 6.5 Sacks and is averaging 15.12 PPG. The only caveat is that Key isn’t a huge player against the run, so if he doesn’t get to the QB, you could find his output less than satisfactory due to him scoring just 4.75 PPG in games without a sack compared to 21.71 PPG in games with a sack.
Washington blew the doors off the Titans, unfortunately in this case it meant very few IDP assets on Washington's side made a major impact. 1 who did, is a rookie who's been impressing in Mike Sainristil. Sainristil is second in overall rookie IDP scoring at 128.8 points or just shy of 10 PPG, behind only Jared Verse. Now, this does say a lot about the IDP class of rookies this year, and their ability to score consistently, but Sainristil is worth keeping an eye on.
Frankie Luvu is almost inevitable at this point after I was so eager to point out his ups and downs earlier in the season. Since then, Luvu has become the gold standard for IDP linebacking scoring, and he now has 8 sacks on the season. Unfortunately, you’ll be without him in Week 14 as Washington is one of 6 teams on bye.
Bobby Wagner became just the 2nd player ever to record at least 100 tackles in the first 13 seasons of his career, with the other being former Washington great, London Fletcher. Regretfully, even with all those tackles, he’s only given you 2 usable games since Week 6.
Chargers 17, Falcons 13
Do you know the name Tarheeb Still? I’ll confess, I didn’t before Sunday’s game against the Falcons. The young Rookie out of Maryland stamped that name on Week 13 of 2024, being the third-highest IDP scorer of the week thanks to 3 tackles, 3 PDs, 2 INTs, 1 Defensive TD, and 66 INT return yards.
Woooo baby, Derwin James is winding back the clock and giving us a Derwinaissance. Over the past 5 games, James has 37 tackles, 2 TFLs, 1 INT, 1.5 Sacks, 2 Sack yards, 4 PDs, and 2 QB Hits for 15.53 PPG. Only Ja'Quan McMillian (58.9) has scored more points than Derwin’s 58.4 in the past 3 weeks.
Arnold Ebiketie had 2 sacks on 14 pass rush snaps against the Chargers on Sunday. He has 3 sacks all season, and 11.5 sacks in his 3 year career. He’s also playing just 50% of snaps on the season. I won’t tell you what to do with that information, but as for me? I’ll be doing absolutely nothing with it at this point.
Joey Bosa played 59/81 snaps on Sunday against the Falcons, he didn’t do much with those 59 scoring just 2 points. But he’s now played 67%, 58%, and 73% of snaps in his past 3 games. Could “Big Bear” finally be healthy, and if he is what does it mean for Tuli Tuipulotu? Both Bosa and Khalil Mack played at least 70% of snaps this past week. This meant back to the bench for Tuli, as he only played in 39% of snaps.
Kaden Ellis has been LB10 in total points scored since Week 9 and Atlanta had a bye in Week 12, He’s LB5 in PPG scoring since that point. I commented earlier in the year that he’d been consistent, if not underwhelming to start the season due to no boom games. But he’s now on pace to eclipse his career-best season of 213.1 points that he scored last season by a decent enough margin.
Steelers 44, Bengals 38
By collecting 2 more against the Bengals this past Sunday, T.J. Watt now has 9.5 Sacks on the season, with 5 games left to play. Should the inevitable happen, that will give Watt double-digit sacks in 6/8 seasons in his career, the only seasons he failed to do so were his injury-shortened 2022, and his rookie year in 2017. This was also his 22nd 30+ point game (Per Big 3 Scoring) in his career, absolute insanity.
Logan Wilson missed the game through injury and Akeem Davis-Gaither filled in for him and paced the team in total tackles with 13 giving him 13.75 points on the night. Davis-Gaither hasn’t played more than 20 snaps in a game all season, and both Wilson and Pratt will play upwards of 95% when healthy. However, as soon as one of them misses time, ADG is a decent spot starter.
It was a career game for Payton Wilson as he recovered 2 fumbles against the Bengals and took one of them to the house. Wilson has shown a nose for the ball this season with 1 INT and 2 fumble recoveries but is still only playing about 50% of snaps as Pittsburgh employs a decent amount of 1-LB sets, but he’s overtaken Elandon Roberts playing 35 snaps to Roberts’ 21.
Wilson wasn’t the only defensive player to hit paydirt in this game. Cam Taylor-Britt was in the right place at the right time as George Pickens slipped on his route and Russ’s pass went straight into Taylor-Britt’s arms who took it 51 yards for the score and threw a stiff arm at an offensive lineman for good measure on his way there.
Seahawks 26, Jets 21
Jet’s edge rusher Will McDonald finally reached double-digit sacks for the season this past week. McDonald had been on the cusp since Week 7 after he picked up 8 sacks in his first 7 games and then hit a large dry spell. This game was a welcome sight for the second-year man who’s in the midst of a breakout season, and managers will be hoping he can continue to string together multiple good games as he did at the start of the year.
Another edge rusher going through a quiet spell is Seahawks man Derick Hall. Hall was electric to start the season, with 5 sacks in his first 5 games. However, in the subsequent 7 games, Hall has only managed to collect 1 sack. Hall’s major downside is unless he’s getting a sack he’s nigh unstartable, averaging just 4.3 PPG in games without a sack this season. That number was boosted massively by Week 7 too, when he went sackless but still returned a fumble for a touchdown.
Plays like Leonard Williams’ 80-yard Thicc-Six are an excellent reminder that an NFL player at 300 lbs, and a regular human at 300 lbs are not even remotely the same thing. Williams was absolutely moving on that return, at a speed that shouldn’t be capable at his size. Williams is in the midst of a bounceback year, his 7 sacks (4.5 in the past 2 games) are already tied for his 2nd-highest sack total in a single season. He’s also averaging 50 points a game over a 2-week span, so let’s be reasonable and understand that is not sustainable in any, way, shape, or form.
C.J. Mosley is still inactive due to his neck injury sustained in Week 7, though there was optimism he’d return in Week 13 after practicing in full on Wednesday and Thursday. However, he collided with running back Braelon Allen on Thursday and felt residual soreness, causing him to wait another week at least before returning. How his return will impact Jamien Sherwood will need to be monitored, especially with Sherwood having a couple of down weeks recently collecting just 10 total tackles in his past 2 games while averaging 6.75 PPG.
Colts 25, Patriots 24
I’d love to say something snappy like “This is the vintage Zaire Franklin game we’ve been waiting for.” or “This is what fantasy managers were looking for when they drafted him in the top 5 LBs.” But the reality is, no one was expecting this from Franklin, it’s usually high tackle numbers OR a sack, not both at the same time. This 35-point performance was the best fantasy score of his career, and his first 30-point game ever. Disappointingly, he won’t get a chance to build momentum on this outing as the Colts are on bye in Week 14.
Jabrill Peppers returned from an eight-game absence and stint on the commissioner-exempt list to lead the Patriots in tackles on Sunday against the Colts, playing 100% of snaps. I’m not going to turn my gift horse into a high horse and make judgments on who should be on your roster based on off-field goings-on, so if you’re rostering Peppers, he’s a solid S3/4 with upside each week.
The production the Colts’ edge rushers were able to accumulate this past week was very underwhelming from a matchup standpoint. After seeing the Patriots’ tackles look like turnstiles in their past few weeks, I expected big games from both Laiatu Latu and Kwity Paye. Paye managed half a sack, though Latu was out there just doing get-off drills it seems, as he was unable to register a single fantasy point.
It was an encouraging week for Kyle Dugger as he posted his first back-to-back 13+ point games since Weeks 1 and 2 of the season with a 15.5-point outing against Indy. It’s been a rough season for Dugger managers having to contend with injuries and the Pats being arguably the worst team in the league, meaning the once solid and consistent Dugger has been a boom/bust play at the most, in the safety slot of your lineup.
Cardinals 22, Vikings 23
Another player getting to the 10-sack milestone this week was Vikings’ star Jonathan Greenard. That’s now back-to-back seasons for the 27-year-old with double-digit sacks. He’s also nearly 3 full points above last year’s career best of 13.58 PPG with 16.34 PPG through 12 games.
Earlier in the season, Mack Wilson was a waiver-wire darling and we were all wondering if this year was going to be the breakout. He then proceeded to score less than 6 points in any game between Weeks 7 and 12 and was more than likely dropped for someone actually scoring points. It’s fitting then, that he should explode for a 2-sack, 35-point game, in a matchup that very few people were playing him in.
Wilson wasn’t the only Cardinals IDP who had a boom game that helped absolutely no one. L.J. Collier had 2 sacks of his own on Sunday. However, unless you’re in the deepest of leagues imaginable, no one has started L.J. Collier since 2020 at least.
Sunday was the long-awaited debut of 27th overall pick Darius Robinson after he missed the first 12 weeks with a calf injury suffered in training camp. Robinson failed to record a single stat on limited usage, but he will be a player we’ll be watching closely as the end of the season draws close as Arizona’s edge rotation is anything but established currently.
Rams 21, Saints 14
I called him “Mr. Neccessary” last week, and Christian Rozeboom is proving once again that no matter who it is if you’re the starting middle backer for the Rams, you’re going to put up points. Rozeboom may only be the LB28 on the season, but he’s been the LB6 over the past 5 weeks averaging 17.3 PPG since Week 9.
It’s been a minute since we spoke about Quentin Lake, after starting the season off strong, Lake has been up and down, alternating single and double-digit point games since the Rams Week 6 bye. This past week, was a double-digit week as Lake had 8 tackles and 1 PD on the afternoon. I guess I’ll tongue-in-cheekly recommend you sit Lake next week in his scheduled down week.
Ugo Amadi had his 3rd straight game of 8 tackles or more this past week. Since taking over the starting slot corner role for New Orleans, Amadi is averaging 8.7 tackles a game and 15.5 PPG.
I know I write about Jared Verse nearly every week. But he’s currently sat at DL14, whilst only having 4.5 sacks on the season. And that’s thanks to being top 6 in both solos and assists, not to mention his 17 QB hits on the year. His 14 PPG leads all rookies by nearly 2.5 PPG, and in total points, he’s nearly 40 points ahead of Mike Sainristil in 2nd. Coming close behind Sainristil in 3rd place? Verse’s Rams teammate, Braden Fiske.
Buccaneers 26, Panthers 23
It’s time for the weekly Yaya Diaby puff piece. Diaby was once again unable to record a sack. HOWEVER, he did have a great game thanks to 3 QB hits and a tackle for loss giving him 19 points on the week. With Aidan O’Connell and the Raiders next, I’m taking the risk and starting Diaby and his 13 pressures over the past three weeks.
Another week, another sack for Calijah Kancey, that’s now 6 sacks in 7 games for the big fella since returning from injury, with double digits in realistic reach with the Raiders, Chargers, Cowboys, Panthers, and Saints on his remaining schedule.
Xavier Woods continued to run hot on Sunday with another great showing. Woods now has 13 straight performances of 16.5 PPG or higher and over the past 3 Weeks is the S10 in total points scored and S09 over the past 3 weeks, all while having a bye week in both samples. On a per-game basis, he’s S08 over the past 5 weeks at 15.2 PPG, and S02 over the past 3 with 18.8 PPG.
Josey Jewell is on a tear, that’s 3 straight performances of 20+ points thanks to 25 tackles, 2 sacks a fumble recovery, and an interception in that span. Since returning from injury in Week 8, Jewell is averaging 17.71 PPG. This is however his worst graded season so far via PFF grading in 3 of the 5 major categories they measure, (overall, tackle, and pass rush), with the other 2 giving him his second lowest (run defense) and third lowest (coverage) career grades.
Eagles 24, Ravens 19
Zack Baun continues to have a phenomenal season, both in IDP and real-life football. Through 12 weeks, he’s both the LB03 on the season in total points and LB01 in PPG as both Franklin and Luvu have a Week 14 bye, but he’s also PFF’s highest-graded Linebacker (minimum 180 snaps) in both overall grade (89.6) and coverage grade (91.5). Sunday was also his 5th game of 25+ points on the season so far.
Ar'Darius Washington is a name I’ve not talked about, the 3rd year safety in Baltimore is the reason that the Ravens felt ok letting Eddie Jackson walk, as he’s been their starting Free Safety for the past few weeks. He’s also averaged 12.97 PPG since Week 7, and could possibly be on your waivers. He is on bye in Week 14, so you can’t play him next week, but in Week 15 Baltimore gets Tommy DeVito/Drew Lock so wheels up.
Among DLs who’ve played at least 350 snaps, Jalen Carter is ranked 9th by PFF pass-rush grade, is tied for 14th in total pressures, and is tied for 4th in batted balls. Sunday against the Ravens he got another sack to take his total in 2024 to 4.5, still leaving him 1.5 shy of his career-best set last year. But as you can see from his other peripherals, he’s a force to behold on the inside.
Nolan Smith made the most of his increased play volume, With Brandom Graham done for the season, Smith played 81% of snaps and had the best IDP performance of his young career. Could we see a late-season breakout from the former first-rounder?
49ers 10, Bills 35
Sunday night marked the 6th 19+ point game of Greg Rousseau’s season, and his 5th in the past 6 Weeks. After blowing the doors off in Week 1, Rousseau went quiet until Week 7 when he burst back onto the scene. Rousseau is already at his highest fantasy total for his career through just 12 games, but with 5 games to go, and only 6.5 sacks to his name, I can imagine that elusive 10-sack mark is calling to him.
Renardo Green was the only 49ers player to score in double digits on Sunday night, giving him his 4th straight game of over 9.5 points, and 3/4 games between 11 and 14 fantasy points since Week 10. Green is the closest thing to a slot corner San Fran had on Sunday night with him playing 35% of snaps at either the defensive line, in the box, or in the slot.
Matt Milano returned to the lineup and any illusions about time splitting between him and Dorian Williams went up in smoke, or in this case snow. Milano played 77% of snaps, and the other 23% he didn’t play, Buffalo only had one LB on the field which was, of course, Terrel Bernard. Neither Milano nor Bernard had a massively impactful IDP day in this game, but it was nice to get clarity right off the bat with their situation.
The fractured ankle is more than likely starting to catch up to Fred Warner. As mentioned last week, Warner hasn’t posted a double-digit game since before the 49ers Week 9 bye, and this week was no different with just 4.5 points. I don’t know if I can recommend sitting Warner on your bench, but you might have to for your fantasy playoffs if he doesn’t perform against Chicago this coming week.
Browns 32, Broncos 41
Do you know why Week 14 byes are stupid? Because 1 week before the fantasy playoffs, we have players going on bye??? No player would have been hotter going into the playoffs than Nik Bonitto at this point. Over the past 5 Weeks, he’s scored 117.4 total points at 23.5 PPG thanks largely to 5 sacks and a pick 6 of Jameis Winston last night. I thought regression was coming about 3 weeks ago, damn was I wrong.
Jameis threw 3 picks last night and two of them went to the house. Bonitto grabbed one, Ja'Quan McMillian grabbed the other one giving him his first career defensive touchdown and cementing the win for the Broncos. Cody Barton grabbed the 3rd pick from Winston giving him a great 24-point night, giving him his 3rd straight game of over 15.5 PPG.
Jonathon Cooper got his 8th sack of the season last night, taking him to just 0.5 shy of his career-high that he set last year. Cooper was also the top scorer in this game that didn’t have an interception at 14.05 points, as Nix and Winston combined for 5 picks to 5 different IDPs.
Jordan Hicks once again came through with a solid 12-tackle performance for 11.5 points. Hicks will predominantly be a boring play, with most of his scoring predicated around tackles. However, he has shown the ability to make splash plays in his career, meaning that ceiling games of 20 points or more are never out of reach.
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