IDP Recap: Week 3
IDP Recap: Week 3
With Week 3 in the books, let's get you up to speed with a recap of the biggest IDP headlines from each game.
And just like that, we’re 20% of the way through the fantasy regular season. Already, we’re starting to theorize possible playoff scenarios for our teams. (No? Just me then? Alrighty.) So what did Week 3 bring? We had bounce-backs from former big names (Brian Burns, Jonathan Greenard), vindication from some sleepers (Will McDonald, Derick Hall), and a possible preview of things to come in the future (Nick Herbig).
So without further ado, here we go with the Week 3 recap.
Patriots 3, Jets 24
We’re only 3 weeks in, but I’m happy to say the Will McDonald breakout is in full swing: he’s got 5 sacks through 3 games and is almost at his full-season projection for most places. That it’s been brought about through necessity on the Jets’ part is irrelevant. Jermaine Johnson is gone, and Haason Reddick would rather tweet obscurely and be fined $700k+ every week than put a Jets uniform on and play a ball game. Fire McDonald up — he’s an every-week start at this point.
Is it the reverse commentator’s curse? The weekend after I started questioning if Quinnen Williams is elite, “Big Q” came through with his first sack of the season. However, he played a massively reduced snap share, so while we’re happy with the production, I’m still nervous about him moving forward.
Only 4 defenders played 100% of snaps for the Jets on Thursday night, Sauce Gardner, D.J. Reed, Quincy Williams, and… Chuck Clark!! That’s right, baby, the man so affectionately nicknamed “Cut Clark” is a full-time starter at safety for the Jets. But, because Clark and Tony Adams are spending about the same amount of time deep, and Clark’s 13.5% tackle rate in Week 3 stands out from his 6.5% average over Weeks 1-2, I wouldn’t go chasing this 25-point performance. Let someone else dump their FAAB this week.
Only 2 players played 100% of snaps for New England in this game: Kyle Dugger and Jahlani Tavai. My love for Dugger has been much professed in the past weeks, but Tavai has taken hold of that main LB role for the Patriots with Bentley on IR. His 25% missed tackle rate this week is less than ideal, but he’s going to get plenty of opportunities with how bad this Pats offense is.
Bears 16, Colts 21
Kenny Moore exited late with a hip injury on Sunday during his best output of the season. Despite the slow start, Moore has been one of the better CB options in the past few years, so keep an eye on practice reports.
Kwity Paye also exited Sunday early with a quad injury and was set for an MRI on Monday. Paye had 5 pressures and a sack before leaving and is one of Indy’s starting edge rushers. Should he miss time, we can expect more playtime for 1st-round rookie, Laiatu Latu.
Speaking of Latu, he finally got into the sack column for 2024 with a sack of fellow 1st-rounder Caleb Williams. Hopefully, if Paye does have to miss time, he’s afforded more opportunities, especially as he’s only playing about 40% of snaps currently.
T.J. Edwards had an uncharacteristically poor night against the Colts, his worst per PFF grading since Week 5 of 2022. His 29.9 overall grade was a bottom-5 grade of his career. Edwards only managed two tackle attempts and missed one of them, after having notched up 23 in his past 2 games. I’m not changing my approach on Edwards, and am expecting a bounce-back against the Rams’ run-heavy attack next week.
Only 4 linebackers in the NFL have played over 200 snaps so far. Zaire Franklin and E.J. Speed are at 239 and 236, respectively. The Colts’ offense is struggling to sustain drives and as such the defense hasn’t played a game with less than 70 snaps yet. Both Franklin (13.8% tackle rate) and Speed (14.4%) have elite-level floors, especially in leagues that offer 2 points or more per tackle.
Nick Cross and his 16.4% tackle rate on 238 snaps is also an honorable mention here too.
Chargers 10, Steelers 20
It only took until Week 3 for us to be able to cross “Joey Bosa misses game with injury” off our 2024 bingo cards. (Well, he played 2 snaps, but it’s close enough.) Tuli Tulipulotu and Bud Dupree rotated in with Khalil Mack, and while Dupree got an interception, neither was massively impactful when rushing the passer.
Daiyan Henley had the best fantasy game of his young career, he played 100% of snaps and had 12 tackles at a 17.7% rate. Ideally, we’d like him to clean up his two missed tackles. Still, I’m almost ready to say if Junior Colson starts getting decent playing time, it will come at the expense of career journeyman Denzel Perryman over Henley.
Pittsburgh has an abundance of riches when it comes to rushing the passer. Alex Highsmith left Sunday’s game with a groin injury — enter Nick Herbig, who continued to be the king of small sample size and was an absolute wrecking ball. Cam Heyward is still getting it done at the ripe old age of 63 (OK, fine, 35), and with O-lines unable to double team in the middle due to Watt/Highsmith/Herbig, he’ll continue to produce.
I hope you haven’t been listening to me ramble about my worries surrounding Derwin James. James wound back the clock and put up a vintage performance notching not only his highest tackle number of the season (8 on an 11.8% rate). He also put his name in the sack column on his way to a 22-point performance (Big 3 Scoring).
James is now out for next week with a 1-week suspension due to forcible contact with his helmet against Steelers' tight end, Pat Freiermuth.
It’s time for my weekly promotion of Mike Woellert’s linebacker article, and that’s because I have no idea what to do with the Pittsburgh guys moving forward. Queen played 100% of snaps and had his highest tackle count (8 on a 17.4% rate) of the year, but still only managed 12 points. Elandon Roberts played less than 50% of snaps but managed to get a sack, so his final output of 15 points left you feeling OK. Payton Wilson played one less snap than Roberts and scored 2 points. So yeah, go and read Mike’s article, because I have no clue.
Broncos 26, Buccaneers 7
Another week, another different defensive lineman to highlight in Denver as the week’s sack leader. This week it’s former USFL league winner Dondrea Tillman. Full disclosure, I’d never even heard of him until they called his name on broadcast. Baker Mayfield was getting shelled, with the Broncos recording 7 sacks against him, so chances are if you played a Broncos DL, they gave you a decent enough score.
Brandon Jones showed flashes of that big play ability against the Bucs that had him finish as a top-24 safety back in 2021. I’d urge caution, though; while Jones has shown a nose for turnovers and big plays in the past, they’re not predictive and his 12% tackle rate doesn’t give you a large enough floor to trust every week.
What’s going on with Lavonte David? Through three weeks he’s averaging 7 tackles per game, with a 26.9% miss rate, while being 3rd in linebacker snaps league-wide with 211. He’s also posting career lows in seasonal PFF grades (61.9 overall, 56.9 run defense, 29.1 tackle, 63.1 coverage). Yes, it’s only been 3 games, but at nearly 35 years of age could it be there's just no tread left on the tires?
This is more of a dynasty take than anything: go and check on the Yaya Diaby manager, and see if he’s ever heard of this article. If he hasn’t, see if you can acquire him cheaply. Through 3 games he’s only averaging 4.3 PPG and just posted his second sub-5 point game of the short season. The talent is there, I’m telling you now: he’s got 15 pressures through 3 games. It might not be until later in the year, or even next season, but the breakout is coming.
Texans 7, Vikings 34
It may be a new team, but Jonathan Greenard is picking up in 2024 where he left off in 2023. Last year was a breakout year for Greenard as he collected 12.5 sacks, during which he also had four multi-sack games. Ironically, his first multi-sack game this year was in the revenge game against his old club.
It’s time for more Andrew Van Ginkel propaganda. Through three games, AVG is already nearly a third of the way to his breakout 2023 point total and half the way to his sack total from last year.
Don’t be scared off by Blake Cashman’s low performance this week (4 points). This game was fairly uncompetitive by the second half and Cashman didn’t play the full 4th quarter, only playing 80% of snaps all game. While I don’t project another nigh-on 35-point game like in Week 2, something in the 13-18-point range should be much more likely.
Jalen Pitre has been quietly putting together a post-hype sleeper performance over the past two weeks: 18 tackles on a 13.6% rate isn’t quite in line with his 160 tackle rookie season, but when combined with 2 passes defended on the season too, it means that if you’ve started him, you’ve been satisfied more often than not.
Packers 30, Titans 14
I hope like me, you started a Packers D-lineman against Will Levis this past Sunday. I also hope that unlike me, yours wasn’t Rashan Gary. As Gary felt like the only player on the entire defense that didn’t get to Levis, as he was sacked 8 times. That’s back-to-back weeks Gary has put up essentially a 0 in the box score, and next week versus the Vikings doesn’t get any easier.
Speaking of back-to-back duds. Keisean Nixon had another game under 4 points. Nixon has accrued 24 total return yards on the season and they came in Week 1. Since blowing the doors off against Philadelphia in Brazil, he’s put up 5 total tackles and 3.13 PPG. If you reached on him in IDP Madness, or the IDP best ball drafts, the alarm bells are in full effect.
Jeffery Simmons collected his first sack of 2024 on Sunday, while also collecting an elbow injury according to head coach Brian Callahan. The Titans don’t play again until Monday night in Week 4, so they get an extra day of rest. Check practice reports for Simmons’ participation.
Kenneth Murray exploded into the box score on Sunday afternoon, posting the second-best fantasy score of his 5-year career with 26.5 points by Big 3 Scoring thanks to 2 sacks on 7 pass rush attempts. Murray and Ernest Jones are the every-down linebackers in Tennessee, and if he can supplement his 12.7% tackle rate with pass-rush production, 2024 will be a career year for him.
L’Jarius Sneed is seen as an elite lockdown corner in the NFL, but the IDP production hasn’t been there in 2024. Through three games, his season pace of tackles (68) will be the lowest since his rookie year when he only played 9 games. Sneed also had 17 passes defended last season. So far he has 0, as he’s only been targeted 10 times through 3 games. It’s time to move on in managed leagues.
Giants 21, Browns 15
Micah McFadden was in and out of Sunday’s game with a back injury and was listed as limited on Monday’s estimated practice report. The Giants have a short week playing the Cowboys on Thursday night, and McFadden has been great in his two weeks of play with 19 tackles (18.1% rate) and 1.5 sacks through 2 games. If he can’t go, Darius Muasua might be one of those “break glass in case of emergency” linebackers after he put up 6 tackles and a pick on 45 snaps in Week 1.
Cleveland’s O-line is taking their title a bit too literally. It is actually offensive to former offensive guards and tackles to watch these guys play on the line. New York had 36 total pressures. Even Azeez Ojulari got in the box score. Because of that, I’m still holding on to previous worries I had about Burns and Thibodeaux.
Bobby Okereke had back-to-back seasons of 149 tackles in 2022 and 2023. So far this season he’s tracking down at 108. Now, that’s predominantly due to a 3-tackle performance in Week 1, though his Week 2 and 3 totals still only put him at 136. However, he has 1.5 sacks through 3 games. His career high for sacks was 2.5 last season. Here’s hoping if the reduced tackle numbers continue, it’s offset by the occasional sack every other week.
Myles Garrett is a one-man demolition crew, and it’s starting to take its toll. Garrett is nursing foot/ankle injuries and might even require offseason surgery as alluded to by the star edge rusher late last week (though his MRI on Monday came back clean). If this does affect him further into the season, it could impact his ceiling of 14.5 sacks per year since 2020, and 16 per year since 2022.
Eagles 15, Saints 12
For the second time in three weeks, Zach Baun had over double-digit tackles, putting up 13 against New Orleans. Though unsustainable, his current rate of 20.2% would put him over 200 if he kept it up through 17 games. Right now he’s a must-start guy, and probably the front-runner for IDP MVP.
If the Eagles were paying Bryce Huff per pressure rather than per game, then they would have paid him the exact same as you and I this season. According to NFL Next-Gen Stats, he has 0 pressures through three games. Josh Sweat was better in the pressures department, but it’s still not amounted to jack-squat, I’m moving on from all Eagles edge rushers in both redraft and dynasty unless I have a taxi squad I can stash Nolan Smith on.
This was an exclamation point game for two 1st-round, second-year defensive tackles, with Bryan Bresee and Jalen Carter putting up 23.7 and 20.5 points respectively. They also did it in entirely different ways with Bresee through sacks and Carter through TFLs and passes defended. The DT position continues to stay deep.
Carl Granderson burst onto the scene last year with 8.5 sacks and 7 games over 16 points per Big 3 Scoring. Through 3 games in 2024, he’s got 3 sacks, and 2 of those games over 16 points, falling just shy of 30 this past week.
I don’t want a linebacker in New Orleans. Not one of Demario Davis, Pete Werner, or Willie Gay interests me in the slightest no matter if they’re playing 100% of snaps or not. I want either Alontae Taylor or Paulson Adebo. Their big play ability (Taylor has 3.5 sacks, Adebo 20 tackles and 1 interception) at a position like cornerback, could be the difference between you winning and losing a week. I’ll take that 10 times out of 10 over some run-of-the-mill LB4.
Dolphins 3, Seahawks 24
I don’t want to hear: “Well it was Skylar Thompson and Tim Boyle, does it really count?” It all counts, baby, which means the Derick Hall breakout is in full effect. Jokes aside, Hall and Mafe are firmly in place as the main EDGE guys you want in Seattle, though I am wary of the less-than-stellar underlying metrics.
Tyrice Knight had a solid showing in his debut start; unfortunately, he didn’t get the full Jerome Baker role, only playing on 57% of snaps, though his 17% tackle rate is something we do like to see.
Jaelan Phillips had another quiet week in the box score, only putting up 7.5 points. I know he had a sack in Week 1 and we all (myself included) wanted to anoint him as being back. But an Achilles injury does take some time. Now, the caveat is he gets Tennessee next week so I’m firing him up. If he struggles in that one though, he’ll be a sit until he can prove he belongs in my lineup.
After a quiet start to the season, Zach Sieler is back in our lives with a 24 point performance on Sunday afternoon. After logging 10 sacks in 2023, Sieler was yet to make a splash this season, but he made himself known with one and an interception to boot.
Panthers 36, Raiders 22
Mike Jackson had 9 tackles (14.1% rate) an interception and 3 passes defended. I’ll level with you, I don’t know how many people started Mike Jackson, but that could very well change moving forward. If you’re unsure about cornerback as a whole, check out our very own Johny the Greek’s cornerback corner here.
He’s never missed a game in his career, and recently he’s barely even missed a snap, but Maxx Crosby is nursing a high-ankle sprain. Pay close attention to practice reports as we well know from offensive players, these sprains can be multi-week issues and will hamper playing ability even if the player doesn’t miss the game.
Shaq Thompson had a down week after averaging 15 PPG over Weeks 1-2. He saw his tackle rate drop from 17.8% to almost half at 9.4% against Las Vegas. As a player with only 2.5 sacks, 2 interceptions, and 2 fumble recoveries since 2020, that tackle rate is Thompson’s most important aspect for his IDP production. I’m not panicking on just one week, but keep an eye on it.
Speaking of continued high tackle rates, Robert Spillane had his third straight game of double-digit tackles. “Big Bob” had a 14.9% tackle rate and secured a sack on Andy Dalton as the Raiders got routed. That sack, however, is the second straight week for Spillane with a splash play to compliment his tackle numbers giving him 24.3 PPG over the past two weeks.
Lions 20, Cardinals 13
At what point do we have the conversation of Mack Wilson Sr versus Kyzir White as the linebacker to roster in Arizona? Wilson has had two boom games and a goose egg in Week 2. While White had a good game in Week 1, and hasn’t broken double-digit points since. White has a 16.1% tackle rate and 0 splash plays, though he is good for a sack or two a season. Wilson has a 17.4% tackle rate and is more productive on fewer snaps. One to watch moving forward for sure.
It’s painful to type this, but we might be without Brian Branch for the next two weeks. Detroit has their bye in Week 5, and Branch is currently in the concussion protocol after a nasty collision with Trey McBride on Sunday. Through three games Branch was the overall DB2 with 64.06 points on three 20+ point performances.
No sack? No problem. Dennis Gardeck rewarded the point chasers in Week 3, as he snagged himself an interception of Jared Goff. If you played him, it paid off. But it’s not something I would recommend with a guy who’s playing less than 50% of snaps.
Detroit’s edge rusher depth took a double whammy losing both Marcus Davenport for the season, and Derrick Barnes for a significant amount of time according to head coach Dan Campbell.
49ers 24, Rams 27
Not only did the 49ers lose this game, but they’ve lost Javon Hargrave for the season more than likely, too, with a torn tricep according to Kyle Shanahan. “Gravedigger” had gotten his first sack of the season against the Rams and had 5 pressures on the game while finally starting to show glimpses of that game-wrecking ability we saw in Seattle.
Talanoa Hufanga returned to the field for the first time since tearing his ACL in Week 11 last season. It was a modest performance, with just 7 tackles on a 13.2% rate. However Hufanga has proven a nose for splash plays in the past, so keep your eyes on in on the waiver wire if you’re in managed leagues.
I’m repeating myself, I know. But this Rams D-line is so much fun. Los Angeles has probably put themselves in the best possible scenario for post-Aaron Donald life. These four guys are already studs in the making.
Yes, Fred Warner put up 7.5 points on just four tackles exactly one week after he hit you with a 40-burger. That’s just fantasy football. You’re not changing your approach, Warner is still arguably the best linebacker in IDP.
Ravens 28, Cowboys 25
If you were able to get something for Oweh after the big game last week congratulations, because he turned back into a pumpkin. If you were also able to get Kyle Van Noy off of waivers last week, congratulations, because he went off.
There we go Kyle Hamilton, that’s what we like to see. “K-Ham” was all over the field, putting up 12 total tackles (15.2% rate) on his way to his first double-digit performance of the young season. Defensive back scoring is always volatile, but I’m glad to see a lot of people’s DB2 back in the green for fantasy scoring.
Another disappointing outing for Trenton Simpson, made worse by the fact he only played on 51% of snaps after playing 100% last week. When you add in his less than 10% tackle rate, you have a perfect storm of a subpar fantasy outing and a lot of worry for the near future.
We’ve reached the “Micah Parsons was only good in his rookie season” point of the season after a second poor outing, and that’s probably the wildest take I’ve seen on social media in a long time. If someone thinks Micah Parsons is overrated, check their roster for him, and if he’s there, make them an offer.
Chiefs 22, Falcons 17
Ladies and gentlemen, we had ourselves a rare FAU sighting — and I don’t mean Florida Atlantic. Let’s not get too worked up, though, FAU only played 14 snaps, which is right on par with his usual workload. The Chiefs sure are bringing their 2023 1st-rounder along slowly.
Nick Bolton continues to produce on a limited snap share. I’ve talked before about how Chiefs DC Steve Spagnuolo loves to rotate his linebackers, yet Bolton is producing despite that rotation. In Week 3, he had his best fantasy performance of the short season, fueled by his 16.7% tackle rate with 3 TFLs on just 78% of snaps.
While Bolton continues to produce, Tranquill struggled even with an 88% snap share this past week, and Leo Chenal is being used just enough to annoy us at 23%. That’s three games in a row Tranquill failed to score 7.5 points or more, largely in part due to his poor 8.1% tackle rate. Now, I don’t feel comfortable dropping a guy getting the amount of playing time he does, but he won’t be leaving my bench anytime soon.
Troy Andersen slipped right into Nate Landman’s role like it was an old glove, tackle production and all. Andersen had 12 tackles (16.4% rate) and played all but one of Atlanta’s 74 snaps on Sunday night. This could get messy when Landman gets back, but until then fire Andersen and Elliss up with confidence.
I saw comments on Twitter and in our comment section about Justin Simmons being a good play because he’s one of Patrick Mahomes’ favorite receivers. Congratulations, if you were one of those people as you were right. Simmons got another pick of Mahomes on his way to a decent 14.75-point outing. Unfortunately, Atlanta isn’t in the AFC West, and Simmons won’t see Mahomes again for the foreseeable future unless he changes teams. What I’m trying to say is I’m not trusting this, or Simmons, in my lineups moving forward.
Jaguars 10, Bills 47
It’s bad enough we had to deal with rotation issues at linebacker for Jacksonville capping Foye Oluokun’s ceiling. Now, he’s got a foot injury that forced him from Monday night’s game in the middle of the blowout. Expect further tests to be run and keep an eye on the news to see how long we’ll lose him.
Last week I mentioned that Buffalo is so thin at linebacker that Damar Hamlin could be in play. If you were brave/desperate enough to play him, you reaped the benefits as he got his first career interception and put up just the second 20+ point game (by Big 3 Scoring) of his short career. I’m not saying you have to start him, but I know a lot of you don’t have Derwin this next week, so maybe…
Jacksonville got their doors blown off before it was even halftime so I’m not digging too deep into poor games from Josh Hines-Allen and Travon Walker. Devin Lloyd worries me a little, only managing 4 tackles in a game that Oluokun left early. I haven’t got access to the post-game data yet, but based on what we’ve seen from DC Ryan Neilsen, we can expect there was still heavy rotation.
That’s 3 sacks in 3 games from Von Miller, and at this point, I don’t know how much longer it can go on. But, this is definitely a “ride it until the wheels come off” scenario for sure. Meanwhile, Greg Rousseau has been sackless since his three-sack explosion in Week 1 and I’m not so sure a meeting with Lamar Jackson in Week 4 is what he needs to get right.
Commanders 38, Bengals 33
This was a poor game for defense, as neither Washington nor Cincinnati was able to force a defensive stop. This resulted in the first game since at least 1940 in which neither team punted or had a turnover per Elias Sports Bureau.
That didn’t stop Trey Hendrickson from getting credit for his 3rd sack in 3 games and keeping the chances of repeating his 17.5 sack season from last year alive.
Germaine Pratt looks like a huge late-round steal for anyone who picked him up in the best ball drafts or IDP Madness. His 13.75 points in Week 3 paced the entire game, and through three games he’s had 33 tackles, 2 forced fumbles, and a fumble recovery while averaging over 17.5 PPG by Big 3 Scoring. He’s gone from a bye-week replacement to one of the first names in your LB slot.
3 former big-name D-Linemen struggled for the third straight week in this game, as Jonathan Allen, Daron Payne, and Sam Hubbard all remain without a sack on the season so far. Hubbard’s the only one of the trio to have even posted a 5+ point game so far. At this point, D-Line is so deep and there are so many other options each week, if you need someone to give you the motivation to jettison them off your roster, here I am telling you to do it.
Be sure to subscribe to The IDP Show on Apple, Spotify, or YouTube.
 | A guest post by
|