IDP Recap: Week 7
With Week 7 complete, let's get you up to speed with a recap of the biggest IDP headlines from each game.
Though IDP scoring ran wild this week compared to offensive scoring — with 9 of the top 10 scorers being IDP — we somehow didn’t get any 40-burgers. This week’s high-scoring bunch was a pleasant mixture of familiar faces, old faithfuls, and new blood.
So without further ado, let’s dig into all the action.
Broncos 33, Saints 10
With the return of Baron Browning into the rotation, the Bronco’s D-line is a case of “play him anyway, snap share be damned” because outside of Zach Allen, no one gets majority playing time. Nik Bonitto did make it 5 straight games with a sack though, and Zach Allen is putting forth a case to legally change his name to Sack Allen, and instead of Jonathon (Cooper), it was John (Franklin-Myers), as the 3rd fiddle this week.
Paulson Adebo burned too bright. The New Orleans standout had season-ending surgery on Friday morning to fix a broken femur sustained in this game. Yeah, that femur. The biggest bone in the human body that requires a massive amount of trauma to fracture. Hideous.
Cody Barton stuffed that stat sheet on Thursday with 8 tackles, 1 forced fumble, and 1 fumble recovery for a TD. However, he almost had a 50+ point night, as Barton also had another fumble scoop and score from about the 30 wiped off the board due to a defensive offsides penalty. Can the big plays keep up? Barton had no big plays and was averaging 6.5 PPG (Big 3 Scoring) before this explosion, but he does get Carolina in Week 8 though.
Patrick Surtain’s absence from concussion appears to have harmed Riley Moss’ fantasy production over the past two weeks, as with Surtain out, Moss has been moved into the outside CB1 role for Denver. This has resulted in Moss posting 2 of his 3 lowest point totals of the season. With this being a Thursday night game, here’s hoping Surtain has been able to progress further through protocol due to the extra days afforded to him.
Patriots 16, Jaguars 32
Kyle Dugger logged just the 5th double-digit tackle performance of his 5-year career on Sunday in London. Dugger played 100% of snaps and logged 11 tackles (18% rate) and was deployed heavily in the box with the Patriots’ other ‘tweener, Marte Mapu. The IDP After Show host, Jase Abbey, and his guest Jake Kolhaegan talked about this at length on their preview show last week, citing poor play from Jahlani Tavai as a possible reason.
The name change curse strikes again! (Looking at you, Darius/Shaq Leonard.) Josh Hines-Allen continues to disappoint fantasy managers with his poor fantasy output, with five single-digit games through seven weeks.
Ah yes, a Devin Lloyd ceiling game, right on schedule. A hazard of this weekly write-up I’m finding is as soon as I start to express doubts about a player’s effectiveness, they suddenly have a blowup game. Lloyd’s came about thanks to both his season high in tackles with 11 (18.9% rate), and his first sack of the season too. With Foye still on IR, and Lloyd playing between 95-100% of snaps each week, you can’t sit him, so you’ll just have to take the good with the bad.
While Lloyd played all but 2 snaps, Ventrell Miller and Chad Muma were a full-blown rotation, with neither seeing over 60% of snaps (Miller 58%, Muma 38%). Miller still managed his 5th straight double-digit point game, scraping by with 10.5 points on an unsustainable 9 tackles (25.7%) rate, though trusting him on that snap share moving forward will require a stronger constitution than I have.
Titans 10, Bills 34
Kenneth Murray exited with a shoulder injury but was able to return late in the 4th quarter. Murray has been solid this season with 46 tackles, (13.3% rate) and 2 sacks through 6 games, averaging 12.67 PPG. Should he miss any future games, Jack Gibbens is the next man up.
Another linebacker injury was Terrel Bernard, who left Sunday’s game and was ruled out with an ankle injury. Dorian Williams also left with a knee injury in the 4th but was given the probable return tag. Buffalo was up huge in the 4th, so they might have played it cautiously. Check practice reports for Williams this coming week. Baylon Spector was Bernard’s replacement earlier in the season and gave us two starts of 14 points or more in relief.
Greg Rousseau finally came through for the first time since his 3 sack performance in Week 1. It was only half a sack, with Dawuane Smoot being credited with the other half, but Rousseau complimented that with 6(!) QB hits on 11 pressures, to ensure he came away with a big day. He’s still getting the work, with a very encouraging 77% snap share, so I’ll keep rolling with “Old Greg,” volatility be damned.
With Taylor Rapp returning from injury, both he and Damar Hamlin are the every-down safety pairing, which has relegated Cole Bishop back to a bench/special teams role. Hamlin in fact, has averaged 13.94 PPG on 39 tackles, 2 interceptions, and 5 passes defended in the past 6 weeks, making him a very consistent start at the DB position. Rapp… not so much. Outside of a 20.5-point performance last week, Rapp has failed to hit 10 points or more in any of his other outings.
Lions 31, Vikings 29
Blake Cashman missed Sunday’s game against the Lions with a toe injury and Ivan Pace Jr. picked up where he left off before the bye with another incredible showing. Pace had 10 tackles (17.5% rate), 1 sack, and a fumble recovery for a touchdown. Vikings head coach Kevin O’Connell said the toe injury could keep Cashman out for the coming game against the Rams, as it’s a Thursday night contest. If Cashman can’t go, fire Pace all the way up. He’s electric.
Aidan Hutchinson led all IDPs in total points before his injury and had an insane 24.45 PPG (122.25 total). The new active leader isn’t far behind at 23.03 PPG (138.2 total). Who is it? It’s well-established, long-standing superstar Andrew Van Ginkel, of course! “AVG” had his second 30+ point performance and fifth over 18 points, thanks to 7 tackles, 3 tackles for loss, 1 forced fumble, 2 sacks, 2 QB hits, and 23 sack yards.
New week, same playmaker. Brian Branch was at it again, picking off Sam Darnold with a miraculous leaping interception to give him his 4th pick on the season and 3rd in the last two weeks. This was also Branch’s lowest-scoring game of the season (19 points). So while AVG may lead in total points, Branch and his 24.26 PPG across 5 games, leads all IDPs in PPG among active players.
If you’re playing in dynasty leagues, check on the Dallas Turner manager and just see where their head’s at. Turner has played 82 snaps across 5 games so far this season, with 35 of those coming in Week 1. Turner was young coming into the league at just age 21, and with Jonathan Greenard and Van Ginkel firmly ahead of him, is much more of a slow burn play than either Laiatu Latu or Jared Verse. That could, however, make him much cheaper than either.
Bengals 21, Browns 14
The Bengals only got 4 sacks against the Brown’s trio of QBs, but Trey Hendrickson and Sam Hubbard got 3 of them. Hendrickson followed up his drought-breaking showing of 26 points last week, with a stellar 34.05-point game this week, and Hubbard was right there with him at 32.05, giving him his second 30+ point game in three weeks.
Germaine Pratt has been a revelation this season as he’s put up his seventh straight game of 13 points or more, thanks to 13 tackles (15.9% rate) on Sunday afternoon. Pratt has 61% of the tackles and 62% of his points from his 2023 totals, through just 41% of the games. He’s also yet to record a sack after having averaged at least 1 a season for the past 3 years, leaving still room for improvement.
Myles Garrett isn’t healthy right now. He’s popping up on the injury report for multiple foot/lower leg-related issues, his most recent one being an Achilles that left him limited in practice this past week. Even with that, he’s still managing to play at least 80% of team snaps currently, even if he hasn’t had a sack since Week 4. Cleveland’s bye week is in Week 10, so hopefully help is just around the corner.
Week 7 was the first quiet week for Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah of the season, as he only managed a meager 7.25 points after back-to-back 20+ outings in Weeks 5 and 6. “JOK” has been able to supplement lower tackle numbers these past couple of weeks with a sack, and was unable to do it this time out. These things happen, but it shouldn’t change your view of Owusu-Koramoah at all moving forward.
Eagles 28, Giants 3
Zack Baun left the game with a shoulder injury and didn’t return, so Nakobe Dean took this opportunity to score more points than his last three outings combined with a monster 37.05-point game. Dean had 11 tackles (22.5% rate) and was one of six Philadelphia players to abuse Daniel Jones, picking up 2 sacks of his own.
We knew the Giants losing Andrew Thomas was going to be bad, I didn’t know it meant that the entire O-line would stop knowing how to block. The Eagles pass rush was unstoppable, with six different players getting 8 sacks, 7 of them on Daniel Jones. Jalyx Hunt even got in on the action, though his was of Drew Lock.
Who’s your 2024 sack leader now? Like we all predicted, Dexter Lawrence. “Sexy Dexy” has 9 sacks through seven weeks and looks nigh-unblockable in the middle. Lawrence has already surpassed his previous career high of 7.5, and with matchups like Carolina, Atlanta, Washington, and New Orleans still coming on the schedule, 12-15 sacks could be within reach.
Sexy Dexy’s dominance through the middle has provided both guys on the outside plenty of opportunities to capitalize on, which both Brian Burns and Azeez Ojulari did for the second straight week giving them both 3 sacks in their past 3 games. Thibodeaux is set to miss at least 2 more games through IR, so keep rolling Azeez out there while he’s getting these increased snap shares.
Texans 22, Packers 24
Quay Walker left early in the game and his replacement… *checks notes* Eric Wilson (???) went off. Wilson played 56 of 63 snaps and had 5 tackles (8.9% rate) and 2 sacks to go with 4 tackles for a loss. McDuffie and Cooper still rotated in the secondary linebacker role, but I’d check in with Mike Woellert’s green dot article about what to do if Walker misses Week 8.
It was the game of the veteran backup linebacker in this one, as Azeez Al-Shaair and Henry To’oTo’o didn’t suit up and Christian Harris isn’t off IR yet, so it was Neville Hewitt back from the dead to save our lineups. Hewitt put up a great showing of 28.25 points, thanks to 9 tackles (15.5% rate) and an interception.
That’s the first time this season that Danielle Hunter has put up sacks in back-to-back games, as both he and Will Anderson got home once again this week. Both have been hot and cold so far this year, with Anderson’s hot being volcanic as he erupted for nearly 50 last week.
Interceptions in back-to-back weeks have got Calen Bullock into the discussion for top-scoring rookie DB on the season so far, as he posted his third double-digit point game of the season. Bullock was drafted in the 3rd round out of USC to the Texans and has formed a solid duo with Jalen Pitre on the back end for Houston in terms of IDP.
Someone must have drawn him a map. Because Rashan Gary finally got a QB sack this past week. It’s his first since Week 1, giving him his first game over 5 points since that week too. Gary is pure feast or famine at the moment, and the feasts feel like they’re 100 years apart.
Dolphins 10, Colts 16
Grant Stuard, baby! As I saw someone describe it today when discussing his flowing mane, “What a fantastic head of lettuce.” Stuard filled in for the injured E.J. Speed and calmly collected 19(!) tackles on a 93% snap share. Stuard didn’t do anything else apart from tackle, but neither has Speed this season and he’s been great, so whichever one of them it is, you’re starting them.
It only took four weeks, but Laiatu Latu has picked up his second sack of the season. Due to injuries along the defensive line for Indianapolis, Latu has found himself in a significant starting role, and the talent in college was undeniable. Here’s hoping he’s able to build on this with the Colts playing Houston and Minnesota in their next two matches.
Jordyn Brooks is one of the few remaining bright spots on this Miami defense and it’s more of a dull gleam. He bounced back to a decent output of 14.75 points, coming off the bye after a poor showing in Week 5 against the Patriots. Brooks has had one massive week against the Titans in Week 4, but aside from that, has been rather pedestrian, averaging just 9.25 points on 33 total tackles in his other 5 games. A far cry from the tackle monster we saw in Seattle.
Seahawks 34, Falcons 14
Another big week for Dre'Mont Jones as he posted his second 20+ point game of the season thanks to his third sack. Jones has three games over 17 points, and four under 5.5 points. I just don’t know how you can trust him unless you’re in a league that forces you to start more than 4 DL or you have him in best ball.
Derick Hall looked set to repeat his minimal scoring performance from last week, with just 1 tackle and 1 QB hit to his name… until he was able to get a scoop and score from a Kirk Cousins fumble and take it 64 yards. That one play generated 15.4 of his 18.65 points. Flukiness aside, Hall is amid a breakout season, so flukey plays might come, but he’s also putting in the hard work to be in the right place at the right time for fantasy points.
Devon Witherspoon hasn’t scored 8 or more points since Week 1. He’s also failed to reach 8 or more tackles at all this season after doing it four times last year. Outside of 1 pass defended, he’s had no impact plays at all and is currently CB54/DB302. It’s time to sit him and his 6.89 PPG down on your bench if you haven’t already done so.
Kaden Ellis took top-scoring LB honors in Atlanta this week as Nate Landman gave us next to nothing. Elliss was nothing spectacular, but his 9 tackles (15% rate) led all Falcons players, and he was still on the field for 100% of snaps. The LB2 has been the guy to roster so far this season with Landman and Andersen, so keep an eye on if that trend continues, or if Elliss could be on the up.
Atlanta’s pass rush woes were talked about last week, and they continued. They were only able to get to Geno Smith one time, and it was the 2024 free-agent acquisition James Smith-Williams. That’s Smith-Williams’ first sack of 2024, after having put up seven in 55 career games as a depth piece in Washington.
Raiders 15, Rams 20
Kam Curl is back! Not really, but it was nice to see a baller game just for old-time’s sake, though it probably helped no one. Curl put up just shy of 30 points though even without the fumble recovery TD he would have had a decent day of 16.75 points (Big 3 Scoring). Curl was impacting the game in multiple ways with 7 tackles (8.9% rate) and 2 passes defended. Unfortunately, with the emergence of Quentin Lake, these types of outings are just too few and far between.
Rookie Rams corner, Jaylen McCollough, now has 3 interceptions in his last two games and is averaging 18.93 PPG across them. On the flip side, he hasn’t played more than 18 snaps in any one game, and in games without a pick, is averaging 1.13 PPG. I’ll let you decide what to do with that information.
Jared Verse is averaging 12.22 PPG on the season in six games, making him the second-highest-scoring IDP rookie behind Tykee Smith. Verse also only has 1 sack to his name for the whole year on 27 pressures. If he can convert even a fraction more of those opportunities, he’s going to have a monster second half of the season.
No matter how bad the Raiders are, Maxx Crosby is still really flipping good because he doesn’t take plays off. Crosby has 6.5 sacks through 6 games and has only put up less than 17.5 points in one game this season, with his peak of 38.5 coming in Week 2 against Baltimore. With Hutch gone for the season, Crosby is the most consistent guy at the D-Line position in 2024.
Robert Spillane had an unusually quiet game against the Rams, with his 9.25-point outing coming as his season low in both points and tackles (5 total, 9.1% rate) output so far in 2024.
Panthers 7, Commanders 40
If you started Dante Fowler due to the Dorrance Armstrong and/or Jonathan Allen injuries, you were rewarded and ecstatic about it. If you started nearly any other player in this game outside of Frankie Luvu or Mike Sainristil, it was a rough day due to how quickly the starters were pulled by Washington and how quickly Carolina got boat-raced.
Rookie Sainristil had his best performance of his short career that didn’t involve an interception, giving him back-to-back strong performances recently. He’s currently CB17 thanks to 4 passes defended to go with his interception last week.
It was a quiet game for Trevin Wallace as he had his worst performance since taking over the starting role. The Commanders just gouged the Panthers both through the air and on the ground, even without starting QB Jayden Daniels. The Panthers play Denver this coming week in a game that should be a lot more friendly to Wallace’s point-scoring.
Chiefs 28, 49ers 18
It was a week of vintage performances from veteran DBs and Justin Reid wound back the clock to his top-12 season last year as he put up 20.55 points on 9 tackles (15.3% rate) and 1 interception. Reid hasn’t surpassed 9 points in any game since Week 1. So while it was great to see, I’m not putting him in my lineup without a few more of these first.
“Furious" George Karlaftis doubled his season sack total to 2 this week, chasing down Brock Purdy. Karlaftis has been frustrating in that the Chiefs defense has been so incredibly dominant on the field, but he has shown very little of what we saw in his breakout campaign of 2023.
Malik Mustapha is an absolute wrecking ball. The rookie safety flies around the field with absolute abandon and no concern for his well-being. It’s intoxicating to watch. He’s had 3 games in a row now of 10 points or more, averaging over 13.5 his past 2 thanks to 14 tackles and an interception. With Hufanga sidelined, Mustapha is set for a full-time role and is worth a look on your waivers.
Deommodore Lenoir is currently CB8 on the season at 11.5 PPG, and we just lost CB1 in Paulson Adebo for the year, and CB4 Marlon Humphrey left Monday night’s game with a knee injury. Lenoir has 8 tackles in three straight games and is finding ways to add to that baseline with big plays such as this week’s interception and Week 5’s FG block return for a touchdown.
Jets 15, Steelers 37
This is your weekly “Will McDonald got another sack” confirmation. As he did indeed do that. McDonald now has 8 sacks on the season and has 15 points or more in 5 of 7 games. He’s asked to do one thing, and one thing only: rush the passer. If he doesn’t get to the QB, you’re going to be disappointed in his output for that week. It’s pretty straightforward.
T.J. Watt had 39 pass rush attempts on Sunday night per PFF. He recorded just 1 pressure. This comes after he didn’t record a single pressure in last week’s game against the Raiders. The last time per PFF that Watt recorded 1 or fewer pressures in back-to-back games? Weeks 4 and 5 of his rookie year in 2017.
Tony Adams left Sunday Night Football with a hamstring injury and did not return. Before this week, Adams was averaging 12.96 PPG thanks to 43 tackles, 1 sack, and 5 passes defended. Ashtyn Davis was his direct replacement, but he suffered a concussion early in the 4th quarter.
C.J. Mosley returned, but in a limited fashion playing only 22 snaps. Curiously though, the Jets deployed both Quincy Williams and Jamien Sherwood at the same time, with both playing over 97% of snaps. None of the three popped on the scoresheet, but this definitely bears monitoring as all three playing at the same time will limit their individual ceilings.
Ravens 41, Buccaneers 31
There it is! Roquan Smith had himself just his second Roquan Smith-like performance of the season with 18(!) tackles and a forced fumble in Baltimore’s Monday night win. Smith showed managers that he’s still in there and can still take over a game when needed.
Speaking of taking over games, Antoine Winfield Jr. has scored 23.8 and 22.4 points in his last two games since returning from injury. Winfield had 10 tackles and a sack in another dominant performance, re-establishing why he is the dynasty S1. Unfortunately, new-hotness rookie Tykee Smith left in the second quarter with a concussion and could miss their Week 8 clash with Atlanta.
Yaya Diaby picked up his second sack of 2024, giving him a season-high 20.05 points on Monday night. I’ve been saying all year the breakout is coming for Diaby and we’re nearly at the midpoint of the season. Tampa has the Falcons, Chiefs, 49ers, and then a bye in Week 11. From Week 12 onwards, they have the Giants, Panthers, Raiders, Chargers, Cowboys, Panthers, and Saints. You will want him on your roster for that run.
It was another sack each for both Odafe Oweh and Kyle Van Noy last night. Oweh is now 0.5 short of his single-season best of 5. Van Noy just needs two more to equal his career-high of 9. I’d expect both to hit those targets.
Winfield put his stamp on the game, but so did Kyle Hamilton, who delivered a solid 15.75-point game powered by an 11-tackle performance. Since averaging just under 5 PPG through the first 2 weeks, Hamilton is at a much more respectable 13.5 PPG. Though he’s yet to put up a game of more than 20 points after having three of them last season.
Chargers 15, Cardinals 17
Max Melton (18.75) and Cam Hart (16.25) were the leading IDP point scorers in this game for both teams. Um, WHO?! Both are rookie defensive backs who’ve seen increased playing time over the past couple of weeks.
Melton and Hart were the only players outside of former taxi squad nose tackle Naquan Jones (WHO?!) to put up over 15 points, that should kind of tell you everything you need to know about this one.
Dennis Gardeck left the game in the second quarter with a knee injury that could put his status for the Week 8 game in Miami in question. Gardeck has been nothing more than a situational pass rusher this season and has really dropped off since putting up 64 points combined through Weeks 2 and 3.
At the time of print, I haven’t got the snap counts for the Chargers linebackers, but I’d love to see what the split is like now. Junior Colson, Denzel Perryman, and Daiyan Henley all combined for just 17.75 points, with 9 of those coming from Henley. Colson’s time has to be coming soon — I’m just curious as to how soon.
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