IDP Recap: Week 9
With Week 9 complete, let's get you up to speed with a recap of the biggest IDP headlines from each game.
It happened: we got our first 60-point performance of the season! Thanks, Trey Hendrickson. We also had Myles Garrett emphatically prove the doubters wrong with his own 3-sack game, and Les Snead proved that when he doesn’t say “F them picks” and chooses to hold onto them, he strikes gold, time after time.
What else happened in Week 9? Let’s find out together.
Texans 13, Jets 21
I’m skeptical that it took a matchup against arguably the worst interior lines in the league to do it, but Quinnen Williams has finally put together back-to-back sack games for the first time this season. “Big Q” has averaged 22.95 PPG (per Big 3 Scoring) the past two weeks, and put up 3 sacks on 13 pressures.
Last week I was on the IDP After Show with Jase Abbey and highlighted Jamien Sherwood as the main linebacker I liked this week with C.J. Mosley set to miss an indefinite amount of time. I didn’t predict this type of showing, though. Sherwood was electric, posting 27.85 points on 100% of snaps. He did have his lowest tackle output since Week 3 with 7 (9% rate) but, he perfectly supplemented those numbers with 2 sacks.
Denico Autry had a career year in Tennessee in 2023 with 11.5 sacks, he was then suspended for 6 games in 2024 by the NFL for violating its’ PED policy. This was the first week since returning that he’s played over 50% of the snaps and he showed glimpses of that 2023 level play, rewarding managers who held onto him through the suspension.
Will Anderson played 8 snaps before he got rolled up on and injured his ankle. He tried working out with the trainer on the sideline but was unable to return to the game. Ankles are tricky injuries, so pay close attention to the practice reports.
Chargers 27, Browns 10
The reigning DPOY is still really, really freaking good. There had been rumblings around about whether it was time to move off of Myles Garrett due to him having a down season and still being a big name. DL/EDGE is volatile so there will be dips, but very few players can give you the peaks that Garrett can. He’s like Aaron Donald and J.J. Watt — you’ll ride him until the wheels fall off.
Tuli Tuipulotu has put together back-to-back sack games for just the second time in his career, with the other time being Weeks 2 and 3 in his rookie season last year. Tuipulotu has benefitted massively from Joey Bosa’s reduced playing time and absence and is starting to string together quality IDP performances.
Another second-year player stringing together quality IDP performances is linebacker Daiyan Henley. Henley has 35.25 points on 23 tackles over the past 2 games (16.4% rate) and has received a tackle grade of 83.3 both weeks from PFF while playing 92% of snaps.
Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah was placed on IR on Saturday, which led to Cleveland rolling out Mohamoud Diabate and Devin Bush as their primary linebackers. Diabate played on 92% of snaps and wore the green dot, but only managed 8 points on 4 tackles (7.7% rate). While Bush was able to do less with more, posting 8 tackles (17% rate) and 1 sack for 17.2 points on 81% of snaps.
Cowboys 21, Falcons 27
Kaden Elliss must have been sick of seeing all the write-ups about his brothers because he came to ball on Sunday. Elliss posted his third straight game with double-digit tackles with 13 (17.1% rate) and boosted his already solid outing with a sack. This gives Elliss just his third ever 30+ point game and his first since Week 16 of last year.
It’s only taken 10 weeks, but Arnold Ebiketie got his first sack of the season. A former second-rounder of the Falcons, he’s been used sparingly to start the season, but he’s seen his snap share increase to over 50% since Week 6, rising to a career-high 70% this past week.
That’s now back-to-back solid showings from DeMarvion Overshown. Since Week 4, Overshown has played at least 86% of snaps, averaging 97% in the past 4 games. Overshown has 53 tackles (12.8% rate) on the season to go with 2 sacks and 1 forced fumble, giving him a solid 12.75 PPG in what could be classified as his redshirt sophomore season in the NFL.
Carl Lawson left the Bengals at the end of the 2020 season and signed with the Jets. He spent 3 seasons in New York and accrued 7 sacks (2021 was lost to injury). He’s got 2.5 through 6 games with Dallas, and 2 of them came on Sunday. Before this game, he was averaging 3.77 PPG on the season.
Raiders 24, Bengals 41
In Week 2, I said Trey Hendrickson was set for another 10+ sack season. He hit his 11th this past week and is showing no signs of slowing down. When it’s all said and done for 2024, it wouldn’t be a surprise to see him replicate his 17.5 from 2023.
Tre’von Moehrig is a top-10 DB on the season through nine weeks of play at 13.33 PPG, and that’s while scoring just 5.58 PPG in Weeks 1-3. Since Week 4, Moehrig hasn’t had a game under 12 points and is averaging 18.46 PPG in his past four games while playing 100% of snaps thanks to 37 tackles, 4 tackles for loss, 1 interception, 0.5 a sack, and 2 passes defended.
Nate Hobbs was carted to the locker room on Sunday with an ankle injury and did not return to the game. Before this week, Hobbs was averaging 15.17 PPG over the past 3 weeks thanks to 20 tackles (11.4% rate) and an interception. He had also posted PFF tackle grades of over 80.0 in 2 of his past 3 games.
Sunday was an uncharacteristically quiet game for Germaine Pratt as he posted his first sub-6-point game all season on the back of accumulating just a single tackle. This is the first game in 2024 that Pratt has failed to post at least 7 tackles, and in fact, he’d racked up 80 through his last 8 games (14.9% rate).
Commanders 27, Giants 22
Back in 2015, the Jacksonville Jaguars took Dante Fowler 3rd overall. He only had 16 sacks through his first four years until he got to play beside Aaron Donald in Los Angeles in 2019 and broke out for 11.5. He then had 17.5 across his next four seasons in Atlanta and Dallas and has now found a career resurgence in Washington. He’s got 6.5 sacks on the season, with six of those in the past five weeks, and has put up 29.5 points or more in three of his last four games, all while not having played in more than 55% of snaps in any of them.
Boom games from Jeremy Chinn and Dante Fowler? Are we sure it’s not 2019? Chinn was everywhere against the Giants, totaling 12 tackles (18.5% rate) while playing 79% of his 100% snap share in the sweet spot. This isn’t the first game Chinn has popped in this season. But, it’s just his fourth game over 5 PPG in 2024.
It was a quiet one all around for the studs on the Giants’ defensive line. They were unable to get to Jayden Daniels at all and had a negligible impact in the run game as Austin Ekeler gouged them for several big runs. Don’t worry too much, though, as next up is Carolina. However, Thibodeaux will also be eligible to return from IR, and Ojulari could get traded before Tuesday’s 4 p.m. deadline.
Patriots 17, Titans 20
One week after I essentially wrote a Christian Elliss puff piece and crowned him the new linebacker to roster in New England over Jahlani Tavai, Elliss followed that up by playing just 58% of snaps to Tavai’s 88%. Tavai was the main man in the box score, too, posting 24.25 points to Elliss’ 6.5. I’m not trusting either, especially with Kyle Dugger probably claiming playcalling duties upon returning from an ankle injury.
Amani Hooker had a stellar 32.65-point performance against the Patriots, centered around 2 crucial interceptions, one of which sealed the game in overtime. Hooker is probably rostered in your league, though I’m unsure outside of best ball when you could look to start him as he has as many games under 11 PPG as over it.
Tennessee feasted on Drake Maye and this offensive line on Sunday generating 28 pressures and 4 sacks. This meant big days for Arden Key, Jeffrey Simmons, and Harold Landry. Landry, I’m continuing to trust and Key moves into a “maybe trust” category for me. But I’ve seen these bursts of points followed by long droughts from him before. For Simmons, it’s his first back-to-back sack performances since Weeks 1 and 2 of 2023, so here’s hoping he can build on it.
Keion White started the season with 4 sacks in two games. We’re now through Week 9 and he hasn’t had a sack since. Luckily he’s been able to offset this in a few of those weeks due to TFLs and PDs, but that’s now three straight strong matchups against the Jaguars, Jets, and Titans he hasn’t got it done. Next up is the Bears who I’d love to start him against, but I’m not sure if I can.
Broncos 10, Ravens 41
No player on the Ravens played 100% of snaps due to the blowout. In fact, Roquan Smith only played 75%. That can explain part of his poor performance, but the point is, that Smith just isn’t playing at the same level this season as his past seasons in Baltimore. His overall PFF grade has dropped to 58.5 after posting a 77.9 grade in 2023 and 72.1 in 2022, and it’s mainly due to his coverage. Smith has just a 47.8 coverage grade in 2024, down from 83.2 in 2023.
Smith might have only played 75% of snaps, but you know who played the most? Trenton Simpson! That’s right: Harbaugh left Simpson out on the field after he pulled half the starters and it resulted in Simpson gathering both a season-high in tackles with 9 (12.9% rate), but also the best fantasy performance in his career of 28.55 points (per Big 3 Scoring).
It was a quiet day all around from the Broncos pass rush, as only John Franklin-Meyers was able to get to Lamar for a sack. Nik Bonitto, Jonathon Cooper, and Zach Allen were all able to generate at least 1 pressure, though they were unsuccessful in converting any of them.
Sunday was not a good outing for Justin Strnad. He played his season-lowest snap share since the Alex Singleton injury (25%) and was extremely poor in his limited action. He earned an overall PFF grade of 25.6, a run defense grade of 60.0, a tackle grade of 71.4, a pass rush grade of 87.2, and a coverage grade of 27.3. Context is important on that pass rush grade too, as he only rushed the passer twice, and generated 1 pressure and no sacks.
On the flip side, Kwon Alexander saw the most action he’s seen all year with 31 snaps (54%) and was the highest-graded Broncos defender per PFF. With a 92.5 overall grade, 93.4 run defense, 78.4 tackle, and 44.8 coverage grade. Is this a sign of what’s to come moving forward? I have no idea, but it’s worth monitoring.
Saints 22, Panthers 23
These two teams are so awful it’s almost tantamount to a war crime to send the Panthers to Germany to play the Giants with MGK as the post-game show. There’s not a single Panther you can trust in your lineup at this point.
Josey Jewell and Trevin Wallace both played at least 97% of snaps, and neither made their mark on the game. Jewell had a promising return from injury last week but had a disappointing 6 tackle performance (7.6% rate) this week, which earned him a 27.5 tackle grade from PFF due to 4 tackle misses.
Alontae Taylor is the lone bright spot on the Saints defense in terms of IDP scoring. What had originally started as a smorgasbord of opportunities for IDP points, has slowly tailed off in the past few weeks. Taylor is still the DB1 on the year at 17 PPG, and 20 points ahead of Kyle Hamilton, Brian Branch, and Xavier McKinney, and with no games in single-digit points through 9 weeks, he’s probably the first name in your lineup each week.
Carl Granderson historically would have been considered a must-start for IDP managers, especially in 2023 and the way he started 2024. However, the 0.5 sack he collected in Week 9 was the first sack he’s posted since Week 3, putting up 7 straight performances of under 7 PPG. I’ll need to see more from Granderson before I want him back in my lineup.
Dolphins 27, Bills 30
Dorian Williams was assessed for a concussion in the third quarter of the game against the Dolphins but returned after an independent assessment. He played 87% of snaps and recorded a team-high 12 tackles (22.6% rate). In his second season, Williams has accumulated 84 tackles, 2 forced fumbles, and 1 fumble recovery to have him sitting at LB18 on the year currently.
I talked about NBA Jam rules last week, and according to those rules, “Old Greg” Rousseau is on fire, ladies and gentlemen. Rousseau has three straight games of 19 points or higher and is only 35 points shy of his career-best single-season IDP score with eight games to go. He will need to pick up the pace if he’s to secure his first 10-sack season though, as he’s currently pacing for just 8.5, which would still be a career high.
2024 has been a disappointing season for Ed Oliver after a breakout in 2023. After putting up 9.5 sacks last season, Oliver only has 1 in 7 games through 9 weeks of the season. Oliver has never been the stoutest run defender either, but his 29.0 tackle grade is the lowest of his career, and his 47.9 run defense grade is the second lowest. All in all, Oliver just isn’t getting it done against either the pass or the run for fantasy purposes.
Chop Robinson got his first sack of his career against Josh Allen on Sunday. Robinson has found himself with more playing time since Jaelan Phillips was placed back on IR with his season-ending ACL injury. Seen as the fourth guy in the class behind Dallas Turner, Jared Verse, and Laiatu Latu, Robinson has had a quiet start to the season, with this just his first game over 5 PPG. Here’s hoping it’s a building block for the rookie to work from.
Jaguars 23, Eagles 28
Travon Walker and Josh Hines-Allen both posted awesome weeks in entirely different ways. Hines-Allen notched his first multi-sack game of the season for only his 3rd double-digit point performance of 2024. While Walker had 0 sacks, he grabbed a loose fumble and turned into a running back, taking it back for the TD.
Zach Baun had a couple of quiet weeks in Weeks 4, 6, and 7, posting just 7.67 PPG in that span. He’s been back to his early season form these past 2 weeks with a 17-point and then 28-point performance on Sunday afternoon. To solidify the point of how well he’s been playing, Weeks 8 and 9 are also the two highest-graded weeks per PFF of his entire career at a 92.6 overall grade this week and 91.3 overall grade last week.
Nakobe Dean has also been electric these past two weeks to a lesser extent but also has back-to-back games with over a 90+ PFF overall grade. He’s also sitting at LB9 on the season, just behind Baun who’s at LB7.
Josh Sweat will get all the hype, thanks to his 2-sack, 33-point performance on 5 pressures. But another player on that team put up 5 pressures and it won’t show on the fantasy box-score. Jalen Carter had 5 pressures this past game and is up to 28 on the season. He’s only got 3 sacks so far, but we’re starting to see glimpses of what the ceiling could be. If you’re in a dynasty league, this might be a buy-low window, especially with the Eagles getting Cooper Rush next week due to Dak’s hamstring injury.
Cooper DeJean got the start at slot corner in Week 6 coming off the Eagles’ bye, and since then he’s posted 12.84 PPG, with no single-digit point games in that span. However, he also hasn’t returned a punt since Week 6 either, so the ceiling we thought we might get has disappeared on us too.
Bears 9, Cardinals 29
The Cardinals got to Caleb Williams 6 times and pressured 36 times on Sunday. Yep, those Cardinals — the ones who are in first place in their division. They also decided to bolster their pass rush on Monday, adding Baron Browning via trade from the Denver Broncos.
The dominance at the line of scrimmage from Arizona meant big games for guys you probably didn’t play. Zaven Collins had over 25 points, while Xavier Thomas, Jesse Luketa, and L.J. Collier all had between 11-19 points thanks to at least 0.5 a sack each too.
Jaquan Brisker has missed three games in a row now with a concussion since delivering the boom to Tommy Tremble. Tremble, it should be noted, has returned to play in that time frame and gotten re-injured. This timeline is scary for Brisker to be sure. Kevin Byard made the most of the prolonged absence this week at least, playing over 50% of his snaps down in the box and putting up 20 points from 7 tackles (12.1% rate), 1 sack, and 1 fumble recovery.
2024 has been a big disappointment for both T.J. Edwards and Tremaine Edmunds from a fantasy perspective. Edwards was being drafted as the LB8 and Edmunds the LB22. They currently sit at the LB32 and LB35, respectively, at 11.6 and 11.3 PPG. Both have also been boom/bust as they have failed to reach 10 points on four occasions, (this past week) while putting up over 17 points on two other occasions each — frustrating for sure.
Rams 26, Seahawks 20
This game was a showcase for Rams GM Les Snead’s 2023 and 2024 rookie classes. Five of the top six scorers came from either his 2023 or 2024 draft with Byron Young, Kobie Turner, Jared Verse, and Braden Fiske all collecting a sack on their way to 20+ point games a piece. I joked early in the year about making up Aaron Donald in the aggregate Moneyball style, but that’s exactly what he’s done.
The other two in the top six scorers for this matchup? Devon Witherspoon (not Snead’s 2023 draft pick, but still a second-year player) and 2024 rookie safety Kamren Kinchens, who exploded for a 40-point game thanks to 2 interceptions, taking one of them to the house. This isn’t close to the norm for Kinchens, whose season-high before was 6 points. But, we now know the sky’s the limit for the young rookie out of Miami.
Mike Woellert joked that Ernest Jones might net close to all the tackles in his return to Los Angeles, and while that wasn’t quite the case, he and Tyrell Dodson had strong showings with 9 tackles each (11.7% rate) on 100% of snaps.
Boye Mafe started the season with 3 sacks in three games while averaging 19.85 PPG. He missed Weeks 4 and 5 through injury and since returning has posted just 1 sack in four games and is averaging 7.78 PPG. Seattle gets a bye in Week 10, so here’s hoping we get early-season Mafe back after the break.
Lions 24, Packers 14
Detroit has two of the top five scoring DBs through nine weeks in IDP. Brian Branch was ejected early in this game for unnecessary roughness on a defenseless receiver and only managed 2 points, but is still the D3/S2 on the season. Kerby Joseph continued his thieving ways grabbing his 6th interception of the season and taking this one to the house, giving him 23.7 points. In three seasons, Joseph has 4 interceptions in four games against Green Bay. They play again in Week 14…
Green Bay also has two top 12 DBs in their ranks with Xavier McKinney and Keisean Nixon at DB4/S3 and DB12/CB4. It was a quiet game for McKinney due to no interception as his tackle floor just doesn’t provide anything at all for him. In games with a pick, McKinney is averaging 17.5 PPG; in games without one, just 8.85 PPG. Keisean Nixon has 243 return yards on the season so far, that’s 24.3 points or 2.7 PPG. That’s enough to turn a poor game into an average game, an average game into a good game, or a good game into a great game.
Dan Campbell: just leave Jack Campbell on the field moving forward! Even when everyone is healthy. Campbell has seen 92% or more of snaps in the past two weeks and coincidentally has produced two of his best three PFF graded performances with a 78.4 and 78.5 overall grade and a 76.1 and 76.5 run defense grade. He’s also put up 20 total tackles in those two weeks at a 15.2% tackle rate with just an 8.3% missed tackle rate in that same span.
Alim McNeill continues to generate pressure from the inside at a good rate. McNeill had another 7 pressures on Sunday afternoon, taking him to 27 on the season and giving him his third game of 6 or more pressures this season. Unfortunately, pressures do not equal fantasy points unless you make contact with the QB, meaning McNeill is still only DT40/DL103 on the season.
The Lions should get some help for McNeill in the shape of Za’Darius Smith, who they traded for from Cleveland just before we published this.
Colts 13, Vikings 21
It’s been a hot and cold season for Jonathan Greenard: he’s got three games over 19 PPG, and two over 28 PPG, but he’s also got four under 10 PPG and two under 8 PPG. You’re not sitting Greenard, as he’s on pace for 15 sacks on the year, and next up plays Jacksonville, Tennessee, and Chicago. His career high is 12.5 sacks and he has 7 currently, by the time they play Chicago again in Week 15, he could realistically be looking to set his career high against that deficient Bears offensive line.
Sam Darnold was sacked 4 times by the Colts and Grover Stewart was 2 of those as he posted a 26-point game. Grover has also never historically had over 4 sacks in a single season, so I’m not trusting this moving forward until “Big Grove” can put a few more of these games together.
Nick Cross is the S5/DB8 on the season at 13.8 PPG and is second in the league in total tackles at the safety position, tied with Budda Baker for assisted tackles and just 5 behind in solos. He’s posting a great tackle rate of 13.5% while having a missed tackle rate of just 11.1%.
Andrew Van Ginkel saw his snap share drop to below 83% for the first time since Week 3, with him playing just 72% on Sunday night. This coincided with Dallas Turner playing his highest snap share since Week 1 at 48%. Neither Turner nor Van Ginkel impacted the game significantly, posting just 3.5 and 4 points each. But this bears watching as AVG has been an IDP revelation this season, and Turner was a highly drafted rookie who the Vikings traded up to draft.
Buccaneers 24, Chiefs 30
Monday Night Football was a big boy feast up front for the Buccaneers. Both Vita Vea and Calijah Kancey had 2 sacks apiece as they harassed Mahomes at every opportunity.
Tykee Smith returned from a concussion on Monday and was instantly back into the top scorer’s section. Smith had 9 tackles and a forced fumble for an 18.75-point game. We’ll need to re-assess going forward the impact this will have on Antoine Winfield Jr., who was still serviceable at 11.5 points, but not at the heights we’re used to.
Chris Jones has failed to record a sack in 4 straight games and only has 3 on the season, 2 of which came in Week 4 and the other in Week 1. Jones has historically been a set-and-forget DT for us, but it’s getting to the point now where he could be a hindrance in your lineup with so many other DTs performing.
It was a quiet one for Nick Bolton on Monday, as he only managed 3 assisted tackles. Don’t overreact though, as this is only the second game this season where Bolton has failed to post double digits, and as with anything in life, variance needs to be accounted for. So, don’t panic keep rolling Bolton out as an every-week linebacker.
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