Fantasy Football 2011: 5 Tips for Dominating Your Draft in IDP Leagues

Individual Defensive Player (or IDP) leagues are steadily growing in popularity, with fantasy football enthusiasts everywhere eschewing the selection of team defenses on draft day for the added excitement and strategy of adding such defensive stalwarts as defensive end Jared Allen of the Minnesota Vikings, linebacker Patrick Wiilis of the San Francisco 49ers, and safety Yeremiah Bell of the Miami Dolphins to their fantasy lineups.

Whether you're new to IDP leagues and find the challenge daunting, or a seasoned IDP league owner looking for an additional edge on his competition here are a handful of tips that will give you an advantage over your league mates in the season to come.

1.) Know Your Scoring

IDP leagues generally award points for tackles, assists, sacks, fumbles forced and recovered, interceptions, passes defensed, safeties, and defensive touchdowns, and the differences in the points awarded in each category from league to league can have a huge impact on the fantasy values of players.

For example, in a league that rewards highly for sacks (say five fantasy points vs. one point for a tackle), so-called "rush" outside linebackers such as DeMarcus Ware of the Dallas Cowboys or Clay Matthews of the Green Bay Packers have additional value given their ability to get after the quarterback, while their relatively low tackle numbers cause them to slide down cheat sheets in leagues that lean more towards tackles and less towards big plays.

In addition, scorekeepers across the NFL are notoriously inconsistent, so knowing which teams are generous in doling out assisted tackles (such as the New England Patriots and Buffalo Bills, who award assists on over 25% of tackles) as opposed to those that rarely award them (such as the St. Louis Rams, who do so only 10% of the time) can be of great help in choosing between two similarly ranked players.

2.) Don't Be Afraid to Wait

Unless you play in a mixed IDP league that starts a large number of defensive players or have scoring that places defensive players on a similar level as offensive players (which is generally not the case) then you may be best served to not be the first person that selects an individual defensive player at your fantasy draft (or even the second), instead building offensive depth or grabbing a sleeper or two while the big defensive names come off the board.

There's no hard-and-fast rule, it's tempting to lock up an IDP stud like linebacker Jerod Mayo of the New England Patriots to anchor your defensive lineup, and if a value comes by that's too good to pass up by all means don't.

But many times players such as linebacker Desmond Bishop of the Green Bay Packers are available rounds after a bigger name like Mayo and can offer fantasy owners similar IDP production while affording them the chance to stockpile an upside receiver, sleeper quarterback, or handcuff running back to boot.

3.) Linebackers Rule the Roost

In most IDP leagues linebackers are the defensive equivalent of running backs, the bellcows that anchor fantasy lineups with steady weekly production borne of racking up tackles, and the top fantasy linebackers usually dominate the early defensive selections in fantasy drafts.

For years middle linebackers in 4-3 defenses were considered to be the most desirable players from an IDP perspective, and while 4-3 MLB standouts such as James Laurinaitis of the St. Louis Rams, Curtis Lofton of the Atlanta Falcons, and Jon Beason of the Carolina Panthers are all rock-solid foundations for fantasy teams 3-4 WILB.

Much like the aforementioned Patrick Willis and Jerod Mayo (who led the NFL with 175 tackles in 2010) have shown themselves every bit as capable of posting big stat lines as their 4-3 counterparts. .

4.) Defensive Linemen: Endangered Fantasy Species?

As the 3-4 defense becomes more and more prevalent in the NFL the number of 4-3 defensive ends (long the most sought-after position along the defensive front for fantasy football purposes) capable of strong, consistent IDP production has dwindled.

That positional scarcity has risen to the point that it's not unheard of to see a stud 4-3 defensive end such as Trent Cole of the Philadelphia Eagles or Justin Tuck of the New York Giants be the first defensive player selected in some IDP drafts, so fantasy owners wishing to install such a DL as the cornerstone of their IDP lineup should expect to pay a premium to do so.

Conversely, defensive tackles have historically been very inconsistent fantasy football options, so while it may be tempting to reach for the likes of Detroit Lions defensive tackle Ndumakong Suh coming off his dominant 66 tackle, 10 sack, Top 10 IDP rookie season as your DL1 know that doing so carries with it a fair amount of risk.

5.) Wait on Defensive Backs, and Then Wait Some More

No defensive position has displayed nearly as much volatility or inconsistency as defensive backs, with the top ten fantasy DBs changing wildly from season to season.

There are exceptions to this rule, such as strong safety Tyvon Branch of the Oakland Raiders and cornerback Charles Woodson of the Green Bay Packers, who have shown themselves capable of steady IDP production over several seasons, but more often than not last year's treasure can quickly become this year's trash.

Given the uncertainty at the position, unless you are a novice IDP owner seeking the "security blanket" afforded by a Woodson or Branch type and willing to pay for it, that the best course of action in IDP drafts is to wait a while before drafting defensive backs, as viable starters can be found late in fantasy drafts or even off the waiver wire.

Using picks on depth, sleepers, and other defensive positions while grabbing a breakout candidate such as rookie safety Jaiquawn Jarrett of the Philadelphia Eagles late should leave you sitting pretty.