NFL Fantasy Football: IDP Sleeper Da'Norris Searcy

by Arif Hasan

Da'Norris Searcy. Photo credit BuffaloBills.com

When putting together a fantasy team in an IDP league, it’s not unwise to dip into the same well twice. While grabbing a receiver and a quarterback from the same team can multiply the impact of variability, having two IDP players from the same team can often produce the opposite effect—if they are both high performers, one will likely make up for the missed production of another, and smooth out spikes and troughs in production. Shared IDP players will produce stability.

NFL: IDP Sleeper Nigel Bradham

by Arif Hasan

Nigel Bradham of Buffalo Bills. Photo credit NFL 

When selecting a player in IDP, fans often forget that the quality of the player matters a lot less than their box score. In an ideal fantasy league, that’s not the case, but there isn’t an ideal fantasy league. One way to get the jump on your friends in these leagues is to identify players who have the system rigged in their favor.
A study by Pro Football Focus found that six teams are much more likely to award a pass defensed on a particular play when at home (Baltimore, Buffalo, Cincinnati, Detroit, New York (Jets), Philadelphia, San Francisco and Seattle), and of those six teams, Buffalo also awards more solo tackles and assisted tackles.
Baltimore, Philadelphia and San Francisco are also more likely to award a solo tackle instead of an assist.
Buffalo also has an opportunity to play against fantasy friendly teams like the Patriots, the Jets and the Browns.

NFL: Jason Babin, IDP Sleeper?

by Arif Hasan

Justin Babin, IDP Sleeper? Photo credit NFL 

IDP scouting and advice is always hairy. Defensive players accumulate statistics sporadically and without a lot of reliability. Offensive players have dozens of statistics by which to measure their performance and become fantasy mavens, while defending players can accumulate good statistics regardless of their overall ability. As an example, Roman Harper and Dawan Landry both scored highly in tackle-heavy leagues, while Kerry Rhodes was not a starter in many leagues.