Draft Aftermath: IDP Winners and Losers, AFC South

Eric Breeze Posted On May 8, 2015

mckinney

Editor’s Note: We’ll be covering IDP “Winners and Losers” from the draft within each and every division in this series over the next couple of weeks. We’re happy to ramp up our IDP coverage as part of our all encompassing fantasy football review of the NFL Draft.

As exciting as it is to drool over incoming rookies each year, it inevitably has an inverse effect on some veteran players. While it’s important to realize a lot of these players were drafted to provide depth on NFL rosters and will potentially never make a single career start, the majority were selected with the intention to replace veterans throughout the league. Here we’ll touch on the IDP “Winners and Losers” in the AFC South.

Winners

Bernardrick McKinney, LB HOU

For IDP purposes, we all could not have asked for a better landing spot for McKinney. The Texans are one of the shallowest teams in the entire league at linebacker. Brooks Reed left in free agency, Jadeveon Clowney is returning from microfracture surgery and Brian Cushing was completely infective last year with a multitude of injuries. There were questions if McKinney was good enough in coverage to land an every down role. The same questions remain however he doesn’t have much competition in Houston so he could easily win an every down job.

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Henry Anderson, DE IND

Anderson was one of Pro Football Focus’ draft day darlings and he landed in a prime situation. The Colts defense is one of the least talented in the entire league so Anderson could be a day 1 starter. Indy uses a 3-4 defensive scheme so Anderson will play 5-technique which means he may not give you double digit sacks however he should have a decent floor due to higher tackle numbers.

Dante Fowler Jr, DE JAX

Not only was Fowler a top three NFL pick but he also landed in a prime situation. Every year it seems like a few more teams transition to the dreaded 3-4 defense so double digit sack defensive lineman are becoming more rare than 350+ running backs. Fowler landed in Jacksonville and soon will take over Chris Clemons’ LEO spot for Gus Bradley’s defense.

Avery Williamson, ILB TEN

Everybody knows Chip Kelly wanted Marcus Mariota. The rumor was the Titans turned down a deal of multiple picks and players for the second overall pick. Williamson owners should be glad that happened since Mychal Kendricks, who would have tanked the current Titan ILB’s value, was said to be part of the proposed deal.

Losers

DJ Swearinger, SS HOU

It has been confirmed Swearinger is on the trade block. A former second round pick in the 2013 draft, it looks like the Texans are ready to move on from the hard hitting but undisciplined strong safety. Houston did not draft a safety, however they recently signed former Giant Stevie Brown.

D’Qwell Jackson/Jerrell Freeman, LB IND

I wouldn’t exactly classify either of these players as “losers,” however they have definitely been put on notice. Both have been solid IDP options however their on the field play has been less than stellar. The Colts signed former Bronco Nate Irving to a three year deal worth slightly over $9 million. Irving is also coming back from an ACL tear, however, he is still more than capable of replacing either of the guys in front of them if they continue to struggle.

Jonathon Cyprien, SS JAC

Cyprien is considered one of the top defensive backs in IDP since he is young and racks up tackles. The problem is he also misses a lot of tackles given he has 30 in his first two seasons combined. I still think the strong safety is Cyprien’s but the selection of James Sample in the fourth round means he has competition. Sample is a raw prospect however he has the potential to be a physical force as an in-the-box strong safety.

Jurrell Casey, DL TEN

I’m still a huge fan of Casey and expect a bounce back year in the sack column however the Titans draft did not boost his value like I expected. I was convinced prized rookie defensive lineman Leonard Williams was going to pair with Casey to make one of the youngest and deadliest 5-technique combos in the entire league but we all know what happened. Casey is still by far the most talented defensive lineman on Tennessee so he will attract lots of offensive line attention. The re-signing of Derrick Morgan and addition of Brian Orakpo soften the blow of missing out on pairing with rookie from USC.

Follow me on Twitter @BreezeIDP.

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