Tales of a Dynasty IDP Newbie

Ryan Finley Posted On December 12, 2016

Did you spend any time leading up to this weekend’s games wondering whether Marcus Cooper or Malcolm Butler had the better matchup? No? Well, it’s not something I would have done a year ago either. For a couple of years now, I’d been considering giving an IDP league a try. I’d felt tired of the typical crapshoot inherent in team defenses, and liked the idea of trying the extra wrinkle of rostering individual defensive players. In retrospect, I don’t think I quite understood how many extra wrinkles there were. But I digress. Here’s a look at a few of the things I’ve learned in my first two seasons playing IDP leagues.

First some quick background – I started my IDP journey by joining a beginner’s league last season. This was a league run by Doug Green and a few DLF writers. It was a simple IDP redraft league to help new guys get their feet wet. It was a great intro, and set me on the path to take it a little deeper (and it helps that I straight up won that league – more on that later.) So when a couple of spots opened up in the official staff dynasty IDP league, I jumped at the opportunity. (And I find myself in the playoffs – again, more on THAT later.)

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The first thing about IDP I learned before that first league of mine even started: linebackers are king in IDP leagues. First of all, don’t take this the wrong way. They are king, but I’m only talking about the defensive side of the ball. So don’t go and trade a top wide receiver for Alec Ogletree. What that does mean is that linebackers in IDP are kind of like the running backs of old school, non-ppr fantasy – they get a lot of “touches.” Linebackers are much more frequently involved in the action on the field, whereas a defensive back or defensive lineman might come off more often, or spend a lot of time waiting for the play to come to them. Not so with a good linebacker, who tends to be all over the field. Use linebackers early and often in flex positions.

The second thing I learned is that it’s even more difficult to juggle roster spots in IDP leagues. To be fair, it can be difficult to juggle rosters in almost any league (short of maybe my 16 team, offense only league with 25 roster spots – you can sit on whoever you want) it can be particularly challenging in IDP. So you want to take a shot on a young safety getting a shot at playing time, who are you moving to make room? Are you going to drop your sixth wide receiver or dump your backup defensive end, and run with only two startable players there? It can be tough.

But that’s only the start of roster complications in IDP, as bye weeks can wreak total havoc on your team. I have to confess that I normally pay very little attention to bye weeks in my more standard leagues. I just find that I’d rather focus on having the best players, and doing some jockeying around shared bye weeks rather than sacrifice better players based on schedules. To be honest, I’m still essentially following this philosophy in IDP, but man can it be tough. I had a week earlier this season when I had to pick up a defensive tackle, quarterback and safety off the wire to field a qualifying lineup. That’s not even as bad as I can see it getting. I believe it’s for this very reason that you’ll likely see a much more lively wire in your IDP league. But it also makes the format more fun, as you get to watch where you might be able to pounce on a player that an owner in a tough spot had to drop.

Another bit about rosters that I learned – you must pay closer attention to injury news in IDP leagues. Take whatever time you normally spend checking injury news, and then perhaps more than DOUBLE the roster you have to worry about. To further complicate matters, injury news relative to fantasy is much quieter on the defensive front. There are a host of folks live-tweeting or keeping people up to date on the status of offensive players that are injured, but not the same level of information for the defensive side. It’s not that it isn’t there, but you have to work more to find it. I learned my lesson earlier this year when I fielded an injured safety that may have ultimately cost me a game.

So that’s just the intricacies of individual roster management. While it sounds silly to say this, I think it’s important to remember – don’t forget about defensive players in trade negotiations. This doesn’t just mean make sure you make trades for defensive players, but remember them as elements of other trades. My early deals in IDP were all either one or the other – either a deal involving offensive players, or one involving defensive players. Never the twain did meet. This is especially important when dealing older players, as I feel like IDP owners are more likely to trade a young asset on the defensive side than on the offensive side. I got DeForest Buckner in a deal this year and felt very good about it, for instance.

The last thing I’ve learned about IDP leagues is that they feel much more competitive than standard leagues. Now I don’t have a ton of experience yet, so this certainly could be fluky, but the feel I get is that I’m in more games more often in IDP leagues. In both the beginner’s league and the DLF IDP league, I fielded teams that might not have been the best on paper, but managed to make the playoffs in both seasons. It just feels like there are more ways to make up the difference in IDP leagues than in standard. And it’s just as satisfying to win a game Monday night via a big night from a linebacker as from a wide receiver.

Much of what I’ve pointed out here are ways that IDP leagues are more complicated than standard leagues. But for me more complication just leads to greater rewards when I get the job done. I’ve also always appreciated good defense in football (I am a Bears fan, after all) so this was a transition that made sense. While intimidating at first, the more time I spend with it the more comfortable I get. But it is complicated – so if you’re considering the format, don’t fool yourself, it does take more work and management. And while I won’t go and leave all non-IDP formats behind, I do see myself continuing leagues in this format for years to come. I do have an awful lot to learn, after all.

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