All About the Solo: Week Two

One of the most frustrating things in IDP leagues is seeing your stud linebacker fly all over the field on game days only to see the home score keeper dilute his performance by divvying up his tackles as assists. On the flip side, if your league doesn’t score solos and assists too differently, you’ll have a better idea of which teams hand out assists like candy. Not everyone knows this, but the NFL does not recognize a tackle as an official statistic. Tackles are scored by the home team’s official score keeper and those are the stats you see on the news and websites. The league made an effort to standardize what is and isn’t a solo tackle back in 2007 when they sent a video to all NFL teams, but it is still the discretion of the home score keeper. Even after this effort there is a still a large discrepancy from team to team and week-to-week. I will be tracking this throughout the season to give you a better idea of what to expect when choosing your IDPs each week.

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Jatavis Brown has all the looks of a big time breakout candidate after a solid 2016 season. He’s playing every down for the Chargers and can do it all. He’s a tackling machine but can also effectively drop into coverage and blitz the quarterback when asked. Brown was on just about all the preseason “buy” lists so the time to acquire has long passed, but it’s comforting to see him deliver.

Vincent Rey is a guy you should be shopping right now. People may look at his impressive tackle numbers so far and believe he has LB2 upside for the rest of the season, but he will return to a reserve role when Vontaze Burfict returns. Sell now if you can.

Alec Ogletree and Mark Barron combined for 21 total tackles this week against the Redskins. Ogletree played every snap while Barron played 68 of 71 snaps. This game was a big eye opener for Wade Phillips’ defense as the Redskins lined up and ran it down the Rams’ throats play after play after play and the Rams couldn’t do a damn thing about it. For IDP purposes, this is a recipe for success. The team defense might struggle to get off the field but as long as these two are the guys making the tackles four yards downfield, we’ve hit the IDP jackpot.

Karlos Dansby is wearing the green dot as captain of the Cardinals defense while Deone Bucannon is recovering from a sprained ankle and Haason Reddick works his way into the lineup. Much like the situation with Vincent Rey in Cincinnati, I don’t believe Dansby maintains his current value and should be traded sooner rather than later.

I have no clue what is going on with Lawrence Timmons in Miami. He went AWOL from the team on Saturday, the team filed a missing persons report and he was later found about to board a plane for Pennsylvania. Now the team has suspended him indefinitely and traded for Stephone Anthony from the Saints. In place of Timmons, Mike Hull stepped in and played every snap while collecting ten total tackles. It’ll be interesting to see if the Dolphins view Anthony as competition for Hull or as a backup. I’ve been a fan of Anthony’s for a while and hope he finally gets another shot.

I don’t want to gush too much about Jaylon Smith but I love what I’m seeing from him after his lost rookie season. He’s looking better and better each week while playing a full slate of snaps.

Ziggy Ansah was a dominant force on Monday night on his way to collecting three sacks against the Giants. Ereck Flowers of the Giants is struggling badly and should be exploited for IDP matchups.

Julius Peppers turned back the clock this week as he collected two sacks and six total tackles on just 32 snaps. He’s going to have DL2 value all year as a matchup dependent player.

Jerry Hughes, Everson Griffen and Demarcus Lawrence each collected two sacks this week. They are defensive ends I would play every week in 12 team leagues regardless of matchups.

Mario Edwards was a player I’ve added to a lot of my IDP squads as a player who I hoped would deliver in 2017. So far I’ve been happy with what I’ve seen but I would like to see him play more than 43% of the snaps.

Chris Jones put up a big fate goose egg in week one but followed it up with a three sack performance in week two. He only played 44% of the team’s snaps so consistency is going to be an issue but clearly he’s a difference maker.

Follow me on Twitter @OlingerIDP.

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