2019 Dynasty IDP Rookie Draft: Staff Review

If I had a dollar for every PPR rookie dynasty draft article out there, I could buy my own NFL franchise. Maybe not the Cowboys, but it would probably be enough to buy the Lions or something. With that ocean of advice, you probably have a pretty good idea what you want to do in your regular old, vanilla “offense only” league. So what happens when you add the other side of the ball? For IDP players, there isn’t nearly as much content, and that’s especially true when it comes to the draft. Well, we have a staff IDP league here at DLF, and we just completed our rookie draft. We thought it might be helpful to take a closer look at that draft and have the owners give a few details on some of their defensive picks. First, the board! (Defensive rookies are highlighted in bold text.)

Round 1		Round 2		Round 3
1.01	Harry N’Keal NEP WR (R)	2.01	Hardman Mecole KCC WR (R)	3.01	Harris Damien NEP RB (R)
1.02	Metcalf, DK SEA WR (R)	2.02	Samuel Deebo SFO WR (R)	3.02	Haskins Dwayne WAS QB (R)
1.03	Jacobs Josh OAK RB (R)	2.03	White, Devin TBB LB (R)	3.03	Boykin Miles BAL WR (R)
1.04	Sanders, Miles PHI RB (R)	2.04	Brown Marquise BAL WR (R)	3.04	Abram, Johnathan OAK S (R)
1.05	Brown A.J. TEN WR (R)	2.05	Arcega-Whiteside JJ PHI WR (R)	3.05	Harmon Kelvin WAS WR (R)
1.06	Fant Noah DEN TE (R)	2.06	Murray Kyler ARI QB (R)	3.06	Edmonds Chase ARI RB
1.07	Montgomery David CHI RB (R)	2.07	Allen Josh JAC DE (R)	3.07	McLaurin Terry WAS WR (R)
1.08	Hockenson T.J. DET TE (R)	2.08	Oliver, Ed BUF DT (R)	3.08	Ferrell, Clelin OAK DE (R)
1.09	Isabella Andy ARI WR (R)	2.09	Henderson Darrell LAR RB (R)	3.09	Hill Justice BAL RB (R)
1.10	Bosa, Nick SFO DE (R)	2.10	Butler Hakeem ARI WR (R)	3.10	Singletary, Devin BUF RB (R)
1.11	Campbell Parris IND WR (R)	2.11	Williams, Quinnen NYJ DT (R)	3.11	Burns, Brian CAR DE (R)
1.12	Bush, Devin PIT LB (R)	2.12	Smith Jr., Irv MIN TE (R)	3.12	Simmons, Jeffery TEN DT (R)

 

Round 4		Round 5		Round 6
4.01	Sternberger Jace GBP TE (R)	5.01	Collier, L.J. SEA DE (R)	6.01	Oliver Josh JAC TE (R)
4.02	Love Bryce WAS RB (R)	5.02	Lawrence, Dexter NYG DT (R)	6.02	Okereke, Bobby IND LB (R)
4.03	Seferian-Jenkins Austin NEP TE	5.03	Hurd Jalen SFO WR (R)	6.03	Kiser, Micah LAR LB
4.04	Jones Daniel NYG QB (R)	5.04	Gary, Rashan GBP DE (R)	6.04	Williams Dexter GBP RB (R)
4.05	Witten Jason DAL TE	5.05	Thornhill, Juan KCC S (R)	6.05	Wilson, Mack CLE LB (R)
4.06	Takitaki, Sione CLE LB (R)	5.06	Anderson, Rodney CIN RB (R)	6.06	Sweat, Montez WAS LB (R)
4.07	Gesicki Mike MIA TE	5.07	Thomas Ian CAR TE	6.07	Davis Mike CHI RB
4.08	Johnson Diontae PIT WR (R)	5.08	Snell, Benny PIT RB (R)	6.08	Lock Drew DEN QB (R)
4.09	Wilkins, Christian MIA DT (R)	5.09	Thompson, Darwin KCC RB (R)	6.09	Robinson Demarcus KCC WR
4.10	Barr, Anthony MIN LB	5.10	Savage, Darnell GBP S (R)	6.10	Armstead Ryquell JAC RB (R)
4.11	Mattison, Alexander MIN RB (R)	5.11	Peters, Corey ARI DT	6.11	Tillery, Jerry LAC DT (R)
4.12	Pratt, Germaine CIN LB (R)	5.12	Quinn Trey WAS WR	6.12	Williams, Trayveon CIN RB (R)

1.10 – Nick Bosa, DE SF

I’ll be the first to admit that I don’t love this year’s rookie draft on the offensive side of the ball. If I can’t get one of the top three guys or one of the top two tight ends, I’m not too excited after that. So when I got to 11 and all the guys I really like were gone, I was the first to go defense. I worry how much of Bosa’s value is tied to his name, but in any case he’s easily the top IDP that should go off the board. – Ryan Finley

1.12 – Devin Bush, LB PIT

I will be the second to admit I don’t love this year’s rookie draft on the offensive side of the ball. My draft strategy so far this year has been to hit the offensive guys I like until they’re gone (about ten players), then grab the top tier IDPs, then back to the next tier of offensive guys as flyers until they’re gone. The two Devins are dead-even in my eyes and I just went with Bush here because it gives me diversity from some other leagues where I got White. – Steve Schulz

2.07 – Josh Allen, DE JAC

With Bosa and both Devins and all my offensive targets off the board, I took the next best IDP asset. If he gets the DE tag, great. Even if he plays mostly LB, I think he has the skills to be more than competent. – Doug Green

2.08 – Ed Oliver, DT BUF

I didn’t invest much in DT in the dispersal draft right before this because I was targeting a rookie DT instead. I got the one I wanted. – Steve Schulz

2.11 – Quinnen Williams, DT NYJ

DTs are required in the league, which means you either get one of the true DT1s and have a few point advantage every week or you try to play the guessing game each week. I’m tired of playing the guessing game, so I went with arguably the most talented player in this class on the hope he turns into a top-3 DT. – Jacob Feldman

3.11 – Brian Burns, DE CAR

I think there is a massive tier drop in terms of IDPs after the top nine. Burns was the last man standing from that tier, so I made a trade to go get him. He has the talent and opportunity (could be a day one starter) to turn into a DE1 within a few years. – Jacob Feldman

3.12 – Jeffery Simmons, DT TEN

I traded up to land Simmons when I saw him sliding. I think he’s just as talented as Williams and Oliver and I was willing to wait for his injury to heal. I feel like I stole one of the best players in the draft at the end of the third round. – Doug Green

5.01 – LJ Collier, DE SEA

Getting a player taken in the NFL first round this late was an easy pick for me. There were only deep, deep flyers left at skill positions and the chance of an edge rushing breakout was more attractive to me than a safety or tackle with their much lower positional value. – Tom Kislingbury

5.04 – Rashan Gary, DE GB

If Gary gets a DE designation, that will make him much more valuable. But even if he’s a LB, he’s a fifth-round flyer here with the athletic talent to be one of the best of the class. Will be interesting to see how they use him in Cheeseville. I was really hoping to get Collier here but Tom made a nice pick at 5.01. – Steve Schulz

5.05 – Juan Thornhill, S KC

Happy to take my S2 two rounds after Abram went and a couple picks after defensive tackles have come off the board. Thornhill has some worry about playing FS with the Honeybadger in town, but there’s a good chance he takes on a SS role as well. I think he does his best work with a head of steam and I love the type of hitter he is. – Adam Tzikas

5.11 – Darnell Savage Jr, S GB

By the time you get to the late-fifth, all bets are off. I felt like Savage was one of the players with the most draft capital still left on the board, and I would like to get a safety I can just plug in for the next few years so I can stop working the wire for them. He doesn’t have ideal size for the position, but man that speed and athleticism! We’ll have to see if his game translates to the NFL. – Ryan Finley

6.05 – Mack Wilson, LB CLE

Middle of the sixth is all about dart throws, I liked Wilson so much predraft that I want to stick to my guns and hope he can make the transition to the next level and continue to improve into what I do think his potential could be. – Adam Tzikas

6.11 – Jerry Tillery, DT LAC

Was really stoked to have Tillery here. He’s solidly my DT2 if Quinnen Williams is a DE. He will walk on to a fantastic line and he can showcase his monster abilities with few double teams. – Adam Tzikas

In the rookie draft last year in this league, there were zero defensive players chosen in the first round, and a total of eight defensive players through the first three rounds. In this year’s draft, we saw two defensive players go off the board in the first, and 11 total in the first three rounds. This is a year where the offensive talent gets a little more questionable a little earlier, so expect to see the top defenders go earlier. I know I didn’t plan to draft Nick Bosa with the 11th pick, but once I got there and saw what was left, it felt like the best option. If you normally expect defenders to drop as owners scoop up the latest hotness in offense, you might find yourself without the defenders you covet this year. Hopefully this gives you a better sense of where defensive players might be going in your IDP drafts.