Fantasy football – Why this is the season to try an IDP league

This season, one of the most exciting and dynamic players in recent memory enters the NFL, as wide receiver/cornerback Travis Hunterthe No. 2 overall pick in this year’s NFL draft, debuts for the Jacksonville Jaguars.

While his story isn’t quite equal to that of another two-way athlete, Los Angeles Dodgers superstar Shohei OhtaniHunter’s arrival brings similar strategic and scoring complexities to fantasy leagues.

His versatility sheds more light on a rare style of fantasy football play.

If maximizing the excitement that Hunter might bring to the fantasy game appeals to you — and it should! — consider switching your league from using team defenses (D/STs) to individual defensive players (IDPs).

Here are the IDP rankings for 2025

IDP formats bring a new dimension of play to your fantasy league, and deepen your knowledge in a manner that will bring a whole different level of joy to the game — both fantasy and on the field. What’s more, the IDP format is the only one in which you’ll truly be able to reward Hunter for his many contributions on both sides of the ball.

IDP leagues credit specific players for their big plays on defense. To name a few from last season, there was Pat Surtain II‘s 100-yard pick-six in Week 5, Aidan Hutchinson‘s four-sack game in Week 2, and Travon Walker‘s 35-yard fumble recovery touchdown. Best yet, IDP leagues grant you the flexibility to introduce defensive play into your league as simply or as complex as you wish.

I’ve played in a pair of IDP leagues for more than a decade and a half, and one even awards bonus points for big plays such as Surtain’s. Given the choice, I prefer IDP over D/ST as a scoring format.

Here’s how to set up an IDP league on ESPN

NOTE: The commissioner/league manager (LM) or anyone with LM powers can make changes to roster and scoring settings.

IDPs are broken down three ways in ESPN custom leagues:

• Defensive players as a whole (DP, a position that can also be used as an IDP “flex,” which we’ll get into later, with the other two formats)

• Defensive linemen (DL, which includes defensive ends and defensive tackles), linebackers (LB), and defensive backs (DB, which includes cornerbacks and safeties)

• More specific defensive positions including defensive ends (DE), defensive tackles (DT), linebackers, cornerbacks (CB) and safeties (S)

Once you decide upon your desired number of active defensive starters, change your lineup settings by clicking on “LM Tools” and then “Edit Roster Settings.” Adjust the drop-down menu accordingly and you’re all set.

You can even consider using both D/STs and IDPs, if dipping your toes into the IDP pool is preferred to taking a full dive. Or maybe using just a D/ST and one DP for 2025 is appealing.

Thinking about giving it a try? Here are several reasons to make the switch:

IDP leagues give you the freedom to choose what rewards defenders deserve.

When it comes to defensive play, what matters to you? Is a big-time tackling linebacker like Zaire Franklin a star in your eyes? Is an interception king like Kerby Joseph the most valuable defender? How about a top sack-getter like T.J. Watt? Or maybe it’s a master fumble creator and pass defender like Jessie Bates III?

However you regard each defensive statistical accomplishment, our IDP settings afford you the luxury of weighting each the way you want them.

Play around with the point totals until you find weights you like, but this is ESPN’s default IDP scoring system:

• Solo tackle: 1.5 points

• Assisted tackle: 0.75 points

• Tackle for a loss: 2 points

• Sack: 4 points

• Interception: 5 points

• Forced fumble: 4 points

• Fumble recovery: 4 points

• Defensive touchdown: 6 points

• Safety: 2 points

• Pass defensed: 1.5 points

I prefer a league that most heavily credits sacks, tackles for a loss, interceptions and forced fumbles, plays that are the most prominent and require a certain level of skill on defense. In the case of fumbles, bear in mind that fumble recoveries involve a degree of randomness — which player was lucky enough to be closest to, and quickest to jump on, the ball at the bottom of the pile? — whereas forced fumbles credit the player who initially caused the turnover to happen.

One recommendation: Be extra cautious with the way you weight tackles. As linebackers routinely top the leaderboard, including 22 of the top 25 players in total tackles in 2024 alone playing the position, crediting the category alone, or awarding it too many points could mean your IDP league quickly becomes a linebacker-centric league. Not that there’s anything wrong with that, but if you want to diversify your positions, consider spreading the points across multiple categories.

Speaking of those positions, the two IDP leagues in which I play use the DL/LB/DB format, with two starters apiece at each of those positions, for six total IDP starters. That has come to be a popular format among IDP players, but you could consider one, or three, at each position, or stick to the two apiece but add that aforementioned “flex,” or “DP,” position.

Why IDP > D/ST

It can be maddening to see your high-quality defense unexpectedly deliver a stinker, or worse, play a respectable game but get stuck with a terrible fantasy score simply because the opponent’s offense was on its A-game in an exciting, higher-scoring affair.

Last year’s Denver Broncosthe top-scoring fantasy D/ST, give us one of our best examples of this, during the fantasy championship round in Week 17. In that game, a 30-24 loss to the Cincinnati Bengalsthe Denver D/ST scored a mere 3 points, if only because they faced a loaded Bengals offense, a bad matchup many owners saw coming, causing them to be started in only 42% of ESPN leagues that week.

But that doesn’t mean that every member of that team’s defense had a terrible game! Zach Allen (26.75 points in ESPN default scoring), Brandon Jones (16.5) and Surtain (15.5) still had strong games.

Wouldn’t it have been nice to have the ability to start those quality defensive players, from an elite defensive unit, and not worry about the opposing offense?

We’ll see another prospective example of this in Week 1 of 2025, when the Baltimore Ravens and Buffalo Billstwo of the best offenses in football, square off. The Ravens are rostered in nearly 90% of ESPN leagues that have drafted thus far, and selected seventh among D/STs thus far, but do you really want to start them against the Bills? (I don’t!)

In IDP leagues, you can start a superstar like safety Kyle Hamilton with confidence, especially knowing he’ll probably be heavily involved in that game. Much more fun.

You’ll gain much more insight into the NFL game with an IDP league.

D/ST play in fantasy leagues presents a more rudimentary process to draft analysis, with schedules and individual matchups having as much if not more to do with identifying positional success than does player skill.

IDP formats allow us to better understand who are the most talented playersgranting us greater knowledge of the league as a whole.

For example, the New York Giants were one of the worst fantasy D/STs from a team perspective last season (24th with 4.5 fantasy PPG). A player like Dexter Lawrence IIwho finished 20th among defensive linemen in fantasy points per game (minimum 12 played), wouldn’t have even been noticed in traditional formats, but in IDP leagues, he’d have been one of the more important defensive linemen to consider.

IDP leagues bring more scoring to your lineups.

Everyone loves more fantasy points! As IDPs are rarely subject to the negative point totals that team defenses are — 16% of all D/ST weekly scores in 2024 finished in the red — you’ll notice a sizable jump in scoring from your active lineup in an IDP format.

Last season, the 10 most-started D/ST by week averaged 7.6 fantasy points.

The 10 most-started IDPs in ESPN leagues at each of the three major positions (defensive linemen, linebackers and defensive backs) averaged a collective 33.5 fantasy points.

That’s a heck of a scoring spike — and that’s by starting only three defensive players! Make it six starters, like my IDP leagues, and that number would swell to 63.0. That’s a lot more opportunity for Sunday excitement tracking your scoring.

And that’s the goal, more excitement, right? Give individual defensive players a try in 2025, and perhaps, like me, you’ll never want to go back.