IDP Matchups, Living the Stream: Week 4

Well, in IDP league,s we're in it now.

And by "it," I mean trouble.

Said trouble isn't new. Injuries are just part of the NFL—and fantasy football along with it. But three weeks into the season, those injuries are piling up.

On the defensive line, Joey Bosa of the Los Angeles Chargers suffered a "significant" groin injury that will sideline him for the foreseeable future. He may be joined on the sidelines by Myles Garrett of the Cleveland Browns, whose status for Week 4 is uncertain after he rolled his Porsche driving home from practice.

Thankfully, he's okay.

At linebacker, we're still waiting for the first game action of the season from Shaquille Leonard of the Indianapolis Colts, who sat out a third straight game despite practicing all week. He's joined on the shelf by a pair of IDP-relevant linebackers who suffered injuries last week—Quincy Williams of the New York Jets will be out indefinitely with a high-ankle sprain, while Anthony Walker of the Cleveland Browns is done for the season after tearing a quad muscle.

In the secondary, it's that much worse. Harrison Smith of the Minnesota Vikings missed Week 3 with a concussion. Jayron Kearse of the Dallas Cowboys was sidelined by a knee injury. And now Tracy Walker's season is over after the Detroit Lions safety tore his Achilles tendon.

It was a rough week to be a Walker.

Now, not all those players will miss Week 4 as well—Smith is expected to play after clearing the league's concussion protocol. But this is also not an exhaustive list. There is no shortage of IDP managers with holes in the lineup. Teams that need a one-week plug-and-play—preferably one with a favorable matchup.

If only there was an article dedicated to helping folks find guys like that.

DE Trevis Gipson, Chicago (at NY Giants)

With Khalil Mack gone, the Bears badly needed someone to step up at the second defensive end spot opposite Robert Quinn in the team's new 4-3 front. As Larry Mayer reported for the Bears' website, third-year pro Trevis Gipson entered the season confident that Chicago's aggressive new defense would allow him to do just that.

"It just allows me to rush, going forward instead of backward and just fighting the man in front of me and not having to worry about little receivers or slot backs," he said. "That helps a lot. Our coach teaches us a lot of different moves and counters and how to play off each other, so I feel like that's a part of my game that's taken a step."

Gipson has admittedly been a hit-or-miss IDP option, largely because he's only cleared 40 percent of the team's snaps once. He's also coming off a doughnut in last week's win over the Texans. But Gipson also has a four-tackle, two-sack effort to his credit in Week 2, and on Sunday, the Bears face a Giants team leading the NFC in sacks allowed.

DE Jerry Hughes, Houston (at LA Chargers)

Jerry Hughes has been around the block a few times. As a matter of fact, in terms of NFL seasons, Hughes has been around the block 13 times. It's been a while since Hughes made a big statistical impact—he hasn't logged five sacks in a season since 2018. But while the 34-year-old may have originally been signed more for veteran stability on a young defense, as longtime Texans beat writer Aaron Wilson wrote for Click2Houston.com, Hughes has exceeded expectations since joining the team.

“What do we like about Jerry? I would say everything,” Texans GM Nick Caserio said. “This guy has been a rock star since the day he arrived. There’s a reason why he’s made it this far. He’s very diligent. He’s very professional. He has good leadership. Players respect him. He can still perform I would say at a pretty good level. I mean, that’s the most important thing, because it’s about production. Jerry has done a great job. Jerry has been awesome to work with; he really has.”

Compliments of a pair of two-sack games to open the season, three games in, Jerry freaking Hughes is the highest-scoring defensive lineman in many IDP scoring systems. That isn't going to hold, but Hughes is playing what amounts to a full-time role and faces a Los Angeles Chargers team Sunday that just lost left tackle Rashawn Slater to a season-ending injury.

EDGE Jaelan Phillips, Miami (at Cincinnati)

After being drafted 18th overall by the Dolphins last year, Phillips had a solid season for a first-year pass-rusher, logging 42 total tackles and 8.5 sacks while playing just 54 percent of Miami's defensive snaps. Those 8.5 sacks set a new franchise rookie record, but Phillips told Dante Collinelli of All Dolphins that his focus in 2022 was more on improving his technique and less on what numbers that led to.

“I try not to look at numbers too much because I think being result-oriented is just a recipe for disaster,” Phillips said. “If you have this idea in your head, anything less than that is going to throw you off. So I think my whole thing is really just trying to take it day to day and focus on my preparation and focus on my process so that at the end of the day, I think it all culminates. You usually get the results you want at the end of the day.”

It's a good thing Phillips isn't fixated on numbers because his have been awful—four total tackles and a fumble recovery over the first three games of the season. With that said, the snaps have been there—Phillips has hit 70 percent twice in three games. And a Week 3 matchup with a Bengals team that has allowed a league-high 15 sacks this year is a tailor-made slump-buster.

LB Rashaan Evans, Atlanta (vs. Cleveland)

The Falcons have trotted out a completely new linebacker corps in Atlanta this year—Foyesade Oluokun and Deion Jones have given way to Mykal Walker and Rashaan Evans. The 26-year-old Evans played for Falcons defensive coordinator Dean Pees in Tennessee, and while speaking with reporters, he credited familiarity with Pees' scheme for helping him to acclimate quickly.

"Whether it’s on the edge, whether it’s in the middle, anywhere," Evans said of his role at the second level. "Dean Pees and Arthur (Smith) have done a really, really good job of how they’ve used me overall right now, and you know, I’m just happy for those things.”

Walker has been the hot commodity in IDP circles over the first few weeks of the season, but Evans hasn't been bad—he's averaging over eight tackles a game and has played at least 85 percent of the snaps in all three games. Evans is still available in a surprisingly high percentage of IDP leagues, and with Nick Chubb and the run-heavy Browns coming to town, he really shouldn't be available, um, anywhere.

LB Darius Harris, Kansas City (at Tampa Bay)

After years of a linebacker rotation that was maddening for IDP managers, the Chiefs settled on a pair of three-down guys in 2022—just in time for Willie Gay Jr to draw a four-game personal conduct suspension. That suspension thrust third-year pro Darius Harris into the starting lineup, with the third-year pro telling Pete Sweeney of Arrowhead Pride that this is an opportunity he's been waiting for since his first NFL practice.

“It’s definitely been a long time coming, but it’s something I’ve prepared myself ever since I’ve been here for the past three years — going on four years now,” Harris said. “Just being ready, staying ready. Obviously, I know the time is going to come — and you never know when it is — but when it is, you just make sure that you’re ready for it, which is this week. I’m just glad for the opportunity [and] ready to take the next step forward.”

For one week at least, Harris absolutely made the most of the opportunity—against the Indianapolis Colts, Harris played 87 percent of the defensive snaps and paced the Chiefs with 13 total tackles. Sunday night's matchup with the Buccaneers isn't great, but it's not terrible either—and in many IDP leagues, any full-time linebacker available on the wire is worth a look.

LB Jacob Phillips, Cleveland (at Atlanta)

One player's misfortune in the NFL is another's opportunity. Such is the case in Cleveland, where Phillips will step in as the team's new MIKE linebacker and defensive play-caller with Anthony Walker done for the season. Phillips impressed enough in camp to be named a co-starter with Walker, and he told Chris Easterling of the Akron Beacon Journal that he's ready to step up and play a larger role defensively.

"In our room, we all preach that we need everybody," Phillips said. "I feel like we’ve got really good coaches, we’ve got really good players, I feel like everybody in there can step up to the plate when called upon. Like in the game, Tony [Fields II] came in and made a play, Taki (Sione Takitaki) moved to nickel Will and did good. So I feel like we’re very well-coached in our room, everybody gets the same coaching the whole time and we all get reps in practice. So absolutely, we’re going to miss him for sure, but I feel like I’m confident in my guys."

It's not just a matter of Walker being hurt—Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah also went down in the game with a groin injury. That leaves the Browns precariously short-handed at linebacker headed into a matchup with an Atlanta Falcons team that has been a surprisingly favorable fantasy matchup for linebackers—12th in the league in fantasy points allowed.

S Camryn Bynum, Minnesota (at New Orleans)

Back in training camp, most pundits assumed it would be rookie Lewis Cine who would open the season as the starter opposite Harrison Smith at safety. But when the Vikings faced the Green Bay Packers in Week 1, it was second-year pro Camryn Bynum who was out there. Since then, Bynum has played every defensive snap for Minnesota, and as Chris Tomasson wrote for the St. Paul Pioneer-Press, Bynum has quite the lofty goal—to be the best to ever play the game.

“People obviously call you crazy until it happens,” Bynum said. “But that’s always the goal, and if you have any other goal but to be the best, I don’t know why you’re playing football. I’m not coming out here to be mediocre. I’m just trying to get better myself, competing with myself, seeing my performance last year and knowing there’s a lot more to get better at.”

That goal may be just a tad, um, unreasonable, and Bynum's numbers over the first three games haven't been eye-popping—20 total tackles. But this week's trip to New Orleans presents Bynum with the opportunity for his best stat line of the season against a Saints team that has surrendered the second-most fantasy points to defensive backs in 2022.

S Kareem Jackson, Denver (at Las Vegas)

In his 13th season (and fourth with the Denver Broncos), Kareem Jackson is the elder statesman of a defense that is playing as well as any in the league. Jackson has played for winners and losers at every position in the secondary, ad as ESPN's Jeff Legwold reported, that experience has given Jackson a mantra he has tried to pass along to his younger teammates—be consistent.

“It’s about being consistent,’’ Jackson said. “We can’t have any roller-coaster days, or one day we come out and we get the ball pretty good, and the next day we’re giving up things. I think if [we’re consistent], we have the talent … but I’ve said talent has to go with work, talent and not enough work isn’t going to win. So if I can give these guys one message that’s it. And I’m going to give that message every chance I get.’’

The pressure on Jackson to be a leader in the secondary was amplified when batterymate Justin Simmons was felled by one of the injuries that have hit the defensive back position so hard this year. To date, it hasn't led to especially impressive statistical production, but with a Raiders team on tap that has allowed the seventh-most fantasy points to defensive backs, this feels like a good week for Jackson's first interception of 2022.

CB Charvarius Ward, San Francisco (vs. LA Rams)

Three games into the 2022 season, the 49ers have allowed fewer passing yards per game than any team in the league. As Charvarius Ward told Cam Inman of the San Jose Mercury-News, he's ready to take on his new role as San Francisco's new No. 1 cornerback, but succeeding against the pass requires all three levels of the defense to play well.

“We have a great defensive line,” Ward said. “(Receivers) have to have time to do double moves, and the quarterback has to be able to step up into the pocket. Even if (receivers) beat a cornerback, they still have to throw and catch the ball. We have good recovery speed. Against any receiver, I match up well. I’ve got the speed and the size. I weigh 204 pounds. I’ve never been this big. My confidence level has never been as high as it is now, and I feel good physically, too.”

Ward hasn't just been a key component for the league's best pass defense. He's also been productive statistically, amassing 16 total tackles with an interception over his last two games—numbers that slot him inside the top-five cornerbacks over that span. With a top-10 fantasy matchup for his position coming up against the rival Rams, look for Ward's recent hot streak to continue in Week 4.