Finding Late-Round DBs

Photo: USA Today Sports

The IDP Roundtable Series

This summer, the Footballguys staff will discuss various topics to help you in your IDP leagues.

What defensive backs are you targeting in the last two or three rounds?

Kyle Bellefeuil

There are quite a few excellent late-round options, but my biggest targets are Jordan Whitehead, Brandon Jones, Kamren Curl, and Nick Cross. Whitehead signed with the Jets this offseason and is primed for a rock-solid first season in New York. Jones had a nice finish to last season and is a potential breakout player with his IDP-conducive role in Miami. With Landon Collins now out of the picture in Washington, there are box snaps to inherit, and Kamren Curl looks to be the main beneficiary. Nick Cross may be only a rookie, but if he can lock down the strong safety role in Gus Bradley’s defense in Indianapolis, he could make an immediate impact in redraft leagues. As for cornerback-required leagues, as I said earlier, I live the stream.

Joseph Haggan

There are plenty of defensive backs that you can target late in your drafts. For starters, shoot for Brandon Jones of the Miami Dolphins. He played 72.5 percent of his snaps in the box, slot, or defensive line. He graded out at 77.6 as a pass rusher per Pro Football Focus and finished with five sacks and 17 pressures. He is the box safety for the Dolphins with Jevon Holland manning the deep safety position and has DB1 potential.

Marcus Maye with the Saints has a potential great role. He will be manning the position that was left vacant by Malcolm Jenkins after he retired. 64 % of his snaps were played on the defensive line (143), in the slot (226), or in the box (295). His volume was terrific as well, playing 1,043 defensive snaps. Maye averaged 7.5 tackles per game with the Jets in 2021 before his injury. He should see similar usage in 2022.

Justin Reid burst onto the scene as a rookie with 88 tackles, 10 passes defended, and 3 interceptions. He has yet to replicate those numbers over the past three seasons, but it was more the Texans' usage of Reid rather than a drop-off in talent. He joined the Chiefs in the offseason via free agency and joins a defense that has 1,941 vacated snaps at safety from the departures of Tyrann Mathieu and Daniel Sorenson. A whopping 1,376 of those snaps were played either in the slot, the box, or on the defensive line. Reid should fill most of those snaps, opening up terrific usage.