6 Defensive Backs Who Will Decide IDP Leagues in 2024

Photo: USA Today Sports

In some respects, defensive backs are like the Rodney Dangerfield (If you don’t know who that is, don’t judge me—I’m old). They just can’t get no respect—from me.

Actually, that’s not entirely true. Defensive backs have value the same as any other position in IDP leagues. Find a DB at a position of value on draft day who goes on to blast past their draft slot and you can be well on your way to the playoffs. Conversely, overdraft a defensive back (especially a high-end one) that fails to meet expectations, and your starting lineup could be looking at a sizable predicament.

The thing is, though, that predicament is both avoidable and not all that hard to remedy because of the nature of defensive backs in IDP leagues.

Defensive backs are two things. The first is plentiful—with NFL defenses now spending the majority of their time in subpackages, there are almost always at least five defensive backs on the field at a time. That’s more than along the defensive line and many more than at linebacker.

The second is unpredictable. The list of the top-10 projected defensive backs at the beginning of the season and the actual top-10 DBs at year’s end are annually much different lists. There will be big names who disappoint. No-names who come from nowhere to crash the DB1 party. It happens every year. Not many fantasy managers expected Camryn Bynum of the Minnesota Vikings to finish fourth among defensive backs in fantasy points in 2023.

For that reason, The Godfather has always been an advocate of patience at the defensive back position—of waiting until the later rounds and then grabbing upside options. If they pan out, you have bargain starters—and a stronger LB and DL corps as a result. If they don’t, there will be viable replacements on the waiver wire well into the season.

However, this piece isn’t about draft strategy (there will be time for that later). This column is all about the defensive backs who (for better or worse) will decide IDP leagues in 2024—starting with the first defensive back being drafted on average this summer.

S Antoine Winfield Jr, Tampa Bay

Winfield had his “lightbulb” season in 2023—playing in all 17 games for the Buccaneers, Winfield set career highs in total tackles (122), interceptions (three) and forced fumbles (six) on the way to finishing with more fantasy points than any defensive back in the league. That big season got Winfield the biggest contract any safety has ever received in the NFL, and Tampa head coach Todd Bowles told reporters the 25-year-old is worth every penny.

"One of the best seasons I've seen the safety have as an all-around player, and it wasn't just in the game, it was in practice, as well," Bowles said. "He was the only guy -- even if we were practicing red zone -- if he picked the ball off at the 5-[yard line], he's going to run 95 yards and go back in the game. He's not going to take himself out and go to the water buckets. If he picked it off in the end zone, he ran 100 yards wherever he picked the ball off at or caused the fumble at, he transferred practice to the game."

Now, maybe Winfield will back up that career season and earn that massive raise in 2024. But there’s also a very real chance he won’t. Those six forced fumbles were more than Winfield had in his first three seasons combined. He missed at least three games in each of the preceding two seasons. And prior to his 2023 breakout, Winfield had never recorded more than 94 total tackles or hit 65 solos in a season.

S Julian Love, Seattle

After four seasons with the New York Giants, Love joined the Seahawks in free agency last year. The 26-year-old picked up right where he left off in the Big Apple, amassing more than 120 total tackles for the second consecutive season on the way to a DB7 fantasy finish. Now a leader of the Seattle secondary, Love told reporters he doesn’t plan to do anything differently in 2024 despite all the turnover on the back end in the Emerald City.

“I’m excited because there’s a lot I left out there [last season] — whether it’s not playing as much as I could have or some games that just weren’t my games,” he said. “I’m excited because that means that bar can be raised even higher. I’m just going to try to stay composed, stay myself, stay who I am, but understand that my goals are higher this year personally.”

Love has a new batterymate in Seattle this year in free agent acquisition Rayshawn Jenkins, who has posted some big seasons of his own in Jacksonville. But given the duo’s similar skill sets, the pair will likely find themselves in the interchangeable roles that have become more popular with defensive coordinators in recent years. Love possesses top-10 fantasy upside that is usually available well into DB2 territory.

S Jaquan Brisker, Chicago

By most estimations, Brisker has had a productive first two seasons in the NFL—the former Penn State standout has eclipsed 100 total tackles twice, added six sacks, and posted a pair of top-20 IDP seasons. As Gabby Hadjuk wrote for the team’s website, teammate Jaylon Johnson said the youngster has also quickly emerged as a leader in the Chicago secondary.

"When we came back for OTAs, minicamp, and all of that, he definitely had a different swag that I was able to see clearly," Johnson said. "Then of course, throughout camp, him talking and communicating, making certain plays, making certain reads to where it showed a lot of maturity from year one to year two. He's just full of energy, full of a lot of words. I mean, he's always talking. He's always being competitive, a lot of juice. So just allowing himself to be who he is. I think now it's just continuing to light the stage up as far as his energy and playmaking goes."

The problem is that Brisker’s big play numbers dipped in 2023—enough that he fell from DB10 in 2022 to DB20 in 2023. Brisker has never logged 110 tackles in a season, and with Tremaine Edmunds and T.J. Edwards in front of him, that’s not especially likely to change. Brisker is a so-so IDP DB2 (at best) who is being drafted as a DB1—and at cost, The Godfather would rather have batterymate Kevin Byard III.