What is IDP in Fantasy Football?

Defense wins championships. You must have heard this old adage a million times. It’s because this is true. Defense wins you championships.

Can it be the same in fantasy football as well?

Fantasy football has been growing in popularity in recent years. It makes the game accessible to every football fan and the excitement and joy of winning is alluring and captivating.

Fantasy football has different ways in which you earn points, depending on the league you play in. Most of the leagues have a standard scoring system. This is more favored for the offensive players.

However there is a whole another format of fantasy football that allows you to score points using IDP.

If you’re looking to get started into the world of fantasy football, look no more. This page will try and explain everything you need to know about IDPs.

Also Read: What does D/ST mean in fantasy football?

What does IDP stand for in the world of Fantasy Football?

IDP stands for Individual Defensive Player. In an IDP league the scoring is based on the defensive players.

What does that mean?

In an IDP league, the fantasy football managers draft individual defensive players for their teams. Points are earned based on the individual performance of these defensive players. Sacks, fumbles, interceptions, touchdowns, forced fumbles, passes defended are few metrics how the IDP scoring system works.

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What is the difference between IDP scoring and standard defense scoring?

In standard fantasy football leagues, the fantasy football managers draft team defenses as whole. When the team’s defense performs well as a unit, points are earned. Points are usually based on the number of points the defensive unit allows in the NFL game and the number of plays the unit produces such as the sacks and the interceptions.

When it comes to IDP leagues, you start specific defensive players instead of the entire team’s defensive unit. These players score points based on their individual statistics.

Not quite sure yet? Let's take an example.

The Dallas Cowboys and the San Francisco 49ers defenses have been among the top five units in the NFL in the recent past. If you’re playing in a standard fantasy football league, you will be selecting the entire Cowboys or the 49ers defensive unit. And you will earn points based on the entire performance of the unit.

While in the IDP league, you’ll be drafting individual players like Micah Parsons, Nick Bosa, Jalen Ramsey and earn points based on their individual statistics.

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Scoring in IDP leagues

There are typically two types of scoring in IDP leagues. One type of scoring is where the league awards more points based on the sacks, also called the “sack-heavy” scoring. And the other type of scoring system is where the league awards more points based on the tackles, also called the “tackle-heavy” scoring.

In a tackle-heavy scoring system, leagues offer more points to the player making the most number of tackles. The players who are crucial in this system are the middle linebackers, the safeties and the weak-side linebackers in a 4-3 defense. Since the outside linebackers are focused more on bringing down the tackles in a 3-4 defense, they aren’t favored in this system for tackles.

On the contrary are the sack-heavy scoring system. These leagues offer more pints to the players that record the most number of sacks on a quarterback. The sack to tackle ratio in a sack-heavy league is usually 5:1, meaning that every sack is five times more worth in points against a regular solo tackle. In this scoring system, drafting players who will be able to quickly get to the quarterbacks are more valuable.

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