Fantasy Football IDP Rankings for Week 7 (Top 100)

Luckily for fantasy owners in IDP leagues, Week 7 sees the return of Darius Leonard to the field (and our top 10 ranks), as well as the Bears Defense. While perennial stud Luke Kuechly, exciting rookie Devin Bush, and surprising DPOY candidate Shaquil Barrett are on bye, we aren't losing too much from the player pool with Cleveland defense and Tampa Bay defense resting.

Dedicated fantasy football players know that the game isn't played on offense alone. While team defenses are a staple of the game, being able to identify value with individual defensive players (IDP) takes it to the next level. As we do with each position and every league type, RotoBaller has you covered when it comes to IDP. Expert analysts Pierre Camus and Justin Carter will bring you their top 100 consensus IDP rankings throughout the 2019 season, so check here for the latest weekly updates.

Players are classified by major position group (DL, LB, DB) to simplify things for you. We've also tiered these rankings to give you an idea of relative importance and will analyze a few key players to watch. Check out our rankings page for the offensive players right here.

Top 100 Individual Defensive Players - Week 7

Streamers/Key Players to Watch

Darius Leonard (LB, IND) vs Houston

He's definitely not a streamer but the fact Leonard is available in almost 20% of Yahoo leagues means that he was dropped here and there in shallow IDP leagues or by impatient owners. If he's available, scoop him up immediately. If you've been stashing him, get him back into your lineup. Houston doesn't give up a lot of points to linebackers since they primarily pass deep, evidenced by the fact Deshaun Watson is sixth in total air yards for QBs. They are running the ball seventh-most frequently and are leaning on Carlos Hyde more lately. It may necessarily not be a big game for Leonard but his ceiling is as high as it gets so it would be hard to recommend keeping him on the bench if he is healthy. Anthony Walker, who was the only Colt filling any sort of fantasy void on the Indy defense, can be overlooked completely now.

Haason Reddick (LB, ARI) @ New York Giants

Jordan Hicks is the obvious play in Arizona, with a league-leading 63 combined tackles, third-year pro Reddick is finally starting to live up to his first-round price tag. He has 28 solo tackles on the year, not far behind Hicks' 35, and has more tackles for loss at four. Reddick isn't a highly-graded player but he's shown a high floor in IDP leagues thus far. He can be a deep-league streamer against the Giants, who have nearly their full complement of skill players back and should run enough plays across the middle to keep all the Cardinal linebackers occupied.

Jordan Poyer (S, BUF) vs Miami

While teammate Micah Hyde is better in coverage, Poyer is superior at run defense and it shows in the stats. Poyer (32) has twice as many combined tackles as Hyde (16) so far. The fact that Miami is going back to Ryan Fitzpatrick just increases his chances of getting a pick, since we know Fitz will go deep as often as possible. Poyer is an ideal safety play in balanced scoring formats where he can contribute in multiple ways.

Eric Weddle (S, LAR) @ Atlanta

Right behind Poyer in terms of run defense grade comes the veteran Weddle. He is the 11th-highest-graded safety this season, according to PFF. His value is about to get even higher with the team moving safety John Johnson to IR. The acquisition of Jalen Ramsey, assuming he plays this week, will also help funnel more ball-carriers his way. After 10 solo tackles last week, Weddle is a must-start against Atlanta, who has thrown more pass attempts than anyone.

Josh Allen (DE, JAX) vs Cincinnati

The rookie pass-rusher (not the QB) is making an impact already. He's picked up four sacks in his first six games, including one each of the past two weeks. He has a good chance to take down Andy Dalton multiple times, as the Bengals allow the sixth-most sacks. With no more than three solo tackles in any game, his fantasy floor is low so consider him a risk/reward play in leagues where sacks count more.

Markus Golden (LB, NYG) @ Arizona

The Giants have nary a pass-rushing threat on their defensive line, so Golden has stepped up as an edge defender at the linebacker spot. He is tied for eighth with five sacks on the year and faces a team that allows one of the highest sack rates in the league. The Cardinals also have one of the quickest paces of play and will run as many snaps as possible, which could increase Golden's tackle output. He is barely owned in fantasy leagues and could be a safer play than relying on C.J. Mosley in his first week back from injury.