RADIO
Can you guess who is the top-scoring Rams defender in IDP? Is it reigning Defensive Player of the Year Aaron Donald? No? How about destroyer of streakers Bobby Wagner? Close, but not quite. It’s shutdown corner, Jalen Ramsey.
Jalen Ramsey has for years been treated in IDP circles as an elite corner who is so talented as to shut down his own fantasy production. That narrative, however valid it was in the past, is no longer true. Not when Ramsey is lining up in the slot 20% of the time and blitzing the quarterback on 6% of passing plays. Ramsey made another sack this week, for the second straight week. They were the first two officially-recorded sacks of his career.
Given the usage of Ramsey, you can expect his production to continue. In this week’s IDP Waiver Wire Column, I will explore the rise of Jalen Ramsey as a viable fantasy starter and give you nine other recommendations for defensive players to add.
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The Rise of Jalen Ramsey
He’s the No. 29 IDP in scoring this season and the No. 11 defensive back. He is one of only eight DBs to have made two or more sacks and one of only three to have made a sack and an interception and forced a fumble. And he’s available in 50% of Sleeper leagues.
The one stat that he lags in is tackles. He only has 23 on the season, while the other sack-making DBs (most of whom are safeties) mostly have between 30 and 47 tackles. (That is, except for Saints safety J.T. Gray; Gray has three tackles on the season, and two of them are sacks.)
Ramsey’s impact plays are impactful enough that he ranks as a top-12 DB in RotoBaller Standard scoring and the No. 14 DB in IDP123. So if you are in a 12-team league on Sleeper that plays a DB or two, Ramsey should be either a weekly starter or a bye-week replacement.
Since joining the Rams partway through 2019, Ramsey has been utilized more and more in the slot — which gives him a path to the quarterback as a pass rusher — and around the field. He lined up against the slot receiver 329 times from 2016 through 2019. He has done so 556 times just in the past 2.3 seasons. He has even lined up on the defensive line 56 times since joining the Rams (versus 25 times while on the Jags).
The big increase in Ramsey's blitzing came under Defensive Coordinator Raheem Morris, who took over in 2021. Ramsey finished as the DB7 last season. While he didn’t make any sacks, he did make nine tackles for losses, four interceptions, and 16 pass defenses, numbers in each category that were at or near his career highs, and the results of his more aggressive deployment.
If you are playing in a deeper or more serious IDP league, Ramsey won’t be available. He’s rostered in 70% of MFL leagues. In that case, read on for more options.
Talanoa Hufanga, S, San Francisco 49ers
Rostered in ~41% of MFL Leagues
The 49ers' second-year sensation continues his electric breakout season. Hufanga is making impact plays every single week. He has now recorded two games with an interception, four games with a tackle for a loss, and four games with pass defense. He also added his first sack of the season in Week 5.
The safety has an instinct for sensing what is going to happen, illustrated perfectly on his pick-six in Week 4, in which he anticipated a screen pass and jumped the route. He also puts in the work to hone it. Niners coach Kyle Shanahan said that he’s extremely engaged with the coaches and even talking to retired greats.
Hufanga is a top-five DB in RotoBaller’s IDP scoring system. While his ownership rate in NFL leagues has risen to 76%, he is still available in about 66% of Sleeper-hosted leagues. What happens sometimes is young players have a big week and get dismissed as being one-week wonders and even after it continues for multiple weeks, they still go unnoticed for a few weeks longer than they should in casual leagues.
Julian Love, S, New York Giants
Rostered in ~52% of Leagues
Love has been on my list in the past, but not enough people are taking action after reading it, as he’s still available in half the leagues. With a pick this week — in addition to two pass defenses — and a forced fumble last week, he has made impact plays in each of the past two weeks. The Giants are 5-1, and they did just pull off upsets over the Packers and Ravens. They have to be doing something to win those games.
Kyler Gordon, CB, Chicago Bears
Rostered in ~18% of Leagues
The Bears' second-round rookie CB has made five or more combined tackles in every game this season. He has added a pass defense or forced fumble in four of the past five games.
Denzel Ward, CB, Cleveland Browns
Rostered in ~29% of MFL Leagues
From Weeks 3 through 5, the highest-paid CB in the league made five pass breakups, a fumble recovery, an interception, and 11 combined tackles in Week 5. Unfortunately, he also left Week 5 with a concussion in the fourth quarter and had to miss Week 6. Monitor the situation and see if he is back by Week 7 against the Ravens.
Zaven Collins, LB, Arizona Cardinals
Rostered in ~52% of Leagues
A bit of a boom-bust guy, Collins, who is in his second year, has put in high-end starter-worthy fantasy outings in four of his games and fired duds in two. He has the tools and the mid-first-round draft capital. He flashed in his rookie season but didn’t catch fire, and his mechanics and consistency need work. Arizona thought he would be ready this season and trusted him with the starting role.
Collins made five or more solo tackles in three games, including Week 6, in which two of his tackles were sacks.
Derrick Brown, DT, Carolina Panthers
Rostered in ~35% of Leagues
The former No. 7 overall draft pick (2020) shows defensive linemen can score fantasy points in all kinds of ways. You don’t always think of DTs stacking up pass defenses, but he accumulated six PDs from Week 2 through Week 5. Sure, one of his PDs was against the undersized Kyler Murray, but Brown also batted down two of 6-foot-4 QB Jameis Winston’s passes at the line of scrimmage.
Sadly, his streak of pass tips ended this past week, but he made his first half sack of the season and logged his highest tackle count. Take the points however they come.
Deion Jones, LB, Cleveland Browns
Rostered in ~11% of Leagues
Jones has made over 100 tackles in five of his six seasons in the league, but the Falcons soured on him, put him on the injured reserve, then traded him to the Browns. He is expected to be ready to play in Week 7.
Tariq Woolen, CB, Seattle Seahawks
Rostered in ~41% of Leagues
The fifth-round rookie has made a pass breakup in five of his six games and an interception in each of the last four. A lot of fantasy managers were slow to warm to him because he’s the Seahawk they never heard of who entered the season as a deep backup, and who is not being well-regarded by analytics guys. But here he is, doing it for IDP week after week. Take the points.
Preston Smith, DE, Green Bay Packers
Rostered in ~29% of Leagues
The veteran has made 3.5 sacks this season. He only makes two or three solo tackles per game, and he didn’t do anything in Week 6, but he’ll sprinkle the 1.0-2.0 sack games in throughout the season.
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