RADIO
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.
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Top 100 Individual Defensive Players - Week 7
| Tier | Rank | Player Name | Position |
| 1 | 1 | Cory Littleton | LB |
| 1 | 2 | Bobby Wagner | LB |
| 1 | 3 | Blake Martinez | LB |
| 1 | 4 | Jordan Hicks | LB |
| 1 | 5 | Darius Leonard | LB |
| 1 | 6 | Leighton Vander Esch | LB |
| 1 | 7 | Danielle Hunter | DL |
| 2 | 8 | Jamie Collins | LB |
| 2 | 9 | Deion Jones | LB |
| 2 | 10 | Jabrill Peppers | DB |
| 2 | 11 | Jaylon Smith | LB |
| 2 | 12 | Landon Collins | DB |
| 3 | 13 | J.J. Watt | DL |
| 3 | 14 | Joey Bosa | DL |
| 3 | 15 | De'Vondre Campbell | LB |
| 3 | 16 | Nick Vigil | LB |
| 3 | 17 | Eric Kendricks | LB |
| 3 | 18 | Aaron Donald | DL |
| 3 | 19 | Calais Campbell | DL |
| 3 | 20 | Haason Reddick | LB |
| 4 | 21 | Demario Davis | LB |
| 4 | 22 | Jamal Adams | DB |
| 4 | 23 | Jordan Poyer | DB |
| 4 | 24 | Cameron Jordan | DL |
| 4 | 25 | Zach Cunningham | LB |
| 4 | 26 | Harrison Smith | DB |
| 4 | 27 | Tracy Walker | DB |
| 4 | 28 | Vonn Bell | DB |
| 4 | 29 | Eric Weddle | DB |
| 5 | 30 | DeForest Buckner | DL |
| 5 | 31 | Rashaan Evans | LB |
| 5 | 32 | Nick Bosa | DL |
| 5 | 33 | Todd Davis | LB |
| 5 | 34 | Shawn Williams | DB |
| 5 | 35 | Budda Baker | DB |
| 5 | 36 | Khalil Mack | LB |
| 5 | 37 | Montae Nicholson | DB |
| 5 | 38 | Antoine Bethea | DB |
| 5 | 39 | Justin Reid | DB |
| 5 | 40 | Roquan Smith | LB |
| 5 | 41 | K.J. Wright | LB |
| 6 | 42 | Jadeveon Clowney | DL |
| 6 | 43 | Everson Griffen | DL |
| 6 | 44 | Justin Simmons | DB |
| 6 | 45 | Reshad Jones | DB |
| 6 | 46 | Myles Jack | LB |
| 6 | 47 | Benardrick McKinney | LB |
| 6 | 48 | Demarcus Lawrence | DL |
| 6 | 49 | Kevin Byard | DB |
| 6 | 50 | Robert Quinn | DL |
| 6 | 51 | Brandon Graham | DL |
| 6 | 52 | Mychal Kendricks | LB |
| 7 | 53 | Arik Armstead | DL |
| 7 | 54 | Justin Houston | DL |
| 7 | 55 | Marcus Davenport | DL |
| 7 | 56 | Jabaal Sheard | DL |
| 7 | 57 | Fred Warner | LB |
| 7 | 58 | Tyrann Mathieu | DB |
| 7 | 59 | Sam Hubbard | DL |
| 7 | 60 | Wesley Woodyard | LB |
| 7 | 61 | Terrell Suggs | LB |
| 7 | 62 | Devin McCourty | DB |
| 7 | 63 | Neville Hewitt | LB |
| 7 | 64 | Kyle Fuller | DB |
| 7 | 65 | Jerome Baker | LB |
| 7 | 66 | Malcolm Jenkins | DB |
| 7 | 67 | Chandler Jones | LB |
| 8 | 68 | Janoris Jenkins | DB |
| 8 | 69 | Dont'a Hightower | LB |
| 8 | 70 | Josh Allen | DL |
| 8 | 71 | Logan Ryan | DB |
| 8 | 72 | Ronnie Harrison | DB |
| 8 | 73 | Earl Thomas | DB |
| 8 | 74 | Fletcher Cox | DL |
| 8 | 75 | Whitney Mercilus | LB |
| 8 | 76 | Harold Landry | LB |
| 8 | 77 | Kwon Alexander | LB |
| 8 | 78 | Patrick Peterson | DB |
| 8 | 79 | Markus Golden | LB |
| 8 | 80 | Danny Trevathan | LB |
| 8 | 81 | Preston Smith | LB |
| 8 | 82 | Casey Hayward | DB |
| 8 | 83 | Nigel Bradham | LB |
| 8 | 84 | Alec Ogletree | LB |
| 8 | 85 | Tahir Whitehead | LB |
| 8 | 86 | Richard Sherman | DB |
| 8 | 87 | Dee Ford | DL |
| 8 | 88 | Jessie Bates | DB |
| 8 | 89 | Kenny Vaccaro | DB |
| 8 | 90 | Micah Hyde | DB |
| 8 | 91 | Lorenzo Alexander | LB |
| 8 | 92 | C.J. Mosley | LB |
| 9 | 93 | Kyle Van Noy | LB |
| 9 | 94 | Jahleel Addae | DB |
| 9 | 95 | Geno Atkins | DL |
| 9 | 96 | Hasean Clinton-Dix | DB |
| 9 | 97 | Leonard Williams | DL |
| 9 | 98 | Frank Clark | DL |
| 9 | 99 | Jaquiski Tartt | DB |
| 9 | 100 | T.J. Watt | LB |
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.
More Week 7 Lineup Prep
Check out all of RotoBaller's fantasy football rankings. Staff rankings are updated regularly for all positions and include standard formats, PPR scoring, tiered rankings and dynasty leagues.
