• The edge position dominates the top of the ranks (again): Micah Parsons leads the way as the youngest of the elites, and having shown incredible consistency through his first three NFL seasons.
• Quinnen Williams stands alone among the interior defensive linemen: Williams didn’t have the high-end sack totals in 2023 but his performance across the board was a career-best and solidified his spot among the elite.
• Now including 2024 rookies: See where the likes of Laiatu Latu and Junior Colson mix in with their new NFL peers.
Estimated Reading Time: 14 minutes
Version 2.0 of the IDP dynasty rankings comes in now that the NFL draft is officially wrapped and free agency has largely been sorted.
| Position | Solo Tackles | Assists | Sacks | Tackles for Loss | QB Hits | Pass Breakups |
| ED/DT | 2.5 | 1.25 | 4 | 1 | 2 | 2 |
| LB | 1.5 | 0.75 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| CB/S | 2 | 1 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
There shouldn’t be any surprise at this point that the top portion of these dynasty rankings are dominated by the defensive line position, as these are the players whose talent, production and long-term investment make them the most valuable targets in dynasty leagues right now. Micah Parsons leads the way for a group that all consistently performs at a very high level on the field, which has translated into elite IDP production. Parsons will be just 25 years old and has arguably the highest long-term upside of the group, as he’s never failed to deliver a pass-rush grade below an elite 92.0 in his first three NFL seasons and is coming off back-to-back seasons of 90 pressures. He has also delivered at least 13 sacks in all three (regular) seasons.
The same high-level production and consistency is the expectation for the rest of the edge defenders listed in “Tier 1” with a combination of production, talent, age and confidence level that they’ll be high-end producers for many more years.
Quinnen Williams is the lone interior defensive lineman in this tier — a spot formerly held by Aaron Donald — but with Donald now officially retired, Williams’ time has come to be considered the top dynasty interior defensive lineman. Williams didn’t produce the double-digit sack totals that we got out of him in 2022, but 2023 was arguably even more impressive, as he actually improved a lot of his key underlying metrics across the board. Williams set a new career-high in overall PFF grade (90.6), PFF run-defense grade (90.4), PFF pass-rush grade (84.5), win rate (19.5%), pressure rate (16.1%) and total pressures (70). With elite metrics behind him, there is no reason to move him from last year’s dynasty DT1 ranking as we head into another season. Those stable metrics are the key reliant factor for his future production.
There are a few linebackers that make it into this top tier but keep in mind that this is a position where production is easier to find on the waiver wire in-season as players suffer injuries, so one of the reasons there aren’t more is due to the replaceability of the position for IDP. Another reason the early overall IDP rankings don’t include more linebackers is the position has proven to be more replaceable in the NFL as well with teams willing to move on from players who aren’t performing up to standard and either reducing their roles or releasing them altogether.
Roquan Smith, Fred Warner, Foyesade Oluokun and Nick Bolton have the highest confidence ranking for me as players that are likely to stick around the longest and be startable IDP options for several more years.
The rationale for the second tier is similar to the first, but with a lot more defensive tackles because the drop-off in reliable production becomes more evident. Locking up at least one high-end defensive tackle, specifically in DT-required leagues, is going to be important for avoiding holes in starting lineups on a weekly basis. This is a position with a lot of volatility and a top-heavy crop of players who are consistently good enough to leave in starting lineups each week with replacements few and far between.
Jaelan Phillips leads the second tier, but he will, unfortunately, be coming off an Achilles injury, which hopefully won’t push him down the rankings even further than he was last offseason. Phillips was well on pace to set new career highs in production this past year, even with a couple of missed games prior to his season-ending injury. There’s certainly some hope included in Phillips’ ranking here, but the belief is that once he’s healthy, he can return to the player we’ve seen on the field these past two seasons, which is among the best at his position.
The next grouping of linebackers are all still young, seemingly in their prime and should have starting jobs for at least a few more seasons, barring any unforeseen setbacks. T.J. Edwards leads the group as one of the most effective tacklers in the league, and he is under contract with the Chicago Bears for a couple more seasons with no reason to be concerned about job security.
Within this tier, the top rookie IDPs also come into consideration. Laiatu Latu produced some of the best career pass-rush metrics coming out of college, which puts him on a similar path to the Tier 1 edge defenders who shared similar metrics coming out. Jared Verse and Dallas Turner shouldn’t be considered too far behind Latu, and both will get the opportunity to prove that they’re in that conversation with ideal landing spots and draft capital coming out of the NFL draft.
The first key difference for the third tier is that it’s a spot where the first safeties will come off the board in drafts. While this is not something that’s necessarily recommended because the position is so deep, for IDP managers who want the best of the best for years to come, this is the group to target. Starting with a new S1, Kyle Hamilton and Antoine Winfield both overtake Derwin James in the rankings because both players are younger and have established themselves as on par or better producers than James with a likely ability to continue at that level for longer.
The rookie IDPs continue to mix in here with first-round defensive linemen Byron Murphy II and Chop Robinson leading the way. Both players were among the best pass-rushers at their position coming into the NFL Draft and will both have an opportunity to see the field as rookies and be productive with the potential to increase their stock heading into 2025.
Junior Colson and Edgerrin Cooper are the top rookie linebackers coming out of the 2024 NFL Draft and are the best bets for ideal playing time in Year 1. Performing well within that playing time and creating confidence that they can be long-term NFL starters will likely move them up these rankings next year.
There are plenty of young, high-upside players to take shots on as IDP managers navigate to this stage of the rankings, which is why the risk isn’t as necessary to take early on through the first 60 or so IDPs. Will McDonald IV, Lukas Van Ness, Troy Andersen and Nolan Smith all have decent draft capital behind them but haven’t quite emerged as relevant IDPs just yet, though they should all be on that path to relevancy as they’re so early in their NFL careers.
Frankie Luvu earned himself a nice contract this offseason to start in Dan Quinn’s Washington defense alongside Bobby Wagner. Luvu and Wagner are in great spots to produce in 2024 and with Luvu signed to a three-year deal, he’ll be locked into this range as long as he keeps his job.
Josey Jewell, Blake Cashman, and E.J. Speed were also all beneficiaries of the offseason with Jewell and Cashman getting positive contracts to indicate playing time in 2024. Speed, meanwhile, has avoided added competition for his secondary linebacker spot in Indianapolis thus far, keeping him in play as a nice IDP option for at least this coming season.
This is where the first cornerbacks come off the board. There are plenty of options at the position, so there shouldn’t be any desperation to draft them unless the rosters are smaller. Nate Hobbs leads the way due to the top-ranked corners all being proficient tacklers, making them less reliant on big plays, which tend to be more unstable.
The pool of linebackers and defensive linemen remains deep here, as these players either have a shot to see starting snaps in 2024 or are rookies on thinner depth charts with a chance to move up the depth chart in Year 1. This includes free agent winners Denzel Perryman, Kenneth Murray, Jordan Hicks, Eric Kendricks and Jerome Baker, who moved into potential 2024 LB1 roles for their new teams.
There are still a lot of defensive snaps for this coming season within these later rankings. While many of these players primed for decent roles in 2024 will be ranked higher in redraft leagues, there’s significantly less confidence in these players beyond this season outside of the cornerbacks. While not an impossible task to stick around as a starter beyond this year, whether it’s age or just profiling as a more replaceable piece, there shouldn’t be too much stock put into this group for dynasty.
