• The edge position dominates the top of the ranks (again): Micah Parsons leads the way as the youngest elite defender.
• 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.
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Version 3.0 of the IDP dynasty rankings comes in just ahead of the 2024 NFL season as the news and moves of the offseason create necessary updates to IDP values.
| 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 |
The top portion of these dynasty rankings is dominated by the defensive line position, as these players’ 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 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 90-pressure seasons. 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.
Jalen Carter leads the way for dynasty defensive tackles in this tier, coming off a rookie season where he delivered top-10 numbers for his position in pass-rush grade (85.9), PFF grade (89.0), win rate (17.7%) and expected sacks. Carter’s career is just getting started, and there arguably wasn’t a more promising start among last season’s rookies than what he was able to accomplish. Carter didn’t deliver as strongly from a fantasy perspective as a rookie, but there’s room for an increase in snaps to pair with his elite level of play, which should play a big part in improving his fantasy value as well.
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. While this is not 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.
The rookie IDPs continue to mix in here with first-round defensive lineman Byron Murphy II leading the way. Murphy was the best pass-rusher at his position coming into the NFL Draft, which resulted in him being the first interior defensive lineman off the board. He will have an opportunity to see the field as a rookie and be productive.
Ivan Pace Jr. delivered an excellent 2023 season, not just from the standpoint of being an undrafted rookie, but for all linebackers as a whole. He ranked tied for 17th in PFF grade (77.1) and 12th in coverage grade (77.7), allowing the team to feel comfortable enough to move on from veteran Jordan Hicks in free agency and reportedly allow Pace to call the defensive plays this season. Pace delivered a 78th percentile mark in tackles versus expected last season, and a full-time role again in 2024 should allow him to continue being an IDP star for this season and beyond.
Haason Reddick’s stock continues to drop as he’s yet to report to Jets training camp, as of writing this update, which doesn’t bode well for this IDP value. Reddick has been a big-play-dependent IDP scorer over the years, albeit a very good one, but with a limited tackle floor and concerns about how he’ll fit with his new team, there becomes a lot more risk involved in drafting him too highly this offseason.
Frankie Luvu earned 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.
For IDP managers who faded the younger and more appealing long-term linebacker options earlier in drafts, this tier is chaulked full of short-term value that can potentially outproduce those younger options in 2024. Bobby Wagner, Lavonte David, Kyzir White, Matt Milano and C.J. Mosley all stand out as strong options to lock into lineups and help competing dynasty rosters this coming season at the very least.
Even amongst the reliable vets, there are still some younger linebacker assets to target in this range, including Trenton Simpson – a potential breakout candidate — as well as Christian Harris and Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah, who carry questions about their usage in 2024, but should still be solid options for dynasty.
There are plenty of young, high-upside players to take shots on as IDP managers navigate to this stage of the rankings. Nolan Smith, Will McDonald IV and Lukas Van Ness all have decent draft capital behind them but haven’t quite emerged as relevant IDPs, though they should all be on that path to relevancy because they’re so early in their NFL careers.
Aside from Brian Branch, 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. Devon Witherspoon and Nate Hobbs lead 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 Eric Kendricks, Kenneth Murray, Jordan Hicks and De’Vondre Campbell, who all should have valuable IDP roles with their new teams in 2024.
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 defensive backs. 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.
Denzel Perryman and Jerome Baker may play the LB1 roles on their new teams, but they have a history of being unreliable for IDP, which pushes them down the ranks and ultimately makes them potential values if they pan out, even for just one season.
Nakobe Dean was once considered a valuable IDP dynasty asset, but due to his inability to stay on the field while not even practicing with the first-team defense this offseason, enough red flags have piled up to push him down the rankings quite a bit.
The final tier houses nearly 100 IDPs where depending on league scoring, roster need or just overall vibes on a player, these dynasty values are all very close. There’s an unlikely ceiling and more likely floor associated with most picks in this range, especially for the defensive linemen and linebackers, so it becomes about picking your favorite option(s) of the bunch and hoping for the best. They are ordered with the same criteria as the previous tiers, but they are all much tighter in overall value.
