Coach: Aaron Glenn 1 PPG (not a typo)
QB: Trevor Lawrence 29 PPG
We saw another step forward in the career of Trevor Lawrence, who kinda/maybe/sorta/possibly will have stability under HC Liam Coen. Last year’s 13-win result brings high expectations, in what is now a 3-team race for the AFC South. Lawrence finished as the QB6, finishing with 236 passing yards per game (10th in the NFL), 1.71 passing TDs per game (7th), 21 rushing yards per game (16th), all while completing 61% of his passes (31st). His passing TDs (29) and rushing TDs (9) were both career highs, and there’s hope that TLaw can continue at this level with ample receiving weapons and a competent offensive mind leading the squad. He’s a top 10 option.
RB/WR/TE: Ashton Jeanty 22 PPG, Kenneth Walker III 22 PPG, Tyler Warren 19 PPG, Tetairoa McMillan 16 PPG, Rashid Shaheed 16 PPG 6th men: Quentin Johnston 15 PPG, Carnell Tate 15 PPG, Garrett Wilson 15 PPG, Dalton Kincaid 15 PPG, Jonathon Brooks 14 PPG, DK Metcalf 14 PPG
There are 10000 ways to look at Ashton Jeanty’s rookie season, but if you were to go back to April 2025 and say that he’d finish as the #20 RB/WR/TE, his GMs would take that. He was the workhorse we all expected him to be as the 1.06 in the NFL draft and received a top-tier opportunity. His snap share was 5th among RBs (78%), finished 10th in carries per game (15.65), 23rd in rushing yards per game (57.35), 15th in receiving yards per game (20.35) and 19th in total TDs (.59). While he clearly left meat on the bone from an efficiency standpoint, he did the best he could by finishing 4th in evaded tackles per game at 5.24. Jeanty is prime for progression if he can keep his usage the same and just be more efficient. New HC Klint Kubiak should certainly assist.
Kenneth Walker, the Super Bowl MVP, quickly left Seattle for another championship contender in Kansas City. For fantasy managers who have watched his potential be subdued by maddening timeshare issues, we’re about to see what he’s capable of. K9 is one of the shiftiest backs in the league, showcasing game-changing ability that looks just like LeSean McCoy in his heyday. Nothing shows this more than K9 receiving only 47% snap share (behind Zach Charbonnet btw), only to finish 7th in evaded tackles per game (4.71) on limited opportunity. The one thing that does keep me up at night and why the Hawks potentially kept him off the field as a workhorse was his litany of calf/ankle injuries through his rookie contract. There is certainly potential for an Achilles tear in the way he plays, but it’s hard to live in fear when it comes to football. If he can finally get a season of workhorse usage, we’ll see him finish in the top 16.
It’s incredibly rare to have a rookie like Tyler Warren. From the jump, the dude is playing 88% of the snaps (5th among TEs), which is insane at TE. He excels as both a receiver and a blocker, and in the early going before Daniel Jones went down with injury, he was cooking as a top 32 RB/WR/TE. The end-of-season single-digit output cooled the momentum, but Warren should be getting much more love than he’s gotten this offseason. The Colts have a real possibility of surprising the league again this year if everyone can stay healthy. Warren is chief among them as potentially their primary pass catcher. Look for him to finish in the Bowers and McBride tier as the 3rd overall tight end and flirt with a 20 PPG season.
We saw a quality season from last year’s 8th overall pick, Tetairoa McMillan, who brought a much-needed injection of talent to the offensively starved Carolina Panthers. Tet was their WR1 from the first snap, registering 88% snap percentage (12th among WRs), catching 4.12 receptions per game (29th among WRs), 59.65 receiving yards per game (21st), and .41 TDs per game (20th). So what is the ceiling here year 2 in this offense? The Panthers have been playing around with him in the slot more often, which should bump up his target share, potentially into Drake London territory (around 10 per game). That would be HUGE for a PPG increase and great for our PPR league. Progression here is likely, but we gotta keep in mind this is a Bryce Young-led offense.
We got some inconsistencies after Rashid Shaheed was traded from New Orleans to Seattle, but there is no doubt the upside he holds. Opportunity-wise, he was not targeted like he needed to be in order to be anything more than a bye-week filler, with only one game of 7 or more targets. The kick/punt returns kept him from providing zeros, but he was still their WR3. That is supposed to change this year, after they have given Shaheed a lucrative 3-year $51 million contract, locking him up through 2028 and his age-30 season. The projection here is difficult to set without seeing the early-season workload. If Shaheed is the Hawks’ WR2, commanding 6-8 targets a game and still getting the KR/PR duties, he’ll be a 20 PPG player. If he’s just a part-time guy on special teams, he’ll likely settle into the 16 PPG range. There is potential here with our scoring for a breakout top 32 finish.
PK: Jason Sanders 8 PPG
PN: Bryan Anger 8 PPG
DT: Darius Robinson 9 PPG (BJ Hill is now a backup/injured & Tershawn Wharton may miss the season with a neck injury, Kayden McDonald 8 PPG)
It’s been a rough couple of seasons for Darius Robinson, who largely lost his rookie year to a calf injury before a largely uneventful sophomore campaign. To make matters worse, the Cardinals rotate their lineman like crazy, and Robinson shouldn’t be expected to earn more than 55-60% of the snaps. Unfortunately, that’s not going to get it done, and it may be best to leave Robinson on the bench or waivers until we see proof of concept.
DE: Josh Hines-Allen 17 PPG, George Karlaftis 13 PPG (David Bailey 12 PPG, Rueben Bain Jr. 12 PPG, Chop Robinson 12 PPG, James Pearce 11 PPG)
We must get more production out of Josh Hines-Allen next year. Progression should be coming for him hard, especially if he can recreate finishing 5th in the NFL with 46 pressures. His 8 sacks and 49 tackles are incredibly disappointing for IDP purposes, but he’s had plenty of seasons registering 60-70 tackles. JHA, however, has often struggled to convert pressures to sacks, and the past couple of seasons have seen him post less than 50 stops and exactly 8 sacks. I still think a better season is on the horizon, and he’ll return to the top 16.
We have yet to truly see George Karlaftis become fun to start for IDP, and I’m not sure we’re ever going to get there. He’s been pretty consistent with his 45(ish) tackle output and 6-10 sacks through 4 years. That’s just not going to get it done, and unless a scheme change occurs, we might not see anything more than a low-end starter. He does generate a fair amount of pressure, so perhaps he could get to 12-13 sacks in a good year.
LB: Carson Schwesinger 20 PPG, Edgerrin Cooper 16 PPG, Daiyan Henley 16 PPG, Payton Wilson 16 PPG
The Cleveland Browns keep trying to trot out Bill Cosby to run their offense, but at least fans can root for DRoY Carson Schwesinger on the other side of the ball. He delivered a stellar year one, finishing 6th in total tackles (162), 2 INTs, and 2 sacks. He posted 22 more assists than solos, which stuck out to me as an intriguing stat. Not sure it means anything, but if he can convert more of those into solos, the ceiling can be even higher. Keep an eye on his big plays to see if he can deliver a bit more game-changing ability in 2026 too.
After an encouraging rookie season, filled with growing pains but visible potential, Edgerrin Cooper modestly progressed. It wasn’t what many IDP owners were hoping for, and instead of a full year 2 breakout, we got low-end LB2 production with 118 tackles and 2 forced fumbles on full-time snaps. That’s fine, but not ideal for a player who is put in a position to see ball and hit ball. A year 3 progression will hopefully take place, and Cooper can put it all together to reach his All-Pro potential.
The tackle efficiency fell off a cliff for Daiyan Henley, who regressed from finishing 8th in the NFL with 147 stops to just 103. The crazy thing is he didn’t miss a game; he just wasn’t in on plays like he was in 2024. There were talks of him being one of the most underrated defenders in the league prior to last season, but those have ceased. Year 4 will be a pivotal year to show whether he can be a top 10 backer again or if he’s more of a mid- to low-end starting-caliber player. On the plus side at least, he pumped his big plays up from 2 in ’24 to 5 in ’25.
Payton Wilson was an incredibly frustrating linebacker to rely on in 2025. His snap counts were all over the place, ranging from 88% all the way down to 40%. It was a weird season, but he has showcased quality tackle efficiency with his opportunity. There is certainly hope that Wilson will be a full time backer next to Patrick Queen, as there is a DC in Patrick Graham coming over from Vegas. He was not known for using two full time backers, however, so we’ll need to see it before we believe it. At the very least, Wilson has stayed relatively healthy through two NFL seasons, an issue that plagued him in college. The range of outcomes are high for Wilson, but I believe he’ll be startable as a near full-time player.
CB: Paulson Adebo 13 PPG, Mike Sainristil 12 PPG
Rarely, if ever, do I rank a corner, let alone a boundary corner, to have a 13 PPG season. That’s how special Paulson Adebo is and how he loves to get in on every play possible. He is a special hustle player and was on pace to lead all corners by a country mile in tackles before a Week 7 injury cost him six games. Outside of Cooper DeJean, Adebo is the favorite to finish as the CB1. Adebo has shown that a scheme change won’t stop his tackle-heavy ways, and I don’t see it being a major regression issue here, too.
There are certain corners that just post stable, but not crazy, numbers week after week. Mike Sainristil fits that bill. He flipped from slot corner usage to more boundary looks in the middle of last year and still was more than serviceable after the change happened in week 11; he only posted a single-digit output once. His role for 2026 is very much in flux, but it’s likely he’ll be back to playing in the slot more. That’ll help bump his ceiling up a bit more than how he ended last season.
S: Nick Emmanwori 16 PPG, Kyle Hamilton 15 PPG (Cole Bishop 13 PPG)
It started out slow and injured for Nick Emmanwori, but holieeeee fuq did he deliver after the Week 8 bye. He posted only two games under 10 points from that moment on and 3 games of 27 points or higher. Despite missing three games, he finished with 81 tackles, 1 INT, and 2 sacks. His 16 PPG would have been top 5 in the safety leaderboard over a full season, and playing many of his snaps in the box/slot will lock him in for a top 10 season. Auto start delux.
Kyle Hamilton is one of the best IDP safety and overall defenders in the NFL right now. He delivered another quality season, with 105 tackles, 2 forced fumbles, and 1 sack. Not exactly groundbreaking numbers, but it felt like many safeties usually near the top of the leaderboards struggled a bit with production. It’s just a reminder that we probably shouldn’t be paying even the best safeties like linebackers in the IFL, and thankfully we don’t.
Off: New England Patriots 13 PPG
PPG: 317
W-L: 8-9
X-Factor: Shoring up DT and Coach(?)
Erik always has young, exciting prospects that build a stellar foundation across the team. He has pillars to build around in Jeanty and Schwesinger under contract for 4. More. Seasons. The offense is ready to cook, with both star power and depth. Coach needs to be addressed and would dramatically increase his PPG by 5-6 PPG a week. DT is a glaring need, but both of these positions can be updated before the season. Overall, Erik boasts a quality contending squad that is not usual for most 8-9 teams. If he goes to work to clean up the rough edges, he’ll be very competitive.
