Adding Defensive Stars to Your Dynasty League with Matt Montgomery

IDP ("individual defensive players") has always been the side of fantasy football most dynasty managers skip, and Footballguys' Matt Montgomery says that's exactly where an edge is hiding. Understanding which defensive players to draft, how IDP scoring works, and how to introduce it to your league without chaos is what separates managers who dabble from those who dominate. In this episode, Jeff sits down with Matt for an IDP 101 conversation covering everything from the basics of defensive positions to startup draft strategy to the IDP Stock Market framework Matt uses to find risers and fallers every week.


💡 Key Takeaways

• IDP changes how you watch football because it unlocks the half of the game you've been ignoring.
• Start with "oatmeal" IDP scoring, 3-2-1 (sacks, big plays, tackles), as a starting point.
• Snap counts are the single best IDP research tool: 80–90% snap share means the stats will come.
• Linebackers are the RBs of your defense: consistent volume with upside.
• Add IDP gradually and build from there to keep your league fun.
• Go big-game hunting early in drafts, then manage conservatively through trades and waivers.
• IDP rookie drafts run 3–4 rounds deeper, and NFL draft capital is a reliable early-round signal.
• The biggest mistake IDP managers make is focusing only on the players with the best PR.

⏱️ Chapters / Timestamps
00:00 – What is IDP?
09:40 – How IDP scoring works (Matt's 3-2-1 explained)
16:14 – How IDP affects roster construction and pick value
24:02 – When to add IDP to an existing league vs. starting fresh
34:29 – Commissioner mistakes and how to avoid them
41:43 – Golden rules for IDP in an offense-first league
48:59 – Draft aggressive, manage conservative
54:09 – The IDP Stock Market series explained
01:00:20 – The biggest mistake IDP managers make & Matt's best advice
01:04:23 – Where to find Matt Montgomery

🔗 Links Mentioned

• Matt's articles on Footballguys 
• Footballguys snap counts tool 
• Footballguys 
• Follow Matt on Twitter/X 
• Dynasty Degens on YouTube
• Jeff's Dynasty Rankings on Footballguys: 
• Follow Jeff on Twitter/X

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Visit dynastycompass.com to learn more about the show.

Transcript

Jeff: When we think about a typical dynasty fantasy football league, we're thinking about offensive players, quarterbacks, running backs, wide receivers, tight ends, uh, the occasional kicker. Sorry, Jake Ciely. These are the kinds of players that we typically focus on, but there's a whole other side of the ball.

Matt Montgomery from Footballguys is here to talk about IDP, individual defensive players, what scoring for them means, what the positions are, how you go about drafting them, and how you might be able to incorporate them into your existing offensive dynasty league. And that's next on Dynasty Compass.

[Theme music]

Jeff: Welcome to Dynasty Compass. I am your host, Jeff Blaylock, the other Jeff B from Footballguys. Thank you so much for joining us today, whether you're watching on YouTube or listening on Apple, Spotify, or your favorite podcast platform. Your doing that is why this show can be here and why we can get some really good guests to join us to talk about all matters of dynasty fantasy football, including one that we haven't really covered yet in this show so far, and that is on the defensive side of the ball.

And I've got just the guy to do that with me, my Footballguys colleague, Matt Montgomery. Matt, how are you doing? And welcome to the show.

Matt: Hey, good to be here, Jeff. Super excited to talk ball with you. IDP is a fun format. I'm hoping over the next hour or so we will be able to tell your listeners and show your listeners maybe a side of the ball that they don't often pay attention to and why they should.

Jeff: Yeah. You know, this show often gets into some really deep, deep strategies and deep benches. Today we're gonna be a little bit just at the surface because I think for a lot of folks, this may be some new territory. So let's get them excited about it before we drown them in all of the, uh, all of the details and strategies and the nuances that are there.

So let's just start right at the beginning, man. What, what is IDP? When you say that, what are you talking about?

Matt: IDP, it's as simple as the acronym: individual defensive players. Instead of that team defense you grab in the second to last or last round, or if you wanna be bold and do it four or five rounds early, instead of doing that, you're expanding a player pool and adding an entirely different side of the ball, different positions, different specific rules, things that will help give you an edge and make your league feel more competitive if balanced the right way.

I think it's the closest you can get to real-life Madden. If you're a Madden fan, you love franchise, it's as close as you can get to fully feeling like you're managing a fantasy football team.

Jeff: Yeah, I think most dynasty managers probably began life as redraft players. You know, I know that I did. Uh, you know, you mentioned DSTs. You said second to last round. I say no, you get them on waivers as we get up to week one because you want that extra spot for a high upside guy who might hit. Uh, but what are we missing out on, man, if we are only thinking about defenses and special teams as just that, the, the DST that we grudgingly have to stream every few weeks because, uh, you know, that's the way to play the position?

Matt: Well, you know, you're missing out on a lot of true stars if you don't focus at least a little bit on defense. It doesn't have to be a full Band-Aid rip-off. If you start with a little bit, you can focus on the players that you've heard of, maybe some of the ones that you haven't heard of, but you are maybe familiar with the name.

But you got guys like Maxx Crosby. Everybody knows that Maxx Crosby is a star, and rightfully so. He shows that in IDP fantasy football as well as real-life football. But maybe a lot of your listeners aren't familiar with Foye Oluokun, who has put together four to five years of dominance at the linebacker position in IDP.

So the levels of players, it's pretty drastic. Most surface-level football fans would probably know the name Maxx Crosby, but that same amount would probably also not know the Foyes of the world. So it just introduces you to people. It shows a completely different side of the ball, a different athlete, but more importantly, it becomes a different game, and I think it amplifies the already great game of fantasy football.

Jeff: How did you, how'd you get into this in the first place? I mean, what attracted you to going the IDP route a- and, and getting into leagues that did that?

Matt: I, I'm just a very lucky guy, to be honest with you. Uh, John Norton, who is the guru of IDP over at Footballguys, does the Eyes of the Guru for us, as well as many other things behind the scenes. He was my Little League baseball coach, and he was friends with my dad and my mom. So him and my dad would play competitive fantasy football leagues, and eventually they graduated to letting my dad play IDP leagues.

And as my dad started getting into those, I was getting into high school. I was an obsessive football fan already, so it was just like almost adding to the appetite where it was just feeding me more and more and more of what I like, and then seeing a more deeper, complex version. This is in the early 2010s.

This is about 2011. So we're talking, going on probably 15 years now. It sounds crazy to say out loud, but it's one of those things I just kind of happenstance got invited into one. There was a, there was a person that left the league, and it ended up being a lot of Footballguys and Footballguys Forums people, and I, my first year, got to the Super Bowl and lost.

And I have been chasing that Super Bowl. I've won many times and I still am just like, "Nope, you're still that kid that thought he knew everything, felt really good, and then had it all ripped away." So it's kind of a journey, but it very, it's very personal to me and I think that's part of the reason why I love it so much.

Jeff: I think we all have stories of that championship that we didn't win, and we, we think about every morning when we wake up and thinking how life would've been so much different if we'd just won that fantasy football game 15 years ago.

Matt: Just one more.

Jeff: Matt, did, uh, did playing in IDP leagues, has that changed how you watch football or think about how the game is played?

Matt: Oh, absolutely. It forces you to change how you watch that because you're watching 50% more of the, the game in essentially, or 33% if you wanna count special teams. But when you're playing fantasy football just in a regular redraft standard league format that you do with your office friends or your, your work friends or whatever, tho- that forces you to watch the star players of the NFL, the merchandise movers, the needle movers, the people that get you to the game.

And that's great. That's what makes football such a star-driven sport, so encompassing of everything and even in pop culture. But when you don't look at the defense, you're not watching half of the game, you're not watching some of the scheme, you're not watching that chess match, why the Bill Belichicks of the world were so good in their era and why nobody could, could figure them out.

It forces you to watch the chess match on the field. How the game starts and how it's played versus how the end of the game st- plays is a completely different game, and it gives you more of an insight as to what happens to make it feel that way and why it happens. And I think that being a better, more informed football fan will always benefit you in fantasy football.

Jeff: can certainly see how that, that, that really changes the game when you have to then do the defensive side, that you start paying attention to that. You're looking at those formations and not just from an offensive projection standpoint, uh, like I typically do. Um, you know, you mentioned special teams as well.

Uh, I really got into the idea of using special teams as part of dynasty leagues through Scott Fish Bowl a few years ago because kick returners, uh, became very valuable commodities. And so I've, I've got a couple leagues where I have incorporated kick return yardage at, on an individual basis rather than special teams.

And that, that created a little bit more of a player pool, but not to the extent that, that going to the defensive side is.

is there some kind of a middle ground or a way to play in IDP that has what I would kind of describe as a, maybe a lower barrier to entry than a full-blown roster of 30 defensive players?

Matt: Oh yeah, absolutely. It, it's, it, it, you know, can apply the same way that you would on offense. Add a couple of flex positions, but make them defensive flex positions. If you do one to two, it doesn't make you-- it doesn't force you to know the players so much. It forces you to just understand your league scoring and your league rules.

So I think if you add two flex spots, water down the scoring a little bit, don't make it to where it takes over your league because I think that that can rub you the wrong way and it can give you the wrong idea of what you're trying to incorporate in your league. But if you expand your actual starting roster by two players, you add a bench spot, that gives you 36 to 40 players additionally per ros- or per league.

So you're talking a pretty substantial amount of new players, but not enough that you can't follow it. Would you rather follow a top defensive star or the seventh wide receiver on an injury-riddled team with a bad quarterback? I'm telling you, if you will enjoy following the star defensive players more than just trying to find the next diamond, diamond, diamond, diamond deep in the earth's crust.

It's just, it's much more fun.

Jeff: I like the idea that you're-- we're just talking about, yes, it's more players, but we're not talking about a lot of them. These are the guys who even a casual fan watching a football game is gonna hear their names over and over and over again because they are involved in either making tackles or sacking the quarterback or, or whatever, whatever that happens to be.

So you did mention scoring a- and, and particularly this idea that you don't want the scoring to kind of overwhelm a, a league that's, that's more oriented toward offense and is just bringing in a couple of IDP slots. But how does, how does the IDP scoring kind of typically work? I mean, would it be familiar to dynasty managers who have never used it, or is it like a whole, whole different animal?

Matt: Well, the good news is nobody, even people that have played IDP as long as I have, can figure out what standard scoring is. And I think that that's our, that's probably my biggest gripe with the space is how are you going to include or try to add to the space if we can't agree upon standard scoring? And that's maybe an industry-created term, standard scoring, but just having a default setting for a league and helping to try to usher that in would really help you out.

So to be, you know, to be ride the fence guy, I don't necessarily know how to answer that because there really isn't a typical default setting. Um, a lot of times that's why I encourage people, if you're trying it, to do a watered-down version of it. Try to just incorporate it a little bit and then tweak it to what your league mates feel is fair and fun.

But if you start too hot, it'll just rub everybody the wrong way. So I always caution people, start low. Three-two-one is typically what I would consider the closest thing to standard. That would be three points for sacks, two points for big plays like, you know, um, interceptions, fumbles, et cetera, stuff like that.

One point for tackles, half points for assists. So, you know, three-two-one, that's pretty easy to incorporate. It doesn't alter your league all that much unless you have guys like Myles Garrett go wild and then of course that is a league-winning type of player. But that's what, that's typically what I would say would be the closest thing you can get to default standing or settings.

Jeff: I do like the, this idea of just sort of a, a simplified kind of scoring because I, I think you're right that it's, it, it's very easy to just throw things completely out of whack if you wanna get a little too exotic.

But my guess is that you could get probably quite exotic if you wanted to. I mean, what other kinds of plays or stats count for points in some IDP systems?

Matt: Exactly. And I'm not a huge proponent of those type of advanced stats to try to make it like even more unique than unique. Um, I think it's pretty simple. You either sack the quarterback or you don't. I don't think you should get points for making the guy scared because I would be scared too of you. So it's not like that's an uncommon thing to feel, especially as a quarterback when you got a guy like Myles Garrett running at you.

So you got leagues that'll do pressures, quarterback hits. I could see that one a little bit more as long as it's within the rules of the game. I think, okay, you did enough there. You should get something. You know? So pressures, quarterback hits, I mean, you can get really, really technical. Some people do return yards, so if you have a forced fumble and it's recovered by your player, you get the yardage like you would like a running back or a wide receiver.

So you can get really exotic and I think that some of those formats are fun. But if the, if like you said, the barrier of entry, I think you just gotta make it base level. This is my oatmeal defensive league and you're gonna love it and maybe one year we'll add sugar. That's fine. Oatmeal will sustain you.

It's okay.

Jeff: you mentioned pressures and, and I think that's one of the things that makes those of us who are purely on the offensive side always a little nervous about this, is on the offensive side, we can see everything that scores.

We can see a completed pass. We can see a carry that goes for a certain number of yards. We can see a guy fall into the end zone for a touchdown. But pressures may not be defined quite so smoothly or obviously, and so it, it might be kind of difficult for some folks to kind of watch, watch their scoring when they're not entirely sure what just scored points.

Uh, is, is that something that you have faced or is that, you know, I guess that's one reason why you say just go with the, the vanilla kind of scoring, the basic kind of scoring right off the bat. Is that sort of left to the eye of the official scorer kind of stuff? Is, is that something that you, you think is a, you know, beneficial or exotic or, you know, just needs to be gotten rid of out of IDP?

It doesn't apply there.

Matt: for someone I know your real life job, so I know that there's a lot of intellect up there. And for somebody who claims that they're an IDP novice, you just hit the nail on the head. One of the ultimate secrets of IDP is, or one of the ul- maybe the untalked about rule is a lot of those stats are dependent on the statistician.

There are certain teams where they get stat happy, and you know what? Maybe that wasn't an assist, that was a solo tackle. So you get double points basically for what should be on any other game another type of, um, play. And that comes into play at times. I don't think it's prevalent enough to make the whole league be like, "Oh, it's not fair.

You, if you get the Kansas City Chiefs guys, they're always gonna get more tackles." It's not like that. But there are instances where it's almost like you get like a home field advantage where it's like, all right, your guy was playing at home so maybe he got credited for two. I mean, but that I feel like you get that everywhere.

You see that it's object- it's the objectivity of it all. It's, it's kind of just like, you know, I saw this, you saw that. It, it's, uh, it's just one of those parts of the game. But I thought it gets hilarious that you, you claim to be a novice. That's something that I've only talked about with maybe one or two other people and it's always been kind of hush-hush where it's like, well, we don't talk about it because it's kind of an edge and it's like, it feels kind of dirty to be honest with you.

Jeff: Well, in that real job you're referring to, crisis management consultant, I, I don't know a lot about the industries I work in sometimes, but I ask lots of questions, and so I just happened to hit one that sounded really smart and I still really, you know, don't know. It just is something that, you know, if you ask me to define a reception, I can tell you what that is, uh, that Dez Bryant catch that didn't count notwithstanding.

Uh, but, but I can't really tell you what a pressure is. I'm not en- not entirely, he did caught it. I'm not entirely sure what a pressure actually is. I don't know when I see one. I see the run- guy coming and quarterback running, but whether that

Matt: And let's not, let's not forget that you have about four to five seconds, maybe not even that, to decide whether he was pressured or not. You're gonna do that with the amount of officials that you have on five guys all at the same time with looking at no other part of the field? I just think it's too subjective.

A quarterback hit, you know he got hit. Was it legal? Okay, it was a legally defined hit. That's a point. That-- It's simple. The pressures thing to me, if we're gonna play almost football, then maybe what about those catches that do get called back because of pass interference because they were really cool and they almost had a big play?

It's, it's the same thing. Come on, give me real-time data and then score that data.

Jeff: Yeah. Let's, uh, let, let's shift a little bit over to sort of roster construction from, from this. I mean, does, does IDP affect how you construct your roster or how you value rookie picks?

Matt: Absolutely, 100%. This is probably my favorite thing to talk about when talking about IDP. It's the roster construction, and it's because I have the ultimate fence-sitting answer for you, and that is everything depends on your league's rules. Like you and I were talking, if you have an oatmeal IDP league and it's three, two, one, those guys don't need to go higher than the top echelon of offensive players.

It's just, it's not gonna equate to that. But I was in a league last year in the King's Classic, and it was a heavily-- It's part of what I'm talking about on here, where a sack was worth the sack points, the quarterback hit, the pressure, and the yardage. So all of those points. So a sack is almost a 12 to 15-point play.

It was weighted intentionally to do that, to make the league feel like that. But that type of league, IDP needs to be arguably your first pick, because if you get a Myles Garrett, you've got a guy that's gonna outscore the league. And you have to be u- you have to understand what scores heavily, what is going to give you the edge, and is it something that is a repeatable stat?

It's not like a holy grail where it's a sack, a forced fumble, a fumble recovery, and a touchdown. Like, yeah, it's cool to get one or two of those a year from various players, but that is not something that you can start every week expecting. But a sack, a deflected pass is worth something. Maybe if they get over six tackles, you get a bonus point.

You know, things like that, that are repeatable stats. That's when you need to start seeing IDP guys creep up to that middle, even late first, second tier of draft picks, wherever you feel like the cutoff point is for your players. I think that the top guys can creep up into that upper echelon depending on the league stats.

But in that oatmeal league, nah, you can take them at the back end and you all will have fun because it's a pretty deep pool.

Jeff: Yeah, I mean, particularly if we're only talking like maybe a couple of, uh, a couple of flex spots where we- we're-- you're gonna get an upper echelon defensive player unless you've got somebody who's drafting all of them, uh, which they, they won't be winning their league if they have 12 guys for two slots.

But I've seen, I've seen it, so I know it's out there as, as a strategy. Um, but yeah, so let's get into the positions a little bit. I mean, in a, in, in a typical offensive league, we've got, you know, quarterbacks, running backs, wide receivers, tight ends. Uh, some are gonna use kickers, much to the chagrin of, uh, Jake Ciely, #bankickers.

Um, a few dynasty leagues I've seen even use DSTs. I don't know why they do this. They-- but they do this. Uh, all fantasy football players are familiar with those guys. So how do you, how do you define the IDP positions?

Matt: Yeah. The easiest way to do it if you don't wanna go that deep, like we're kinda doing surface level right now, there are three main position groups: defensive line, DL, linebacker, LB, and defensive back, DB. And it's exactly what they sound like. If they're an interior lineman or a lineman that's gonna touch the ground, they're typically coded as DL, so your edge rushers.

The linebackers, those are the guys that are the, that are more-- They're less frequently rushing the quarterback, more frequently dropping back into coverage and playing the run, and then the defensive backs is anybody in the secondary. The cool thing about IDP is you see a lot more flexible players, players who have dual position eligibility, and that is one of the, that's one of the fun parts about IDP roster construction is that you almost have chess pieces on your team.

Like, yeah, I would really like to have a T.J. Watt as my edge rusher, but as my linebacker, I'm kinda feast or famine on the sacks, so I may be missing out on potential points from a guy that I know like a Foye who's gonna get me eight to 10 tackles a week. I know the points are there. T.J. Watt might explode and have one sack, four tackles, and it equates the same thing, but a- again, it goes back to that scoring element.

So the dual position eligibility kinda gives you that chess piece. It gives you roster flexibility, so you don't have to have as many players if you don't trust some of the IDPs that are out there. You can keep a s- shallower bench because you have more positions available to play for you, and I think that that makes it fun.

But as far as the breakdown, DL, linebacker, defensive back, those are your three easiest to do if you wanna expand more so than just flex positions.

Jeff: Yeah. Uh, well let's talk a little bit about each of those and, and what dynasty managers should be looking for at each position. And obviously, of course, scoring is gonna make a big difference in terms of how, how you might evaluate these or even how you might weight one position against the other. So let's just assume, you know, your, your oatmeal scoring for a second so that the, the positions are more or less balanced.

I'm not sure if that actually does do that, but if it does, we'll, we'll go there. So what are we looking for in, in DLs, in defensive linemen?

Matt: Yeah. So I typically play a pretty conservative IDP game, and then I, I'm more likely to build high floors than I am high ceilings. And the reason being, starting with defensive linemen is in your non-big play leagues, you know, you're looking for three down linemen, people who are on the field majority of the snaps because more snaps, more opportunities, more opportunities, more tackles, and more tackles, more points, man.

It's simple. So you just wanna have the guys that are frequently a part of their team's game plan. If you have that, the stats will come. I'm a firm believer that if they are logging 80 to 90% of their team's snaps on one side of the ball, they are a part of that team's weekly game plan. You will see those stats come in.

It's a matter of whether or not you've built your team to be able to outlast potential highs and lows depending on the players you reach for. So defensive linemen, obviously you want the sacks, man. You gotta get guys that are gonna have sacks. But I play a little bit more conservatively, and I'm not so much on the sack train.

Get the guys that are on the field and figure the rest of that out later. With linebackers, this is where you'll see the biggest, the biggest fork in the road for IDP managers. I'm typical about this is where I'm heavily investing. I, I like defensive linemen. They have the sexiest names in all of IDP.

Everybody knows all of them. But the linebackers, I believe, are the running backs of your defense. They are the ones that they're gonna get that, that volume. They're gonna have that potential for the, the blowup weeks more so and more frequently than the defensive linemen. So I think that you invest there.

And I think defensive backs get a bad rap. I see why they get the bad rap, but a lot of people feel like they're a dime a dozen. I disagree. I think that you're-- when you go back to the hybrid talk of building your roster, I think that defensive backs are true hybrid players that are on the field. Some of them play almost a box linebacker role on their defense.

So you're getting a, arguably a better athlete with a higher skill set playing the same position as your linebackers. So you have the opportunities not only for those huge plays, but that consistent flow of points that'll go to your roster every week that will win you championships. So a lot to dissect there, but I'm a conservative player.

Build your floor and watch the ceiling grow in front of you.

Jeff: when you mentioned m- non-big play leagues a second ago, that's like Kings Classic, right? Where you've got several stats that pile on top of each other, and so one play is worth 15 points where it might be worth three almost anywhere else. Uh, and, and so, okay, so it's not like a, a distance or a bonus or something, it's just the, it's just the comp- stats compounding on top.

Matt: lot of times you don't see IDP bonuses. Um, you see more of the compound stats, like you said. So bonuses are pretty nonexistent, uh, but the compound stat thing, yeah. So big play, that's, that's typically what I mean by that. My apologies for not clarifying.

Jeff: Not, not at all. I, I, that's what I thought you, you meant, but I just wanted to be sure that, that there wasn't another wrinkle out there that we were glossing over, 'cause I'm sure there are several that we're

Matt: I'm sure someone will find one, dude.

Jeff: Uh, well let's, let's sort of get into what separates kind of like a top level player from, uh, a starter level from a bench player.

I think you've already hit on what I think you're gonna say is the biggest one, which is the, the snaps that they're on the field. The, the top level guys are on the field a lot. The starter level guys are not quite as much, and the bench players probably on the field either quite a bit less. But that may be an oversimplification.

You know, how do you kind of define like top level, starter level, and bench? And if you don't wanna define them that way, you can define them however you want. That's just the way that my, my novice way looked at the world.

Matt: Yeah. Hey, no, no shame there. I think it's a great start point, and I will actually echo that. Um, in my prep for whether I'm writing an article, starting a, starting a lineup, have a lineup question, my prep is I will start with the snap counts on footballguys.com. That is an invaluable tool to not only it, it-- both sides of the ball if you really care to see.

So that is a tool that I think that should be utilized more heavily by people, especially if you're IDP players. That being said, it doesn't always tell you the full story. Some things happen. You, you don't know when a player got benched. You just know that he had a snap share go down. So you're almost, in a way, that's a bit of a gamble.

I think it's the safest gamble you have as far as resources available to know which will ri- which players will rise above and which players maybe will fall off. But you also will identify players that maybe you hadn't heard of because they maybe don't have that article name where people are, you know, they haven't reached the SEO of their Google search of their own name yet, so you don't recognize who they are.

And then you'll see, hey, you know, player XYZ, he was playing 20% of the snaps week one and two, but now week 10, 11, he's playing 60 or 70. Well, smart money, in my opinion, would go to, okay, I'm gonna invest a little bit here because maybe whether it's injuries or he's just the best player at practice, he's getting on the field.

I don't care why. I just n- I'm just seeing what's happening in front of me and I'm reacting, and I think that that's another thing that goes underrated in IDP is i- I think you have to react faster in IDP than you do on offense.

Jeff: And I assume too that, that we've got, you have available to you either on Footballguys or, or wherever else you go, there are actually rankings that you can look at just like there would be on the offensive side of the ball to help guide some of those kinds of decisions, right?

Matt: Oh yeah, absolutely. I mean, rankings are fantastic. It, it's all opinionated, so you know, you always have to take that, you have to take a grain of salt, you know? I would've probably ranked a Jaelan Phillips super high two years ago, and he probably has at least relatively the same career stats as he did in those same articles.

So that should tell you, uh, a, a little bit about that. I always caution people, I think rankings are good, especially if you trust the resource, trust the people behind those rankings. Of course, man, it's ju- it's all... That's the beauty of this game. I like this player as number two. Well, you may have him as number five.

Well, here's my case for number two. You know what I mean? I think that those are great. I love to see bold rankings, people that go against the grain a little bit because I think it's intriguing to see the logic behind why. I think that you have to, you have to have airtight logic when you're trying to make these decisions, whether it's Sunday at 12:45 and you got a player that's a game time decision and you're just going on, "Well, he was really hurt last week and what I saw with my eyes was that ankle looked really swollen.

I don't wanna play him." Or you saw, "Hey, he was running around in practice all week. I'm gonna play him." It's all subjective, but it's all logic-based thinking.

Jeff: Yeah. As someone who does, you know, dynasty rankings on the offensive side where it-- there's a lot of subjectivity that goes into that kind of evaluation. The good news though for me, as opposed to the folks who do things weekly, is that I could say, "Well, it hadn't happened yet." There's still more years to look at this.

This guy's not a bust yet. You've got

Matt: My favorite adage is, "I wasn't wrong, I was early."

Jeff: Exactly. Exactly. Love it. I love it. Um, you know, I'm generally not one who says that a dynasty league that exists should change-- should have a large change to it, like adding slots or adding, adding scoring to it. Uh, but I have seen kind of IDP leagues, uh, or, uh, dynasty leagues do some kind of adoption of an IDP at some point in their, in their existence.

I mean, do you-- First of all, do you think that is something that, that should just stick to startups, that when you're starting a league, that's when you make those decisions? Or do you think that it's okay, uh, and maybe even a, a, a great way to renovate or, or to re-energize a league that's been around for a while?

Matt: Yeah, I think that was a great question and when I, and I, you mentioned this one to me on the sheet to, uh, kind of think about and I, I think it's interesting. I, I, I can go both ways on this. I think personally, I-- if you did an all IDP dynasty startup and then you just added those players to your roster, that's the most fair and equitable way to do it.

I think it, it's not as inconvenient. Do it separate from your rookie draft so that way you can still draft the IDP rookies so long as you wanna take that. But if you do a complete startup, you could lose the fire just 'cause you're starting all over and what if my team was the dynasty of this league and then we blew it up and now my team sucks?

Well, I don't wanna be on this, in this league anymore. I think it's less of a gamble to do it that way, but who doesn't love a startup, man? I mean, I'm always about it. Well, let's do both leagues. I'll just start a completely different league with you same 11 people and we'll just add IDP to the next one.

Jeff: Yeah, I think I've, I've seen that done where a couple of folks said they really wanted it and decided not to adjust the competitive balance of the existing leagues, they started over. But I love your, your idea, uh, of if you're gonna add it, you just have a separate draft only for those players and the slots that they're gonna take on a roster so that you're not trying to, um, you know, jam them in somehow or get them in all off waivers, that there's an orderly process to it that works like a rookie draft would work.

Because essentially for your league, even Maxx Crosby is going to be a, a rookie because he hasn't played in it before. Uh, so if you wanna think of it that way. Uh, and obviously the incoming rookies you can either put in that draft or in your rookie draft, depending on what order that they come in. Um, you know, let's, let's kind of look at some options here.

You, you can have a league where you've got a few IDP slots in your starting lineup. You've got leagues that I've seen that have these wild benches that you've got almost the same number of starters on both sides of the ball. And then of course you've got IDP leagues only that have just on the defensive side.

So can you kind of walk through y- each of those, you know, why a league would wanna do that or why it might not be a good fit?

Matt: Yeah. So I kind of broke it down into three different types of leagues, kind of like what you just did. A low IDP, so maybe you don't add as many roster spots both on your bench or in your starting positions. I think in this type of league you're hunting for the white whale. You are looking for Moby Dick.

And I think that part of why is because the player pool is so deep, if you miss, the waiver wire will have somebody and it will give you more practice, to be completely honest with you, on what to look for in IDP leagues on the waiver wire. Obviously, you know, players like a Maxx Crosby aren't even gonna be available on your waiver wire.

But let's say Maxx Crosby, you know, has a contract holdout or something with the Raiders midway through the season. He's not hurt, he just isn't playing. Well, what do you do? Do you just take the L and put him on your bench? Maybe, maybe not, but your IDP pool is going to be deep enough that you can pull somebody else out there.

I think it's the easiest one. It's a one-size-fits-all solution and it-- like it's vanilla. It's vanilla and oatmeal, baby. Equal IDPs, this is where you're gonna start seeing a little bit of the strategy of the game come out. I think this is where I personally spread out my investments. I start looking for tackle volume players because I'm looking for that floor.

I'm looking for more of the floor than the ceiling, like I mentioned earlier. Um, I just think regardless of what your rules are, so let's say, you know, we, we've debated rules and scoring and we're not gonna do that on here. But it doesn't matter what your scoring is, the leagues will be dominated or at least competitive if you have high tackle volume players.

So in an equal IDP league where maybe it's a little vanilla, maybe it is big play, I still think you're safe investing in the tackle floor players. IDP only, man, throw the rules out. It is best player available every single time because I've seen a lot of IDP only leagues that just do like eight flex positions.

I've seen them broken down to individual positions. It does not matter. Take the best player available and roll the dice there and just watch the waiver wire because we're all wrong, we're all right. This game is unpredictable, it is chaotic, and it is poetry. You watch the people separate and it's the people that put the time and effort in to see what's going on in the league.

So in an IDP only league, man, just take the guys. Don't worry about what the strategies are. I need this player. I think this player's good. I'm taking that player.

Jeff: You know, when you're talking an IDP-only league, 'cause we haven't actually, uh, touched on this yet, I mean, is it like the same number of players that you might see on an offensive side? Is it a s- you know, shorter starting lineup? Is it longer? Is there a bigger bench? I mean, what would be... And I know there's no one-size-fits-all here, but what would be kind of a, a typical, or maybe I'd just put it if you were starting a, an IDP league for folks who aren't as into it as you are, you know, what would it kind of look like in terms of the, the lineup and the, and the bench?

Matt: You'd have six to eight additional starters depending on what you feel about flex positions, but usually it's the two rule. Two DL, two linebacker, two defensive back, two flex. That's eight players. Add maybe four bench spots so it doesn't, you know, completely destroy some of your league's waiver wire. Uh, it is kind of like what you said, there is no one size fits all.

I think personally the most fun, and, but I'm a psycho at this, is I think break it down by position. Play two of each secondary, three linebackers, two defensive ends, two defensive tackles, and let it go and just learn from there. Have the fun of learning every position and then cater your strategies based on what you are seeing the results of your league and how that, how those rosters may or may not be constructed like or unlike what you've done.

Jeff: Well, hopefully this conversation so far has got some of our folks who are watching or listening who are commissioners of leagues, uh, have their wheels spinning as to how they can go about, uh, putting IDP into those leagues. So let's, let's put the warning shot out there. What are the common mistakes that first-time IDP commissioners make, uh, and how do we avoid those so that we don't end up blowing up a league that's been together for 15 years because we decided linebackers was a good idea?

Matt: Well, I mean, I think the biggest mistake that IDP commissioners can make when you're trying to incorporate it is by overdoing it early. Don't try to make this your super psycho league you've had with all of these people for years and you're gonna add it to your, to your maybe more casual group because all you're gonna do is blow up what could be a good time if you did it otherwise.

So I would always caution people, this is a deep pool because of the uncertainty and the non-standard default niche type of fantasy football league that this is. So just kinda water it down. Just be okay with the slow growth and see and get the feedback. Who knows? It could be a one-year rental of two flex players, and then next year everybody's like, "Well, why don't we have corners?

Why don't we have safeties?" You know, "Why don't we add another..." You know, I think that you will s- you will see in the results of the league and how either competitive or fun you felt and the, and the league felt and shared, you will see that grow and then you will have more people to potentially be on your side to make those bigger changes for your league.

Because let's be honest, man, you're a commissioner. Nobody's ever gonna like you. That's the point. It's about greasing the wheels. Grease the palms, and sometimes you just gotta take an L early for the big win late. That's what you're doing. Just grease the wheels, man. It's politics.

Jeff: You know, if I were gonna go down the let's just add some slots path here, uh, whi- which, which for I think an established dynasty league to me makes a lot of sense just because it's not a, it's not a huge sea change but does add some interest in there. What would you say kind of would be the, the, the appropriate number of those slots, and is there a positional approach or would you just say, "You know what?

Let's just go all flex on this to start with"?

Matt: Uh, if I was, if it was one of those leagues where commissioner just rules over the league and you're just in my league, just do it with flex positions. I typically like to crowdsource with, with a lot of things. So I think that sometimes that can bite you if you open that discussion up and maybe people get hurt, their feelings hurt because, you know, their idea wasn't listened to, but somebody else does.

Again, that just means, hey buddy, you're the commissioner. That, that sucks. That's why you think everybody hates Goodell. All right? So I mean, there's probably a lot of reasons, but like, you know what I mean? There's

Jeff: I could handle being hated like that if I got paid like he.

Matt: That's what I mean. I think in the grand scheme of things, I think we can all agree that the NFL is a pretty well-managed business.

It has its opportunities, but, you know, the part of that is the commissioner making decisions that are not always that agreed upon. And I think that you just, if you-- I crowdsource and I just go, "Look, I'm thinking this. Here's my point for why I think this would be fun. What do you think?" And see what happens.

Worst case scenario, you can pull the "I'm the commissioner" card. I was just, you know, disguising this as a democracy. It's really my iron fist that runs this league. That's fine. But I think getting the engagement from your league and not just cloak and daggers changing things without at least some sort of a conversation is not ever a good move to make.

So I would just float it out there, and if, if you're worried about how it'll be responded to, just use the flex argument. "Hey, you don't gotta know anything. You just gotta know what side of the ball they play on."

Jeff: You just gotta have heard of them. If you've heard of the players, they're probably good enough to put in your lineup. Yeah, I, you know, I, uh, 'cause I-- we had this discussion with a couple of guys online, uh, actually it was earlier today. We were recording this on the last day of June of this year, 2026, I think is the year.

Uh, we sh- we are, uh, uh, discussing whether you, whether there should even be significant changes to scoring or to lineups or anything in a dynasty league because people draft their teams with a particular, particular framework in mind. I think it's one reason why I really like your idea of if you're gonna do it, have a completely separate IDP startup draft essentially so that it is not interfering with the rest of it.

Um, but I'm also a believer that, you know, the democracy side, you know, it may not ultimately be a democracy, but you should, as you say, crowdsource the idea to see what the interest really is. Uh, I find that a more iron hand is appropriate if it's a brand-new league or you're, you're starting it from scratch and you are pitching it to, uh, to potential league mates.

I would say, though, that if you, if you're considering adding IDP, consider it up front and then see if they want it or not, rather than try to add it later, uh, at least in that initial startup run. Then from there you can have the sort of conversations. But, um, you know, I do know some folks who would definitely get, uh, ruffled if I pitched them on a league and then they show up to draft and there's suddenly three flex IDP spots sitting there that we hadn't discussed before.

So just know your audience.

Matt: yeah, and one more thing w- not just to the roster construction that can really mess some things up, but don't make the rules super complicated. Make it as easy and digestible as possible for as long as you can until there needs to be a cutoff point where maybe there's two guys in your league that just aren't getting it, but the other 10 are like raring to go, ready for this to be competitive.

You know, that's when you have to figure it out and just kinda have to be like, "Hey, I'm doing what's in the best interest of majority of the league," as opposed to that whole game of, "Oh, it's my dad," or, "Oh, it's my, you know, my boss," or whatever it ends up being. You know what I mean? Like, things like that, I mean, that's a part of it.

You just, you know, that's life. I think as far as wha- don't make it complex because if it's complex, you'll lose your audience. If it's easily digestible, even people that are casual may find themselves at least more engaged than normal. And who knows? They may feel like it's not for them, and that's fine.

But I think if you're just, if you're not, if, if you dive in too quickly, too complex, you'll lose everyone and I wouldn't blame them.

Jeff: Yeah. Yeah, just because, you know, platforms like Sleeper or MFL or any of these others have lots of options for scoring doesn't mean you have to use all of them, or really most of them. You could ignore whole swaths of them a- and, and be, and be just fine. 'Cause I'm with you in a sense that I want it to be-- I want the scoring to kind of be transparent.

I want it to be clear what actually counts for points so that someone watching a game can see, okay, this-- that was a sack. That's three points for me, or four or 15 or whatever it happens to be. Uh, that you can see that just as you could if you saw a guy get a first down if you're in a PP1D league, or they caught the ball if you're in a PPR league, or they scored a touchdown in any, any format.

Um, what, you know, when you're thinking about a- as, as kind of a newer player coming in, if you were advising them, what would be kind of like your, your golden rules for IDP?

Matt: Man.

Jeff: [laughs]

Matt: If you're in a majority offense league but you have a couple of dy- a couple of IDP guys, go big game hunting. That is my golden rule. Don't be afraid to press draft early on a guy that everybody knows is a good player. It's only an overdraft if you're wrong. All right? So are you going into that situation thinking you're wrong?

Or did you draft Myles Garrett 10 rounds early and everybody thought you were an idiot and you won the league? You know, those are the type of just have conviction. In those type of leagues, you need to find the cream of the crop, and the cream always rises to the top. Very rarely do you see an IDP star fade into nothing.

There are, there are disappointing seasons, but very rarely outside of injury plagued seasons do you see top IDPs not at least consistently maintain production. They may not reach those career highs, those season highs, but they are going to be those steady performers to you. And in leagues like that, you just need to have people maybe helping the engine move just a bit further, helping your team just by a fractions of points that maybe without those IDPs, the matchup would've been lost.

Jeff: if I were a dynasty manager, we'll move away from commissioner, say I'm just a dynasty manager, I wanna go all in. I just say, "You know what? I'm gonna, I'm gonna just grab this bull by the horns. 2026 is the year I'm gonna jump into, uh, an all IDP league or a balanced kind of league."

What would be your, your advice to, to that kind of a dynasty manager who's just gonna jump into the deep end?

Matt: It's simple, Jeff. Just watch football games. Even if it's Red Zone, just watch the players on the field with your IDP team. Even if it pops up on the screen and all the hype on Red Zone's about how this team is gonna score, that's fine. Watch your linebacker. Understand what your linebacker's doing. Watch him make a play.

There are many, many times where I have just because of happenstance, I have a-- Like I have-- Here's a great example. On Monday Night Football two or three years back, could even be four, I'm, I'm old, Jeff, I don't, I don't remember.

Jeff: No, you're not. You're, you're

Matt: But Talanoa Hufanga was a rookie safety for the 49ers, and I picked him up on waivers, needed a waiver guy, had followed him for a little bit, but was never enough to pick him up and start him.

I picked him up and played him, and he had a pick six on Monday Night Football the week I picked him up and played him. And since then he has been a highly debated, but I feel like I'm on the right side of history with this one. He is a very good player. And if you don't watch IDP, like, yeah, it's cool to see a pick six.

All right? That's a maybe a poor example. But w- it's like the equivalent of watching your running back have that 80-yard touchdown. You just watched 14 points. You just watched something that's gonna swing your week. Getting it on Monday Night Football, an 80-yard touchdown. Can you imagine? You know, the Monday night miracle, that was it.

Mine was on the IDP side of the ball in that story, and it's equally, if not more gratifying on IDP teams when your defensive player has the game. Because you were watching it, you're gonna learn more about the game, you're gonna understand situations and defenses and what they're trying to do, and then you'll understand the players that they have to use in order to do that strategy.

Jeff: How steep would you say a learning curve is gonna be for somebody who is jumping in? I mean, I think, think you'd probably agree with me and I, I'm seeing that if it's just two or three slots and, and it's the very top players that you could kind of figure that out as you go and stumble around a little bit on the edges.

But if we're talking about needing to field a roster of, you know, 10, 12, 14, 18, 20 players and you're going pretty deep and your waiver wire maybe isn't as robust as it would be if we only went two deep, um, what's the learning curve on that for somebody?

Matt: I thought of the perfect analogy for this. I have not said this out loud yet. I'm

Jeff: Oh, dear. History being made right here, folks.

Matt: it is, it is like a fire hose that you've already turned off, but the water pressure is still in there. So at first it's hitting you full bore. It's hurting. You can't drink it. It's gonna knock your teeth out.

But over time it slows and slows and because it came at you so fast, all of that's already out of the line. It's already hit you. And then eventually you're gonna pick it up because it's not a hard game. IDP maybe feels complex because instead of one full defense, now you have players. Okay, fine. So you went from drafting one thing or one defense to three players.

You've not changed anything. You've just added treat those players like you would an offensive player. Read their articles, look at their box score, watch their games, whatever you may do. You'll pick it up because a lot of IDP, look at the stats. What did they do? That was their point total. It's the same thing as offense.

I feel like it's a little bit easier because on offense you have to factor in yardage and did they get a first down or half point PPR, full point PPR? Did he tackle him or did he help somebody else tackle him? That's all you have to worry about with IDP with tackles. Did he tackle him? Did he help somebody else?

Did he sack him or did somebody else help him sack him? Was that ball tipped? Was it intercepted? You know, things like that. That's all you have to worry about. It's very cut and dry, and I think that if you can just get over that initial potential fear of just all that information, it is a very easy and digestible game to play.

Jeff: If you were gonna just show up to your, to your draft on this, I mean, what are you, what are you armed with if you are, you know, if you're recommending somebody new coming into, uh, you know, a home league draft or something with IDP players and it was their first time in? What, what should they have on them and their person or have, have been doing up to that point to be ready for that draft?

Matt: To be ready for an IDP draft?

Jeff: Yes.

Matt: Oh man, caffeine and dreams, baby. That's all you need for an IDP league. Just be aware that those drafts, if they're in person, especially quick drafts, it's gonna be a grind. But it's not a bad grind. It's, it's a, it's a day to grind. You know, you gotta really appreciate what that is.

It's community with your league mates. If you're lucky enough to get an in-person short draft and it's IDP additionally, it's gonna be a grind. It's not always gonna feel like the most upbeat, but it's fun and it's, it's community because you're just at, at certain points, you know what I mean? You can only commit three to four hours, maybe fully if every...

Like start to finish, I got there and I left. And a lot of times if you're not careful, people can take an extra minute, an extra two minutes, an extra three minutes on drafts. It's even worse than a slow draft where we're mad about our p- our, uh, league mates not drafting, but we gave them a full 12 hours to do it.

But because they didn't do it in 30 minutes, I'm mad. Well, there you're gonna be like, "It's been two minutes. What's going on?" So, you know, it's, it-- I think all you need's caffeine and dreams. My team is gonna beat yours because I believe more than you, and I also drank seven coffees on the ride in, so let's go.

Jeff: What would, uh, what would be kind of your, your, uh, sort of major draft strategies if we were doing a startup IDP league right this moment? What would be kind of your, your sort of general strategies that you'd have?

Matt: Draft Matt and w- team Matt are completely different people. Um, I'm gonna talk out of both sides of my mouth here. I started your podcast by saying I'm a conservative IDP player, and I am week to week. In a draft, I'm aggressive. I think you need to go after the big play guys early. You need to at least give yourself a shot, even if you're unsure, but they're one of those mid-tier guys where it's maybe not tier one but not necessarily bad enough to be tier two, almost a tier of their own in the middle.

Those type of players, I think you take the risks on those type of players. I did that last season and I took, uh, Bradley Chubb and Will Anderson back to back early in a draft and, uh, it hit hard and I won the league because of it. And part of that strategy is not-- And I played the rest of my game like I normally do.

I still built the tackle floor. I still had those, you know, hybrid defensive back guys that I was trying to identify who was doing it. And so I think in drafts you need to be aggressive. You need to go after the points. But, you know, once the separation points are gone and they're off the board, then you need to go, "Okay, cool.

We're going back. I'm gonna chill for a minute here. I'm gonna add the fifth wide receiver to my roster," or, "I'm gonna add, you know, maybe I'm gonna get this linebacker who's maybe more safe. He's only gonna get me five tackles, but I know I'm gonna get it every week as opposed to the guy who might get me 10 but then gets me two."

So I, I think you just need to go big game hunting early in a startup draft but then manage your league a little bit more conservatively after that. So your waiver wires, your trades, I think that's the time to be conservative. But your draft, you need to go all in early because that's the easiest time to rebuild is before you've played a game.

Jeff: You know, on the, on the offensive side, certainly, you know, I'm a big believer that you draft for talent and you trade for need. Uh, does that adage also work on the IDP side, or are you really trying to draft for need and hopefully you get some good talent along the way?

Matt: Yeah, I'm, uh, more of a take risks in the draft kind of guy. I think you gotta take the risks in the draft, and I think your trades need to be investments. I think a lot of people kind of flip-flop those. I'll take a risk on this trade. I'm gonna invest in this fourth round rookie. I think you need to do the opposite.

I think you need to go early. I think in IDP drafts specifically, you need to look at what round the player was drafted in the NFL. I don't care about the running back in the sixth round that maybe this team took to be their fourth or fifth guy when the first round edge rusher, Keldric Faulk, has fallen all the way to my end of my draft because nobody trusts Tennessee Titans players.

At the end of the day, I will take Keldric Faulk, who's a 6'8 freak on the defensive line, as opposed to this guy who may not even get on the field for the preseason Hall of Fame game. There's-- There are levels to this, and I think in the draft you gotta be aggressive. And with IDP specifically, I think it's more top-heavy.

So there are less gems fourth, fifth, sixth round in IDP than maybe there would be on offense. That doesn't mean they're not there. I just think it's a safer investment to go higher rounds early with IDP, higher NFL draft rounds, not, uh, not fantasy football drafts. But look for the players that were drafted highly in the NFL draft and then try to see where they're gonna fit on that team.

Jeff: And what about with the, the rookie drafts? I mean, how do rookie draft strategies differ from what we might be more familiar with, uh, in our offensive leagues?

Matt: Yeah. Uh, it's about three to four rounds more. I typically, most leagues I play in, they-- it's seven rounds. So you get three additional from what would be the standard for offensive drafts like that. Um, and I think that anytime you add a deeper player pool to a draft, it's gonna be fun.

the draft won't dry up as quickly. You have more rounds, so you know, no duh, right? It's gonna happen by nature. But the draft will be more engaging for a longer period of time, and I think that that driving that engagement in the rookie draft specifically will give you that off-season fever to then potentially maybe make some trades.

Have a, "I don't want this six. I'm tired of drafting. Give me one next year." Now next year you've loaded up on picks or whatever the case may be. You know, that's, to me, when you add more depth and quality into a draft, it's gonna make it more fun. It's still gonna stagnate at the end, just like all drafts will, but I think it extends the amount of fun that a draft can have.

So as far as strategy, I know I didn't answer your question there. Strategy, strategy y-you're-- the offensive guys are always gonna be king. This year, Sonny Styles rose above all, so you're s- you saw an outlier this year, and I think he needed to be an outlier. But as far as what I go, I typically try to avoid IDP in round one unless there is a Sonny Styles type player or I feel that highly about a player.

Outside of that, I think you need to start looking in the second round for what you believe could be difference maker positions. So you're talking the 12th to 14th player, depending on how deep your leagues are. Uh, you're looking right around there as a quality start point. But I mean, you know drafts, bro.

Nobody follows any strategy in a draft. Every year we think we know who's gonna fall where, ADP said this, and then boom, no it didn't. So that's the beauty of it.

Jeff: Yeah, uh, you've been writing, uh, at Footballguys, you've been writing the IDP Stock Market Report for, I believe, since 2022 or so, if I've got that right. Uh, it's a really good series. Even if you are not into IDP stuff, it's still a great thing to read because it does give you that insight into the defensive side of the ball, which in turn may say, "Oh, you know, this guy I'm thinking about starting my flex is up against a cornerback that Matt's highlighting as stock rising.

Maybe I don't wanna start this guy." Um, tell me a little bit about the IDP Stock Market series, you know, how you came up with that particular viewpoint that you have for that.

Matt: Yeah. So I play fantasy football of any format, anything. I play it like a stock market. I'm monitoring the value of players, waiver wire, my team, other people's teams, just the league. I, I'm understanding what players are popping, what players are falling, are they risky or are they high quality investments, et cetera.

I, I try-- I genuinely look at that and that may sound so like I'm dehumanizing. That's not what this is. I just, when I'm managing the, the way I do this, I'm looking at this more from a baseball mindset than a football mindset, okay? I look at the NFL specifically in fantasy football in four three-game windows.

Four three-game windows. And I usually do three-game sample sizes to try to truly feel right or wrong about a take. After three weeks, if the data set is following what I thought it was, great. I, I feel good. I'm gonna keep an eye on this, but I'm now gonna monitor this player. So just little things like that.

I think a lot of people play dynasty in windows. The point of any league is to win and I, I never understood people going, "Yeah, I'm not trying to win this year." Well, it's like, okay cool, now I only gotta beat 10 other people. So like it's, it's great. You know what I mean? Like that to me is w- don't-- I understand a rebuild and you may not be competitive, but don't do it I'm managing my team season to season.

Do it intermittently throughout the actual year. It not only is more fun in my opinion, it's more engaging, but I like to think that the results are more positive than if I'm just going, you know what? I'm just... It's a dynasty league. I'll figure this guy out next year. Okay? We've all been waiting on Jonathan Brooks.

How many people have lost potential taxi squad gems because they wanted to keep the Jonathan Brookses of the world on their roster? And maybe he pops and is a great player, but to me, I wanna see it before I invest in that sort of thing.

Jeff: Now fortunately, he's been in IR slots for many of the places where I still have him, but

Matt: There you go.

Jeff: I, I have try- I have found that some other folks value him more than I do, so I've been gladly trading him for future consideration. Uh, and if I'm wrong, you know what? I'm wrong. Great. I, you know, I actually l- I, I actually like being wrong when I underestimate someone's performance and they exceed that.

I like guys to succeed. I mean, they are human beings just like we are. We like success, so I hope Jonathan Brooks has a stellar season, uh, Comeback Player of the Year award, all that kind of stuff. He won't, but I hope he does. You know, I hope he does, so.

Matt: Brooks.

Jeff: But when you're thinking about risers and, and fallers, I mean, what's driving those trajectories for you?

Is it s- their scoring stats? Is it their, their stat counts? Is it the situation around them on their team, maybe people getting hurt? Uh, you know, what, what's, what are you really looking at there?

Matt: Um, typically I am, and I said this earlier, so I apologize for the repeat here, but it's snap counts. I think that if you follow snap counts week to week, you will be about ahead of 90% of your contemporaries in leagues if, if they aren't watching the wonderful podcast we are doing right now because now we've let the secret out.

But if you do that, you're just gonna have more data to make more informed, educated guesses because ultimately, isn't that what we're doing every week? We believe in this trajectory for this player, so we're gonna start them. So I believe that if you follow the snap counts, you at least are seeing a little bit of an inside scoop at what their team feels that they contribute, and if they feel positively about a player, they will play more and that will in turn benefit your roster.

So snap counts is the easiest, most effective way to make a difference if you haven't already been monitoring this, if you're an IDP fan and if you're starting out to get a quick edge against maybe some of your opponents early on.

Jeff: You know, uh, you said in the article series before, a- and I've heard you say it on a pod or two here or there, that you, you can't really prepare for luck, but you can point it in your direction. So, you know, if I'm just starting out in IDP, just like I am if I were just starting out in fantasy football generally, I was probably relying more on luck than anything else because, you know, it was the, it was the first attempt at this.

So how, how, how do I go about trying to point that luck in my direction in year one of either, you know, playing a, a dy- a, a fantasy football league for the first time, IDP league for the first time, whatever it may happen to be? How do you, how do you get luck pointed your way?

Matt: Well, I wanna point out that if we could figure this one out, we would be millionaires if we could figure out how to turn people's luck. But I will say, in my opinion, what, and what you've probably heard me say 'cause I do run this one into the ground, luck favors the prepared. That is what it is.

And I think it's-- I've always found myself the weeks that I researched more that I really needed to win, where I was looking to make some hard decisions, where I put forth the effort, I always noticed that my luck was a little bit higher than when I had a family event that I forgot about and I didn't set my lineup until an hour before kickoff.

You know what I mean? So things like that, that, that to me is the biggest up and down of fantasy football. I truly believe that if you lock in and you prepare, and it doesn't have to be obsessive like you and I. It could be casual. I read the morning article on all of my players from these various different sites every single day, and then I do a brief look before I set my lineup.

If you even do that, incorporate some of those things into, into the doom scrolling on your phone before bed, you know, that, that sort of thing, it will help you because you will be more engaged and you'll know more about what's going on. And I think the ultimate bugaboo of IDP is the lack of information.

So information is king when it comes to IDP, and I think the easiest way to do that is just try to stay informed with your players as much as possible.

Jeff: what other kinds of, you know, common mistakes do dynasty managers make when they are evaluating the individual defensive players?

Matt: They only look at the players that have the best PR. IDP leagues almost weekly can be won with players you've never heard of or are a little unfamiliar with. It's a developmental style of the league, if that makes any sort of sense. You're gonna see a lot of defenses tend to be young and cheap, where offense is old and expensive.

So you're gonna see the young guys that maybe you're not familiar with because not only are you not necessarily a fan of that side of the ball, but you're unfamiliar with the younger players on that side of the ball. At least some of the Maxx Crosbys of the world, they've been in the, the news cycle for many y- many seasons.

So I think that you just gotta understand that they're-- You, you think you hate a running back by committee, you are gonna hate rotational pass rushers because let me tell you, it is the exact same feeling but on a higher scale because, you know, let's use the Ken Walker/Zach Charbonnet example. How many dynasty managers were like, "Zach or Zach Charbonnet is better.

Why don't they give him more snaps?" Or, "Ken Walker would be an All-Pro if they would just get rid of Zach Charbonnet," right? Well, on defense, a lot of times pass rushers, you'll have four to five guys rotating in at 20% of the snaps, 30% of the snaps. And for the team, it keeps them all fresh and they look really good and they're helping it win the games.

But in fantasy football, man, that ain't winning me against my opponent who's got a guy like a Maxx Crosby there every single time. So you just have to understand that this side of the ball is played differently than offense, so you can't build a team like you would in offense. You can't pay attention to it like you would in offense.

That doesn't mean it's harder. You just have to do it differently.

Jeff: Yeah, I think that too might be where snap counts are coming in because on those rotational guys, you can see that they're not out there 90% of the time. I assume by rotation you don't mean which one of the five guys up front's gonna run. It's which guys are actually out on the field that we're talking about there, correct?

Matt: exactly.

Jeff: Yeah. The best PR. Love it.

Matt: I mean, really, I mean, everybody knows the big guys. Do you know the gritty guys that'll win you games? And honestly, that's in fantasy, like offensive fantasy football as well.

Jeff: Yeah. Love it. Um, you know, let's take a step back for just a moment and, um, and you may have already given this advice, but, uh, in the show, in which case it's just fine to repeat it, but what would be your best piece of advice for dynasty managers who are just dipping their toe into the IDP pool or maybe preparing to get into their first league that's got, uh, IDP slots in it?

Matt: I feel it's really important that you don't overcomplicate this. I think it is an easily digestible format of fantasy football if it is presented that way. I think it is an extremely complex style of fantasy football if you present it that way. So I think if you make it oatmeal at first, if you've learned anything from this, snap counts rule IDP for stats.

Oatmeal is okay. It will sustain you and it gives you room for improvement. Add a banana, add sugar next year, who knows? And just have fun with it. We all started, or not me, I shouldn't say we all. I started with this, my dad and his friends in a garage drinking beer when I was 10 years old, and they made me feel like an adult for the first time in my life, where I was just a part of the boys and it was watered down.

I'm a 10-year-old, right? They weren't going full wild. But when I was 16, 18, 21, now going 32, it's, it's camaraderie. It's fun. This is a community. I know everybody tries, you know, shove it down your throat. We all love each other, but it genuinely is a community type feel, and you need to make sure that any style of league that you're trying to incorporate, any rule change keeps that at top of mind.

You are with your community and you wanna have fun, and you wanna win. Come on, you wanna win.

Jeff: a- amen to all that. Matt, this has been a, a lot of fun. Great pleasure getting to, to hang with you. I know we were talking before, uh, we started recording that you're just now kind of coming up out of your, your off-season rest, relaxation, and family time so you can dive headfirst into the, the upcoming season.

Uh, so before we go, Matt, let, let, let everyone know where they can find you and, uh, the great work that you do during the season and leading into it.

Matt: Yeah. So I'm doing a lot and planning to do a lot more. I am a writer for Footballguys, so generally this time of year I'll start writing prediction pieces on each position, you know, players I love, players I hate. Uh, maybe not hate, I

Jeff: Hate's a strong

Matt: Yeah, hate's a strong one. They're probably really nice people, I'm just not very smart.

But they just-- Players that maybe I'm disappointed in. How about that? So, but then I also, we ramp up into training camp reports. I did last year, I did three teams, planning to do three teams again this year, God willing, and Joe Bryant wants me to hang out and help him out a little bit more. Um, and then in the season I will write a weekly article, the IDP Stock Market, which you, uh, shouted out on here.

I, I really appreciate that. And that is just a weekly look, breakdown of these are the guys that are rising stocks. These are the ones that you put the 401k in. These are the stocks you need to sell immediately, and then here's a few pennies that are gonna be cheap for you that'll maybe, you know, you never know, maybe turn into Nvidia one day.

You never know what happens. But then on the video side, I actually do a podcast weekly for Dynasty Degens called the "Degens IDP Blitz," and it's a lot similar to, uh, kinda what you and I did. Uh, but it's mostly catered on, uh, not teaching the game so much as reacting to what the game is showing us. And I plan to do a little bit more breakdowns for players this year, as well as getting a little bit more engaged on video platforms.

So all of my content's Matt Monty FF, whether it's X, TikTok, YouTube, whatever you wanna do, that's where you can find me. And you can probably find me at your local pub talking a little bit of crap, wearing a jersey, and maybe being too confident for the room.

Jeff: Yeah, you got your Joe Burrow bur- jersey on right now. Must have hurt, must have hurt talking so much about Myles Garrett when we, uh, when you got a Joe Burrow jersey on. Maybe you even felt him a couple of times, uh,

Matt: I'm still on the Myles Garrett apology shame tour. So you know what? I'll accept any of these until week one of this year, and then I'm purging the fact that I said to fade Myles Garrett before his historic season. So week one,

Jeff: you know, I love, I love that you own that though. Isn't that like still your, your Twitter, uh, banner picture or something like

Matt: Yeah. The first time I ever had a troll that wasn't disrespectful was a, a, one of the people that followed me, uh, my previous X account before it got phished. Um, he sent me an AI picture of Myles Garrett sacking me. So I-- And it's, it's honestly, I sent it to group chats. People still send it back to me that I've sent before, like, "Hey, look what this is."

So whoever did that, I'm not sure who it was, thank you. You've given me an evergreen thing in my actual not internet life. But yeah, man, Myles Garrett sacked me, and you know what? He sacked everybody else too in the NFL, so I'm not alone in this company.

Jeff: Yeah, exactly. I think he, he's, uh, he's pretty good at that, I understand. Maybe he's somebody I should go get if, uh, if I do some IDP stuff, uh, beyond this team where I actually do have him in the only IDP slot that I have. uh, but Matt, thanks so much for joining me. Thanks so much too for all of you who are watching and listening.

Hopefully you have, uh, learned a little bit in this episode. Maybe we have whet your appetite to explore the IDP side of fantasy football. Uh, maybe it's a chance to inject some new life into your league, or maybe you wanna start something brand new with it. However that is, Matt's given you some really good advice.

Uh, if you like that, you like him, please like me as well, like this episode. Click the little bell to subscribe if you're on YouTube or whatever the mechanism happens to be on the platform that you are watching and listening on. And stay tuned. We'll be back again next week with another episode of Dynasty Compass.

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