For some fantasy football leagues, team owners have already established their roster. Other fantasy owners are still waiting to draft. Depending on the league, you could be adding defensive players as well. Sure, most teams will have a T.J. Watt or Micah Parsons but the further down the list you go, the more questionable each pick becomes.
Fortunately, I have five fantasy football sleepers, individual defensive players (IDP) who are sleepers for fantasy football based on average draft position (ADP).
For some fantasy football leagues, team owners have already established their roster. Other fantasy owners are still waiting to draft. Depending on the league, you could be adding defensive players as well. Sure, most teams will have a T.J. Watt or Micah Parsons but the further down the list you go, the more questionable each pick becomes.
Fortunately, I have five fantasy football sleepers, individual defensive players (IDP) who are sleepers for fantasy football based on average draft position (ADP).
On FantasyPros’ IDP fantasy football rankings, you can find Brian Branch ranked at S21. With how his rookie season went, it’s a more than fair spot on the rankings for him. However, there’s a strong chance he outplays that ranking. Especially if he’s healthy.
As someone who helps cover the team and talks with those close to the day-to-day in Allen Park, there are extremely high expectations for Branch. He started the season red-hot with over 20 tackles, four pass deflections and a pick-six. Overall, he finished with 159 fantasy points with 13 pass deflections and three interceptions. Look for Branch to take another step forward and be a key playmaker for the Lions’ defense.
You can find Cashman ranked at LB41. Not a bad place to be but I think that’s setting the bar low for Cashman and what the Vikings have planned for him. After all, he agreed to a three-year deal worth $25.5 million. That may not make him the highest-paid defender in the game but it certainly makes him a key part of the Vikings’ defense.
Cashman finished last season with 166.3 fantasy points and is coming off his first-ever 100+ tackle season. Add in the two sacks, five pass deflections and interception and Cashman becomes that much more valuable. He’s projected to start in the middle of Brian Flores’ defense in Minnesota. If healthy, I’d expect Cashman to outplay his current ranking and average draft position (ADP).
With Blake Cashman moving on from Houston to Minnesota, the Texans brought in Azeez Al-Shaair to replace him and, most importantly, reunite him with DeMeco Ryans. While I’d expect that to be a very productive move for the Texans’ defense, I would be prepared for Christian Harris to take another step forward as the WILL linebacker in the Texans’ defense.
Last season, Harris had 163 fantasy points. He’s projected to get 162 points this season. If you look from Week 9 through the end of last season, Harris had double-digit point totals in every single game but two. In the two games he didn’t, he played in fewer than 65% of the defensive snaps. To help further my point on Harris taking another step forward in the Texans’ defense, he played more than 90% of the defensive snaps in the final five games of the season and had his best point totals in 2023.
We’ve seen continued growth year over year for Harris. I’d expect even more growth as he heads into Year 3 with the Texans. Last season, Harris finished with 101 tackles, two sacks, seven tackles for loss and seven pass breakups. Lastly, his performances in the playoffs was some of the best football we’d seen from him. In two playoff games, he had 15 total tackles, three tackles for loss, a sack and a pick-six. I’d draft Harris with expectations of playing him weekly.
There may not be a linebacker in the league that finished on a higher note than E.J. Speed for the Colts. In his last five games of 2023, Speed had fantasy point totals of 18.0, 18.3, 22.0, 15.0 and 22.3. Meanwhile, he played over 90% of the snaps in his last six games of the season.
In total, Speed had 184 total points last season. There are expectations for him to take another step in the Colts’ defense. With how he finished last season, it’s easy to see why those expectations are rising. Currently, he sits as the 49th-ranked linebacker in FantasyPros IDP fantasy football rankings and is projected for 208 fantasy points. Draft him while you can.
While I wasn’t the highest on Travon Walker when he was coming out of Georgia, he took a step forward for the Jaguars in 2023. He finished the season with 52 total tackles, 10 tackles for loss and 10 sacks. Most importantly, he finished last season on fire with three double-digit fantasy performances in his last four games. This included a sack or more in each one of those games.
From 2022 to 2023, we’ve seen Walker increase his fantasy points total from 93.3 points to 131.3 points. Ranked as the 71st defensive lineman, expect Walker to finish much higher than that ranking. You may be able to hold off on drafting Walker until much later. With how he’s improved every season, however, I wouldn’t hold off too long.
