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Draft fallout for IDP leagues

With offensive rookies dominating the minds of most fantasy owners, IDPs can get overlooked in rookie drafts. Accordingly, some great values can be found in the mid to late rounds. Certain positions, like linebacker, frequently even provide solid production in redraft leagues. Understanding the landing spots of these new players is a key step in taking advantage of that value. Here are just a few players to keep your eye on as offseason news continue to trickle in.

Defensive linemen

Defensive linemen often take a few years to develop. In the past four years, only two rookies have cracked the top 24 in balanced scoring  leagues (Aaron Donald, 2014 and Sheldon Richardson, 2013). A few of the bigger names will need to be drafted if you want to roster them, but expectations for 2016 production should be low.

The safest rookie defensive line pick is San Francisco’s DeForest Buckner. At his draft pedigree, he will see significant snaps early. He will be designated DL for fantasy as a 3-4 defensive end. Our college analysts compare him to Calais Campbell and rank him in the top 10 in both run stop percentage and pass rush productivity. The Campbell comparison is his ceiling. If he reaches it, he’ll be a reliable DL1 year after year. That’s tremendous upside, but Campbell himself has always been just shy of elite, only hitting double digit sacks once in his eight year career. On an even more negative note, new defensive coordinator Jim O’Neil produced exactly zero top 24 defensive linemen during his last two years in Cleveland.

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