Bruno Boys Fantasy Football

Hello and welcome to the seventh installment of an eight installment series breaking down all 32 NFL teams from the Individual Defensive Player (IDP) perspective. This series will be taking a look at each team’s respective defensive schemes and how those schemes affect the value of certain defensive players. We will also be discussing some varying levels of sleepers as well as some players to avoid, or better known as busts. This week’s installment will be covering the AFC South.

HOUSTON TEXANS

DEFENSIVE SCHEME: Texans defensive coordinator Frank Bush utilizes a mixture of 4-3 under and zone coverage looks that focus on the simplification of defensive tasks and roles. Their scheme is anything but an aggressive one, but has become more aggressive with the emergence of Brian Cushing at strong side linebacker. This general lack of aggressiveness holds DeMeco Ryans value back a bit since he will struggle to make many big plays. He’s as solid a tackler as they come, however.

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Hello and welcome to the sixth installment of an eight installment series breaking down all 32 NFL teams from the Individual Defensive Player (IDP) perspective. This series will be taking a look at each team’s respective defensive schemes and how those schemes affect the value of certain defensive players. We will also be discussing some varying levels of sleepers as well as some players to avoid, or better known as busts. This week’s installment will be covering the AFC North.

BALTIMORE RAVENS

DEFENSIVE SCHEME: The Ravens use a ton of multiple fronts (perhaps more than any other NFL team) which makes Terrell Suggs one of the top defensive ends in fantasy football. It also makes linemen Kelly Gregg and Haloti Ngata decent fantasy options at their respective positions.

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Hello and welcome to the fifth installment of an eight installment series breaking down all 32 NFL teams from the Individual Defensive Player (IDP) perspective. This series will be taking a look at each team’s respective defensive schemes and how those schemes affect the value of certain defensive players. We will also be discussing some varying levels of sleepers as well as some players to avoid, or better known as busts. This week’s installment will be covering the AFC East.

BUFFALO BILLS

DEFENSIVE SCHEME: The Bills have moved away from Perry Fewell’s 4-3, cover-2 laden defensive scheme and in favor of the trendy 3-4 defensive scheme. Buffalo has the personnel to make an effective switch as ends Chris Kelsay and Aaron Maybin are good candidates for outside linebacker roles. Paul Posluszny is big enough to play in this type of scheme and Andra Davis has plenty of experience in the 3-4.

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Hello and welcome to the fourth installment of an eight installment series breaking down all 32 NFL teams from the Individual Defensive Player (IDP) perspective. This series will be taking a look at each team’s respective defensive schemes and how those schemes affect the value of certain defensive players. We will also be discussing some varying levels of sleepers as well as some players to avoid, or better known as busts. This week’s installment will be covering the best division in the NFL: the NFC East (Yes, I am a Cowboys homer).

DALLAS COWBOYS

DEFENSIVE SCHEME: The Cowboys run the “Phillips 3-4,” a scheme invented by Bum Phillips (the father of current Cowboys coach Wade Phillips). This type of 3-4 primarily uses one-gap principles along the defensive line and therefore makes the linemen in this system typically more valuable than players in many two-gap systems (e.g. Jay Ratliff).

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Hello and welcome to the third installment of an eight installment series breaking down all 32 NFL teams from the Individual Defensive Player (IDP) perspective. This series will be taking a look at each team’s respective defensive schemes and how those schemes affect the value of certain defensive players. We will also be discussing some varying levels of sleepers as well as some players to avoid, or better known as busts. This week’s installment will cover the NFC North.

CHICAGO BEARS

DEFENSIVE SCHEME: New defensive coordinators often completely change defensive schemes when brought in to coach. However, new defensive coordinator Rod Marinelli isn’t likely to make many drastic changes to the Bears defense. Marinelli and Head Coach Lovie Smith share a lot of the same basic defensive philosophies and will likely continue to run a lot of cover-2 packages which is good news for owners of Lance Briggs, Charles Tillman, and Zach Bowman.

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Hello and welcome to the second installment of an eight installment series breaking down all 32 NFL teams from the Individual Defensive Player (IDP) perspective. This series will be taking a look at each team’s respective defensive schemes and how those schemes affect the value of certain defensive players. We will also be discussing some varying levels of sleepers as well as some players to avoid, or better known as busts. This week’s installment will cover the NFC South.

ATLANTA FALCONS

DEFENSIVE SCHEME:The Falcons run a 4-3 defense with a lot of zone coverage in the secondary. The defensive line struggled to provide much of a pass-rush last season and consequently their secondary was one of the worst in the league statistically. This was good for secondary players such as Brent Grimes who put up solid fantasy numbers (62 solo tackles, six interceptions) due to an increase in opportunities. The Falcons are banking on veteran John Abraham to have a bounce-back season and lead the defensive line to an improved performance this season.

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Hello and welcome to the first installment of an eight installment series breaking down all 32 NFL teams from the Individual Defensive Player (IDP) perspective. This series will be taking a look at each team’s respective defensive schemes and how those schemes affect the value of certain defensive players. We will also be discussing some varying levels of sleepers as well as some players to avoid, or better known as busts. Let’s get things started with the NFC West.

SEATTLE SEAHAWKS

DEFENSIVE SCHEME: The Seahawks run a 4-3 with a decent amount of cover-2 looks. Expect Seattle to show some 3-4esque looks with an “elephant” player (i.e. a standup defensive end) this season. It remains to be seen who would fill this type of role, though Aaron Curry, David Hawthorne, or possibly Lawrence Jackson seem to be the leading candidates. Pete Carroll has stated that Aaron Curry is going to blitz more this season and could big a nice late-round pick in big-play leagues. 

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The Detroit Lions’ release of safety Marquand Manuel today further signals that C.C. Brown is going to be the starting strong safety in Detroit to open the season. Incumbent starter Ko Simpson landed himself on the Physically Unable to Perform (PUP) list after off-season microfracture surgery on his knee and is questionable to return before the start of the regular season.

With this news, Brown suddenly becomes a great late-round sleeper. In the games in which he started last season, he put up very nice tackle numbers (he had 22 solo tackles in weeks 6 and 7 alone). Combine this with the fact that the Lions defense figures to be on the field for a majority of games and you have the potential for upper echelon defensive back numbers.

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The Albert Haynesworth situation in Washington is quickly spinning out of control. The rift between Haynesworth and the Redskins began back in early February when it was announced that Washington would be switching from a 4-3 base defense to a 3-4 base defense. Many fantasy football IDP writers had been anticipating this transfer since the hiring of Jim Haslett in January. I personally disagree with the decision and feel as though the Redskins do not have the proper personnel to run this type of scheme effectively.

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Many fantasy football writers who participate in individual defensive player leagues, including myself, had high hopes for Thomas Davis this season considering his high level of production during the first half of last season before he tore his ACL for the first time (50 solo tackles, 11 assists, 2 INTs, and 2 sacks during seven games). I had him ranked as high as No. 21 overall in my 2010 IDP Rankings for linebackers in redraft leagues before he tore his ACL for the second time on Tuesday June 8, 2010.

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