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Doug Hagen Staff Writer Zealots Screen Name: Festus Zealots Leagues: Z42, ZFAC-II, and ZFAC-IV Zealots Member Since: 2006

So You Think You Know Defense

Identifying and Succeeding With IDPs: Part 1: Defensive Linemen

After the close of the season, Zealots enter into the new year attempting to identify the best possible players available for our respective teams. For the experienced and sometimes even the novice, identifying the best offensive players is pretty simple since these players receive the most exposure. But when it comes to defense, only the more recognizable names are remembered by most people; names such as Jason Taylor, Ray Lewis, Jonathon Vilma, Ed Reed, Adrian Wilson and others riding the same highway. It is my goal to give you a basic introduction to how I identify defensive players.

Number one and foremost is consistency. The lifeblood for these players is tackles, and it makes no difference what position is played. Consistency can be broken down into number of tackles and number of sacks that a DL has accrued over the past few seasons. While it's very nice to acquire the bona-fide brand-name players, there are several lesser known players who can and will make an impact for your team because they consistently garner a high amount of tackles while at the same time their sacks may only be mediocre. But sometimes these players break out and put up very surprising and pleasing numbers.

Zealots Field leagues award points for tackles, sacks and turnovers, all basic components in an IDP league. The table below provides the points that Zealots Field awards per play:

The first position that we will look at are the Defensive Linemen (DL). Zealots Field leagues combine Defensive Ends and Defensive Tackles together as linemen. Yet there is a big difference between the two. The following table provides the Top 10 DL for the year 2006:

If we look at these, with the exception of Jason Taylor (who had an outstanding season) and discount the players with double digit sacks, this leaves 5 players of the Top 10 who performed very well in 2006. One of the critical reasons they did so is because of the amount of tackles they acquired. Notably, Jared Allen, Aaron Kampman, Ty Warren and Bryan Thomas either exceeded 60 solo tackles or came very close to 60 solo tackles. Some of these DLs were just around the ball as they accounted for several assisted tackles. These are very high motor type players and these are the types of players that I like to look for when considering a DL.

While people were drafting the big name players such as Jason Taylor and Dwight Freeney, I held back as my #1 rated DE (following my strategy) for last year's draft and took Aaron Kampman. I chose Kampman because, while his sack numbers were moderate, his tackle numbers have been consistently high, and not to mention he's known for his durability. The 15 sacks he accrued over the season were only a bonus. There are other players this year that I am looking very hard at, one that I've already acquired. One of these players is Cullen Jenkins, a DT/DE hybrid for the Green Bay Packers. Jenkins entered the league in 2004 as an undrafted free agent and was just awarded with a four year contract. While this is notable due to his hard work what is even more notable and maybe even less known is that Jenkins took over the starting spot from Kabeer Gbaja-Biamilla in the final four weeks of the season. His numbers for 2006 were 23 solo tackles, 9 assists, 6.5 sacks, and 2 recovered fumbles. Since he is a hybrid and can play anywhere along the line his play against the opposing team is unpredictable and not every linemen can account for him. I'm very high on Jenkins this year as a sleeper. Other players of note are Cory Redding of the Lions and Matt Roth of the Dolphins.

Also, one must take note that every single one of these players ranked in the Top 10 is a Defensive End. The first DT that comes into play is Vonnie Holliday (20th) and he's a converted DE. I like to avoid DT's that are involved in a 4-3 scheme, but some teams, such as the San Diego Chargers (3-4) almost exclusively use DT's as their three down linemen and these men produce. If Luis Castillo hadn't been injured near the end of the season, he would have projected to a top 20 finish in the rankings as he is a DT operating as an end.

"Tweener" is slang for "In Between". This is the future of the defensive end. Bryan Thomas is a converted defensive end who was originally drafted as a LB. Teams are now starting to covet these types of players and it would behoove any fantasy owner to look very closely at these tweeners as they are often overlooked. Jason Taylor, while a known commodity and listed as a DE operated as a Tweener the past two seasons. He was often lined up as a linebacker in the defensive scheme. On the flip side, when a DE is converted to LB on the depth chart, such as Greg Ellis, their numbers will often see a decrease not commensurate to their value.

All-in-all there are several defensive linemen that one can acquire in later rounds or through a lower price that are seriously undervalued. While 90% of the top 10 have scored a 100 points or more and while it's nice to have them, the drop off isn't as much as it would seem. This is where value and consistency come into play.

Once we get past the Top 10, there is only a drop-off of eleven points between the 11th and 20Th ranking. The difference is less than a point per game and almost all of those players can be had in lower rounds or lower prices. While these players generally don't blow-up and generate huge scores during the course of a game, I'm content with that steady 6-8 points a game they will provide at their position and it will allow me to garner better offensive talent throughout a draft or auction.

In Z42 where I own the Green Bay Packers the first DL (Peppers, Umenyiora, Taylor) came off the board between the 10th and 12th round. I drafted Kampman in the 14th round. Now granted, between the 10th and 13th round, I can't say I drafted all that well but I was gambling and selected Curtis Martin, Koren Robinson, Adrian Wilson and David Givens. All are or were considered starters at their respective positions but they didn't pan out for the most part. The idea was to provide starting depth on the offensive side of the ball and this is what I mean when acquiring offensive talent while everybody else is drafting the brand-names.

Next month: Part II - The Linebacker

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