Draft-day IDP bargains: Defensive back

Over the years, some of the best draft-day bargains for IDP gamers have come at defensive back, so being clued in on the potential breakouts is a sure-fire way to put together a team that can challenge deep into the fantasy playoffs. Yes, drafting Reshad Jones will result in a boatload of points for your team week-in, week-out, but it’s the 2011 George Wilsons and Kam Chancellors who really drive your team to a championship, as their selections allow you to focus those earlier picks on other areas of the roster.

Below, we’re looking for the 2018 bargains among the defensive backs. If you missed, I already took a look at some of my preferred bargains at linebacker.

Adrian Amos, Chicago Bears

Last season marked a significant step forward in Amos’ level of play, impressing our game analysts last year to the extent where he finished the year as our second-highest-graded safety. Unfortunately for his fantasy owners, Amos wasn’t the starter for the first three games of the season, only playing 16 snaps, and he would later miss Weeks 13-15, a huge no-no in fantasy circles, as that is the fantasy playoffs. This gives Amos a strange fantasy profile heading into 2018 – he wasn’t deemed good enough to start the season for the Bears, but then earned that role (and played well), before burning his fantasy owners with a prolonged absence at the most crucial time of the fantasy season.

During his prime healthy spell on the field last year, a run of nine games Weeks 4-12, Amos was an elite option, only being outscored on a game-by-game basis by Reshad Jones. He only has a single career interception on his NFL resume, and while it was a 90-yard pick-six, he doesn’t offer a dynamic playmaking skillset to push him into the upper echelons of the DB1 ranks. Amos’ value is in his raw tackle production, has over his final 10 games of the season he averaged 6.9 tackles a game, which gives him a superb base to build a fantasy season. I like Amos as a fringe DB1 this season, and would be shocked if he’s taken in the first 15 defensive backs on draft day, making him a great value pick.