Fantasy Football: IDP takeaways from preseason Week 1

• Deciphering the Philadelphia Eagles linebacker situation: With Nakobe Dean inactive for this game, everyone else played at different times leaving more information to be desired.
• What to make of the Carolina Panthers and Cincinnati Bengals’ safety situations: Early usage and deployment for both of these groups could give us a better idea of what to expect come Week 1.
• First-round rookie linebacker shines: Detroit Lions’ rookie Jack Campbell didn’t get the start but posted impressive numbers to get dynasty managers feeling pretty excited. 

Estimated reading time: 11 minutes

With one week’s worth of NFL preseason games in the books, there were a few IDP-related takeaways to make note of in order to get ready for this fantasy football season.

Houston Texans @ New England Patriots

• The Texans seemingly played their defensive starters through the first two drives, including rookie third-overall pick Will Anderson, who played 82% of his team's defensive snaps through those two drives and recorded one tackle.
• At linebacker for Houston, it seems that both Denzel Perryman and Christian Harris are set to start the year as the top two, as they each played an every-down role through two drives before their night was done. Perryman was especially efficient, posting four total tackles and a sack on his 11 snaps.
• The Patriots did not play any of their first-team defense in this game.
• Rookie defensive end Keion White popped on 27 defensive snaps, posting a team-leading 89.8 defensive grade thanks to three total pressures and three defensive stops.

#FFIDP – New England Patriots defensive lineman and rookie second-round pick Keion White last night, per @PFF:

27 defensive snaps
🟢89.8 overall grade

75.7 run defense grade
💪 2 defensive run stops

81.0 pass-rush grade
🥵 3 total pressures
😤 23.1% prsh win-rate pic.twitter.com/v4810oxr3S

— Jon Macri (@PFF_Macri) August 11, 2023

Minnesota Vikings @ Seattle Seahawks

• The Vikings did not play many of their expected starters in this game, including Harrison Smith, Jordan Hicks, Brian Asamoah, Marcus Davenport, and Danielle Hunter.
• They did, however, start Ivan Pace Jr. at linebacker, who was wearing the green dot and playing an every-down role through the first five defensive drives. 
• It’s important to note that Brian Flores’ defensive tendencies did show a bit in this game with the other starting linebacker Troy Reeder coming off the field on third down and spending most of his time on the edge, playing 78% of the defensive snaps.
• Troy Dye replaced Reeder and played next to Pace on the next three defensive drives, seeing just 60% of the defensive snaps.
• Playing time is going to be a concern for whoever emerges as the Vikings' LB2 in 2023.

#FFIDP – The Vikings are without Jordan Hicks and Brian Asamoah tonight, so starting at linebacker…

🌟IVAN PACE JR‼️

He's played every down through 4 drives.

LB Troy Reeder played the first 2 drives – mostly on the edge (86%), and came off the field on 3rd down both drives. https://t.co/XaLcTbjQJQ

— Jon Macri (@PFF_Macri) August 11, 2023

• The Seahawks did not play Bobby Wagner in this game so Devin Bush and Jon Rhattigan manned the linebacker position, both in an every-down role.

Pittsburgh Steelers @ Tampa Bay Buccaneers