Fantasy Football: IDP takeaways from preseason Week 2

• The Philadelphia Eagles’ linebacker deployment gets (slightly) more clarity: With Myles Jack‘s retirement and Zach Cunningham getting the start, we may have a better picture as to who will start the year next to Nakobe Dean.

• The Cincinnati Bengals’ starting safeties appear set: After the departure of both Jessie Bates and Vonn Bell in free agency, we may finally know for sure who will replace them in 2023.

• Carolina Panthers safety Jeremy Chinn should be avoided in 2023 IDP drafts: With concerning usage and an already high ADP, Chinn is not worth drafting in 2023 at such a deep position.

Estimated reading time: 11 minutes

With two full weeks of preseason football wrapped, there’s even more data to get through as we get a few more IDP-related takeaways to make note of in order to get ready for this fantasy football season. 

Cleveland Browns @ Philadelphia Eagles

• The Philadelphia Eagles started Terrell Edmunds and K’Von Wallace at safety, but both players rotated in and out of the game along with Sydney Brown and Justin Evans well into the third quarter, with Wallace even playing into the fourth quarter. This is a group that still needs to get sorted out before we trust any of them in time for Week 1.
• Nakobe Dean and Zach Cunningham played every defensive snap at linebacker for the Eagles through the first two drives as the team gives us another hint as to who we could expect to start Week 1 at the position. 
• Dean is locked into a starting role but considering the rotation between Cunningham, Nicholas Morrow and Christian Elliss through the rest of the game (full breakdown in the tweet below), that LB2 role appears up for grabs, though Cunningham getting the start is encouraging for his potential to win the job, so he is worthy of rostering right now.
• Myles Jack informed the team that he is retiring on Sunday, which should help simplify the linebacker rotation heading into the season.

#FFIDP – Philadelphia Eagles linebackers through the full game in Preseason W2:

DRIVES 1-2 (17 snaps)
Dean: 100%
Cunningham: 100%

DRIVES 3-4 (14 snaps)
Nicholas Morrow: 100%
Christian Elliss: 100%

DRIVE 5 (6 snaps)
Cunningham: 100%
Elliss: 100%

DRIVE 6 (7 snaps)
Morrow: 100%… https://t.co/MDsqtmeyi4

— Jon Macri (@PFF_Macri) August 18, 2023

• The Cleveland Browns did not play any of their expected first-team defense in this game.

Carolina Panthers @ New York Giants