Fantasy Football: IDP takeaways from preseason Week 3

• Josey Jewell appears locked in for a bounce-back season: Reuniting with Ejiro Evero in Carolina, Jewell looks set for a full-time role and an increase in production from 2023.

• Many starters were rested in this final week of the preseason: With many teams resting their starters, while others still give hints with usage, we have been able to assemble expected IDP depth charts for Week 1.

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Estimated Reading Time: 18 minutes

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With all preseason games now officially wrapped, we likely have all the relevant information we’re going to get ahead of Week 1. Not every team played their starters this preseason but for those that did, these are the key takeaways for IDP leagues heading into 2024.

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INDIANAPOLIS COLTS @ CINCINNATI BENGALS

• The Colts played their defensive starters for three drives, which included rookie first-round edge Laiatu Latu.
• Latu first came in on a third-and-long and immediately made his impact felt by delivering a sack.
• For now, it appears that Latu will yield snaps to both Kwity Paye and Tyquan Lewis on early downs, which could limit his production floor despite his long-term potential as the top defensive lineman on the team.
• Latu only played pass-down snaps in this game, appearing on just one first down through four drives.
• The Colts starting safeties were Julian Blackmon and Nick Cross. Blackmon got slightly more work in the box than Cross, though both had the opportunity to get work closer to the line of scrimmage.
• It’s possible that this role is more of a rotation this season as there had been some experimentation during camp with different starters, but Blackmon should still be the best bet to get drafted first.
• Starting linebackers Zaire Franklin and E.J. Speed played 100% of their possible 13 defensive snaps.

Expected depth chart/snap leaders for each defensive position – Indianapolis Colts:

• The Bengals did not play any of their expected defensive starters, which further confirms from preseason Week 1 that Jordan Battle is not going to be one of the starters at safety. This keeps him from being IDP-relevant barring an injury to Vonn Bell or Geno Stone.

Expected depth chart/snap leaders for each defensive position – Cincinnati Bengals:

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CHICAGO BEARS @ KANSAS CITY CHIEFS

• The Bears did not play any of their expected defensive starters in this game.

Expected depth chart/snap leaders for each defensive position – Chicago Bears:

• The Chiefs did not play any of their expected defensive starters in this game.

Expected depth chart/snap leaders for each defensive position – Kansas City Chiefs:

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JACKSONVILLE JAGUARS @ ATLANTA FALCONS

• The Jaguars played a number of their defensive starters for the entire first half.
• This included their safeties, Andre Cisco, Antonio Johnson, and Darnell Savage.
• Cisco and Johnson both played full-time typical safety roles while Savage played primarily in the slot (90%), which did not translate to a full-time role (74%).
• Savage will drop in rankings in favor of second-year fifth-rounder Johnson who looks like he’ll play a full-time role now this season.

Expected depth chart/snap leaders for each defensive position – Jacksonville Jaguars:

• The Falcons did not play any other of their expected defensive starters.

Expected depth chart/snap leaders for each defensive position – Atlanta Falcons:

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MIAMI DOLPHINS @ TAMPA BAY BUCCANEERS

• The Dolphins did not play any of their expected defensive starters.

Expected depth chart/snap leaders for each defensive position – Miami Dolphins:

• The Buccaneers played their starters for one drive in this game, excluding Lavonte David.
• K.J. Britt played again with the starters in a full-time role. He is set to start the year next to David and should be a great late-round target in deeper IDP leagues.
• Tykee Smith appears to have locked up the starting nickel corner role for the Bucs, though it’s worth noting that he only played one snap on the first drive – a third down – while Tavierre Thomas played the early downs.
• Thomas stayed in for the rest of the game, so it doesn’t appear that he’s being treated as a starter right now.

Expected depth chart/snap leaders for each defensive position – Tampa Bay Buccaneers:

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SAN FRANCISCO 49ERS @ LAS VEGAS RAIDERS

• The 49ers only played a handful of their expected defensive starters in this game, including Leonard Floyd, who suffered a knee injury in this game, as did Yetur Gross-Matos.

Expected depth chart/snap leaders for each defensive position – San Francisco 49ers:

• The Raiders did not play any of their expected defensive starters in this game.

Expected depth chart/snap leaders for each defensive position – Las Vegas Raiders:

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CAROLINA PANTHERS @ BUFFALO BILLS

• The Panthers played several of their expected defensive starters in this game, including linebackers Josey Jewell and Shaq Thompson for the first time this preseason.
• Jewell wore the green dot over Thompson, which likely has to do with Jewell’s familiarity with defensive coordinator Ejiro Evero’s defense from their time together in Denver.
• Jewell now becomes the safest bet for snaps among Carolina’s linebackers, though both players played 100% of the team's defensive snaps on their lone drive together.

Expected depth chart/snap leaders for each defensive position – Carolina Panthers:

• The Bills did not play any of their expected starting defenders in this game.
• This included playing last week’s highlighted linebacker Joe Andreessen, who had stepped in to wear the green dot with Matt Milano injured and Terrel Bernard inactive.
• Dorian Williams also played last week, which is why Andreessen wearing the dot piqued the interest of IDP managers, but when Williams got the starter “rest” treatment, it was an indication that Williams was still ahead of Andreesen on the depth chart.
• Williams also got the starter’s “rest” treatment by not playing in this game while Andreessen and the backups did, solidifying that it should be Bernard and Williams as the starters come Week 1.

Expected depth chart/snap leaders for each defensive position – Buffalo Bills:

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LOS ANGELES RAMS @ HOUSTON TEXANS

• The Rams did not play any of their expected defensive starters in this game.

Expected depth chart/snap leaders for each defensive position – Los Angeles Rams:

• The Texans did not play any of their expected defensive starters in this game.
• It’s noteworthy that slot corner Desmond King did play in this game. After highlighting Jalen Pitre’s usage in the slot last week, there was the chance that Pitre was only getting that work because King wasn’t playing.
• King playing in this game with the rest of the backups may indicate that the Texans are planning on giving that role to Pitre, on top of his typical safety duties, while utilizing Eric Murray and Jimmie Ward deep when Pitre is playing the slot.

Expected depth chart/snap leaders for each defensive position – Houston Texans:

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BALTIMORE RAVENS @ GREEN BAY PACKERS

• The Ravens played a handful of their expected defensive starters, though Roquan Smith was not one of them.
• Malik Harrison and Trenton Simpson started for the second consecutive week. Harrison wore the green dot and even got the starter’s “rest” treatment for the second week in a row.
• With Simpson staying in the game with the backups again, it’s possible that the team views him as third on the depth chart behind Harrison, or they’re just looking to get him more experience since he only played 46 defensive snaps all of last season.
• For IDP managers who are rostering/drafting Simpson, this is a situation where we’re likely better off sitting him come Week 1 until we see exactly how this situation is going to shake out.

Expected depth chart/snap leaders for each defensive position – Baltimore Ravens:

• The Packers did not play any of their expected defensive starters in this game.

Expected depth chart/snap leaders for each defensive position – Green Bay Packers:

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MINNESOTA VIKINGS @ PHILADELPHIA EAGLES

• The Vikings did not play any of their expected defensive starters in this game.

Expected depth chart/snap leaders for each defensive position – Minnesota Vikings:

• The Eagles did not play any of their expected defensive starters in this game.
• The linebacker situation appears to be set in Philadelphia with Devin White and Zack Baun dominating the first-team reps.
• Again, as pointed out the last two weeks, Nakobe Dean played very well with the backups and was one of the highest-graded defensive players on the team through two games.
• With Dean not playing in this one, it still appears possible that he can earn his spot back in the starting lineup at some point.
• Rookie second-round pick Cooper DeJean saw his first preseason action in this game, playing into the fourth quarter and almost exclusively (96%) out of the slot.
• DeJean’s fellow rookie peer Quinyon Mitchell has been manning the slot with the first-team defense, which could keep DeJean off the field barring an injury.

Expected depth chart/snap leaders for each defensive position – Philadelphia Eagles:

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PITTSBURGH STEELERS @ DETROIT LIONS

• The Steelers played several of their expected starting defensive players, which included linebacker Patrick Queen.
• Queen played just one drive as the lone every-down linebacker while Elandon Roberts started alongside him but rotated off the field on third-and-long/obvious passing situations.
• This is not much different from last week. The one difference is that rookie Payton Wilson did not play in this game, likely due to the concussion he suffered last week.
• There will only be one full-time linebacker for the Steelers again this season (Queen). The rest of the corps are only deep-league options.
• The Steelers' nickel corner role has been up for grabs this offseason with undrafted free agent rookie corner looking to be getting a shot at it last week, that appears to have changed this week.
• Thomas Graham Jr., who performed well through the first two preseason games and earned a strong 84.1 coverage grade last week, started this week. It’s not a guarantee that the job now belongs to Graham, but he’ll slot in there on the depth chart for now as Bishop didn’t come in until the second half.

Expected depth chart/snap leaders for each defensive position – Pittsburgh Steelers:

• The Lions did not play any of their expected defensive starters in this game.

Expected depth chart/snap leaders for each defensive position – Detroit Lions:

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LOS ANGELES CHARGERS @ DALLAS COWBOYS

• The Chargers did not play any of their expected defensive starters in this game.
• Rookie linebacker Junior Colson finally saw his first preseason action after missing time due to appendix surgery.
• Colson wore the green dot and played the first quarter, but with Denzel Perryman and Daiyan Henley having the day off with the rest of the starters, Colson appears to be LB3 at best for now and isn’t worth rostering in redraft formats.

Expected depth chart/snap leaders for each defensive position – Los Angeles Chargers:

• The Cowboys did not play any of their expected defensive starters in this game.
• It came out before the game that outside corner DaRon Bland suffered a foot injury and is likely to miss six-to-eight weeks.
• It’s possible that rookie Caelen Carson fills in during his absence but it isn’t a guarantee at this point.

Expected depth chart/snap leaders for each defensive position – Dallas Cowboys:

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NEW YORK GIANTS @ NEW YORK JETS

• The Giants did not play any of their expected defensive starters in this game.

Expected depth chart/snap leaders for each defensive position – New York Giants:

• The Jets did not play any of their expected defensive starters in this game.

Expected depth chart/snap leaders for each defensive position – New York Jets:

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CLEVELAND BROWNS @ SEATTLE SEAHAWKS

• The Browns did not play any of their expected defensive starters.

Expected depth chart/snap leaders for each defensive position – Cleveland Browns:

• The Seahawks played a handful of their expected defensive starters in this game without any key IDP takeaways of note.

Expected depth chart/snap leaders for each defensive position – Seattle Seahawks:

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TENNESSEE TITANS @ NEW ORLEANS SAINTS

• The Titans played several of their expected defensive starters in this game, including Quandre Diggs and Amani Hooker, who appear set to be the starting safeties come Week 1.
• Elijah Molden and Jamal Adams are likely to be the backups with limited roles, keeping them from being IDP-relevant.
• Kenneth Murray and Jack Gibbens both started at linebacker through the first two drives, playing 100% of the available defensive snaps together, which could be a positive sign that new defensive coordinator Dennard Wilson may give IDP managers two full-time linebackers in 2024.

Expected depth chart/snap leaders for each defensive position – Tennessee Titans:

• The Saints did not play any of their set defensive starters in this game.
• Safeties Will Harris and Jordan Howden both started this game, with both in contention for a starting spot next to Tyrann Mathieu at the moment.
• Harris appeared to have the edge in the second preseason game with Howden starting that game and Howden not coming in until the second quarter, which happened to be Harris’ final snap of the game.
• In this game, Harris’ day was finished at the end of the first quarter even though it was an incomplete drive, while Howden stayed in for the rest of the first half.
• This would seem to indicate that Harris is being protected as a starter and should be the primary target along with Mathieu in IDP drafts.

Expected depth chart/snap leaders for each defensive position – New Orleans Saints:

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ARIZONA CARDINALS @ DENVER BRONCOS

• The Cardinals did not play any of their expected defensive starters in this game.

Expected depth chart/snap leaders for each defensive position – Arizona Cardinals:

• The Broncos did not play many of their expected defensive starters in this game.

Expected depth chart/snap leaders for each defensive position – Denver Broncos:

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NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS @ WASHINGTON COMMANDERS

• The Patriots only played a handful of their expected defensive starters in this game, similar to previous weeks.
• Christian Gonzalez, Keion White, and Jahlani Tavai were among the players getting snaps early in the game without any major IDP takeaways of note.

Expected depth chart/snap leaders for each defensive position – New England Patriots:

• The Commanders did not play any of their expected defensive starters in this game.

Expected depth chart/snap leaders for each defensive position – Washington Commanders: