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How to approach IDP options in your fantasy draft

Houston Texans defensive end J.J. Watt (99) is introduced before an NFL football game Thursday, Oct. 8, 2015, in Houston. (AP Photo/Patric Schneider)

Heading into your IDP league draft, you will undoubtedly question how to balance offensive and defensive players. Conventional wisdom suggests waiting on IDPs, but that can be an oversimplification. One helpful practice for visualizing the value of the various positions involves plotting out their average production. Here is a graph showing how the positions fared in our balanced scoring, as averaged over the past five years.

Standard Scoring

PPR Scoring

Initial impressions

There is a disproportionate dropoff in elite tiers at defensive line, tight end and running back. Grabbing one of the top players at those positions provides a big advantage. However, it’s notable that tight end and defensive line level off fairly quickly. After the elite tier is off the board, urgency to address those positions should wane. Meanwhile, wide receivers, linebackers and defensive backs decline much more gradually. This alleviates pressure to address those positions early, but there are still obvious appeals for elite players at those positions. More on that later.

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