Welcome to the 2025 IDP Draft Plan, my strategy for putting together your roster in individual defensive player fantasy football leagues. I could go on a diatribe — like those annoying recipe websites — but we’ve got one of the most unique situations in the history of fantasy football, and it’s exclusive to us IDP sickos!
Let’s hit it.
The 2025 Rules of Engagement for IDP Drafts
Rule #1: Draft Travis Hunter. NOW.
I’ve got an article coming out on why, including research on the obvious dual-eligibility caveats. But here is an excerpt:
As just a wide receiver, we have him at WR33, projected for 193 FP in 2025. That would already make him DB19 in IDP, and that’s without playing a SINGLE SNAP on defense. If he racks up 50 FP as a DB (a grossly conservative estimate in balanced scoring), he’ll be DB1. And if you have a CB-required league, you should draft Hunter 1st overall. The positional advantage is so significant that you don’t want to risk losing out at a position known for remote-control-throwing madness in variance.
How easy is 50 FP as a CB? We’ve projected Billy Bowman, Jr. to score 58 fantasy points. If you just said “Who??” then you’ve made my point. He’s DB165 for us. Dead last. If you combine ol’ Billy B’s bottom-feeder production with our WR projections for Hunter, he would be the 14th overall IDP. More than Maxx Crosby, Budda Baker, Ernest Jones, and Bobby Okereke. If he does what we think he’ll do and produces modest CB numbers as a nickel or dime defender, he’d come in around 90 FP. Which means he could push for 300 FP in a PPR. In America. He’ll eclipse every IDP by a country mile. Oh, and at a position where you’re lucky to get 100 FP.
Rule #2: The ceiling is (still) steep, but the floor is (still) wide.
Last year, I posted the above motto as my #1 rule. It proved true, and it’s also looking to be true this season.
