- Jaelan Phillips should take over as the top edge defender in Philadelphia: Phillips’ strong bounce-back season has him in a great position to continue delivering startable IDP potential in a better team situation.
- The Seattle Seahawks‘ defensive back deployment becomes clearer: The strong play of rookie Nick Emmanwori has locked him into a starting spot, even with Devon Witherspoon, who now moves outside, back in the lineup.
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Estimated Reading Time: 75 minutes
Week 9 takeaways
Waiver wire
- LB Henry To’oTo’o, Houston Texans: To’oTo’o appears to have retaken his LB2 role in this defense after sharing snaps with E.J. Speed over the past few weeks. To’oTo’o (for now) has emerged as the Texans' clear LB2 option and can be considered for deeper leagues once again.
- LB Jack Gibbens, New England Patriots: Gibbens took over the LB2 role for the injured Christian Elliss, playing 67% of his team's defensive snaps in the second half with Elliss out of the lineup. Gibbens is a deep-league option if Elliss misses time.
- LB Demetrius Flannigan-Fowles, New York Giants: Flannigan-Fowles played 85% of his team's defensive snaps with Muasau out of the game. He took over the LB2 role and delivered a productive game as a tackler. Flannigan-Fowles can be an IDP option in non-shallow formats, assuming Muasau misses time.
- LB Drake Thomas and Tyrice Knight, Seattle Seahawks: Thomas and Knight both played full-time roles with Ernest Jones out of this game. While Thomas has already been a waiver target given his starting status, Knight now becomes an IDP option again, assuming Jones misses time.
- LB Jordan Magee, Washington Commanders: The Commanders have run with a different defensive deployment these past two weeks, playing Frankie Luvu on the edge even more, which allowed Magee to get more work at linebacker. Magee is more of a deep-league IDP option as his snaps will likely fluctuate week-to-week.
- S Cam Lewis, Buffalo Bills: The Bills opted to start Lewis over Jordan Poyer with Taylor Rapp on injured reserve. Lewis played an every-down role while Poyer barely played more than half of the defensive snaps. Considering the matchup this week, it’s clear the Bills trust Lewis, and he can be a fine fill-in option for IDP managers in need of a full-time safety.
- DB C.J. Gardner-Johnson, Chicago Bears: The Bears just signed C.J. Gardner-Johnson with Kyler Gordon heading to injured reserve, and Gardner-Johnson immediately stepped into the starting nickel corner role in Dennis Allen’s defense. This role has been profitable for IDP in recent years, and it now appears to be once again, as Gardner-Johnson landed a sack to go along with six total tackles in his Bears debut.
- S Dante Trader Jr., Miami Dolphins: Trader filled in as a starting safety this week in place of Ashtyn Davis, who was out this week, and Ifeatu Melifonwu, who got hurt early in the game. Trader led the team in tackles (12) and got an ideal IDP deployment, playing mostly in the box and around the line of scrimmage. If both Davis and Melifonwu are out again, then Trader should be a solid fill-in for IDP rosters in need.
- S Kyle Dugger, Pittsburgh Steelers: Dugger was acquired via trade last week, and with DeShon Elliott landing on injured reserve, it couldn’t have come at a better time. Dugger stepped into a starting role, and while he wasn’t overly productive, he should be in a good spot to produce in future weeks given his deployment.
Be sure to check out last week’s waiver wire targets and team usage here.
JUMP TO A TEAM:
ARZ | ATL | BLT | BUF | CAR | CHI | CIN | CLE | DAL | DEN | DET | GB | HOU | IND | JAX | KC | LVR | LAC | LAR | MIA | MIN | NE | NO | NYG | NYJ | PHI | PIT | SF | SEA | TB | TEN | WSH
Arizona Cardinals
Team ranks
| Defensive snaps (Weekly rank) | Zone coverage rate(NFL rank) | Man coverage rate(NFL rank) |
| 67 (8) | 75.7% (10) | 16.1% (25) |
EDGE
| Player | Total defensive snap share | Run down snap share | Pass down snap share | Win rate | Pressure rate | Pass-rush grade |
| Josh Sweat | 67.2% | 50.0% | 68.6% | 24.2% | 33.3% | 79.0 |
| Baron Browning | 59.7% | 62.5% | 29.4% | 20.0% | 13.3% | 69.3 |
| Zaven Collins | 43.3% | 25.0% | 37.3% | 15.8% | 21.1% | 58.8 |
| Jordan Burch | 38.8% | 56.3% | 29.4% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 49.7 |
- Point of interest: Josh Sweat continued his positive sack regression campaign by adding two more this week, bringing him up to seven on the year. Sweat’s playing time has been much closer to ideal these past two games as well, playing up over 65% of the defensive snaps after being stuck below 60% in five straight games prior to that.
Defensive interior
| Player | Total defensive snap share | Run down snap share | Pass down snap share | Win rate | Pressure rate | Pass-rush grade |
| Calais Campbell | 56.7% | 56.3% | 56.9% | 3.6% | 14.3% | 63.6 |
| Walter Nolen | 55.2% | 62.5% | 52.9% | 4.0% | 4.0% | 65.2 |
| Dalvin Tomlinson | 41.8% | 50.0% | 39.2% | 5.3% | 0.0% | 58.2 |
| Darius Robinson | 35.8% | 50.0% | 31.4% | 6.7% | 6.7% | 56.5 |
| Dante Stills | 26.9% | 18.8% | 29.4% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 51.0 |
| PJ Mustipher | 9.0% | 37.5% | 0.0% |
Linebacker
| Player | Total defensive snap share | 1st/2nd down snap share | 3rd/4th down snap share | Tackle efficiency | Total Tackles (PFF) |
| Mack Wilson Sr. | 74.6% | 74.5% | 75.0% | 16.0% | 8 |
| Akeem Davis-Gaither | 71.6% | 72.5% | 68.8% | 4.2% | 2 |
| Cody Simon | 29.9% | 31.4% | 25.0% | 10.0% | 2 |
- Injury: Mack Wilson left this game late with a rib injury and did not return. It’s unclear if he’ll miss any time at this point.
- Waiver wire: Akeem Davis-Gaither and Cody Simon both played 100% of the remaining 16 defensive snaps with Wilson out. Davis-Gaither likely makes the most sense to take over the every-down role if Wilson were to miss any games, given his NFL experience, while Simon can be an option in non-shallow formats as he’ll likely play the part-time role in the defense.
Safety
| Player | Total defensive snap share | Blitz rate | Defensive line % | Box % | Deep safety % | Slot % |
| Budda Baker | 100.0% | 6.0% | 3.0% | 35.8% | 53.7% | 7.5% |
| Jalen Thompson | 97.0% | 7.7% | 6.2% | 41.5% | 41.5% | 10.8% |
| Dadrion Taylor-Demerson | 11.9% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 50.0% | 37.5% | 12.5% |
Cornerback
| Player | Total defensive snap share | Blitz rate | Box snap % | Slot snap% | Wide Corner % | Targets faced |
| Will Johnson | 98.5% | 0.0% | 4.5% | 0.0% | 95.5% | 6 |
| Garrett Williams | 80.6% | 5.6% | 11.1% | 87.0% | 0.0% | 6 |
| Denzel Burke | 58.2% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 7 |
| Max Melton | 38.8% | 0.0% | 3.8% | 0.0% | 96.2% | 5 |
| Kei'Trel Clark | 4.5% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 0 |
- Injury: Max Melton left this game early with a concussion and did not return. Melton was productive for IDP with his snaps in the most tackle-friendly matchup for cornerbacks, coming up with four total tackles on just 26 defensive snaps.
Atlanta Falcons
Team ranks
| Defensive snaps (Weekly rank) | Zone coverage rate(NFL rank) | Man coverage rate(NFL rank) |
| 68 (6) | 75.8% (9) | 21.0% (19) |
EDGE
| Player | Total defensive snap share | Run down snap share | Pass down snap share | Win rate | Pressure rate | Pass-rush grade |
| Jalon Walker | 64.7% | 67.9% | 45.0% | 11.1% | 22.2% | 79.1 |
| Arnold Ebiketie | 50.0% | 53.6% | 37.5% | 40.0% | 20.0% | 90.7 |
| James Pearce Jr. | 48.5% | 39.3% | 45.0% | 11.1% | 16.7% | 61.8 |
| Leonard Floyd | 23.5% | 28.6% | 15.0% | 16.7% | 50.0% | 66.6 |
- Rookie watch: Jalon Walker delivered his first multi-sack game of his career this week, taking advantage of Drake Maye’s high pressure-to-sack conversion rate, while also delivering a career-high 79.1 pass-rush grade. Over his last two games played, Walker has nine total pressures and is starting to look more effective in his role, which is a positive sign for his IDP viability in the second half of the year.
Defensive interior
| Player | Total defensive snap share | Run down snap share | Pass down snap share | Win rate | Pressure rate | Pass-rush grade |
| David Onyemata | 69.1% | 85.7% | 57.5% | 17.4% | 8.7% | 69.5 |
| Ruke Orhorhoro | 55.9% | 53.6% | 57.5% | 4.3% | 8.7% | 55.1 |
| Brandon Dorlus | 54.4% | 28.6% | 72.5% | 6.9% | 10.3% | 55.6 |
| Sam Roberts | 42.6% | 53.6% | 35.0% | 28.6% | 14.3% | 83.0 |
| LaCale London | 41.2% | 53.6% | 32.5% | 15.4% | 30.8% | 60.7 |
Linebacker
| Player | Total defensive snap share | 1st/2nd down snap share | 3rd/4th down snap share | Tackle efficiency | Total Tackles (PFF) |
| Kaden Elliss | 100.0% | 100.0% | 100.0% | 7.4% | 5 |
| Ronnie Harrison | 60.3% | 64.3% | 41.7% | 7.3% | 3 |
| JD Bertrand | 44.1% | 41.1% | 58.3% | 6.7% | 2 |
- Droppable: It didn’t take long for JD Bertrand to lose his starting job after a poor performance last week (28.8 PFF grade), as he ended up being used mostly in base personnel packages only this week. Bertrand was filling in for the injured Divine Deablo, though the team shifted personnel to avoid playing him in a full-time role, and even kept him behind Ronnie Harrison this week. For now, only Kaden Elliss is worth starting among the Falcons’ linebackers.
Safety
| Player | Total defensive snap share | Blitz rate | Defensive line % | Box % | Deep safety % | Slot % |
| Jessie Bates III | 100.0% | 0.0% | 1.5% | 39.7% | 47.1% | 11.8% |
| Xavier Watts | 100.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 54.4% | 33.8% | 11.8% |
- Point of interest: After back-to-back weeks playing over 70% of his defensive snaps in the box, Jessie Bates’ usage came back down to Earth this week, though it is still pretty strong. Bates hasn’t been overly effective as a tackler relative to his usage this season, but he did come up with an interception to help his day.
Cornerback
| Player | Total defensive snap share | Blitz rate | Box snap % | Slot snap% | Wide Corner % | Targets faced |
| Mike Hughes | 100.0% | 0.0% | 11.8% | 0.0% | 88.2% | 4 |
| A.J. Terrell | 100.0% | 0.0% | 27.9% | 0.0% | 72.1% | 1 |
| Dee Alford | 45.6% | 3.2% | 6.5% | 93.5% | 0.0% | 5 |
Baltimore Ravens
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