Week 7 is here and not only do the injuries keep stacking up, but the byes are in full force. Let’s tackle some IDP dynasty buy/hold/sell players that can make or break your season. You need to stay hot or get hot. Maybe you need to start prepping for the 2025 Playoffs. All are valid choices and yours to make. Then, stand firm in your decision.
IDP Dynasty Buys
Safety – DeShon Elliott – Pittsburgh Steelers
This seventh-year player out of Texas is just 27 years old. He has been with his fourth team for as many years. Elliott might have found himself a home after signing a two-year contract worth $6 million with the Steelers. He has never hit the century mark in his career for tackles, although he has come close with 96 tackles for the Lions in 2022 and 82 tackles last year with the Miami Dolphins. With nearly 85% of the defensive snaps each week, Elliott has been very consistent with 9 or more tackles in 3 out of his last 5 games. He is on pace for his first ever triple digit tackle year at 127 tackles. At the #4 overall scoring Safety year to date, he is not a household name, so go get him at a nice value.
DT – Zach Allen – Denver Broncos
Surprise, the #1 scoring DT to date in 2024 is none other than Allen. He signed a 3-year contract last year for $45.75 million and is earning every single dollar of that contract. Allen has not missed a game in his close to a year and a half time in Denver and is on pace to crush his previous career highs in all categories. His best tackle number for his career was 60 in his first year with the Broncos last year. He is on pace for over 82 tackles in 2024. His old high in tackles for a loss was 10 and he is on pace for over 25 tackles for a loss in 2024. His old career high was 5.5 sacks and he is on pace for nearly double that at 10 sacks. Allen plays nearly 90% of the snaps and his motor never quits. Don’t wait any longer to obtain him.
DB – Brian Branch – Detroit Lions
Branch has proven that he belongs in the conversation of being the best DB in the league. As a rookie last year, Branch played 15 games while starting 9 of them and posted 74 tackles (50 solo), 7 tackles for a loss, 1 sack, 1 forced fumble, and 3 interceptions. The former second-round pick out of Alabama has played 4 games this year and already produced 28 tackles (21 solo), 2 tackles for a loss, 1 forced fumble, and 3 interceptions. He is only going to get more expensive so pay the price now and enjoy the benefits for years to come! Branch is 2nd in overall IDP scoring and 2nd in DB scoring for 2024.
LB – Edgerrin Cooper – Green Bay Packers
The 2nd round rookie out of Texas A&M is starting to have an impact on the field and is taking snaps away from Isaiah McDuffie who played 97% of the defensive snaps and has decreased each week to last week’s 45% of the defensive snaps which was only 26 snaps. Meanwhile, Cooper has increased his defensive snaps all the way up to 66% of the snaps last week. Cooper has played a total of just 125 defensive snaps year to date in six games. He has a minimum of 4 tackles in 5 of those games with a season high of 8 tackles last week. Then add in his splash plays of 2 tackles for a loss, 3 QB hits, 1.5 sacks, 1 pass defended, and 1 fumble recovery. Cooper is going to be a stud and maybe even take Quay Walker’s lead role away. Don’t wait any longer.
IDP Dynasty Holds
Safety – Jordan Whitehead – Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Other than Week 5 when he hurt his groin, Whitehead has played nearly every defensive snap this season. He started his career with the Buccaneers for four years and then signed a two-year deal as a free agent with the New York Jets. 2024 brought the 7th-year player back home to Tampa Bay and he is flourishing in his role. Whitehead has never hit the triple-digit mark in tackles but is on pace after his first six games of posting a 120-tackle season. Even though he is Safety #29 in scoring over the past 3 weeks, Whitehead is too consistent to give up on. Other than Week 5, he has posted 6 or more tackles in each game with a high of 11 tackles in Week 2. You would never get fair value back so just keep him and keep starting him.
Safety – Ji’Ayir Brown – San Francisco 49ers
Brown is playing his second year now and has solidified a 100% defensive snap role with the 49ers. Brown is the 29th ranked Safety in scoring on the year. If you take out the first two weeks of the season, you will find Brown at Safety #16. That is a ranking that will help your squad win more games than lose. He is yet a household name and therefore would not get the value in return if you were to move him. In his favor of staying in your starting lineup is the fact that he just set a career-high in solo tackles last week in Seattle with 8 tackles of which 6 were solo. Brown already has more solo tackles this season than he did in all of his rookie season last year.
LB – Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah – Cleveland Browns
JOK has been a force since Week 10 of the 2023 season when it all of a sudden just clicked. He was playing about half the snaps in the few games leading up to and including Week 9 of 2023. Since that Week 9 game, JOK has had a 5-tackle game just once, a 6-tackle game 3 times, and had 7 or more tackles in his 10 other games. He has also gotten a sack in each of his last two games. JOK is the #5 LB in scoring over the season, but he is #1 over the last two games. He is just 24 years old and will reward you for years to come.
DE/Edge – Brian Burns – New York Giants
After a stellar beginning of a career with the Carolina Panthers, Burns was traded to the New York Giants. Not only did he get a new home in New York, he got a 5-year $141 million extension. His best season as a Panther had him produce 63 tackles with 12.5 sacks. With the Giants in 2024, he is on pace for 65 tackles and 8.5 sacks. His numbers look like they are not special at all, however, when we look at his last 4 games after settling into his new role, we’ll see a more dominant player. With using his last 4 games to come up with the pace he is on, Burns will produce new career highs in tackles at 68, tackles for a loss at 21, QB hits at 26, and 13 sacks. These are all numbers we all could live with game in and game out.
IDP Dynasty Sells
DE/Edge – Nick Bosa – San Francisco 49ers
I mentioned Bosa in my Week 5 Sell article and he promptly posted 2 very nice weeks in Week 5 and Week 6. In fact, those combined weeks had Bosa as the #1 scoring DE/Edge in the league. If you didn’t sell him prior to Week 5, you were very happy and content to hold him and ride the player to a championship. But, as Bosa always does, he lets you down really hard. His inconsistency that I mentioned back in Week 5 raises its ugly head again to the tune of one solo tackle against the Seattle Seahawks. This type of inconsistency will get you out of contention really quickly. Let someone else deal with the roller coaster ride that he gives you every season.
Safety – Jessie Bates – Atlanta Falcons
It would be nice to have the #6 scoring Safety on your roster, right? Not if he was the #23 scoring Safety over the last 4 combined weeks. He still plays every snap on defense but has only broken 6 tackles just 1 time in the last 4 games. Use the #6 scoring rank to your advantage along with the #1 overall scoring leader in Safeties for the 2023 season. The 27-year-old may have seen the crest of his career in 2023 and now would be a nice time to take advantage of that information.
LB – Roquan Smith – Baltimore Ravens
Could it be possible to put Smith on the Sell list? The short answer is yes and let me explain. Smith is the #9 scoring LB season to date. Smith is the #1 ranked LB on the FantasyPros Dynasty rankings. The problem is that Smith is starting to perform a little like Bosa above in his consistency. One week he will have 14 tackles in a game. The week before is just 6 tackles and the week following would be 7 tackles. In fact, Smith has had 3 double-digit tackle games in 2024 and then he has had 3 games of just 6-7 tackles in a game. Smith is the #9 LB in scoring year to date but he is only LB 26 combined over the past 3 games. Take advantage of his #1 LB ranking and load up your squad.
CB – Christian Gonzales – New England Patriots
The 1st round pick in last year’s NFL draft tore his left shoulder labrum in Week 4 of his rookie season last year. It started well as a rookie with his production including 17 tackles, 1 sack, 3 passes defended, and 1 interception. He did all of his rehab and came back strong for the 2024 season. Inconsistency has been his middle name also. Gonzales has posted 6 tackles in 2 games and then has had 3 games with 2-3 tackles. That accounts for 3 single-digit scoring weeks and then the boom weeks of 20-33 points. Let someone else live off of the potential of a good player and take advantage of his age which is critical in so many Dynasty managers’ eyes.
Thank you for checking out my Dynasty Friday – Buy/Hold/Sell article! You can read all of my articles on my IDP Guys author page. Be sure to follow me on Twitter at @OldMan_FF and @IDP_Plus (we have offense, too), and please consider becoming a subscriber!
