“You want to start an IDP (Individual Defensive Player) League, but you are not sure which IDP scoring system to set up for your league. You can use an IDP Scoring format of a Balanced Offense/Defense. How about Big Play Scoring, or maybe you want it to just be a simple Tackle Premium League? Here are some different scoring systems, along with a possible industry standard IDP scoring system we could start with.”
When you are deciding on what features of an IDP Scoring format you would like in your league setup, you need to answer questions that might come up. Then you’ll provide the best fit for what you think is important in your league setup. Some of the questions might be… What are the scoring systems for IDP? Do we want balanced scoring between the offensive and defensive players? How do you balance the IDP scoring? How are Individual Defensive Players scored in fantasy football? Finally, what are IDP rankings, and where can we find them?
How is the IDP Scoring set up in Fantasy Football?
How are IDPs scored in fantasy football? There are so many different settings you can set for scoring in these leagues. The basics are tackles, assists, sacks, interceptions, and fumble recoveries. More categories can be added with tackles for a loss, forced fumbles, defended passes, safeties, and QB hits. Another thing that should be considered in IDP leagues is the setting of individual special team scoring. This would include punt returns and kickoff returns. More categories can be added with punt block, field goal block, return touchdowns, and long kickoff and punt returns bonus points.
Now that you have decided on the scoring categories you will be using, the next step will be deciding on how many points to assign to these categories. This will depend on what type of scoring system is decided on. As mentioned above, BOD is a balanced system of scoring where the offense and defense score similar points. A good percentage of IDP players and IDP positions will be represented in the Top 100 overall league scoring. Some examples of IDP in the Top 100 would be Zaire Franklin, Budda Baker, Leonard Williams, and Andrew Van Ginkle.
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What is Balanced Offensive and Defensive (BOD) Scoring?
BOD could have a starting point of 1.5 points per tackle, 1 point per assist, 5 points per sack, 6 points per interception, 4 points per fumble recovery, and 6 points per touchdown. In the optional categories, you would do 1 point each for tackles for a loss and QB hits. You can also do 4 points for a forced fumble, 2 points for a safety, and 1.5 points for a pass defended. For each category eliminated from scoring, add .25-.5 points to the other categories to make up the difference. You can not just eliminate or add scoring in one area without adjusting in another area to keep it balanced.
With BOD, positional scoring will need to be looked at also. For example, LBs will rule the scoring with no positional adjustments. For example, the best DTs will have about half the tackles and assists that a LB will have. To account for this, DTs should get an extra point per tackle and assist. CBs should get extra per tackle and pass breakups. DEs might get an extra .25 for a sack. By doing this, all positions are relevant in the IDP scoring. This will also help in setting the BOD correctly and ensure all positions are important.
One last point in setting up scoring is to remember that sometimes the scoring is added together. A sack is also a tackle and a tackle for a loss. For instance, if you set tackles at 1.5 points, tackle for a loss at 2.5 points, and sacks at 5 points, the player will get 9 points for that sack. In this same scenario, but just a tackle for a loss, the IDP would receive 4 points. If you want sacks at 5 points and tackles for a loss at 2.5 points, you will need to have tackles at 1.5, tackles for a loss at 1, and sacks at 2 points.
What is Tackle Premium in IDP Scoring?
As in TE Premium, Tackle Premium rewards more points for tackles as compared to turnovers or sacks. In this type of scoring, you might award 2.5 points for tackles, 2 points for assists, and 4.5 points for a tackle for a loss. With this setting, you would decrease the points for turnovers and sacks by one point. Again, you would adjust scoring by position in this setting also. There were over 50 players who had 100 or more tackles last season. Most of them were LBs, but there were some Safeties and CBs also. This also shows why you would increase tackle points for DEs, DTs, CBs, and Safeties. These 50 players would be premium in this type of league, especially the CBs and Safeties with their adjusted positional scoring. Tackle Premium would benefit the LB position, as 10 out of the top 13 tacklers were LBs.
What is Big Play Premium?
Big play premium is rewarding more points for turnovers, sacks, and TDs. It will reward fewer points for tackles and assists. In this type of league, you will increase tackles for a loss to 2 points, sacks to 6 points, turnovers to 8 points, safeties to 5 points, and TDs to 7 points. Tackles and assists will drop to 1.25 points and .75 points, respectively. 24 players had double-digit sacks. They were all either DT or DE, so you would double the scoring here on LB, CB, and Safety.
What a different draft order this scoring system would create. 56 players had double-digit tackles for a loss. Only 17 players had double digit sacks. 37 players had three or more interceptions. 45 players had two or more fumble recoveries. 23 players had three or more forced fumbles. In big play premium, these plays don’t happen frequently, so don’t be scared to bump up scoring in these categories. Trey Hendrickson led the NFL in sacks, Kerby Joseph was the interception leader, and T.J. Watt forced the most fumbles.
Regardless of which scoring system you choose, after you set your initial scoring for the IDP positions, you will need to check last year’s player ranks using this scoring system. Is it what you thought? Are certain positions too high? You probably will not get it right on your first swing. Just adjust where the discrepancies are and test again. It could take three or more tries to get the scoring where you envisioned, but you will get it.
What are IDP Rankings?
IDP rankings are set the same way as offensive rankings. Based on what type of scoring system your league has set up, you can then pull the rankings from a few different sites. We, at IDP+, have rankings, and you can sort on the league scoring setup. You can also look at the history of the league hosting service, which will rank the players according to last year, using your selection of the particular scoring system. Another possibility is to sort accordingly based on the category you want to see results from.
The IDP+ proposal for a Universal Base Scoring System would be…
Here is what the base scoring could be in a Balanced Offensive and Defensive Universal System that could then be adjusted to Individual Positions, Tackle Premium, and Big Play Premium systems. IDP+ would suggest the following for the base-
Solo Tackles-1.7
Assisted Tackles-1.3
Tackles for a Loss-1
QB Hits-1
Sacks-5
Interceptions-6
Forced Fumbles-4
Fumble Recoveries-4
Defensive TDs-6
Safeties-2
Passes Defended-1.5
Thank you for checking out my IDP Scoring Systems 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 @IDPGuys (we have offense, too), and please consider becoming a subscriber!
