The IDP Tipster is back with The IDP Guys for 2022! Welcome to Tipster’s Takes Week 15!
Welcome back to the Tipster’s Takes Week 15, the @IDPTipster’s weekly update, and fantasy football hot takes. Whatever the latest NFL defensive scenarios are, here’s how I see them playing out and laid out, heading into the next matchup or season off-season with a general smoking take on the IDP situation.
Who came in hot and let managers down this 2022 season with poor performances or injury-related issues? Let’s consider this as a reminder of just how fickle this game can be in this week’s edition of Tipster’s Takes. Although some of these players have made recent comebacks later in the season, it’s still a little late for those managers who fell behind early in the season.
Apologies for not following up with the second half of the Rookie updates. There are fantasy football studs under such scrutiny who are basically leaving us hanging when it comes to redrafting and dynasty ranking values by tiers. So instead, catch all the hot NFL rookie’s second-year profiles in my recent Deep Dynasty Profiles.
Tipster’s Takes Week 15
Shaquille Leonard
There can’t be any inside linebacker over-drafted this past year more than Shaquille Leonard. His high-profile rankings, projections, and anticipations were all so high, which was exactly where they needed to be until an early off-season injury started a change reaction.
Leonard blew his season out of the water with a concussion, back, nose, and an ankle/back combo that landed him on the injured reserves. We know that his return to relevancy next year is somewhat in question.
Will IDP break-out Zaire Franklin and veteran Bobby Okereke still be in play? Assuming that Leonard can get healthy, what of his dynasty value? Has it dropped like his a rock mirroring his 2022 production?
Well, sure, it will knock him down some in the rankings, but not likely in projections reflecting his history as a producer. If Leonard can come back healthy enough, there likely won’t be a Bobby Okereke even to consider. He’s a free agent this coming off-season that should draw a lot of attention.
We have a dynasty value that’s no longer top five here. Zaire Franklin has made his NFL breakout statement and looks to be an every-down linebacker for the Colts for some time. So our dynasty hot take is that Leonard has lost value. We shouldn’t consider him more than the normal LB1 option.
Managers might like to see more of Franklin in 2023 before turning back to Leonard as that higher-end profile linebacker he once was.
Deion Jones
Not to stifle the dismay, but Deion Jones finally got his shot so late in the year after the Falcons put him on the shelf for so long. And before he was traded to the Browns. In hindsight, Jones never stood a chance because it reads more like the teams misused Jones for us, leaving him only as a huge dynasty question mark until we see where he lands next season.
I doubt he is any team’s number-one linebacker next year, and it certainly looks like it won’t be as a Brown. That’s mainly if someone else is willing to pay him a decent starter’s wage with a new contract.
Tae Crowder
Starting off the next productive by default players in the past, Giants’ Tae Crowder crashed and burned early this season. That was after a couple of years of outstanding production and despite his lack of real NFL talent at the position. But here’s where the organization got us on this one.
You see, there were no off-season indications that Crowder was in the dog house. Or before being benched for NFL practice squad addition Jaylon Smith. I mean, why should we? There were no reports, and the preseason went accordingly. And worse off yet for his past IDP owners, he became droppable weeks ago. So currently, with no glowing talent to work off of. He isn’t worth even the deepest of dynasty speculations at this time.
Kamu Grugier-Hill
Kamu Grugier-Hill only falls here because he was an LB1-type producer in 2021. But the Texans teased us about starting like normal the first week of the year, as suspected. And what’s worse, Grugier-Hill killed it in the box score.
So it came as a huge surprise when, for whatever reason, Houston gave up on him and eventually released him. So, that’s exactly what we’ll do with any dynasty value he once built up. At this moment looks more like a flash in the pan that just happened rather than any other option.
Zach Cunningham
This one is the hardest fall of them all. Because Zach Cunningham firmed LB1 value before the season as a productive by default that had a real history as a Texan, he then picked right up where he left off for the Titans after being released by Hoston. At this moment, he’s been a free agent for most of the season and leaves us with no positive dynasty value to mention.
Special Mention
Blake Martinez (Retired)
Did I miss someone that deserves to be on here? Well, let the IDP Guys know on our discord. We like talking football and love to hear from you anytime you want to talk IDP or offense. Because as always, we gotcha ya covered.
Thank you for reading my Tipster’s Takes Week 15 – League Losers And Missed Opportunities! And if you’re interested, catch more of me and my NFL and defensive fantasy football on Twitter at @TheIDPTipster, or find all my future IDP Guys content at IDPGuys.org.
