The fantasy football season is almost upon us, and like every year, there are several topics that can get heated in some fantasy circles. Even here at Rant Sports, writers have disagreements, and we thought with the looming elections, this would be the perfect time to host our own fantasy football debates. Below is our sixth 2012 fantasy football debate between two styles of defense; Whole Defensive Units and Individual Defensive Players:
Candidate Adam McGill – Whole Defense
Lately more and more fantasy leagues have moved towards drafting whole defensive rosters, as opposed to simply drafting a single defensive unit. However, this is just a defensive fade around the fantasy community and will soon start to lose the interest of the millions of fantasy players around the nation.
Individual Defensive Player (I.D.P.) leagues are taking fantasy football to an insane level, that will most likely include offensive linemen, punters, cheerleaders and long-snappers next. I mean at what point do we stop.
Additionally, no one has time to memorize every defensive roster in the entire NFL. It is simply too tedious and too time-consuming. People have lives, families, and essentially responsibilities other than fantasy football.
Drafting a single defensive unit can also cut the draft in half by limiting the amount of rounds. IDP leagues tend to be between 20-26 rounds, which is honestly too long for the average fantasy fan. No one wants to sit at a draft, or in a draft room, for six hours. Conversely, a regular league with one defensive unit can have a draft done in as little as an hour.
Now which would you prefer?
Drafting a regular defensive unit is much easier and it allows you to focus on what really matters, OFFENSE! Focus your time and energy studying offensive sleepers, as opposed to the San Francisco 49ers’ fourth-string defensive back.
Candidate J. M. Nicholas – Individual Defense Player (I.D.P.)
There are numerous benefits to using IDP (Individual Defensive Players) with or instead of the standard Team Defense/Special Teams roster spot in fantasy football leagues. Standard fantasy football rosters are played-out, bland, boring, and unimaginative in relation to the numerous other options available to make your league roster more expansive and exciting. Some of these possibilities, such as head coaches and offensive linemen, are a bit ludicrous and over-the-top. However, using IDP players is a perfect way to give fantasy football owners a bit more to watch and cheer for on Sunday.
IDPs (also called Defensive Utility Players) take the Team Defense aspect of fantasy football to a different level. Instead of picking an entire NFL team’s defensive unit, a fantasy team owner has the entire NFL defensive roster from any team in the league to choose from. Any defensive position is open to be drafted; be it linebacker, defensive end, defensive tackle, safety, or defensive back. If an owner wants Ray Lewis from the Baltimore Ravens or Patrick Willis from the San Francisco 49ers on their fantasy team, then they are free to do so.
Tackles, sacks, fumbles caused, fumbles recovered, interceptions, and even passes defended can all be used for scoring by IDPs. Of course, any touchdowns scored will also factor into a player’s point total. If done properly, IDPs on a fantasy team roster can be equally as valuable as a quarterback or running back. For instance, if a defensive player on your team sacks a quarterback, causes a fumble, and then returns that fumble for a score; your fantasy team could quickly gain a game-changing 10 points.
Team defenses only gives a fantasy owner the chance to watch one defense, focusing almost solely on points scored against them and turnovers. If a punt or kickoff happens to get returned for a score, then it’s a definite boost for the team defense, but the idea as a whole is nowhere near as engaging or entertaining as being able to focus on several players from various defenses around the league.
For all of these reasons and more, it is worth a shot to at least try to add Individual Defensive Players to your fantasy football roster; even if your league still wants to keep Whole Defenses. One way or another, I think we can all agree that if any roster spot is getting the boot, it should be the kickers (pun intended). However, that’s a debate for another day…
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