Assembling a roster of top players is the goal of fantasy football. Hypothetically, a roster comprised of the best players should have the inside track to a championship.
Defensive line might be the most satisfying position in fantasy football. A defensive lineman can’t be derailed like a wide receiver relying on a third-string quarterback when the matches matter most. A weak technician can’t compensate like a poor passer with a Konami code. Talent identification can’t be circumvented by waiver wire bids for the next man up, and pass rushers most certainly do matter!
Household names fill the leaderboard of defensive linemen in fantasy football. Six of the first eight linemen drafted, on average, on the Sleeper fantasy football platform reside among the top 12 scorers at the position through 16 weeks. The two missing – Aaron Donald and Chase Young – have missed several games each.
Scoring Leaders Across the Board
The new All-22 fantasy football platform assigns the second-highest value to edge defenders, after quarterbacks, based on NFL player contract values. All-22 uses weekly grades from Pro Football Focus and multiplies them by position weights to yield fantasy scores by player.
Five of the top seven scoring edge defenders in All-22 are also leaders in conventional fantasy football. Three of the top seven – Myles Garrett, Maxx Crosby, and Danielle Hunter – appear among the top twelve defensive linemen on the Footballyguys’ leaderboard for scoring at the position. Two more of these seven (Alex Highsmith and Haason Reddick) would comfortably rank inside conventional rankings’ top twelve if not for their linebacker position designations.
Missed time makes a big difference in All-22 scoring and is the only reason Nick Bosa and Josh Sweat don’t rank near the top in that format. Conventional fantasy football’s top twelve linemen also include all five interior defenders leading All-22 scoring at the position.
Talent Assembly in Philadelphia
IDP gamers and content creators are always focused on identifying the linebackers who will play full-time and the safeties with plum roles. These factors rival talent as differentiators in fantasy football.
At defensive line, the cream rises to the top. The league’s impact interior defenders emerged early in 2002. Former first-rounder Dexter Lawrence overcame the challenges of playing nose tackle to establish himself as a pass-rush force.
The relationship between talent and fantasy production is strong but not perfect. ESPN analytics writer Seth Walder tracks pass-rush wins to track success among defensive linemen. A “pass-rush win” is a lineman’s success beating the block against him in less than 2.5 seconds. Walder’s chart shows the league’s best players collecting quarterback sacks and pass-rush wins.
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