The good news is that Living the Stream has returned for a third season at Footballguys. I know. No one is more surprised than me.
The bad news is that if you are making use of Living the Stream in Week 1, then the 2024 fantasy football campaign isn’t exactly off to an ideal start.
Stuff happens, though. Overcoming adversity is part of having a successful season in IDP leagues. Maybe you’re worried that Miami Dolphins edge-rusher Jaelan Phillips will be on a strict snap count as he returns from an Achilles tear. Maybe you lost a linebacker when Christian Harris landed on injured reserve with a nagging calf problem. Or maybe you’re just staring at an array of mid-range fantasy options, trying to figure out which will help you get the season started on the right foot.
Living the Stream is here to help with all those potential problems. We can’t all roster Jacksonville Jaguars linebacker Foyesade Oluokun (Apparently, The Godfather never can, but you don’t care about my fantasy team), and sometimes it’s the IDPs ranked well outside the top 20 who win managers' weeks.
This isn’t to say I’ll pick the right ones. But still—they do.
WEEK 1 IDP MATCHUP PLAYS
EDGE Andrew Van Ginkel, Minnesota (at NY Giants)
If Van Ginkel makes one more appearance in this column, he earns a free sub—the 29-year-old has become a Living the Stream All-Star. After starting the 2023 season starting at inside linebacker, injuries in Miami forced Van Ginkel to the edge—where he flourished. That mini-breakout earned Van Ginkel a free agent deal in Minnesota, and he told reporters that his versatility played a large part in his getting paid.
"I try to be a Swiss Army knife, and that's ultimately why I'm here," he said. "Flo (defensive coordinator Brian Flores) has a lot of respect for what I can do on the football field, to play multiple positions. Being able to know the whole defense allows me to play faster and play at different positions."
Van Ginkel’s sack numbers for the season as a whole weren’t especially impressive, but he had a higher pressure rate than Aidan Hutchinson of the Detroit Lions and T.J. Watt of the Pittsburgh Steelers. He also flirted with 70 total tackles with the Dolphins last year. Now Van Ginkel gets to open his Minnesota tenure against a New York Giants team that surrendered a staggering 85 sacks last season. What’s not to like.
EDGE Chase Young, New Orleans (vs. Carolina)
There was a time when Young appeared to be a superstar in the making. The second overall pick by Washington in 2020, Young won Defensive Rookie of the Year honors after logging 44 tackles and 7.5 sacks. Then came an ACL tear and just 1.5 sacks over the two following seasons combined. Now in New Orleans, a healthy Young has made a major impression on veteran Saints linebacker Demario Davis.
"I think it was a huge signing, but it's probably one of those underrated signings that's going to show itself years down the line and especially this year. I wouldn't be surprised if he puts himself in the Defensive Player of the Year category this year," Davis told reporters. "He works hard. He's already established himself as a leader on this team and guys respond to him. I think he brings the intensity every single day and I'm really excited to see what type of year he has. We need him to be big for us."
Young split last year between the Commanders and San Francisco 49ers, and while his tackle numbers weren’t great, he quietly posted 7.5 sacks again. The Saints saw enough potential in Young to give him a one-year, $13 million pact, and he opens his redemption tour in the Big Easy against a Panthers team that gave up 65 sacks in 2023.
LB Damone Clark, Dallas (at Cleveland)
Clark’s career has been a rollercoaster to date—from highly-touted prospect to Day 3 draft pick after spinal surgery to spending the better part of last season as the Cowboys’ de facto No. 1 linebacker. After an uneven 2023 campaign, Clark spent the offseason being mentored by former Dallas standouts Sean Lee and Leighton Vander Esch, and the 24-year-old told Patrik Walker of the team’s website he has big plans for the season to come.
"I'm going back to the root of things,” Clark said. “I'm going out there and having fun. This is a game I've been playing my whole life. Last year, it got too far ahead of me sometimes. I was too high sometimes and too low sometimes. The biggest thing for me is now finding that neutral mindset, and, at the end of the day, it's all just a game that I've been playing since I was five years old."
The Cowboys signed Eric Kendricks to lead the linebackers this season after being gashed on the ground in last year’s playoff loss to the Green Bay Packers, and if second-year pro DeMarvion Overshown continues to impress Clark’s days as the No. 2 off-ball linebacker in Dallas could be numbered. But for now, at least, the job remains his against a Cleveland Browns team that has been a favorable IDP matchup for linebackers for most of Kevin Stefanski’s tenure as head coach—Nick Chubb or no.
LB Drue Tranquill, Kansas City (vs. Baltimore)
Tranquill’s first season in Kansas City wasn’t especially impressive statistically, but he stepped up when Nick Bolton got hurt and helped the Chiefs win another Super Bowl. Now entering his second year with the team, Tranquill told the media that he expects to make an even bigger impact in 2024.
“I just feel more comfortable because it’s my second year in the system,” Tranquill said. “This is a complex defense, and I think this is only my second time in my collegiate and professional career where I’ve played in a system for two years in a row. I’m looking to make big jumps. [I’m] looking to be in more command and communicate more with my teammates.”
With Willie Gay Jr moving on to New Orleans in the offseason, Tranquill is now locked in as the No. 2 linebacker opposite Bolton in Kansas City’s defense—a defense that will open their quest for a three-peat against a Baltimore Ravens team that signed Derrick Henry in the offseason.
Baltimore isn’t abandoning the run in this game the way they did in last year’s AFC Championship Game. You can bet the rent on that.
S Dane Belton, NY Giants (vs. Minnesota)
It’s a new day in the Giants' secondary—Xavier McKinney is gone, and the team is hopeful that second-round pick Tyler Nubin will become a force on the back end. But while Jason Pinnock may be the new “elder stateman” of the Giants safeties, Nubin hasn’t cracked the starting lineup yet—because third-year pro Dane Belton isn’t giving up his spot without a fight.
“I know I can make plays,” Belton told reporters. “More opportunity, more plays, more space to make plays. The more I play, the better I get, the more plays I’m able to make. I feel like I earned the right to play more [last year]. This year, I’m trying to take the job. Things might change, things might stay the same. It’s all about how you play. No matter what team I’m on — first, second, or third — if I go make plays, it’s not going to matter. That’s the mindset.”
Given the issues the Giants have as both a team and on defense, it’s puzzling that both New York safeties have been all but ignored in IDP leagues. This isn’t to say that either is an elite talent or that Nubin won’t start at some point. But in Week 1, it will be Belton in a top-five fantasy matchup for defensive backs a year ago with the Vikings.
S Donovan Wilson, Dallas (at Cleveland)
Wilson is another player who is on many fantasy manager’s you-know-what lists—after topping 100 stops and logging five sacks on the way to top-five fantasy numbers in 2022, Wilson’s numbers dropped considerably a season ago. However, as RJ Ochoa wrote for Blogging the Boys, the fact remains that Wilson remains the best safety on the roster.
“If there is an enforcer on this defense, it is without question Donovan Wilson,” Ochoa said. “There is the worry that his play (like many before him, general players, not just Cowboys) might fall off a bit after receiving a new deal from the team last season. But for the most part, Wilson was his usual stable self on the back end of this defense last year.”
Wilson was either a late-round dart throw in fairly deep IDP leagues or left on the wire in some shallower ones. But we’re talking about a player who has already demonstrated top-five upside playing a role in a Mike Zimmer defense that has produced more than a few big seasons in the box score playing behind a linebacker corps that’s a question mark even after the signing of Eric Kendricks heading into what was an excellent matchup for his position in 2023.
Other than that, though.
Gary Davenport (“The Godfather of IDP”) is a two-time Fantasy Sports Writers Association Football Writer of the Year. Follow him on Twitter (Can’t make him call it X) at @IDPSharks.