Photo: Imagn Images

The fantasy football season is rapidly approaching. We have all been overwhelmed with IDP sleepers, breakout candidates, and positive and negative regression, but what about the players nobody is talking about? Why don't we talk about the lower tap-tier talent?

Why, you ask? Because they have already broken out, and they will probably produce again. Their story for the season is not one of dramatic change but one of complacency, even though they should be players you are targeting in your IDP drafts.

Here are my favorite IDP players who are receiving minimal hype.

LB Jordyn Brooks, Miami

2023 IDP stats

• 16 games
• 113 tackles (61 solos)
• 5 sacks
• 4 passes defended
• 1 interception
• 1 forced fumble
• 1 fumble recovery,
• 1 defensive touchdown

Brooks has been a beast since he took a full-time role in 2021. Between 2021-2023, Brooks has averaged 151 tackles per season, peaking at 184 in 2021. Brooks has also shown a Wolverine-like recovery ability. He tore his ACL in Week 17 in 2022, only to play 16 games in 2023.

His role slightly changed in 2023. Many were worried he lost a step, considering he only had 113 tackles. But Brooks racked up five sacks with 13 pressures on 43 pass rush attempts. Those 113 tackles and five sacks still make Brooks a fringe IDP LB1. 

That likely is not a sustainable sack rate, though he will probably have a similar role in Anthony Weaver's defense. Weaver ran a 3-3-5 defense in Baltimore, with the middle of the defense employing two nearly full-time linebackers and a nickel corner. David Long is wearing the green dot, leaving many weary of Brooks' role.

He will still be an every-down linebacker and vastly more productive than the always mediocre Long. Being the linebacker let loose in Weaver's defense will be great for Brooks's 2024 IDP season.

S Taylor Rapp, Buffalo

2023 IDP stats

• 16 games
• 45 tackles (29 solos)
• 0.5 sack
• 2 passes defended
• 1 interception
• 1 fumble recovery

Rapp's career took off like a rocket, starting in his rookie year in 2019 with the Rams. He never had fewer than 91 tackles during any three of his full seasons with the Rams while racking up at least two interceptions. The Rams let him walk in free agency, and Rapp could not land a starting role.

He ended up joining the Bills, which plummeted his IDP value. Rapp was stuck in a purely complementary role. Still, Rapp played well—well enough that the Bills let Jordan Poyer and Micah Hyde leave the team in free agency. Poyer has been an IDP stud for the Bills. With Matt Milano now injured, the Bills' linebacker group is quite thin.

In an earlier offseason article, I wrote about Rapp being a sleeper this year. His IDP ADP is the lowest it has ever been, but his IDP value may be the best it has ever been. His name has still been on the hush, but he should be valued much higher than he is.