Notable Week 9 IDP Fantasy Football Performances: Cedric Gray, Alex Highsmith, Tatum Bethune and More
Looking at some notable performances from defensive players from week 9.
With week 9 of the NFL regular season in the books, let's take a look at some of the top IDP fantasy football performances.
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Top Performers
Using FantasyPros' numbers, Tennessee's Cedric Gray was the top IDP finisher in week 9. He had a sack among his 16 total tackles. Gray has 91 tackles on the season across nine games, showing his big-time IDP value in tackles alone, with anything else being gravy.
Pittsburgh's Alex Highsmith barely finished behind Gray. He had two sacks among his four tackles, while also knocking down a pass and forcing a fumble - he had three tackles for losses. Highsmith has 3.5 sacks among his 22 tackles, so while this was a standout game, it's maybe one that could get him going, not something that could never happen again.
Pittsburgh's Joey Porter Jr. finished right after Highsmith. Porter had a sack among his eight tackles, four passes defensed and an interception. It was easily his best game across five tries this season, so this was an outlier performance. He still is worth some deep-league IDP usage.
Atlanta's Jalon Walker and Indianapolis' Laiatu Latu rounded out the top-five IDP finishers.
Walker had two sacks among his five tackles, while also knocking down a pass and forcing a fumble. It was his best game so far, and showed some of his high upside - now we'll see if he can build on it.
Latu had 2.5 sacks among his six total tackles. He has five sacks and 23 tackles, plus two interceptions and three passes defensed, so he has some solid IDP value.
Payton Wilson was another Steeler defender who excelled as a fantasy asset. He had 14 tackles, two passes defensed and a pick on Sunday. Wilson has 71 tackles overall, and on those alone, he has weekly IDP value.
LaCale London was another Falcon who stood out on Sunday. He had two sacks among his five tackles and also forced a fumble. London has eight tackles across five games, so this was definitely an outlier performance. He's worth some deep-league looks after this outing though.
Green Bay's Xavier McKinney had his best fantasy showing of the season despite the team losing. He had a sack among his nine tackles, while picking off a pass and also forcing a fumble. Opposing offenses have avoided him this season, but he still has IDP value with 52 tackles overall, so keep rolling McKinney out there and enjoying these big-time outings here and there.
Carolina's Christian Rozeboom was over 20 fantasy points as well in that Packers, Panthers' game. He had 15 tackles and a forced fumble. Rozeboom has 77 tackles overall, again giving him enough IDP on that stat alone.
Blake Cashman had a big game for the Vikings, as did Eric Wilson.
Cashman went for 14 tackles and also forced a fumble. He has 25 tackles over the past two weeks and 32 tackles over four games. Get him rostered before it's too late.
Wilson had two sacks among his six tackles - he had three tackles for losses. He has 3.5 sacks among his 57 tackles, so he's got some IDP value to take advantage of too.
Las Vegas' Isaiah Pola-Mao was the other IDP at or over 20 fantasy points. He had nine tackles, two passes defensed and an interception. Pola-Mao has 48 tackles over eight games, plus three passes defensed and two picks, so there's a little IDP value in him as well.
Tackle Leaders
Along with the guys we already discussed, these are the players who went over 10 tackles in week 9 - buckle up, because it's a long list.
Las Vegas' Devin White and San Francisco's Tatum Bethune had 16 tackles each.
White has 80 tackles on the year, so he has plenty of IDP value to utilize him weekly. Bethune has 54 tackles (50 in the past four games), so he needs to be owned in most IDP leagues now.
New York Giants' Bobby Okereke, Dallas' DaRon Bland, Kansas City's Nick Bolton and Giants' Dane Belton all had 14 tackles.
Okereke is up to 82 tackles overall, so he too has great weekly value. Bland added a pass defensed on Monday and is up to 46 tackles and two passes defensed overall, so he has some IDP value at the cornerback spot.
Bolton now has 75 tackles, so on that stat alone, he's a good weekly option. Belton has 58 tackles overall, so he's another pretty solid weekly IDP option.
Miami's Dante Trader Jr. and New Orleans' Justin Reid and Demario Davis had 13 tackles each.
Trader has just 29 tackles overall, so he's one to keep an eye on in case this was his breakout game. Reid also swatted down a pass and now has 47 tackles and three passes defensed overall. It was an outlier performance, but in deeper leagues, Reid definitely has some IDP value.
Davis has 84 tackles overall, so he's another good weekly option on tackles alone.
Baltimore's Roquan Smith, Kansas City's Trent McDuffie and Cincinnati's Jordan Battle had 12 tackles each.
Smith has 58 tackles in just six games, so when he's active, he's a good weekly option. McDuffie had a sack among his tackles and now has 47 tackles overall, so there's some decent IDP value in the cornerback.
Battle is up to 70 tackles, so he's a good IDP option despite playing on a terrible defense.
Jacksonville's Foyesade Oluokun finished with 11 tackles. He has 66 tackles over eight games, but along with some splash plays, he's a good weekly option, and capable of even more based on past years.
Las Vegas' Darien Porter, Jacksonville's Jarrian Jones, Cincinnati's Barrett Carter, Denver's Alex Singleton and Seattle's Tyrice Knight all went for 10 tackles.
Porter has just 16 tackles on the season, so this was an outlier performance probably, but certainly makes him worth watching now.
Jones swatted down a pass along with all his tackles. He has 19 tackles overall, so again, this might have been an outlier performance, but it makes him worth watching moving forward.
Carter has 58 tackles overall, and has been at eight or more in four straight games. He's a good weekly option now in the heart of a poor Bengals' defense.
Singleton is up to 80 tackles overall, so he clearly has good weekly IDP value. Knight has 41 tackles, so this was a pretty surprising effort from Knight. He will get more IDP usage as a result.
Other Notable Performances
Tennessee's Jihad Ward had 2.5 sacks among his four tackles. He's up to 3.5 sacks and 17 tackles overall, and has done a lot of that damage over the past few games, so he might be trending up.
Atlanta's Brandon Dorlus had two sacks among his four tackles. He now has 3.5 sacks among his 15 total tackles, so there's some deep-league IDP value at least.
LA Chargers' Odafe Oweh had two sacks among his three tackles. He has four sacks among his 21 tackles, so he's got a bit more value than Ward and Dorlus.
Arizona's Calais Campbell had two sacks for his lone tackles on Monday. He has five sacks and 21 tackles, so even at 39 years old, Campbell still has some gas in the tank.
Cardinals' Josh Sweat had two sacks for his lone tackles on Monday. He has seven sacks among his 17 tackles, so he's got some great IDP value in sacks alone to take advantage of.
Chicago's Tremaine Edmunds had nine tackles and an interception. He has 73 tackles and four picks this season, so he's clearly a great weekly IDP option so far.
Tennessee's Cody Barton had six tackles and a 24-yard pick six on Sunday. He's got 51 tackles and three interceptions overall, so he's a sneaky good IDP option.
