How We Value IDP Players

Most tools either ignore defenders or rank them on a separate list that says nothing about what a linebacker is worth next to a running back. We price defenders from the same source we use for the offense, tens of thousands of real dynasty trades a year that include a defender, by measuring what managers want back when they give up an offensive player for a defender.

Anchored to the offense

We don't solve the defensive market on its own. In every trade that includes a defender, the offensive players and picks already have values from our main solve, so we hold those fixed and let the defenders be the only unknowns. Each trade becomes one equation, and solving them together recovers what the market pays for every defender on the same scale as the offense. A DL valued at 600 is worth what a 600 receiver is worth, because that is what managers have been exchanging them for.

Before trusting that anchor, we checked whether IDP leagues price the offense differently. They don't. Offense-only trades inside IDP leagues balance under the main board about as well as trades in any other league, with no positional lean, so the offense values carry over cleanly. We also found that Superflex and single-QB leagues price defenders the same way once the quarterback difference is carried by the offense side, so one IDP board serves both dynasty formats.

The most valuable defenders clear around the level of a solid starting receiver or back, not a first-round asset. Defensive linemen sit highest, linebackers next, and defensive backs lowest. A player Sleeper lists at both an offensive and a defensive position is priced as offense.

Dynasty only

Redraft leagues trade defenders rarely, and only for a few weeks in the fall. That isn't enough for any defender to clear our league-diversity floor in any window, so we don't publish redraft IDP values. Dynasty leagues trade defenders year-round, and a couple hundred of them carry values on a given day.

Roster depth and scoring style

IDP leagues vary in two ways, how many defenders you start and how they score. We tested both. Roster depth has the larger effect. The more defenders a league starts, the more its managers pay for them. The order of defenders stays the same across depths, and only the level shifts.

Depth works in tiers, like TE premium. The tiers are leagues starting one to four defenders, five to nine, or ten or more, the same choices as on the format strip. Our published IDP board blends trades from all three tiers in proportion to their share of the market, and each tier's multiplier adjusts that blend to the tier. Leagues starting four or fewer see defenders adjusted down from the blend, and leagues starting ten or more see them adjusted up. We publish the effect as multipliers rather than fixed numbers here, since we recalibrate them as trade data accumulates. Connect your league and the tier is read from your roster settings.

Scoring style has a smaller effect, and only between positions. We sort leagues into three styles by how many points their big plays (sacks, tackles for loss, QB hits, interceptions, passes defended) are worth against a solo tackle. Balanced includes Sleeper's default, tackle-heavy sits below it, and big-play sits above it. The big-play line is about 13 solo tackles for a sack, an interception and a pass defended combined. Sleeper's default is 10, and Big 3 scoring is 17. That line is where a league's scoring stops favoring linebackers over linemen. Between Sleeper's default and the line, linebacker prices don't change. Above it, managers pay noticeably less for linebackers and more for linemen. Tackle-heavy leagues pay a little more for linebackers and a little less for linemen. The setting leaves defensive backs unchanged.

The market prices about a quarter of the linebacker-versus-lineman swing a league's scoring implies, so the adjustment is modest. It can move linebackers relative to linemen, but players keep their order within each position. It stacks on top of the depth tier, and connecting your league sets it from your scoring settings.

Validation

We tested the tier adjustment against trades the fit never saw, holding out whole leagues at a time. A single multiplier per tier captured the full improvement. Solving each tier as its own separate board did worse, because a third of the market is too thin to re-solve on its own. We also checked stability. At matching value levels, defenders move about as much day to day as offensive players do. Thinly traded defenders lower on the board move more, so treat those values as directional.

The Dynasty IDP Rankings board lists every valued defender at each depth tier.

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