ignatiusjreilly
Footballguy
Back when Wade Phillips was still bouncing around the league, a good rule of thumb was to always target his team's DST the first year he took over as DC. Houston, Broncos, Rams all became elite. Even better from a fantasy perspective, those Ds could generally be acquired with a next-to-last round pick. One of my iron-clad rules of fantasy is that I will reach one round at most for my DST pick, and even then usually only if I'm going to be picking early in the third-to-last round (and therefore late in the next-to-last). Using an earlier pick on a supposed "elite" D almost never works out. That probably means I'll never get the high-profile ones like Cowboys, Niners or Bills.
With that in mind, what are the Ds that you see making the leap this year, either because of a new DC or for other reasons? (One good thing about how the NFL works is that while retread OCs like Garrett or McAdoo almost always flame out, veteran DCs can often have a huge impact).
With that in mind, what are the Ds that you see making the leap this year, either because of a new DC or for other reasons? (One good thing about how the NFL works is that while retread OCs like Garrett or McAdoo almost always flame out, veteran DCs can often have a huge impact).
- Dolphins -- this is the obvious choice, having added Vic Fangio to what was already a talented young D. The two risks are a) Ramsey's injury and b) the hype pushing up their ADP too high.
- Browns -- Schwartz doesn't have as strong a track record as Fangio (or Phillips back in the day) but he has improved a lot of defenses (Bills, Eagles) when he took over. The only really crappy D he ever had was the Lions when he was HC
- Panthers -- Evero isn't a grizzled veteran like the other guys, but he did a great job in a crappy situation last year, and Carolina has some talent on that side of the ball
- Texans -- a bit of a cheat since the main addition is at HC, not DC, but Houston is another D that could surprise. I definitely see them a tier below the others, particularly because even if they do end up being good, you might not see that in the early part of the season, and feel compelled to drop them before they round into form
- Pats -- obviously no major coaching changes, and Belichick's rep alone is probably going to be enough to push their ADP too high, but I think they're going to be very good. This is one I would definitely consider grabbing a round early (but no further)