Bruno Boys Fantasy Football

Hello and welcome to the second installment of an eight installment series breaking down all 32 NFL teams from the Individual Defensive Player (IDP) perspective. This series will be taking a look at each team’s respective defensive schemes and how those schemes affect the value of certain defensive players. We will also be discussing some varying levels of sleepers as well as some players to avoid, or better known as busts. This week’s installment will cover the NFC South.

ATLANTA FALCONS

DEFENSIVE SCHEME:The Falcons run a 4-3 defense with a lot of zone coverage in the secondary. The defensive line struggled to provide much of a pass-rush last season and consequently their secondary was one of the worst in the league statistically. This was good for secondary players such as Brent Grimes who put up solid fantasy numbers (62 solo tackles, six interceptions) due to an increase in opportunities. The Falcons are banking on veteran John Abraham to have a bounce-back season and lead the defensive line to an improved performance this season.

EVERY-DOWN LINEBACKERS: Curtis Lofton, Mike Peterson

STONE COLD LOCK: The defensive player to own on this team is MLB Curtis Lofton. Lofton played like an absolute monster during the first half of the 2009 season. During the first 11 weeks, Lofton had four games with double-digit solo tackles (10, 13, 12, and 11). He tampered off quite a bit during the last five games of the season and that hurt his overall numbers a bit. However, he still finished with 105 solo tackles and 28 assists. With a full season under his belt, Lofton’s stamina and durability will improve, which should lead to an increase in his tackle numbers.

ON THE RISE: The Falcons first-round draft pick in this year’s draft, Sean Weatherspoon, is going to be a solid fantasy option once he becomes a starter. Head coach Mike Smith has said that both outside linebacker positions are open for competition. Current weak side linebacker Mike Peterson should be able to hold off Weatherspoon for the better half of the season, which significantly decreases the rookies value for this season as he will most likely be limited to nickel duties and the occasional spot fill in at the outside linebacker positions. He is a great pick for dynasty leagues.

BUST POTENTIAL: It’s tempting to fall into the fantasy allure of John Abraham. He’s only two seasons removed from 16.5 sacks and his current Average Draft Position (ADP) is 29 at his specific position. Early in the season, many believed in Abraham and that he could have a back-bounce year. However, after watching the first preseason game, it was clear that at this point in his career Abraham has turned into nothing more than a situational pass-rusher. Even though he may generate a decent amount of sacks, he’s not going to be on the field enough to rack up the tackles necessary to be a top-30 DE in a tackle-heavy scoring system.

COMATOSE SLEEPER: In the preseason opener, Kroy Biermann looked great against the Kansas City Chiefs racking up a sack on Matt Cassel and stripping him of the ball in the process. Even though he’s listed as a backup on the depth charts, Biermann played with the first team and should see more playing time than Abraham. Biermann is currently being drafted exactly one spot below Abraham. Go with the Biermann who is eight years Abraham’s junior.

CAROLINA PANTHERS

DEFENSIVE SCHEME: Carolina runs a 4-3 base defense with a lot of cover-2 packages sprinkled in. The heavy use of cover-2 makes the weak side linebacker position quite valuable and makes both Panther starting cornerbacks (Richard Marshall and Chris Gamble) viable IDP fantasy football options.

EVERY-DOWN LINEBACKERS: Jon Beason, James Anderson

STONE COLD LOCK: The best fantasy linebacker not named Patrick Willis is Jon Beason. He’s put up 138 or more total tackles in each of his first three seasons in the league. Beason’s transition from MLB to WLB this season should be a seamless one and shouldn’t affect his fantasy numbers. He was labeled as weak side backer coming out of college and Carolina’s heavy use of cover-2 schemes should funnel plenty of plays in Beason’s direction.

ON THE RISE: Penn State alumni Dan Connor will be taking over the middle linebacker duties that were left vacant when Jon Beason was forced to move to the weak side. Connor is built of the same mold as Paul Posluszny. He’s a tackle monger who should be able to rack up a nice amount of fantasy points in the middle of the Panther’s defense. As a caveat, he is only a two-down linebacker and will come out during the nickel packages. This means he’s only going to be playing about 70-percent of the defensive snaps.

BUST POTENTIAL: Everette Brown is the heir-apparent to Julius Peppers in Carolina and many IDP fantasy football owners are expecting big things from him. However, it seems likely that he is still a year away from blossoming into the fantasy option owners are hoping for. He’s going to be limited to passing downs this season and with Charles Johnson, Tyler Brayton, and Greg Hardy playing well, Brown just isn’t going to get enough opportunities to justify his current ADP. He remains a great pick in dynasty leagues, just not in redraft leagues.

COMATOSE SLEEPER: Carolina’s defensive line is chalk full of IDP sleepers. LDE Charles Johnson has had 10 total sacks over the last two seasons and could come up with eight or nine sacks this season with an increased role. RDETyler Brayton looked great against All-Pro OT Michael Oher during Thursday night’s preseason game and is turning into a nice, late-round IDP sleeper. Going even deeper,sixth-round pick Greg Hardy had two sacks and two tackles for losses against the Baltimore Ravens. It looks as though the Panthers got a steal with Hardy who could be a great, deep dynasty sleeper.

Need help organizing your fantasy draft? We’ve got you covered….

NFC WEST  |  NFC SOUTH  |  NFC NORTH  |  NFC EAST

AFC EAST |  AFC NORTH |  AFC SOUTH |  AFC WEST

If you have any further IDP questions feel free to shoot Ryan an email at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) or drop a line in our IDP Forums.

As always, for more great IDP information, visit the IDP Guru at www.idpguru.com.