10 Undervalued Defenders for IDP Fantasy Football Leagues in 2026

Aug 21, 2026

USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect

A lot has happened across the league since I published my positional tier articles a few weeks back, and this is a great place to capture some of the crucial changes as we enter the heart of fantasy draft season.

Those tier articles have write-ups that are still of value, but if you're drafting in the coming weeks, the IDP rankings and Big Board are where you'll want to go. Those will be updated daily moving forward, and I'm available for 4for4 subscribers in our Discord at any time.

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For this piece, I'm using my positional rankings compared to the Expert Consensus Rankings on FantasyPros. If there's a massive gap between my projection of a player and the "ECR," that's a pretty clear indicator that I value that player more than the general IDP community, and that's how we win.

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FantasyPros buckets IDP in three ways: DL, LB, DB. That's how I'm comparing here, even though my own rankings split the defensive line and secondary further into DE/DT and CB/S. I've written about a few of these players in other spots this season, but I want to plant my flag on a few of these guys to ensure they're priorities for you come draft day. I'm also going to stay near the top of each position's rankings here so these recommendations are useful even in the shallowest leagues.

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Undervalued Defenders for IDP

Defensive Linemen

Josh Hines-Allen - Jacksonville Jaguars

We're picking nits here, but Josh Hines-Allen is drafted as a second-tier edge rusher, and I believe his 2026 season will land him closer to the top players at the position. JHA finished with just 8 sacks last season despite ranking among the league leaders in pressure, quick pressures, and pass rush win rate. His performance resembled a 12-sack season, which makes him a borderline top-10 IDP asset.

Abdul Carter - New York Giants

I've already waxed poetic about Abdul Carter, but I want to drive home the point. I'm projecting a double-digit sack season for Carter with the assumption that he plays as well as he did as a rookie. Despite finishing with just four sacks, Carter's pass rush win rate ranked fifth in the league, according to ESPN Analytics, tied with Myles Garrett at 21%. NextGenStats credit Carter with 44 quick pressures last season, the most in the entire NFL. Regardless of position, we often see the biggest jump from Year 1 to Year 2, so there's room here for Carter to get even better now that he's settled into a more predictable role and workload.