2025 Fantasy Football IDP Cheatsheet: Defensive Stats And Insights You Need

Get an edge in 2025 fantasy football with updated defensive stats, coverage weaknesses, and IDP insights to help you dominate lineup and DFS decisions.

Dallas Cowboys cornerback DaRon Bland (26) on the field before the game against the Washington Commanders at AT&T Stadium. | Tim Heitman-Imagn Images

Once the football season kicks off, the fantasy market is lacking good defensive stats to help game managers make challenging lineup decisions. In the offseason, I’ve been thinking about where I can find better defensive information to help highlight some good and bad matchups. After a few searches, the best I could come up with in the public market was at Pro Football Reference.

I added this information table to my 2025 Fantasy Football In-Season Cheat Sheet (Tab 7) with some modifications to potentially help with some lineup decisions or even in the DFS market.

Breaking Down The IDP Cheatsheet

The defensive information doesn’t check all the boxes I was looking for, but it is a start. I added a column for fantasy points (FPTs) to show the value of defensive players in catches, receiving yards, and touchdowns allowed. To help break down this information better, I add two more levels of data:

• Fantasy Points per Game (FPs/G) – On my list of about 475 players, I wanted to show their fantasy points in the number of games played. This step highlights potential weakness in coverage for players missing time.
• Fantasy Points per Target (FPs/TG) – At times, some players grade well on the defensive side of the ball, due to defending fewer targets. This data will highlight some potential weaknesses in coverage if they are challenged by an offense in the passing game.

The last column was added for IDP scoring, but this spreadsheet doesn’t have all the data needed to grade defensive players for a fantasy team properly.  

I used these scoring values to create IDP totals:

• Tackle (1.5 fantasy points) – Pro Football Reference only offered combined tackles, so I treated two assisted tackles as a full tackle
• Sacks (4.0 fantasy points)
• Interceptions (5.0 fantasy points)

These are the scoring data points that I’m lacking:

• Tackle for a loss: 2 points
• Forced fumble: 4 points
• Fumble recovery: 4 points
• Defended Passes: 1.5 points
• Defensive touchdown: 6 points
• Safety: 2 points

This year, I’ll add this information to my cheat sheet, but the data will be challenging to decipher early in the season due to small sample sizes. I will continue to look for more detailed information to upgrade the overall value of these defensive stats.

Individual Defensive Players of Note

CB Brandon Stephens (NYJ) allowed a league-high 906 receiving yards while catching 66 of his 102 targets. Quarterbacks also beat him for four touchdowns, resulting in 180.60 fantasy points allowed in PRR formats (10.62 per game). The Jets signed him to a three-year deal in the offseason for $36 million. Pittsburgh should look to test him with their second and third receiving options in Week 1, while CB Sauce Gardner handled most of the coverage responsibilities against DK Metcalf.

New York Jets cornerback Brandon Stephens (21) celebrates a defensive stop with safety Tony Adams (22) and cornerback Michael Carter II (30) during the first half against the New York Giants at MetLife Stadium. | Vincent Carchietta-Imagn Images

CB DaRon Bland (DAL) was a fantasy IDP stud in 2023 due to him returning five interceptions for touchdowns and playing well in coverage. A foot injury last August led to him missing 10 games in 2024. When on the field, he was a liability in coverage (31 catches allowed over 51 targets for 328 yards and four touchdowns), leading to Bland giving up 12.54 FPPG. 

Defensive Backs Who Allowed The Most Touchdowns

Here are the defensive backs who allowed the most touchdowns in 2024 per Pro Football Reference:

• CB DeAundre Alford (ATL) – 52/648/8 on 74 targets
• CB Jack Jones (LV) – 54/671/8 on 86 targets (will play for Miami in 2025)
• S C.J. Gardner-Johnson (PHI) – 23/312/8 on 37 targets (now in Houston)
• CB Alontae Taylor (NO) – 64/852/7 on 103 targets
• S Budda Baker (ARI) – 55/608/7 on 74 targets
• CB Jonathan Jones (NE) – 43/538/7 on 60 targets (signed by Washington in the offseason)
• S Jeremy Chin (WAS) – 39/459/7 on 53 targets (added to the Raiders’ secondary in the offseason)

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