Rankings
Top 20 Overall IDP: 2026 Season Projections
Nineteen of the top 20 players on this board play linebacker. That's not a rounding error — it's what happens when you rank every defensive position on one shared scale.
By Kenny Flermoen · August 17, 2026
This combines our position boards — Top 40 DL, Top 40 LB, and Top 30 DB — into one overall ranking. Same scoring template: 1.5 points per solo tackle, 0.75 per assist, 4 per sack, 5 per interception, plus smaller bonuses for pass deflections, forced fumbles, and tackles for loss. This board is for leagues with a combined IDP or IDP Flex spot. If your league starts DL, LB, and DB separately, use the position-specific boards instead — this ranking will look nothing like your lineup decisions.
Top 20 Overall — 2026 Projected IDP Points
| Rank | Player | Pos | Team | IDP FP | PPG |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jordyn Brooks | LB | MIA | 219.3 | 12.9 |
| 2 | Fred Warner | LB | SF | 209.1 | 12.3 |
| 3 | Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah | LB | CLE | 207.6 | 12.2 |
| 4 | Blake Cashman | LB | MIN | 206.7 | 12.2 |
| 5 | Carson Schwesinger | LB | CLE | 204.8 | 12.0 |
| 6 | Foye Oluokun | LB | JAX | 203.7 | 12.0 |
| 7 | Zaire Franklin | LB | GB | 202.3 | 11.9 |
| 8 | Jack Campbell | LB | DET | 199.4 | 11.7 |
| 9 | Roquan Smith | LB | BAL | 199.2 | 11.7 |
| 10 | Ernest Jones | LB | SEA | 198.4 | 11.7 |
| 11 | Robert Spillane | LB | NE | 195.1 | 11.5 |
| 12 | Zack Baun | LB | PHI | 194.7 | 11.5 |
| 13 | T.J. Watt | LB | PIT | 194.6 | 11.4 |
| 14 | Tremaine Edmunds | LB | NYG | 193.0 | 11.4 |
| 15 | Tyrel Dodson | LB | MIA | 192.4 | 11.3 |
| 16 | Quay Walker | LB | LV | 192.2 | 11.3 |
| 17 | Nakobe Dean | LB | LV | 192.1 | 11.3 |
| 18 | Myles Garrett | DL | LA | 192.0 | 11.3 |
| 19 | Quincy Williams | LB | CLE | 191.7 | 11.3 |
| 20 | Nick Bolton | LB | KC | 190.9 | 11.2 |
Ranked by projected 2026 IDP season points across all three position boards: 1.5 per solo tackle, 0.75 per assist, 4 per sack, 5 per interception, plus deflections, forced fumbles, and tackles for loss. This is a scoring projection, not a trade value ranking.
Why linebacker owns this board
We flagged it in the standalone LB post: tackle volume is the steadiest stat in this scoring format, and most starting linebackers play close to every defensive snap regardless of game script. Sacks and interceptions swing hard week to week — a great pass rusher can go quiet for a month, a ballhawk safety can go a whole season without the right ball bouncing his way. Tackles don't work like that. Stack a format that rewards tackles this heavily on top of a position that racks them up on almost every snap, and linebacker doesn't just lead the board. It buries the other two positions under it.
T.J. Watt scores here as a linebacker, the same classification quirk we flagged on the LB board. If your league slots him as a defensive lineman, he would be the highest-scoring player at that position on this scale — ahead of Garrett.
The only defensive lineman who survives the tackle math
Myles Garrett is the only non-linebacker in the top 20, and he gets here the way a lineman has to under this template: sack volume, not tackle volume — the same dynamic we broke down in the DL post. Seventeen linebackers still rank ahead of him. He clears Quincy Williams, now 19th, by three-tenths of a point.
Maxx Crosby is the DL2 and lands 24th overall. Aidan Hutchinsonis 35th. A lineman has to be genuinely rare at the one thing his position does that a linebacker mostly can't — get to the quarterback at scale — just to compete with linebacker's tackle floor. Even then, most of them don't clear it. That's the format at work, not a knock on their seasons.
No defensive backs in the top 20
Brian Branchis the DB1, and he still finishes 40th on this shared scale. He gets as close as a safety usually can under tackle-heavy scoring — high snap count in the box, near-linebacker tackle volume, with coverage production on top. The rest of the DB board, even genuinely great players like Derwin James and Antoine Winfield Jr., sits further back. If your league starts a DB slot, don't read this board as a knock on the position — see the Top 30 DB rankings for that.
What this means for combined IDP rosters
If your league runs one shared IDP or IDP Flex spot instead of separate DL/LB/DB requirements, this board is the one to draft off — and it is a clear signal to load up on linebackers early. A DL or DB has to be a true statistical outlier at his position to be worth the same pick as a mid-tier linebacker here. That is not a permanent law of the format, but it is how this scoring template treats these three positions relative to each other in 2026.
Model any of these players against your own roster on the Dynasty Trade Calculator — IDP support is expanding there alongside this series.
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FAQ
- How is this Top 20 overall board different from the separate DL, LB, and DB boards?
- This combines all three position boards into one ranking, using the same scoring template across all of them. It is built for leagues with a single combined IDP or IDP Flex roster spot — not for leagues that start DL, LB, and DB separately.
- Why does linebacker dominate this list so heavily?
- This scoring format rewards tackle volume more than any other defensive stat, and starting linebackers see a full defensive snap share almost every week regardless of game plan. That combination makes linebacker the most consistent scoring position by a wide margin.
- Why aren't Maxx Crosby, Aidan Hutchinson, or Brian Branch in the top 20?
- They lead their own position boards, but they do not outscore the next wave of linebackers on this shared scale. Crosby lands 24th, Hutchinson 35th, and Branch 40th. Only Myles Garrett cracks the top 20, and he does it at 18th — three-tenths ahead of Quincy Williams.
- Should I still draft defensive linemen and defensive backs if my league uses a combined IDP spot?
- Yes, but expect to pay a premium in perceived value for anyone who is not an outlier pass rusher or a run-heavy, high-snap safety. On this shared scale, a solid linebacker will usually outscore a merely good player at the other two positions.