Rankings
Top 20 IDP: Dynasty Value Score
Jordyn Brooks leads the 2026 points board. Myles Garrett leads this one. Past those two, a short 2025 and the age curve split the lists.
By Kenny Flermoen · August 18, 2026
This is the companion to our Top 20 Overall IDP season projections — same defensive player pool, re-ranked by Dynasty Value Score (DVS) instead of next year's point total. Same Engine board that feeds the trade calculator and the IDP player hub. How the score is built is in What Is Dynasty Value Score?.
Top 20 IDP by Dynasty Value Score
| Rank | Player | Team | Pos · Age | Value | 2026 Proj | 2025 Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Myles Garrett | LA | DL · 30 | 6,953 | 192.0 | 244.3 |
| 2 | Jordyn Brooks | MIA | LB · 28 | 6,761 | 219.3 | 259.5 |
| 3 | Maxx Crosby | LV | DL · 29 | 6,502 | 187.5 | 202.0 |
| 4 | Jack Campbell | DET | LB · 26 | 5,934 | 199.4 | 259.8 |
| 5 | Ernest Jones | SEA | LB · 26 | 5,737 | 198.4 | 188.0 |
| 6 | Carson Schwesinger | CLE | LB · 23 | 5,694 | 204.8 | 200.3 |
| 7 | Brian Branch | DET | DB · 24 | 5,497 | 173.6 | 130.8 |
| 8 | Will Anderson Jr. | HOU | DL · 24 | 5,391 | 150.2 | 173.3 |
| 9 | Kyle Hamilton | BAL | DB · 25 | 5,210 | 166.6 | 162.5 |
| 10 | Jeffery Simmons | TEN | DL · 29 | 5,209 | 158.9 | 173.0 |
| 11 | Tremaine Edmunds | NYG | LB · 28 | 5,132 | 193.0 | 171.3 |
| 12 | Antoine Winfield Jr. | TB | DB · 28 | 5,121 | 166.7 | 151.5 |
| 13 | Danielle Hunter | HOU | DL · 31 | 5,118 | 164.8 | 172.0 |
| 14 | Roquan Smith | BAL | LB · 29 | 5,108 | 199.2 | 170.0 |
| 15 | Jessie Bates | ATL | DB · 29 | 5,042 | 164.0 | 150.8 |
| 16 | Nick Bolton | KC | LB · 26 | 5,035 | 190.9 | 206.3 |
| 17 | Derwin James | LAC | DB · 30 | 4,942 | 168.3 | 156.0 |
| 18 | Quay Walker | LV | LB · 26 | 4,908 | 192.2 | 167.0 |
| 19 | Brian Burns | NYG | LB · 28 | 4,886 | 185.1 | 216.0 |
| 20 | Zaire Franklin | GB | LB · 30 | 4,811 | 202.3 | 170.8 |
Base IDP dynasty format. Same Dynasty Value Score board as the trade calculator and player hub — a trade-value score built on age, past production, and the 2026 projection, not a raw points ranking.
They agree on the names. They split on first place.
Jordyn Brooks is the top projected scorer at linebacker and the No. 2 overall dynasty asset on this board. Myles Garrettis the top projected scorer among defensive linemen and No. 1 here. The points board still has Brooks first overall because tackle volume owns that scale. DVS prices Garrett's 23-sack 2025 and the remaining window on a 30-year-old pass rusher as the more valuable chip. When the résumé and the projection point the same direction, the model does not manufacture a disagreement just to have one — it just does not treat a sack record and a tackle title as the same asset.
Scoring hides defensive backs. Trade value does not.
The overall points board is 19 linebackers and Garrett. This one has five defensive backs inside the 20, led by Brian Branch at 7th. He finished 40th on that shared scoring scale. DVS is not trying to pick weekly IDP Flex starts — it is asking who you would rather hold. Kyle Hamilton, Antoine Winfield Jr., Jessie Bates, and Derwin James follow the same pattern: real trade chips who will not outscore a mid-tier linebacker under tackle-heavy scoring.
A torn ACL is the difference between a high-end projection and off the board
Nick Bosa still projects for 150.9 points in 2026 — essentially the same 2026 line as Will Anderson Jr., who sits 8th here. Bosa is nowhere near this top 20. A torn ACL limited him to 47.5 points in three games in 2025, and DVS weighs that season in the score the same way it weighs everyone else's. The points board is betting on a clean bounce-back. This board is pricing the year he actually had.
Fred Warneris the linebacker version. An ankle-shortened 2025 produced 78.3 points in six games. Live DVS has him off this twenty. He is still listed as San Francisco's starting middle linebacker. If he plays a full year in 2026, this ranking looks cheap fast. It is a buy-low because he missed the board, not because he is hiding inside it.
Two former stars miss the board on age
T.J. Watt and Foye Oluokun both ranked inside the top 20 on the season-projection board. Neither makes this one. Both are 31, and both sit in the 30s in combined IDP trade value even with real 2026 point totals attached to their names. Age is not a cliff by itself — Danielle Hunter is also 31 and still 13th here — but it is enough to drop a strong 2026 line out of the trade-value 20 once the rest of the résumé is no longer elite. It is the same age curve we have flagged at every offensive position: a great 2026 season and a strong trade asset are two different questions once a player is on the wrong side of 30.
Model any of these players against your own roster on the Dynasty Trade Calculator.
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FAQ
- How is Dynasty Value Score different from the IDP season-projection rankings?
- Season projections rank who scores the most points in 2026. DVS ranks who's worth the most in a trade — it weighs age and actual 2025 production alongside the 2026 projection, so a promising projection can't fully erase a thin or injury-shortened prior season.
- Why does a player projected in the top 10 sometimes miss this top 20 entirely?
- A 2026 projection is only part of the score. If a player's 2025 production was low — usually because of injury — DVS treats that as real information about risk, even when the 2026 outlook is strong.
- Does age really matter this much at IDP?
- Yes. Several players in their early 30s who still project well for 2026 fall out of this top 20 because of it. It's the same pattern the model applies at every offensive position — trade value looks past next season to the years after it.
- Why do defensive backs show up here when they miss the overall points top 20?
- The overall points board is a tackle-heavy scoring scale, so linebacker volume owns it. DVS is a trade-value score. It still prices young, high-snap safeties as assets even when they will not outscore a mid-tier linebacker in a combined IDP Flex spot.