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Week 1 IDP Hits: What Does Life After Micah Parsons Look Like?

Cowboys Reveal LB Plan

Thursday night sorted more than just the Dallas backfield. It gave us a first look at the Cowboys’ renovated LB corps.

Here’s how the playing time went:

• Kenneth Murray 100%
• Jack Sanborn 76%
• Damone Clark 67%
• Marist Liufau 10%

There was some early-camp talk about Sanborn wearing the green dot (relaying defensive plays in the huddle), but that turned out to be Murray.

Liufau drew some summer praise but opened this year with a smaller share of snaps than he saw in all but one of his rookie-year appearances.

I’m not sure I trust Murray to keep this role all season. He already flunked out with the Chargers and Titans. But he certainly could. Sanborn’s the biggest challenger, and he’s getting his first actual starting turn in his fourth NFL season.

Murray’s easily the IDP play from this group for now at least, with no one else a “must” hold.

What About That Downgraded D-Line?

Here’s how the Dallas edge group looked with no Micah Parsons:

• Sam Williams 62%
• Marshawn Kneeland 48%
• Dante Fowler 48%
• Donovan Ezeiruaku 35%
• James Houston 16%

The whole group drew poor pass-rushing grades from Pro Football Focus for the game, which shouldn’t surprise you against maybe the league’s best set of offensive tackles.

Williams led he team with five total pressures, according to PFF, including a QB hit. He’ll be interesting to watch.

I’ve been intrigued by Williams since the 2022 draft. He arrived as a 6’4, 261-pound speed-score demon (4.46-second 40 time) with solid production at Ole Miss. That culminated in 10.5 sacks, 14 tackles for loss, and 4 forced fumbles in his final season.

Williams got limited playing time his first two seasons and then lost 2024 to an ACL tear, when he might have emerged as a season-opening starter.

If the speed’s back, he could become helpful to IDP lineups. He’s worth tracking for now, and perhaps stashing in deeper leagues.

Eagles Debut Dynamic Duo at LB

LB Jihaad Campbell was recovering from shoulder surgery when Philly drafted him near the end of Round 1. And we got some early words of caution about his buildup plan. But that’s clearly all the way behind him now.

Campbell joined 2024 breakout start Zack Baun in Thursday night’s starting lineup and played 92% of the snaps. Only Baun, S Reed Blankenship, and CB Quinyon Mitchell stayed on the field more.

Campbell went quiet statistically, collecting just 3 assists, a pass breakup, and a forced fumble. But Dallas’ offense didn’t give the D a whole lot to work with. Philly totaled just 31 solo tackles and 22 assists.

Expect the numbers to come if Campbell stays at that level of playing time.

It’s also worth noting that he lined up as an edge on 12 of 56 snaps. So although his Week 1 stats didn’t reflect it, there’s some pass-rushing upside here.

Philly Not Satisfied with Edge Group

The day after notching zero sacks and just a single QB hit against Dallas, the Eagles signed free-agent Edge Za’Darius Smith. That’s a damning review of the Week 1 edge play.

Here’s how the playing time sorted out vs. Dallas:

• Nolan Smith 85%
• Jalyx Hunt 64%
• Josh Uche 31%
• Patrick Johnson 20%

Campbell (as I mentioned above) and DT Moro Ojomo also factored in for some edge snaps. And Dak Prescott found plenty of time.

We’ll see how quickly the new Smith climbs the snap-share chart and whether any of these guys plans to make an IDP impact.

Anything Worth Noting from Friday Night?

The Chiefs and Chargers didn’t deliver us any playing-time surprises (at least on my board), but there are a couple of items worth noting.

Chamarri Conner played full time. Conner made my IDP Sleepers this summer as a projected safety starter and worked out right away. He played 98% of K.C.’s defensive snaps in the loss to the Chargers and led the team with 7 solos and 9 total tackles (adding a forced fumble). 

Conner’s a waiver target where available.

Denzel Perryman’s hurt again. I’m not trying to pile on the L.A. LB. I’m sure his difficulty in staying healthy frustrates him more than anyone else. But the ankle injury that knocked him out of the opener follows three straight seasons of Perryman playing 12 games or fewer.

Troy Dye stepped in and showed flashes of potential IDP viability last year. But we’ll need to see whether he’d get enough playing time in place of Perryman to crack our lineups. Perryman reached 60% snap shares in just three of his 11 appearances last year.

Now let’s check some other situations ahead of the remaining Week 1 games …

Falcons Lean on Rookies in Secondary

The Falcons plan to start rookies S Xavier Watts and CB Billy Bowman. It’s not surprising for Watts, who arrived as a third-round pick and needed only to beat out Jordan Fuller. The veteran already washed out with the Rams and Panthers the past two seasons.

Watts started his final two years at Notre Dame and improved his coverage play every season. The most notable aspect of his profile is the 13 INTs he racked up over those two seasons. That included an FBS-leading seven in 13 games in 2023 (then six more over 16 games last year).

We’ll see what he can do on the tackle front, but the big-play upside is interesting.

Bowman also snagged 11 INTs over his three starting seasons at Oklahoma, six of those coming in 2023. Bowman returned three of those for TDs, so we’re looking at big-play upside here as well.

Bowman -- a fourth-round pick -- is expected to play the nickel role, which could mean uneven playing time. He’s a wait-and-see for now.

Panthers Make Troubling Choice at Safety

Carolina tried Nick Scott as a starting safety last year. It didn’t work.

He started and played every snap from Week 4 through Week 7. The Panthers allowed 34, 36, 38, and 40 points in those games. Scott’s 56.7 PFF coverage grade for the season ranked 75th among 108 safeties who played at least 200 snaps.

And that grade was better than what he earned either of the previous two seasons, with different teams.

So why will Carolina start him next to Tre’von Moehrig this Sunday against Jacksonville? Here’s what HC Dave Canales said early in the preseason:

I’m not betting that Scott will keep this job. He has been in the league for six years and opened just two of those as a starter. The 2022 Rams let him walk after the season. The 2023 Bengals dumped him from the lineup midway through the year, and then let him walk.

Scott’s now 30. And that experience means less once the real games start and you’re bleeding yardage.

Is It Finally Ossai Time?

Cincinnati’s first “unofficial” depth chart of the season finds Joseph Ossai listed as the starting edge opposite Trey Hendrickson.

We’ll see what that means for his actual snap share, with Myles Murphy and Shemar Stewart challenging. But it follows an impressive finish to 2024 from Ossai and continues the opportunity for a guy I’ve been tracking for a while.

A former third-round pick who converted to edge while in college, Ossai flashed his upside there but then lost his rookie year to injury and found himself buried on the depth chart the next two years.

Ossai emerged for 5 sacks and 10 QB hits over the final seven games last season, though, working ahead of Murphy and building up to three straight outings off 77%+ playing time over the final three weeks.

He gets an upside Cleveland matchup in Week 1 of what could be a breakout, “prove it” year. Cincinnati re-signed Ossai to just a one-year, $6.5 million deal in free agency. That indicates, of course, that the 25-year-old found a disappointing market. And perhaps I’m overrating the upside here. But at least we’ll finally find out.

Injured Packers DBs Trending Up

Packers S Xavier McKinney gave us a scare with an August calf injury that had a chance to threaten the start of his season. But he put in full practices this week and didn’t even land on the injury report.

If you drafted McKinney, it looks like you can comfortably start him against the Lions.

CB Nate Hobbs presents a different scenario.

It’s encouraging that Hobbs made it back to practice at all this week after early-camp knee surgery. He remained limited Thursday and Friday and is officially questionable for the game.

You shouldn’t plan to use Hobbs in IDP lineups even if he’s active this week. But he’s on track to potentially be a factor soon for CB-specific fantasy roles.

Will There be a Raiders LB We Can Trust?

As you can tell from my Week 1 IDP rankings -- and the draft rankings before that -- I’m betting on Germaine Pratt first among Raiders LBs this season. But that’s far from a confident move.

Pratt’s merely been the top recent performer among this year’s candidates. But I haven’t seen any clear statements on expected playing time among him, Devin White, and Elandon Roberts. The Raiders also appear serious about running former safety Jamal Adams in the LB rotation.

I wouldn’t be surprised by any of those top three leading the Week 1 LB playing time. I also wouldn’t be surprised if none actually gives us full-time snaps and the whole group’s more frustrating than helpful for IDP rosters.

But at least we’ll start getting those answers this Sunday in Foxborough.

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Matt Schauf, Editor

Matt has earned two Fantasy Pros accuracy awards for IDP rankings and won thousands of dollars as a player across best ball, dynasty, and high-stakes fantasy formats. He has been creating fantasy football content for more than 20 years, with work featured by Sporting News, Rotoworld, Athlon, Sirius XM, and others. He's been with Draft Sharks since 2011.