IDP Fantasy Football Starts For Week 3: Azeez Al-Shaair & More

Two weeks in the books, and we've got real data to lean on now instead of just projections and priors. My approach stays the same every week. Find the offenses bleeding production to a specific position, then find the player on the other sideline who's built to cash in. Volume plus a real soft spot beats name value in this format almost every time.

Here are my favorite IDP fantasy football starts for Week 3.

Linebacker Starts In Week 3 IDP Fantasy Football

Jordyn Brooks, LB, Miami Dolphins vs. Kansas City Chiefs

Amidst the hoopla of Jacob Rodriguez, the Dolphins still have another solid LB in Jordyn Brooks. This is about as good a matchup as you'll find all season. Through two weeks, Kansas City has been a tackle funnel for LBs, allowing 28.5 Box LB tackles per game. One of the highest marks in the league.

Last week alone, the Chiefs ran it 27 times (34.6% of their 78 plays) and were genuinely good doing it with a 58.6% rush success rate and 5.24 YPC. They leaned on the inside zone at a 37% clip, with their total inside run rate sitting at 44.4% in Week 2. They still got outside the numbers on 55.6% of their carries, which allows Brooks to get sideline-to-sideline. The inside runs funnel the ball carrier to the second level.

Kaden Elliss, LB, New Orleans Saints vs. Las Vegas Raiders

Las Vegas is a different type of matchup. This is volume from inefficiency, not competence. Last week the Raiders ran it 28 times (46.7% of snaps) and got stuffed on nine of those attempts, a 32.1% stuff rate, while managing just 1.97 YPC and a horrendous 13.8% success rate. That's not a run game creating explosive plays; that's a run game getting hit at the line over and over.

I don’t need to tell you the definition of insanity.

Through two weeks, Vegas is allowing 22.5 Box LB tackles per game, tied for second-most in the NFL, although Daiyan Henley did his best to bring that number down. However, I see the funnel continuing against a Saints defense that's positioned to keep cleaning up behind it. Elliss took over the green dot, and he doesn't need a home run here. The reps are just going to be there, snap after snap, and he's shown he's capable of cashing volume into production wherever he's lined up.

Azeez Al-Shaair, LB, Houston Texans

Indianapolis ran it 30 times last week (47.6% of their 63 snaps), and while eight stuffed runs (26.7% stuff rate) show some inconsistency, they still posted a positive +0.11 EPA/rush, leaning hard on outside zone (43.3%) with a heavy dose of pulling linemen (26.7% pull-lead runs) to get Jonathan Taylor working downhill and to the edge. That's a scheme built to get backs to the second level, not just plow into the pile.

Through two weeks, Indy is allowing 22.5 Box tackles per game to opposing off-ball backers, tied for second-most in the league, and Azeez Al-Shaair is the one who has to fit these reps. Good volume, good quality of volume. He’s off to a good start with a 16.9% tackle rate with 20 tackles. He just needs to clean up the misses.

Demetrius Knight, LB, Cincinnati Bengals

I know I mentioned Barrett Carter last week, but I’m going with his running mate this week. Pittsburgh's season-long run profile (yes, it’s two weeks) of a 32.1% rate with a 29.5% success rate points to a stuck-in-the-mud ground game. Last week backed it up further: 21 carries (31.3% of 67 plays) for 3.96 YPC and -0.14 EPA/rush, leaning on man/gap concepts (33.3%) with the ball headed inside on 57.1% of carries.

Through two weeks, the Steelers are allowing 19.5 Box LB tackles per game to opposing linebackers, tied for sixth-most in the NFL. Knight is fresh off a 106-tackle rookie season and has gotten off to a strong start. Recording a 15.4% tackle rate and is firmly entrenched as a full-time starter, as he’s been on the field for 90% of the snaps. The Bengals have leaned nickel-heavy and have used dime on just 7% of their defensive snaps. At this point, there's no role risk attached. Just a favorable environment stacked on top of a player who's already earned every-down reps.

Edge Rusher Starts In Week 3 IDP Fantasy Football

Jared Verse, EDGE, Cleveland Browns vs. Carolina Panthers

Hear me out. Yes, I’ve seen Verse’s stats and underlying metrics through the first two weeks. The sub-5% pressure and win rate are not great. I can find a bright spot; he has a 40% TFL rate. So, why Verse this week?

Carolina allowed a 51.3% pressure rate last week alone and surrendered two sacks, and the tape backs up exactly where that pressure is coming from. Through two weeks, the Panthers' left tackle spot is surrendering an 11% pressure rate. The single highest individual LT number in the league, sitting on top of a 47.6% team-wide pressure rate allowed (third-worst in the NFL).

Verse inherited Cleveland's EDGE1 role after the Garrett-to-the-Rams trade, and he inherits this matchup right along with it. Verse has just one pressure over 49 pass rush, and I can’t even spin his true pass sets into something positive. I just see a great matchup, and it’s shaping up to be a squeaky wheel gets the grease matchup.

The individual tackle matchup says he should be able to finish if he’s able to win his blocks.

Odafe Oweh, EDGE, Washington Commanders vs. Seattle Seahawks

Seattle only dropped back to pass 40.3% of the time last week in a run-heavy script, but even then they allowed a 40.7% pressure rate and a sack. Zoom out to the two-week picture, and it gets worse. Seattle's right tackle spot is surrendering a league-worst 13% pressure rate, and the team's 48.2% pressure rate allowed is the 2nd-highest in football, trailing only Miami.

Oweh was Washington's marquee offseason addition specifically to fix a pass rush that leaned almost entirely on Dorance Armstrong a year ago. More importantly, the Seahawks struggle with the blitz. The Commanders are blitzing on 43.5% of their snaps, and Oweh blitzed on 54.6% of his snaps last week; so far, the Seahawks are allowing a 73.7% pressure rate when blitzed.

This is exactly the matchup that investment was made for. Oweh saw more snaps on the left side in Week 2 and improved his pressure rate from Week 1 to 9.1%, while producing an 18.2% win rate. Oweh’s alignment puts him in the crosshairs of Abraham Lucas.

Danielle Hunter, EDGE, Houston Texans

Indianapolis didn't allow a sack last week, but the pressure was still bleeding through, allowing a 39.4% team pressure rate on just 33 dropbacks. Dig into the tackle spot, and it's clear why. Bernhard Raimann is sitting on a 10.4% individual pressure rate at left tackle through two weeks, a number that lines up exactly with the team-level LT figure, telling me this isn't a committee issue. Raimann is on an island.

Hunter had a weird week. Although he recorded a sack, he had just a 6.5% and a 19.4 win rate. He was winning his blocks, but Cincy’s o-line did a good job recovering and containing him. I will say, on Hunter’s sack, he beat the LT clean.

Hunter's got the established track record of turning pressures into finished sacks rather than just generating empty pressures. This is as clean an individual assignment as there is in Week 3.

T.J. Watt, EDGE, Pittsburgh Steelers

Cincinnati allowed five sacks last week on top of a 38.9% pressure rate, and Orlando Brown Jr. at left tackle is carrying an elevated 9.6% individual pressure rate through two weeks protecting Joe Burrow's blind side. The Texans blitzed the Bengals 25% of the time last week, but I think they can expect more pressure, as Pittsburgh had a 48.1% blitz rate last week. Pairing a real, sourced soft spot with the most dominant single pass rusher in the league is too good to leave off the board, sack total or not.

T.J. Watt’s producing a 9.7% sack rate and a 16.7% pressure rate. He still has the burst, showing off a 0.70-second pass-rush burst.

He's my DL4 this week—matchup or not.

Defensive Back Starts In Week 3 IDP Fantasy Football

Talanoa Hufanga, S, Denver Broncos

The Rams leaned on 13 personnel a whopping 53.3% of their snaps last week and ran it 45% of the time (27 carries) at 5.82 YPC, favoring man/gap concepts (51.9%). Extra tight ends on the field means safeties are working closer to the box more often, and it's showing up in the numbers. Los Angeles is allowing a league-high 14.0 Safety tackles per game through two weeks.

Hufanga saw his box snaps shift drastically, as he played 3 snaps in the box and Denver’s coverage shell tilted more toward the middle of the field with two-high looks and lighter boxes. I think it was more game/situation driven, as Jacksonville was pass-heavy in 11 personnel.

With the Rams being so 12/13 personnel heavy, I think Hufanga will have a bigger role near the line of scrimmage in Week 3, similar to his Week 1 57% rate. He was still productive last week, recording 6 tackles, including a TFL.

Derwin James, S, Los Angeles Chargers

Buffalo ran it 31 times last week (44.9% of snaps) and was brutally efficient doing it—a .583 success rate, 5.64 YPC, and a +0.26 EPA/rush—all while defenses stacked the box on 56.5% of those snaps and still couldn't stop it. That's the kind of environment that pulls safeties into the run fit constantly.

Buffalo is allowing 12.0 Safety tackles per game through two weeks (fourth-most in the league), and James is one of the few safeties in football who can cash in on both run support and coverage work in the same box score.

He's my DB1 this week.

Budda Baker, S, Arizona Cardinals

San Francisco ran outside zone on half of their called runs last week and still funneled 62.5% of those carries back inside, working out of 21 personnel on 38.8% of snaps. That's Shanahan-scheme misdirection doing its thing, but it also means extra bodies and extra safety run-fits near the formation.

San Francisco is allowing 12.5 Safety tackles per game through two weeks (third-most in the league), and Baker can be a clean-up, sideline-to-sideline player who racks up tackles regardless of shell or script.

Baker is one of the more dependable DBs in IDP, and he has another solid matchup in Week 3.

Players Mentioned in this Article

JonathanTaylor
RBIND
PPG
25.4
Proj
17.6
JoeBurrow
QBCIN
PPG
15.7
Proj
17.0

Published Sep 23, 2026, 4:01 AM ET