Fantasy Football: Jon Macri’s favorite 2025 IDP picks

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• Jack Campbell’s time has finally arrived: After taking over as the Detroit Lions LB1 last season, there’s no looking back for the former first-round pick as he is primed for a breakout 2025 season.
• Nick Bosa doesn’t often get the credit he deserves as a true candidate to lead all IDPs in scoring this season: Due for a boom year in the sack column, one of the league’s most prolific pass-rushers checks every box for elite IDP potential once again this season.
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Estimated Reading Time: 9 minutes

The fantasy football season can be a grueling journey of avoiding inefficiencies and injuries en route to an eventual championship. Hence, it’s often difficult to enjoy our favorite players while they’re grinding away fantasy points for us on a weekly basis.

With that in mind, this may be our last chance before Week 1 to be entirely positive about our most rostered players for the year, so I listed players below that I have ranked higher than consensus.

LB Jack Campbell, Detroit Lions

• My Rank: LB7

As the lone first-round linebacker from the 2023 NFL Draft class, the wait for Campbell’s full-time breakout opportunity has felt long, but after nearly two full seasons of playing second fiddle to Alex Anzalone, Campbell’s larger role appears to finally be unlocked. His snap count began to grow last season, as Campbell played at least 90% of the team’s defensive snaps for four straight games, which was the best stretch of playing time in his career. When Anzalone got hurt in Week 11, Campbell played every single defensive snap from that point until the end of their season, including the playoffs. This included two games (Week 18, divisional round) with Anzalone back in the lineup, as the team seemingly reached the point of no return with Campbell as a full-time player.

That full-time role should be expected to resume in 2025, even with Kelvin Sheppard taking over for Aaron Glenn as the new defensive coordinator. Sheppard previously acted as the team’s linebacker coach and had a front row seat to the quality of player Campbell became in his second season. Campbell delivered top-20 PFF grades for his position in coverage (72.2), run defense (81.5) and overall (77.4) – all of which were an upgrade over Anzalone last year and any year of Anzalone’s career. Considering the investment in Campbell has appeared to pay off in addition to him taking over as the team’s LB1 last year, more of the same should be expected for 2025 – this time across an entire season.

This is something that IDP managers should be excited about, as Campbell offers significantly more potential as a tackler than Anzalone as well, as he finished 92nd percentile in tackles versus expected as a rookie (+6.1), and 95th percentile (+11.2) in that regard in 2024. Campbell’s high-end tackling ability attached to a full-time role should have him in overall LB1 contention this season.

ED Nick Bosa, San Francisco 49ers

• My Rank: ED1

Having Bosa as my top overall IDP heading into this season, while others are often drafting him outside the top five at his position, is undoubtedly going to lead to me accruing plenty of shares heading into the 2025 season. However, these are shares I’m very happy to have, as Bosa has proven himself to be one of the most consistently elite players at his position, posting four-straight seasons of top-12 IDP finishes at his position. This includes four straight seasons finishing among the top-eight edge defenders in PFF pass-rush grade.

Bosa is one of the prime candidates for not just double-digit sacks in 2025, but a strong bet to lead the position, even though he’s maxed out at 10 sacks in each of the past two seasons. Bosa’s level of play, playing time and positive sack regression are all in his favor to deliver a massive season in the sack column, not unlike his 2022 season and 2021 before that. He has proven that he can hit those marks, and just because he didn’t get there in 2023 and 2024, it doesn’t mean he isn’t capable or wasn’t deserving of doing so. A bounce-back season is certainly in the cards for both Bosa and the 49ers defense in 2025.

Helping matters for Bosa is that, unlike other elite pass-rushers who can deliver 15-plus sacks like Myles Garrett or Trey Hendrickson, Bosa has the tackling ability to create a strong enough production floor to make up for any week that he doesn’t take down the quarterback. Bosa has finished with no less than 50 total tackles in each of the past four seasons and finished 87th percentile at his position in tackles versus expected, making him a great bet to deliver again in 2025 and push for that top overall scoring defensive lineman in IDP this season.

LB Daiyan Henley, Los Angeles Chargers

• My Rank: LB6

Henley taking on a full-time role in Jesse Minter’s defense last season was significant for his IDP value and the level of trust IDP managers should have in him going forward. Not only did Henley survive Jim Harbaugh and Minter bringing over their top linebacker, Junior Colson, from Michigan, but he looked good in that LB1 role in 2024. Henley ranked top 20 at his position in coverage last season, a strong suit of his coming out of college as well. His 70.5 PFF grade was also the top mark among the linebackers on his team (min. 100 snaps) as he heads into 2025 with good momentum to keep that going.

Henley delivered a very strong 90th percentile mark in tackles versus expected last season while playing in one of the league’s most zone-heavy defenses, which should help him continue to keep his tackle rate well above average. Henley’s playing time is going to serve as the catalyst for his IDP production with plenty of tackle and big-play opportunities, which is the most we can ask for our IDP linebackers. The bonus of a zone-heavy system to operate in and proven efficiency as a tackler is what can help separate Henley from the rest of the pack this season.

S DeShon Elliott, Pittsburgh Steelers

• My Rank: S9

One of my favorite IDP draft strategies is to wait on the defensive back position for as long as possible, as this is an incredibly deep pool of players to choose from, and there is a lot more variance in top scorers at the position year-to-year. Because of this, the best targets don’t have a long history of elite IDP production but are in a great position to deliver this season. Elliott is often going well after the top 15-20 players at his position but is projected for a strong box-heavy role and an increase in overall playing time. Additionally, he put together an ideal tackle rate last season.

While Minkah Fitzpatrick’s departure might have drafters feeling better about Elliott, that was not a factor in Elliott’s top-10 defensive back rank this offseason. Juan Thornhill is set to absorb Fitzpatrick’s deep role, which will also allow Elliott to take over a full-time role this season while playing the bulk of his defensive snaps in the box and around the line of scrimmage. This was the case for Elliott last season; however, he averaged just 87% of the team’s defensive snaps, which is low for a starting safety. After signing a contract extension and the team moving on from Fitzpatrick, the expectation will be that Elliott stays on the field for 100% of the defensive snaps this season.

Elliott showcased strong IDP potential last season, ranking as the S8 in points per game thanks to an elite tackling ability where he ranked 98th percentile in tackles versus expected – the second time in three years where he’s ranked at least 95th percentile in that regard. Elliott has thrived in those box-heavy deployments, and this season should be no different, making him one of the better bets to lead his position in tackles in 2025, and a top value worth targeting for those waiting on the position.

DT Kobie Turner, Los Angeles Rams

• My rank: DT8

Turner is quickly establishing himself as one of the top IDP options at his position through the first two years of his NFL career. Heading into Year 3, Turner checks all the boxes we’re looking for when it comes to finding a potential top scorer at the defensive tackle position, and in DT-required leagues, specifically, he’s become one of the top targets for me to anchor that position.

Turner isn’t an elite pass-rusher, as indicated by his 66.6 pass-rush grade in 2024; however, he’s already proven to be more capable than that score after he delivered an 81.2 pass-rush grade as a rookie on nearly 500 pass-rush snaps. Good pass-rush marks combined with over 900 defensive snaps and nearly 600 pass-rush snaps in 2024 allowed Turner to reach the top 95th percentile at his position in expected sacks, creating a lot of optimism that he can continue to be one of the top performers at his position in total sacks in 2025.

Along with the high-end playing time, Turner has racked up strong tackle numbers, ranking 87th percentile in tackles versus expected and finishing with 53 tackles on the year – a couple more than even last year’s DT1 overall Zach Allen (51) on slightly fewer snaps. Playing time should be of no concern for Turner again in 2025 after he averaged a 75% snap share on the year, up from his 62% snap share as a rookie. He’ll continue to act as a workhorse along that defensive line, and if he continues to develop as a pass-rusher, he has significant potential to finish as the overall DT1 on the year. At the very least, he is a great value going outside the top-10 at the moment.

This news was originally published on this post .

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