Every week, as I skim my fantasy lineups, I have a few standout players on my roster whom I consider a weekly lock for above-average points. Normally this player would receive an above-average amount of snaps, or I drafted them with one of my first draft picks.

The cut is far deeper when a player you consider a lock underperforms from an IDP fantasy standpoint. I always wonder what the cause of the gameday goose egg was while staring in disgust at the deflated zero on my scoresheet. 

The idea of this article is that I analyze a player’s game data and see exactly why the player in question failed to produce points, again, from a fantasy standpoint. 

With that said and explained, this week’s player in question is …

 

DONOVAN WILSON – DAL / DB vs. Tampa Bay

Tom Brady dropped back fifty times during the Thursday night opener, attempted fifty passes for thirty-two completions, and passed four touchdowns.

Donovan Wilson was on the field for fifty-five total defensive snaps. Twelve snaps in run defense, forty-two in pass coverage, and one in the pass rush. Thirty-two snaps as the free safety, five as the slot corner, and two as a corner. 

Wilson was in the box for 25% of his time on the field and missed his lone opportunity to bring down the ball carrier. Donovan did have one pressure resulting in one quarterback hit. Donovan also lined up on the defensive line, outside of the offensive tackles, two times against Tampa Bay.

Wilson was not targeted in coverage by Tom Brady despite his fifty-five defensive snaps(led all Dallas safeties).

Damontae Kazee came in a close second with fifty-two total snaps from the other safety position. Jayron Kearse came in third with forty defensive snaps.

Although Jayron Kearse was third in total snaps by a Dallas safety, he led the trio in tackles with seven solo and one assisted. In coverage, Jayron has targeted a total of five times. Four of them were completions, along with one of them resulting in a touchdown. 

Jayron Kearse has intercepted the ball once in his six active years in the NFL while allowing a 64.6 completion percentage when his man is targeted. Kearse was aligned at free safety fifteen times, and nine total aligned in the slot. 

 

“The Numbers Mason, What Do They Mean?”

Wilson finished Thursday night’s game with zero fantasy points(IDP+ scoring). This game marks Wilson’s first game played since his rookie season(2019), where he failed to bring down the ball carrier at least once.

Wilson had only one opportunity at a single tackle despite spending 25% of his field time in the box. Typically you would like to roster a player who puts himself in a position to make a play more often. 

Wilson was not targeted in the passing game, thus lowering his probability of making a play on the ball carrier in the secondary.

Looking deeper into Wilson’s stats in 2020, you will find that he wasn’t targeted in a total of four games. Wilson was targeted only one time in three games last year. 

A total of three targets in seven games is not a good amount in just under half of the season. The Cowboys’ third-highest targeted safety was Wilson in week 1. Not exactly ideal if you are looking for upside via opportunity. 

Looking at the totals from 2020, the highest number of safety targets received in coverage was seventy-four. Other players receive far more opportunities from the same position.

I will more than likely target higher targeted safeties when looking for a more reliable option on my roster. 

I am going to monitor Wilson’s target assignments in the coming weeks. Perhaps Tampa Bay’s game plan was the reason for the lack of targets in Wilson’s direction.

When a player receives snaps from multiple places on the field, that does not always translate into fantasy relevance; defensive targets are something I will consider the next time I draft a player for my secondary IDP roster spot.

 

Hey, RushNation, thank you for taking the time to read this article. Are you still hungry for more IDP? Be sure to check out my weekly IDP streamers article. Streamers from Week 1 can be found here https://5yardrush.co.uk/idp-streamers-week-1-meat-mania-and-sloppy-jones/.