Welcome to The 2020 Rookie IDP Player Situational Reports for our fantasy football assessment purposes. It’s a proven fact that a rookie’s situation with his new team can dictate his value for fantasy football as much as his talent. And in this series, we will cover the players drafted team by team to gauge our expectations for our dynasty fantasy football rosters.

2020 Rookie IDP: NFC North

Looking for our 2020 rookie IDP composite rankings? Then Check out our current top 36 HERE.

The Squads Key For Fantasy Football

The First Squad: Possible clear path to immediate playing time now.

The Taxi Squad: Possible path to rotational playing time now.

The Practice Squad: Possible path to playing after a developmental period.

NOTE: We are not including undrafted free agents signed (deep long-shots) by any NFL teams at this time.

Green Bay’s Three Defensive Draft Picks

The Taxi Squad

• Kamal Martin, pick 175 in the 5th, out of Minnesota, is definitely a player we should pay attention to heading into 2020. Although he hasn’t got a glowing college reputation or draft status to back anything up. It could be a situational advantage that might get him noticed sooner than later. And that’s simple enough to make a call on when we look at the lackluster depth chart in Green Bay. Because other than main man Christian Kirksey, a glance at the other linebackers scream opportunity to compete. Unfortunately, Martin currently did not warrant placing in our Gridiron Ratings top 36. Simply based on Martin needing to really outperform his draft status to a high degree to earn the start.

The Practice Squad

• Jonathan Garvin, pick 242 in the 5th, out of Miami, is currently not ranked in our top 36 rankings. This defensive end has a long way to go to make an IDP impact. And for now, his best situational case scenario is to make the roster as depth and special teams player.
• Vernon Scott, pick 236 in the 7th, out of Iowa, is currently not ranked in our top 36 rankings. This safety has a long way to go to make an IDP impact. And for now, his best situational case scenario is to make the roster as depth and special teams player.

Detriot’s Four Defensive Draft Picks

The First Squad

• Jeff Okudah, pick 1.03, out of Ohio State, is currently slated to start just by draft status alone. He was considered the best available cornerback in this year’s draft by many known NFL gurus. IDP owners needing a great cornerback prospect should consider him in 2020. And those that do may have themselves a player that is picked on and tested by opposing quarterbacks. But for current and particular IDP reasons, we do not rank cornerbacks among our Gridiron Ratings. All owners need to know is his talent may eventually make him a shut down corner, leaving his IDP window very narrow.
• Julian Okwara, pick 3.67, out of Notre Dame, is another rookie that should see a lot of first-team snaps for the Lions in 2020. His situational is positive based on the current roster of the Lions at the defensive end position. And although he’ll likely start right away, IDP owners should keep a couple of things in mind for this coming season. First, the Lions are not known for leaning hard on rookie defensive players in their first season. And second, he won’t see snaps from the blindside unless veteran Trey Flowers gets injured. Then thirdly, how they decide to use Jamie Collins in the defensive scheme could change everything for the rookie. Collins is a very universal capable edge-rusher. This is why he is currently our 21st overall dynasty composite ranked 2020 IDP rookie at Gridiron Ratings.

The Practice Squad

• John Pensisni, pick 197 in the 6th, out of Utah, is currently not ranked in our top 36 rankings. This defensive tackle has a long way to go to make an IDP impact, but it wouldn’t take much to make the Taxi Squad. And for now, his best situational case scenario is to make the roster as depth and special teams player.
• Jashon Cornell, pick 236 in the 7th, out of Ohio State, is currently not ranked in our top 36 rankings. This defensive lineman has a long way to go to make an IDP impact, but it wouldn’t take much to make the Taxi Squad. And for now, his best situational case scenario is to make the roster as depth and special teams player.

Minnesota’s Nine Defensive Draft Picks

The First Squad

• Jeff Gladney, pick 1.31, out of TCU, has a pretty clear shot to be a starting corner for the Vikings in 2020. His draft status suggests it, and so does the competition among the Vikings cornerbacks. And we will note here that the next player list is part of that competition. And that both will have to contend with 2018 first rounder corner, Mike Hughes.
• Cameron Dantzler, pick 3.89, out of Mississippi State, will be directly in the mix to compete for a starting position as well as Gladney. He may not hold the first-round draft stock that Gladney and Hughes hold but certainly will get his shot. Between these three players mentioned we should have our two starting outside corners and the player manning the slot. Again, for our current IDP purposes we do not rank cornerbacks on Gridiron Ratings. But all three of these names are targets for IDP owners looking for a possible cornerback play in 2020.

The Taxi Squad

• Troy Dye, pick 132 in the 4th, out of Oregan, could be a stunner slipping that far in the NFL draft. He checks off all the right metric boxes to make an immediate impact at the pro level. And it is just too bad that he did fall to the Vikings when it comes to 2020 playing time. Our best-case scenario is he wins the weakside linebacker position for the Vikes. Which traditionally is at best a part-time role. But he is slotted into our Gridiron Ratings at 24th solely based on his high potential dynasty value for a few good reasons. But our main great reason is that long time veteran  Anthoney Barr does have an out in his contract for the Vikings in 2021. Possibly opening the window now for IDP owners for a great grab and stash in dynasty leagues. If only his situational had been on many of the other linebacker needy teams, we would have had a First Squad pick up.
• D.J. Wonnum, pick 117 in the 4th, out of South Carolina, is likely slated for a rotational role for 2020, at best. His draft status and defensive profile as defensive end do warrant we pay attention. But the depth in front of him and the way the Vikings traditionally handle later round rookies also warrants us putting a pin in his situation for later. And this is why he isn’t currently in our top 36 rookie rankings at Gridiron Ratings. His Taxi Squad designation is the borderline Practice Squad watch list at the moment.

The Practice Squad

• The following five later round rookies are currently not ranked in our top 36 rankings. And they’ll have a long way to go to make an IDP impact. And for now, their best situational case scenario is to make the roster as depth and special teams players.
• Defensive tackle James Lynch
• Cornerback Harrison Hand
• Safety Josh Metellus
• Defensive lineman Kenny Willekes
• Safety Brian Cole

As a special note, the Vikings selecting nine defensive players in the draft is almost unprecedented. And likely a sign we see a shakeup in the next few years among their personal on a grander scale. A scenario that is likely to play out for team cap situations on the defensive side of the ball.

Chicago’s Three Defensive Draft Picks

The First Squad

• Jaylon Johnson, pick 2.50, out of Utah, will certainly be in the mix to start for the Bears in 2020. And to his advantage is the team’s depth chart and the level of competition he’ll need to outplay. A likely starting outside corner, Johnson’s skill set comes across as borderline and at the pro level he could get tested often. Possibly resulting in above-average consistency in IDP production going forward. Because we do not rank cornerbacks currently at Gridiron Ratings, he isn’t listed in our top 36 rookie IDPs.

The Practice Squad

• The following two later round rookies are currently not ranked in our top 36 2020 IDP rankings. And they’ll have a long way to go to make an IDP impact. And for now, their best situational case scenario is to make the roster as depth and special teams players.
• Edge Rusher Trevis Gipson
• Cornerback Kindle Vidor

2020 Rookie IDP

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Gary VanDyke

“The IDP Tipster”

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