2026 Dynasty IDP Rookie Rankings: A Strong Class Across the Defense

Looking for a way to combat the malaise of this year’s offensive rookies? Well here’s your remedy.

The defensive class looks much stronger than the offense, with potential fantasy answers across positions.

IDP prospects fall further than they should in rookie drafts every year. This is an especially good year to buck that trend and steal some upside from your league mates. We designed our Draft War Room and 3D Value+ system to help you know when to make those moves.

2026 IDP Rookie Rankings

Here are your top IDP targets heading into the NFL Draft.

1. Sonny Styles, LB, Ohio State
2. Jacob Rodriguez, LB, Texas Tech
3. Arvell Reese, LB, Ohio State
4. Anthony Hill Jr., LB, Texas
5. David Bailey, Edge, Texas Tech
6. CJ Allen, LB, Georgia
7. Rueben Bain Jr., Edge, Miami
8. T.J. Parker, Edge, Clemson
9. Caleb Downs, S, Ohio State
10. Dillon Thieneman, S, Oregon
11. Emmanuel McNeil-Warren, S, Toledo

This looks like a good year to grab a new LB -- or maybe even two. Beyond Styles, there are multiple candidates for Round 2 of the NFL draft. And we might even see another LB or two sneak into Round 1.

The edge class looks deep but short on safe bets up top. The leading candidates carry upside but also risk factors that we’ll get into in a minute.

The safety and DT classes look stronger than we’ve seen over the past two seasons, especially at the top. Elite options at both positions could command top-10 draft capital and potentially boost their rookie-draft values.

Now let’s dig further into the top options plus some other names to know.

Early Top 11 IDP Rookies

Eleven might seem like an awkward number here (not 10?), but I think it’s important to hit the entire top trio and safety and didn’t want to leave any of the other guys out to do so. Here’s why …

1. Sonny Styles, LB, Ohio State

If you find something to dislike about this prospect -- real life or fantasy -- lemme know.

I see a guy who combines:

• tremendous size (6’5, 244 pounds)
• unfair speed (4.46-second 40 time, 99th-percentile speed score)
• good production (including 17 tackles for loss, 7 sacks, and 8 passes defensed over the past two seasons
• and room to develop further.

That last point will be true for just about any NFL Draft prospect, but it applies even more strongly to Styles. He opened his career at safety and has spent really only the past two years as a LB. Even that span still found him playing some slot-CB coverage.

This is a cross-category scorer in waiting, with as high a fantasy ceiling as any LB already in the league.

2. Jacob Rodriguez, LB, Texas Tech

Rodriguez went three years before landing a starting job but made up for it with big production over the past two seasons.

That included leading the Big 12 in solo tackles each year, racking up 127 and 129 total stops, and registering 21.5 tackles for loss over that span. Rodriguez also tallied 10 passes defensed, 10 forced fumbles, 6 sacks, and 5 INTs over his two starting campaigns.

Rodriguez doesn’t boast near the size or speed of Styles, but the 6’1, 231-pound frame is adequate and the 78th-percentile speed score sits well above average.

He also also built buzz in pre-draft season and appears headed for an early-Round 2 draft position.

3. Anthony Hill Jr., LB, Texas

Hill leaves Texas early after three years of impact play. That included 31.5 tackles for loss and 17 sacks. His 0.79 career tackles for loss per game trail only Harold Perkins Jr. in this LB class, and Perkins generated most of his while playing edge his first two years.

Hill also looks good enough in coverage that he should find three-down usage early in his pro career.

He brings size near-identical to Rodriguez and CJ Allen, plus a 94th-percentile speed score. And Hill just turned 21 in February, so there’s likely still growth to come.

4. Arvell Reese, Edge(?), Ohio State

Reese might be the most exciting defensive prospect of this cycle, but part of that excitement lies in the uncertainty of how he’ll work out.

Reese has showed enough juice (and size) off the edge in limited exposure so far that he’s expected to go among the first five picks and open his career on the edge. But the first NFL season he spends primarily in that position will be his first such run at any level.

That obviously adds risk to his fantasy outlook. And you might have to be more patient with him than with just about any other guy on this list. That doesn’t mean you need to avoid him, of course. Just know what you’re buying.

There's also the potential fallback of playing off-ball LB if Reese doesn't work out at edge.

5. David Bailey, Edge, Texas Tech

Bailey looks like the safest edge prospect in this class. He couples good production with an elite speed score.

• Bailey’s 14.5 sacks tied for the FBS lead in 2025.
• His 19.5 tackles for loss led the Big 12.
• He paced FBS rushers in pressure rate, according to ESPN.
• He leads the group in career sacks per game and ranks second in TFLs per game.
• And he sports a 96th-percentile speed score at 6’4, 251 pounds.

Bailey’s production proved more modest across three seasons at Stanford before the transfer to Tech, though, and there’s some question about how much playing time he’ll be able to handle at the pro level.

There’s plenty of upside, but he’s certainly not a perfect prospect.

6. CJ Allen, LB, Georgia

Allen spent about two-and-a-third seasons starting in the middle of the Georgia defense. He did his best work in run defense and didn’t post as strong a stat set as the previous LBs on this list. But the 2025 numbers looked good enough:

• 88 tackles
• 8 TFLs
• 3.5 sacks
• 4 passes defensed (for the second straight year)

Throw in a 40 time around 4.5 seconds (he didn’t run until his pro day) and expected Round 2 draft capital, and you get a guy worth targeting in Round 2 of most IDP rookie drafts.

7. Reuben Bain Jr., Edge, Miami

If Bain were any bigger, he’d probably go first among edge players in this draft. He delivered right away at Miami, tallying 12.5 tackles for loss and 7.5 sacks as a freshman. Bain finishes his three-year run with the class’ third-most TFLs per game and sacks per game, trailing Bailey and the next guy on this list.

Bain has displayed ability to rush from inside as well as the edge. The problem: He’s historically small for the position. See for yourself.

He’ll almost definitely still go in Round 1 of the NFL Draft, so the size obviously doesn’t doom him. But we can’t ignore the risk of those 1st-percentile arms against top-level competition. It’s also worth noting that he elected to not run a 40 at the Combine or his pro day. That’s likely masking a time evaluators wouldn’t like.

8. T.J. Parker, Edge, Clemson

Parker lacks the excitement factor that some of his edge classmates present. But that seems to have left him at least a bit underrated.

Parker produced immediately with 12.5 TFLs and 5.5 sacks as a true freshman. He improved on that with 19.5 TFLs, 11 sacks, and 6 forced fumbles in 2024. His 2025 regression adds a big question mark, but Clemson players fell off near-universally last season. That doesn’t excuse Parker’s dip, but it alters the context.

Parker heads into the NFL as an early entrant (turns 22 in mid-May) with an 80th-percentile speed score. If he falls out of Round 1 in the NFL Draft, he could emerge as a sneaky value in your rookie draft.

Parker could be duking it out with Central Florida's Malachi Lawrence for this spot, depending on where they get drafted.

9. Caleb Downs, S, Ohio State

Downs gets discussed as one of the best safety prospects in at least recent history. He spent three years playing elite-level defense, first as a true freshman at Alabama and then across two seasons for the Buckeyes.

Downs showed impressive versatility for his career. According to Pro Football Focus, he spent 38% of his snaps in the box, 37% at deep safety, and 23% at slot corner (plus a smattering of snaps at wide CB). If that continues into the pros, then Downs will be a high-upside fantasy prospect.

If his pro team prefers him in deep coverage more, however, Downs would present a lower fantasy floor and scoring that would rely more heavily on big plays. That seems a legitimate risk (fantasy wise) for a player who sports 28th-percentile weight among Combine safeties since 1999.

10. Dillon Thieneman, S, Oregon

Thieneman sports the same primary question as Downs. He actually played more of his college snaps in deep coverage (58%, according to PFF) but shifted to primarily “box” safety in his lone season at Oregon.

If Thieneman stays in that type of role and brings his elite speed -- 4.35-second 40 time at the Combine -- he’ll carry intriguing upside.

Like with Downs, though, his NFL team could look at the size and the 6 INTs of his true freshman year at Purdue and decide to keep Thieneman further from the ball. He also played less than half as many slot snaps as Downs did for their respective careers. (That’s another high-value spot for DBs because it keeps you closer to the action vs. playing deep safety or outside CB.)

11. Emmanuel McNeil-Warren, S, Toledo

I expanded this list from 10 to 11 specifically to make sure McNeil-Warren got included.

He looks like the best bet among this safety trio to get plenty of “box” duty -- closer to the line of scrimmage -- after spending 53% of his college snaps in that range, according to PFF. McNeil-Warren delivered useful numbers across his three starting seasons:

• 207 tackles
• 11 TFLs
• 13 passes defensed
• 8 forced fumbles
• 5 INTs

He’s taller and thinner than Downs and Thieneman but showed impressive willingness to combat the run and improved his PFF coverage grade every year.

More Prospects to Watch

It’s early. You can bet the rankings above will change. And it’s quite likely that some new guy (or two … or three) will enter the top 10.

Here are some candidates (not necessarily in order) that we’ll be watching over the next few months …

Edge

• Malachi Lawrence, Central Florida
• Zion Young, Missouri
• Keldric Faulk, Auburn
• Akheem Mesidor, Miami
• Cashius Howell, Texas A&M
• R Mason Thomas, Oklahoma
• Dani Dennis-Sutton, Penn State

DT

• Peter Woods, Clemson
• Kayden McDonald, Ohio State
• Caleb Banks, Florida
• Christen Miller, Georgia
• Lee Hunter, Texas Tech

LB

• Josiah Trotter, Missouri
• Jake Golday, Cincinnati
• Kyle Louis, Pittsburgh
• Bryce Boettcher, Oregon
• Kaleb Elarms-Orr, TCU
• Taurean York, Texas A&M

DB

• A.J. Haulcy, S, LSU
• Bud Clark, S TCU
• Mansoor Delane, CB, LSU
• Jermod McCoy, CB, Tennessee

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2026 Dynasty Superflex Rookie Rankings: Mendoza and Question Marks at QB (Updated April 19th)

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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.