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

Everyone says this year's rookie class stinks. But that's mainly an offense problem.

The defensive class looks much stronger, with potential fantasy answers across positions. And that'll be important to keep in mind as you draft.

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, Washington Commanders
2. CJ Allen, LB, Indianapolis Colts
3. Jacob Rodriguez, LB, Miami Dolphins
4. Dillon Thieneman, S, Chicago Bears
5. Caleb Downs, S, Dallas Cowboys
6. Arvell Reese, LB, New York Giants
7. David Bailey, Edge, New York Jets
8. Rueben Bain Jr., Edge, Tampa Bay Buccaneers
9. Emmanuel McNeil-Warren, S, Cleveland Browns
10. Kaleb Elarms-Orr, LB, Buffalo Bills

This looks like a good year to grab a new LB -- or maybe even two. Beyond Styles, there are multiple candidates for immediate and longer-term value.

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 class looks stronger than we’ve seen over the past two seasons, especially at the top.

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

Top 11 IDP Rookies

A Round 2 run on LBs in the NFL Draft supported the apparent strength of his IDP class.

1. Sonny Styles, LB, Commanders

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.

Styles' landing with Washington at No. 7 overall delivers the expected draft capital and finds a defense with a Bobby Wagner-sized opening in the middle. (The veteran has not re-signed after starting every Commanders game the past two years.)

2. CJ Allen, LB, Colts

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 several other 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 his NFL landing spot, and you get a guy worth targeting in Round 2 of most IDP rookie drafts.

Allen was actually the fifth off-ball LB drafted but looks poised to start right away for the Colts. Indy traded LB Zaire Franklin to the Packers this offseason and then called Allen "the Mike" (middle linebacker) when selecting him.

3. Jacob Rodriguez, LB, Dolphins

Rodriguez and Allen sit basically tied for me here, but Allen currently leads his classmate in our dynasty projections. Allen's 2.5 years younger and gets a clearer path to starting Year 1.

This guy remains a potential long-term stud, though.

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.

Miami selected Rodriguez as the second non-edge LB (43rd overall), which could signal a hope that he'll start immediately over Tyrel Dodson. If that becomes the clear plan, you can expect Rodriguez's ranking to climb across formats.

4. Dillon Thieneman, S, Bears

Thieneman sits just ahead of Downs on this list now because that's how their projections came out. Consider them basically tied, though. The earlier we're looking in a player's career, the more guesswork goes into his role and projection.

Both safeties should immediately play full time and provide solid numbers, though.

Thieneman played a larger percentage of his college snaps in deep coverage than Downs (58%, according to Pro Football Focus) 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 on top of a likely solid tackle floor.

I'm expecting that to be the case after Chicago also signed S Coby Bryant for big money in free agency. Bryant entered the leave s a corner and played almost exclusively deep at safety for the Seahawks over the past two years.

5. Caleb Downs, S, Cowboys

If the top safeties seem too high on this list, I've got two things to tell you:

1. I always agree when the numbers first come out, but top safeties are historically stable producers. And first-round draft capital for this pair says that production will start right away. The edge players in this class look far less sure.
2. Your draft rankings might look different. These are based on our default scoring. The players in your Draft War Room will sort according to your scoring and roster details.

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 PFF, 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 the Cowboys prefer him in deep coverage more, however, Downs would present a lower fantasy floor and scoring that would rely more heavily on big plays.

6. Arvell Reese, LB, Giants

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 showed enough juice (and size) off the edge in limited college exposure to garner top-5 status. But it doesn't sound like the Giants want to run him there right away.

GM Joe Schoen told the Giants Huddle podcast that Reese is expected to play weakside LB through at least his rookie season while getting coached up on his pass rushing.

"I'm sure there will be some one-on-one attention given to Arvell in terms of developing more pass rush and blitz stuff that he'll be doing for us," Schoen said.

That's probably great news for Reese's early fantasy numbers. It would have been tough to bet on his early playing time and production as a full-time edge after he was never that in college.

We'll see about the Giants' long-term vision, but starting Reese that way clears the path to keep him there if he doesn't show enough pass-rush development to hit the edge full time.

7. David Bailey, Edge, Jets

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.

8. Reuben Bain Jr., Edge, Buccaneers

If Bain were any bigger, he probably would have gone much earlier.

He delivered right away at Miami, tallying 12.5 tackles for loss and 7.5 sacks as a freshman. Bain finished his three-year run with the class’ third-most TFLs per game and sacks per game, trailing Bailey and Clemson's T.J. Parker.

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 went 15th overall, 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 have liked.

Bain's an upside play, but there's downside risk.

9. Emmanuel McNeil-Warren, S, Browns

McNeil-Warren delivered useful numbers across his three starting college 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.

Landing in Cleveland gives him a chance to compete for rookie-year work, but McNeil-Warren might need to wait a year before he can help our teams.

10. Kaleb Elarms-Orr, LB, Bills

I liked Elarms-Orr as a potential sleeper heading into the draft.

He delivered a strong final stat line at TCU that included 130 total tackles, 11 tackles for loss, and 4 sacks. Then he supported that production with a 96th-percentile speed score.

Lasting to Round 4 isn't great news, but going to Buffalo gives him a chance to compete for a starting job right away. The Bills have not re-signed Matt Milano and thus return only Terrel Bernard off a down season.

Incumbent Dorian Williams has struggled to stay on the field even when given starting opportunities through three seasons.

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, Cowboys
• T.J. Parker, Bills
• Zion Young, Ravens
• Gabe Jacas, Patriots
• Keldric Faulk, Auburn
• Akheem Mesidor, Chargers
• Cashius Howell, Bengals
• R Mason Thomas, Chiefs
• Dani Dennis-Sutton, Packers
• Jaishawn Barham, Cowboys

DT

• Peter Woods, Chiefs
• Kayden McDonald, Texans
• Caleb Banks, Florida
• Christen Miller, Georgia
• Lee Hunter, Texas Tech

LB

• Josiah Trotter, Buccaneers
• Jake Golday, Vikings
• Anthony Hill Jr., Titans
• Bryce Boettcher, Oregon
• Kendal Daniels, Falcons
• Taurean York, Texas A&M

DB

• Mansoor Delane, CB, Chiefs
• A.J. Haulcy, S, Colts
• Chris Johnson, CB, Dolphins
• Avieon Terrell, CB, Falcons
• D'Angelo Ponds, CB, Jets
• Bud Clark, S, Seahawks

Win the Offseason

If you're a dynasty player, then you know that right now just might be the most important time of year for building your championship roster.

Our Dynasty Trade Calculator is a game changer, and it's ready to help you. Watch this short video to learn more:

Next Up

2026 Dynasty Superflex Rookie Rankings: This Ain't the Year to Find Your QB (Updated April 27)

Next Article  

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.