Fantasy Football Demystified: IDP Fantasy Football Scoring Explained
Welcome to our new series, where I’ll be discussing aspects of Fantasy Football relevant to novice and experienced players alike, helping them understand this amazing game we play. Welcome to Fantasy Football Demystified: IDP Fantasy Football Scoring Explained!
No other topic in the arena of fantasy football, in my 20 years of playing this game, has brought more debates, arguments, bitterness, jealousy, and flat-out anger than that of the topic of IDP scoring. The inability to concede that one person’s point has validity while another’s does not is laughable at best and moronic at worst. So naturally, being the smartass that I am, I’m going to stir the pot and piss off some people while enlightening others. Therefore, let’s navigate through the fog of IDP Fantasy Football scoring to get you the information you need to design as well as win your IDP leagues.
The Most Popular IDP Scoring Formats
IDP123 or Sleeper HQ IDP scoring, since its popularity took off in 2020 by creator Jordan Rains, has swept and continues to sweep the IDP fantasy football landscape in terms of being one of the most used scoring settings based on simplicity in the scoring itself: Simple. Unified. Balanced, as the slogan states.
1 Point: Assisted Tackle & QB Hits
2 Points: Solo Tackles & Tackles for a Loss
3 Points: Passes Defended, Forced Fumbles, Fumble Recoveries, Safeties, and Blocked Kicks
6 Points: Sacks, Interceptions, and Defensive Touchdowns
The goal of this scoring setting is to, on paper, elevate the point totals for impact plays such as Sacks and Interceptions so that defensive linemen and defensive backs can help bridge the gap between high-volume linebackers and their counterparts on the offensive side of the ball. However, is it truly a balanced scoring setting?
More on that later.
FantasyPros IDP scoring is also a common scoring setting, discussed in the fantasy space for its ability to track IDP scoring week to week and over the course of the season. It is easily referenced by everyone in the fantasy space by visiting their statistics page on their website.
Not to mention, many analysts in the IDP community compete in the FantasyPros IDP Expert Consensus Rankings Competition for draft and in-season rankings, in which their ability to minimize the accuracy gap between where a player finishes on the season or during the week is compared to where they predicted those players to finish on the season/week, determining who wins the competition. To summarize, the competition measures the percentage gap in accuracy between the finish and one’s prediction, not who predicted the correct number of fantasy points scored.
Solo Tackles & Assisted Tackles: 1.5 points & 0.75 points
Tackles for A Loss: 2.5 points
Passes Defended: 1.5 points
Forced Fumbles and Fumble Recoveries: 4 points each
Sacks: 4 points each
Interceptions: 5 points each
Defensive TD: 6 points
Safeties: 2 points
Often referred to as a pure, tackle-heavy scoring system, it has been criticized for not providing enough upside across all positions and is thus perceived as one-dimensional. Is it one-dimensional, though? Is it purely tackle-heavy?
More on that later.
The Big 3 IDP Scoring settings, developed by The IDP Show, are meant to restore the value of impact plays such as Sacks and Interceptions, while downplaying tackle production to curb tackle inflation caused by inefficient tacklers in fantasy football.
Solo & Assisted Tackles: 1.25 & 0.75 points
Tackles for a Loss & QB Hits: 3 & 2 points
Forced Fumbles & Fumble Recoveries: 4 & 3 points
Sacks & Interceptions: 5 & 6 points
Safeties and Touchdowns: 5 & 6 points
Defensive Return Yards: 0.1 points per yard
Passes Defended: 4 points
Blocked Kicks: 5 points
However, do these scoring settings actually lead to a massive shift to imbalanced scoring towards only BIG PLAYS?
More on that later.
Now that we have explained what these scoring settings are, let’s discuss how they are commonly described as Big Play, Tackle Heavy, or Balanced, and the dreaded RATIOS!
Ratio, Ratio For Where Art Thou Ratio?
Back when I had my first beer with a nipple on it, when I really started deep-diving into advanced IDP analysis, I was obsessed with scoring settings and trying to find the best one out there that hit all the popular terms and phrases: Balanced with Offense, DL friendly, DB friendly, Balanced within IDP position groups, etc. However, it wasn’t until years later that the concept of scoring ratios entered my thought bubble arena.
Enter Matt Cannata.
His article over at ProFootballNetwork on IDP scoring ratios was the first piece of IDP writing that purely blew my mind. It helped revolutionize my perception of what a perfect IDP scoring setting could be. It made sense too: “I’ll just take stat A and divide by stat B, and BOOMSHAKALAKA…IDP scoring categories defined!”
However, flash forward a few years- after training for an International Beer Drinking Competition as well as honing my craft as a fantasy analyst- I realized that plain and simple, “A+B = C” logic isn’t exactly how the world works, nor does fantasy football.
But wait, I’m getting ahead of myself. Let’s finish up my intro to scoring ratios. Every IDP-friendly site in the fantasy space has written about scoring ratios, specifically the Solo Tackle to Sack ratios outlined below:
3:1 ratio of solo tackle to sack scoring system is considered Balanced Scoring.
4:1 or 5:1 ratios of solo tackle to sack scoring systems are considered Big Play Scoring.
A less than 3:1 ratio of solo tackle to sack scoring system is considered Tackle Heavy Scoring.
Therefore, if using that logic:
IDP123: 6pt Sack/2 pt Solo = 3 or 3:1 ratio or “Balanced”
FantasyPros: 4pt Sack/1.5 pt Solo = 2.67 or 2.67:1 ratio or “Tackle Heavy”
Big 3 Scoring: 5pt Sack/1.25 Solo = 4 or 4:1 ratio or “Big Play”
I used quotes just then because those definitions become very fickle when comparing those lines of demarcation to two factors: Compound Scoring and NFL Statistical Frequency and how that impacts scoring.
Let’s tackle Compound Scoring first.
Compound Scoring
In compound scoring, additional plays and points are added to the original stat to help bolster the value of the original play. Sleeper HQ is an example of a platform that does this. Below is a breakdown of what the Compound Scoring of a Sack would look like for the three main scoring settings discussed here:
IDP123’s Value of a Sack: 1 Solo Tackle (2) + 1 QB Hit (1) + 1 TFL (2) + 1 Sack (6) = 11pts per sack
If you calculate the new ratio of solo tackles to sacks, that scoring ratio becomes: 5.5:1, making the scoring setting now Big Play Scoring.
FantasyPros’ Value of a Sack: 1 Solo Tackle (1.5) + 1 TFL (2.5) + 1 Sack (4) = 8pts per sack
If you calculate the new ratio of solo tackles to sacks, that scoring ratio becomes 5.3:1, making the scoring setting now Big Play Scoring.
Big 3’s Value of a Sack (assuming 1 Sack Yard since they count this metric): 1 Solo Tackle (1.25), 1 QB Hit (2), 1 TFL (3), 1 Sack Yards (0.1), and 1 Sack (5) = 11.35pts per sack
If you calculate the new ratio of solo tackles to sacks, that scoring ratio becomes 9.08:1, making the scoring setting still Big Play Scoring.
But wait a minute, I thought by clearly defining ratios I was supposed to CLEARLY find a difference between these scoring settings. Instead, IDP scoring among the most popular settings in the fantasy space has gone full socialist and now, to quote Flash from The Incredibles, “If everyone is special, then no one is.”
Dammit, OK, well, if simple ratios don’t help paint a picture of what a scoring setting should be, what would?
I mean, could statistics from the NFL be applied to what actually goes on in IDP Fantasy Football scoring?!
Shut UP! Did my inner monologue and outer monologue just become best friends?!
Hahaha…alright, let’s discuss what REALLY helps to define what these scoring settings really are, and that is NFL Statistical Frequency!
NFL Statistical Frequency
Since we’ve been discussing Solo Tackles and Sacks so much from a fantasy scoring standpoint, I began to wonder what EXACTLY those numbers amounted to in the NFL this past season.
In 2025, teams in the NFL accounted for 20,814 solo tackles and 1,287 sacks. Divide that total by 32 teams, and each team averaged 650.44 solo tackles and 40.22 sacks. According to Pro Football Focus, an average individual NFL team logged 1,132 defensive snaps over the course of the regular season.
When wanting to identify what percentage of those snaps resulted in solo tackles and sacks per team:
650.44 Solo Tackles / 1,132 Snaps = 0.575 or 57.5% of the time a team defense recorded a Solo Tackle.
40.22 Sacks / 1,132 Snaps = 0.0353 or 3.55% of the time a team defense recorded a Sack.
Why is this important?
It matters because if one play occurs nearly 60% of the time and another occurs less than 4% of the time, that scarcity must dictate value.
What’s that? Want me to show you how this impacts fantasy scoring on the grand stage?
I’m glad you asked!
IDP Scoring Demystified
To give a broad definition of a scoring setting, it’s important to consider how to define it more broadly. The new ratios being shown below reflect the frequencies, or lack thereof, of Solo Tackles and Sacks occurring in the NFL, not the basic ratios that only chase box scores. By taking an average NFL team’s seasonal production and multiplying it by a format’s baseline scoring rules, we can discover the true frequency-adjusted point output of a league setting.
Let’s start with IDP123 scoring and see how the percentages above help to describe what type of scoring setting it really is.
650.44 Solo Tackles x 2pts per Solo Tackle = 1,300.88 fantasy points from a team’s defense came from Solo Tackles.
40.22 Sacks x 6pts per Sack = 241.32 fantasy points from a team’s defense came from Sacks.
This new type of frequency-adjusted/fantasy scoring ratio is 5.39:1, skewing fantasy point scoring towards tackles, making this scoring setting Tackle Heavy. Sorry to all the “It’s a Balanced Scoring setting truthers out there,” but based on how frequently tackles and sacks occurred last season in the NFL, IDP123 should DEFINITIVELY be considered tackle-heavy.
Next, let’s go with FantasyPros IDP scoring:
650.44 Solo Tackles x 1.5pts per Solo Tackle = 975.66 fantasy points from a team’s defense came from Solo Tackles.
40.22 Sacks x 4pts per Sack = 160.88 fantasy points from a team’s defense came from Sacks.
This new type of frequency-adjusted/fantasy scoring ratio is 6.06:1, HEAVILY skewing fantasy point scoring towards tackles, making this scoring setting Tackle Heavy. However, while the ratio is higher for Solo Tackles than in IDP123, look at the fantasy point drop. That screams to me less tackle point inflation, compared to IDP123, which should be obvious since a Solo Tackle for FantasyPros scoring is 1.5 points and IDP123 is 2 points.
Where FantasyPros scoring messes up when trying to make a balanced IDP scoring setting to reflect what is actually happening on the field is the fact that there is no added weight to Sack scoring compared to IDP123. In IDP123, Sacks are 6 points, including one metric in QB Hits that FantasyPros doesn’t even use. If only FantasyPros counted more fantasy points for a sack, we’re talking close to a balanced IDP scoring system. But alas, that is not the case.
Finally, let’s discuss Big 3 IDP Scoring:
650.44 Solo Tackles x 1.25pts per Solo Tackle = 813.05 fantasy points from a team’s defense came from Solo Tackles.
40.22 Sacks x 5pts per Sack = 201.1 fantasy points from a team’s defense came from Sacks.
This new type of frequency-adjusted/fantasy scoring ratio is 4.04:1, making Big 3 IDP scoring the most balanced of the three. WTF?! But it has the word “Big” in it. How could this scoring setting actually be THE MOST BALANCED scoring setting in IDP amongst the three?
Well, by lowering the value of a Solo Tackle and raising the value of a Sack, you are leveling the playing field in terms of fantasy output when taking trends in ACTUAL NFL performance into consideration.
Amazing. What happens in real-life football can directly impact what happens in fantasy football scoring?! I thought that gibberish only happened on the offensive side of fantasy football, not in IDP scoring!
Final Thoughts
Before I, Scooby Doo, and the rest of the gang pile into our Fantasy Football Mystery Mobile, let me leave you with some last bit of knowledge. If figuring out the intricacies of fantasy football were easy, all we would have to do is look at an Excel sheet, plug numbers into a set of value-defining parameters, and we would ALL be winners in every league we’re in. Things don’t work like that.
I’ll give you another nugget of helpful information.
Unfortunately for us—while we are a massive money-maker for them—the NFL, NFL coaches, and NFL players do not give a damn about your fantasy teams. They certainly do not care about stat-padding their box scores to fit the parameters of an unvetted set of fantasy scoring rubrics. They are going to play real, real-life football.
It is up to the fantasy football community, and the IDP community in particular, to stop looking at blanket sheets of paper with basic math, adjust our formats to mirror actual on-field statistical frequency, and give advice accordingly.