The IDP Mysteries We Need to Solve (Week 1 Primer)
Somewhere in America, an IDP manager is staring at a preseason box score trying to convince himself that none of this matters.
“It’s only preseason.”
Famous last words.
Because while the starters barely play and coaches refuse to tell us anything useful, evidence is being left behind everywhere. A linebacker suddenly doesn’t dress. Another one is wearing the green dot. A rookie listed with the second team is practicing with the starters. A veteran we assumed had a job suddenly finds himself playing deep into a meaningless preseason game.
These aren’t meaningless snaps.
These are Snap Count Crimes, and today we’ll be covering The IDP Mysteries We Need to Solve (Week 1 Primer)
The regular season hasn’t even started, and we already have several suspicious cases requiring further investigation.
Crime Scene #1: The Case of the Missing Starting Linebacker
Suspects: Jack Gibbens and Cody Simon, LB, Arizona Cardinals
The Crime:
This one looked like a legitimate competition entering training camp.
Cody Simon started the final nine games of 2025 and worked with Arizona’s first-team defense during the spring. Then Arizona’sens arrived after recording 81 tackles, eight tackles for loss, and a sack across eight starts for New England last season.
So who won the job?
The preseason may have already given us the answer.
In Arizona’s first preseason game, Mack Wilson and Gibben played together on every snap. When Wilson exited, Simon replaced him while Gibbens remained on the field. Simon even received the green dot when Wilson left.
Then came the really suspicious part.
In Week 2, Wilson and Gibbens didn’t play at all.
Simon did.
Simon started along side Karson Sharar but lasted only the first two drives before Arizona pulled him, while Sharar continued playing.
This is where preseason snap-count detective work becomes valuable. Sometimes the most important snap count is zero.
All evidence currently points toward Jack Gibbens stealing the LB2 job from Cody Simon.
Simon isn’t dead in dynasty, but redraft managers need to fisn’t the evidence rather than last year’s depth chart.
The victim here may be anyone drafting Cody Simon ahead of Jack Gibbens.
Status: Nearly Solved
Crime Scene #2: The Green-Dot Rookie Heist
Suspect: Kendal Daniels, LB, Atlanta Falcons
The Crime:
Kendal Daniels was supposed to be an interesting developmental chess piece. Harold Perkins, the five-star recruit, was supposed to be the promising rookie.
Someone forgot to tell Kendal Daniels.
The fourth-round rookie has already worked extensively with Atlanta’s starters and, more importantly, while Divine Deablo was unavailable during the preseason.
That’s not something coaching staffs casually hand to development chess piece.
Daniels arrived with one of the more unusual defensive profiles in the draft. He originally played safety before growing into a linebacker, and his college usage was all over the crime scene: defensive line, box linebacker, slot and even deep safety.
Daniels has worked next to Deablo and aligned both as a traditional off-ball linebacker and closer to the line of scrimmage. Through two preseason games, he has also produced six tackles and half a sack. He’s looking like the immediate replacement if Diablo were to miss time, and potentially unseat Christian Harris for the other job too.
Yet the initial depth chart listed Christian Harris as the starter beside Diablo while Daniels sat with the second team.
Interesting. The depth chart says one thing. The practice reps say another. We here at Fantasy In Frames had this right all offseason, unlike our Industry counterparts.
And the green dot is sitting there like a fingerprint nobody bothered to wipe away.
I don’t know if Daniels opens Week 1 as Atlanta’s everydon’t LB2. Christian Harris remains veAtlanta’snvolved.
But IDP managers should care considerably more about what Atlanta is asking Daniels to do than where someone typed his name onto an August depth chart.
We know what we have in Daniels. A rookie capable of playing multiple alignments who is already trusted enough to communicate the defense has my attention.
This may not be a Week 1 breakout.
It could be something even better for dynasty managers: a future every-down linebacker hiding in plain sight.
Status: Closed Case
Crime Scene #3: The Claudin Cover-Up: Who Stole Trevin Wallace’s Third Downs?
Suspects: Claudin Cherelus and Trevin Wallace, LB, Carolina Panthers
The Crime:
Trevin Wallace entered the summer looking like the obvious starter alongside Devin Lloyd.
Then something strange happened.
He played in the Hall of Fame Game.
Wallace logged 19 defensive snaps.
Claudin Cherelus also logged 19.
Why was a projected starting linebacker fighting through preseason snaps instead of standing safely on the sideline?
Because apparently this wasn’t Wallace’s job after all.
Head coach Dave Canales said that Wallace and Cherelus were competing for the starting position. Even more interesting for IDP managers, Cherelus began receiving the green dot during training camp practices.
Now we have ourselves a crime scene.
The Hall of Fame Game provided additional forensic evidence. Wallace earned a 53.1 PFF overall grade, including a brutal 28.6 tackling grade. Cherelus graded substantially better at 74.9 overall, with solid marks against the run, in coverage, and tackling.
This isn’t coming completely out of nowhere either. Wallace in the 2025 season produced a 56.4 PFF grade, while Cherelus, who only had around 30 tackles last season, but that was mostly off three huge games, has quietly hung around Carolina’s roster since arriving as an undrafted free agent.
Canales specifically praised Cherelus’ command, communication, and physicality.
Wallace has the draft capital.
Cherelus may have the job.
And IDP managers who blindly follow draft pedigree could become the next victims.
The green dot doesn’t automatically make someone an elite fantasy ldoesn’ter, but it frequently tells us who the coaching staff trusts to stay on the field.
If Cherelus walks into Week 1 with that responsibility, he goes from waiver-wire anonymity to one of the more interesting deep IDP pickups of the summer.
Meanwhile, Wallace has officially moved from presumed starter to suspect.
UPDATE: Trevin Wallace has been waived by The Carolina Panthers as of 8/30/2026. Also, Bobby Okereke has been signed by the Panthers putting this case closed.
Status: Case Closed.
Crime Scene #4: The Shape-Shifting Safety
Suspect: Zayne Anderson, LB/DB, Miami Dolphins
The Crime:
Miami entered camp with one safety position looking much more settled than the other.
Dante Trader Jr. and Michael Taaffe appeared positioned for one starting job.
But then… that was to the untrained eye. This is where things got strange.
Zayne Anderson entered the league as an undrafted free agent. He isn’t exactly the profile IDP managers spend time chaisn’t In fact, Zayne Anderson was originally a linebacker and has spent most of his NFL career making his living on special teams, although his positional history is a little unusual.
He played at BYU, where he moved around extensively. He began as a safety/defensive back, then transitioned into more of a hybrid linebacker role later in his college career. At roughly 6’2″, 205–210 pounds, BYU used him as a safety/LB hybrid who could play closer to the line of scrimmage. It’s a dart throw, but it’s possible this could work tIt’sway.
Anderson continued to make plays throughout practice and preseason. Miami placed him first on its initial depth chart and has continued giving him a legitimate opportunity to win the starting safety position.
Michael Taaffe and others remain involved, so we shouldn’t declare victory yet.
But this is precisely how Snap Count Crimes happen.
Status: Ongoing Investigation Turned over to FBI
Crime Scene #5: Held for Ransom- The Safety Job Nobody Noticed Was Missing
Suspect: Nick Scott, Lathan Ransom, DB, Carolina Panthers
Carolina may have quietly given us one of the better clues of the preseason. Tre’von Moehrig and Nick Scott opened together at safety providing strong evidence that Scott (not Lathan Ransom) is currently positioned for the starting job.
The crime here might be fantasy managers holding the wrong player for Ransom. The rookie is naturally going to attract more attention because he’s younger, more exciting, and carries the mystery and the upside we love chasing in IDP drafts. But sometimes the boring 31-year-old veteran is standing right in front of us with the actual job. Until Carolina shows us otherwise, Scott should be treated as the favorite to start opposite Moehrig, while Ransom looks more like the developmental option. Don’t let rookie fever make you ignore the starting lineup.
Status: Case Closed.
Honorable mentions:
And the investigation doesn’t end here. Follow me on X/Twitter @RealIDPHunter and join me as we investigate 32 more unsolved IDP mysteries—one for every NFL team. Hidden snap counts, stolen starting jobs, disappearing three-down roles, and depth-chart crimes nobody else is talking about.
32 teams. 32 mysteries. Which Snap Count Crimes will we solve after Week 1?
| Team | Snap Count Crime |
|---|---|
| Arizona Cardinals | The Case of the Missing Linebacker |
| Atlanta Falcons | The Rookie Who Stole the Green Dot |
| Baltimore Ravens | Caught at the Crime Scene: Why Is the Rookie DL Still Playing? |
| Buffalo Bills | The Case of the Vanishing Linebacker Snaps |
| Carolina Panthers | The Green-Dot Heist |
| Chicago Bears | The Box-Safety Burglary |
| Cincinnati Bengals | The Defensive Line Identity Theft |
| Cleveland Browns | Who Gets the Leftovers From Myles Garrett? |
| Dallas Cowboys | The Case of the Crowded Crime Scene |
| Denver Broncos | The Great Linebacker Cover-Up |
| Detroit Lions | Searching for Hutchinson’s Accomplice |
| Green Bay Packers | Three SafetieHutchinson’s Gets the IDP Points? |
| Houston Texans | Buried Evidence on the Defensive Line |
| Indianapolis Colts | The Cornerback Nobody Has Seen |
| Jacksonville Jaguars | The Case of the Missing Every-Down Linebacker |
| Kansas City Chiefs | Spagnuolo’s Great Snap-Count Disappearing Act |
| Las Vegas Raiders | The Safety Job Nobody Reported Missing |
| Los Angeles Chargers | The Linebacker Rotation That Won’t Die |
| Los Angeles Rams | The Great Edge-Rusher TimeshWon’t |
| Miami Dolphins | The Mystery Man in Miami’s Secondary |
| Minnesota Vikings | Brian Flores and thMiami’sof the Missing Positions |
| New England Patriots | The Linebacker Room With Too Many Suspects |
| New Orleans Saints | The Case of the Aging Accomplice |
| New York Giants | Who Stole the Second Linebacker Job? |
| New York Jets | The Case of the Disappearing First-Rounder |
| Philadelphia Eagles | Vic Fangio’s Rotational Crime Syndicate |
| Pittsburgh Steelers | The Linebacker Snap-Count Conspiracy |
| San Francisco 49ers | Who Gets to Stand Next to Fred Warner? |
| Seattle Seahawks | The Macdonald Formation Nobody Can Identify |
| Tampa Bay Buccaneers | Who Inherits Lavonte David‘s Crime Scene? |
| Tennessee Titans | The Great LinebacDavid’sp Robbery |
| Washington Commanders | The EDGE Job Nobody Wants to Claim |