Week 9 IDP Hits: There's Something You Should Know About Kyle Hamilton

These Changes Could Alter Your Plans

The Ravens’ defense seems to have rebounded over its past three games. And the changes that have helped get there hold some relevance for IDP lineups.

The unit allowed an ugly 408.8 yards per game across the first five contests this season, and the low point had to be Houston’s 417 yards and 44 points in Week 5.

That particular week of struggles was a bit easier to understand. Baltimore lost multiple defensive starters in the previous week’s loss at Kansas City. In addition to Lamar Jackson, the Week 5 inactives included:

• LB Roquan Smith
• S Kyle Hamilton
• CB Marlon Humphrey
• CB Chidobe Awuzie

The four weeks since -- including a Week 7 bye -- have seen that group get healthier, along with the defense making some changes. So let’s dig into the current state.

Welcome Back, Roquan

Roquan Smith

BAL undefined Sun 1:00pm vs HOU

Bye7

3D PPR Proj-

3D Value-

The Ravens and IDP managers had to be thrilled to get the team’s lead LB back for the past two games. Smith rebounded from a two-game hamstring strain to reclaim full playing time the past two weeks, and he delivered 12 total tackles in each outing.

Smith’s return shoved LB Trenton Simpson back to a minimal role and decreased the snaps for rookie LB Teddye Buchanan, who had led the corps while Smith sat.

Buchanan played 70% of the snaps in the Week 8 win over Chicago, and then 69% in Thursday night’s win over Miami. That presents a pretty good luck and the role we should expect going forward, and that’s not enough playing time to keep Buchanan relevant week to week in most IDP leagues.

Baltimore Goes Safety-Heavy to Fix Coverage

The biggest change the Ravens made through this stretch came when they traded Edge Odafe Oweh for Chargers S Alohi Gilman. 

The draft picks included on each side pointed to Oweh carrying a bit more value than Gilman, but it worked out as basically a straight player swap. And Gilman has quickly taken on a large role.

Gilman’s three snap shares since the trade have gone:

• 83%
• 98%
• 97%

Ravens rookie S Malaki Starks took a slight dip in that second game -- to 92% snaps -- but has sandwiched that between two 100% shares. And Hamilton has remained a full-time player.

So it looks like Baltimore plans to run the three safeties as full-timers going forward. And the realignment has included much more slot time for Hamilton.

Hamilton’s Altered Role Likely Good for Fantasy Production

According to Pro Football Focus snap data, here’s how Hamilton’s work has shift from four pre-trade games to his three outings since Gilman arrived:

I group PFF’s “DLine” snaps in with “Box” when I count these up, because that’s all “box” to me. And I’m combining free safety with wide-CB here, because those alignments pull the player similarly away from the action.

Hamilton’s fantasy scoring the past three weeks hasn’t pointed to a more favorable role, but we generally like our safeties to spend more time in the box and/or at slot corner. Why? Because both roles move them closer to the ball than the other spots. And, of course, closer to the ball is where we want any defender.

Hamilton has landed in DB1 territory all season for our projections and the consensus. His shift in usage only further helps that status.

Gilman’s in the midst of a fairly quiet fantasy season. His numbers have picked up a bit over the past three games, though. He’s decent for deeper IDP leagues.

Starks sits in similar territory. His first career INT last week produced his biggest fantasy score to date. But his numbers have looked a lot like Gilman’s otherwise.

A significantly improved Baltimore offense with Jackson back could also help present more opportunities for the entire secondary (by pressuring opponents into more passing).

What About the Post-Oweh Edge?

Baltimore’s pass rush has been a problem all season, which surely factored heavily into their willingness to sell Oweh. (He has never lived up to his Round 1 draft status.)

The team has yet to log more than 2 sacks in a game. But three of the four 2-sack games have come in the past four contests.

Despite playing his last Ravens game in Week 5, Oweh remains the season leader in total pressures among Baltimore edge guys (at just 12). Kyle Van Noy’s next but has delivered pressure at a much lower rate than either of the past two years.

Second-round rookie Mike Green has seen his playing time grow and registered the first 1.5 sacks of his career the past two games. But PFF has credited him with just 10 total pressures through eight games.

Tavius Robinson’s on IR (foot) until at least late November. And the team will miss Nnamdi Madabuike for the rest of the year.

Don’t be surprised if the Ravens acquire an edge type by Tuesday’s NFL trade deadline.

Now Let’s Talk Buffalo’s Annoying Defense

Why annoying? Primarily because of what the Bills did at LB last week.

Terrel Bernard reached Sunday questionable after an ankle issue limited him in practice all week. But he was active … and then played zero snaps. If that plan got reported before kickoff, I didn’t see it.

With Matt Milano (pectoral) inactive, Buffalo started Shaq Thompson, Dorian Williams, and Joe Andreessen. Thompson led the LB playing time, with Williams close behind and Andreessen filling only a part-time role.

Then came this segment during the week calling Bernard’s healthy role into question:

Sal Capaccio speaks on the interesting situation with the Bills linebackers as Terrel Bernard's starting role may be in question! pic.twitter.com/IyvgmYqgE2

— WGR 550 (@WGR550) October 30, 2025

Bernard’s playing time this season hasn’t indicated any role decline. We’ll see if that changes going forward.

It shouldn’t this week, at least. Thompson’s now out with a hamstring injury. And Williams is in his third year with the team. He has spent that time aligning behind Bernard and Milano.

Bills D Features Some Other Differences

Buffalo’s getting Bernard and Milano back. But it also continues to deal with S Taylor Rapp’s injury, while getting some key pieces back up front.

• Rapp landed on IR ahead of last week' s win over the Panthers. As expected, Jordan Poyer took his spot (next to Cole Bishop). The blowout victory made it tough to fully gauge his playing time going forward, though. No Bills defender played more than 89% of snaps. Poyer played 74%.
• Edge Michael Hoecht made his Bills debut with 1.5 sacks and a forced fumble in that contest. He signed with Buffalo in free agency but served a six-game PED suspension to open the year. I’m being careful about overrating that performance against a weak Carolina offense with its backup QB. But 6 total pressures among 23 pass rushes and 65.6% playing time in his first appearance is pretty encouraging.
• DT Larry Ogunjobi also debuted in Week 8 after serving his own six-game PED ban. He played 48% of the snaps to rank second at the position among Bills. His return got more important when DT Ed Oliver tore a biceps to end his season. Ogunjobi hasn’t been much of an IDP factor, though. He reached 7 sacks for the 2021 Bengals but hasn’t otherwise posted more than 3 in a season since 2019.

Eagles Debut Big Change at LB

I didn’t expect Nakobe Dean’s return to damage Jihaad Campbell’s role too much. But it turns out I was wrong.

Dean ramped up from 45% playing time in Week 7 to 63.5% and his first start last week against the Giants. That, of course, comes after he sat out the first five weeks while recovering from the patellar tendon tear suffered in the playoffs, then played just six special-teams snaps in his first action of the year.

Campbell’s snap share dipped slightly in Week 7, but just to a (then) season-low 87%, after falling in the 90-97% range over the previous six contests. That tumbled to 40% last week.

That’s an odd turn for a first-round rookie who has seemed to play at least fine. It’s also enough to make Campbell cuttable in redraft leagues.

Dean, on the other hand, will still need to play more to become an IDP option.

Dump This Saints LB

Another LB you can give up on is New Orleans’ Pete Werner. The veteran hit 88% or better with his snap shares in three of the first five games. But he has fallen out of favor over the past three weeks.

Werner has gone 59%, 54%, and 41% over those three games. But there’s been no single LB elevating his role to take over that spot.

Long term, we like the upside on rookie Danny Stutsman. But the fourth-round pick hasn’t played more than 16 snaps in a game yet. And he dipped from 23% playing time in Week 7 to just 14% last time out.

Jets Return One LB, Keep Secret on Another

I didn’t include Jets LB Quincy Williams among this week’s IDP waiver wire targets because of the Jets’ Week 9 bye. But he returned from a four-week injury to play 88% of the snaps in the win over the Bengals.

Williams tallied 7 tackles (3 solo, 1 tackle for loss) and 2 passes defensed. He’s now got four of those in just four appearances this year.

Williams’ playing time led Jets LBs in that game because the team benched Jamien Sherwood for the first quarter. Why? We’re probably not gonna find out.

“I’m keeping that between me and him and the team,” HC Aaron Glenn said afterward.

Expect Sherwood to get back to normal full playing time coming out of the bye. He played every snap from the second quarter on last week, according to PFF.

Weekly Payton Wilson Tracker

Let’s close this one out by starting a weekly playing time tracker for Steelers LB Payton Wilson, who has gotten more than enough coverage in my IDP writing this year.

From Week 1 on, here are the weekly snap shares:

• Week 1: 87.5%
• Week 2: 86%
• Week 3: 47%
• Week 4: 87%
• Week 5: Bye
• Week 6: 66%
• Week 7: 43%
• Week 8: 67%

He got a boost in this week’s LB rankings when Pittsburgh ruled LB Cole Holcomb out Saturday because of an illness.

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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.