5 Impact IDP Rookie Difference-Makers

Fantasy expert Dr. Roto is convinced these talented rookie defensive players will provide an immediate return in IDP fantasy leagues.

Not every fantasy owner has embraced Individual Defensive Position (IDP) leagues, but as someone who plays in a few, I can tell you how much fun they are. It really helps you learn about the defensive schemes that each team uses. 

For those of you who play in IDP leagues, here are five rookies who I think could make an immediate impact in your league this upcoming season.

DE Chase Young, Washington

Young comes to the league from Ohio State, a program which has produced some of the best defensive talent in the NFL. Young can make an immediate impact similar to Von Miller, where he comes off the edge to create havoc on opposing quarterbacks. He uses his exceptional speed to keep blockers off-balance, and he is quick enough to get to running backs before they reach the line of scrimmage. If your league places a lot of importance on sacks, Young is your man for sure. He could lead the league in sacks within a year or two. 

DT Derrick Brown, Carolina Panthers

Very rarely do we hear the words “generational talent” bandied about when it comes to rookies, but I have heard some experts use those words about Brown. Brown still has to work on his pass rush, and I expect that he will see a lot of double teams due to the Panthers’ weak defensive line, but he is a beast against the run. Defensive tackle usually is a challenging position to fill in IDP leagues. After Aaron Donald and DeForest Buckner, there is a significant drop-off. Brown could fill that gap nicely. 

LB Isaiah Simmons, Arizona Cardinals

As of right now, some experts expect Simmons to be a linebacker, while others think he might be better off as a safety. Defensive coordinator Vance Joseph is excited about Simmons and is going to start him at linebacker. He knows that he is an impact player who needs to be accounted for no matter where he plays. The beauty of Simmons is that he can be used in multiple ways: he had eight sacks last season for Clemson, but he also can play in coverage and is a sure tackler. Simmons is exactly the type of player I love to own in IDP leagues as he can do a bit of everything. 

EDGE K’Lavon Chaisson, Jacksonville Jaguars

Chaisson is the type of pass rusher who can make an immediate impact in the NFL due to his incredible speed and first step, which regularly beats most offensive linemen. Chaisson is still improving as a run defender, and I expect that he will make great strides there in the coming years. The real reason he makes this list is that the Jaguars need almost everything on defense, so he should see plenty of snaps as a rookie. 

LB Kenneth Murray, Los Angeles Chargers

In today’s NFL, it is tough to find running backs who can play all three downs. It is also increasingly hard to find linebackers who play three downs as well. Some linebackers are better against the run, while others excel against the pass. What I like so much about Murray is that he can do it all. In college, he displayed a terrific football IQ and was a demon going from sideline-to-sideline to make tackles. His intensity should be an excellent fit for the Chargers who have lacked that type of player since Junior Seau. 

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Author: Dr. Roto

The NCAA Needs a Universal One-Time Transfer Rule—Just Not Right Now

In these uncertain times, kicking the can down the road for future change was actually a smart move.

JT Daniels put his name in the NCAA transfer portal last month, making the onetime starting USC quarterback the hottest commodity on the college football market. Undoubtedly, he was picturing himself as some other FBS program’s starter in the fall (if there is a fall season). There were plenty of ardent potential suitors.

But what looked like a fast track to potential stardom elsewhere ran into an NCAA roadblock this week—and not just for Daniels. For every football and basketball player in the transfer portal.

Before the issue is officially voted on this month by the Division I Council, the NCAA’s various deliberative bodies seemingly put a hold on legislation that would lead to the creation of a uniform transfer policy that granted immediate eligibility. Its Board of Directors recommended against allowing all D-I athletes a one-time transfer without sitting out a year at their new school “at this time.”

That’s bad news for Daniels and others who were judging the winds of change and banking on that legislation going through. Yet it’s still a sign of progress—more progress than many had envisioned—toward breakthrough freedom of movement for athletes in the years to come. Just not right now, in the midst of a pandemic.

Kicking the can down the road is rarely a prudent decision-making strategy, but that was the smart thing for the NCAA to do at the moment. A sea change in the rules on the fly this spring is not something most schools are prepared to deal with adequately, especially in the transfer department. There is too much upheaval and uncertainty already. As U.S. Rep Donna Shalala told my colleague Ross Dellenger, “California says they might not hold athletics this fall. What if 35 players transfer from USC to go east?”

Thus Daniels likely is faced with two options: stay at USC or transfer and sit out. Neither are what he probably wanted, but neither are terrible. Like every other college student in America, his 2020 spring hasn’t worked out the way he hoped it would.

When the time is appropriate—like later this calendar year, or January 2021—the NCAA can move from the smart decision of the moment to the overall right thing to do. They can adopt uniform transfer rules for every athlete in every sport, and that uniform rule should allow those athletes a one-time transfer with immediate eligibility.

Currently, there are five Division I sports that require transfers to sit out a season: football, men’s basketball, women’s basketball, baseball and men’s ice hockey. The rest of them allow transfers to go where they want, when they want, and be eligible to play.

This is, of course, a classic NCAA incongruity. We have a rule that applies to some athletes and not others. It is assuredly not coincidental that the sports prohibiting immediate eligibility are the ones that produce the most revenue and have the most lucrative professional opportunities for athletes after college. Where the money flows, the freedom of movement stops and the institutional control increases.

But is there a single good reason why dozens of sports function within an instant-eligibility transfer model, and five cannot? Why is Michigan State coach Tom Izzo declaring the end of college basketball civilization as we know it if the one-time transfer rule is passed, while members of the Spartans’ cross country, field hockey, golf, gymnastics, rowing, soccer, swimming, tennis, track and wrestling teams are coming and going without restraint?

A little consistency isn’t too much to ask. And neither is consistency that empowers the athletes instead of the schools.

The eternal talking point is equal opportunities for athletes and regular students alike. That was a driving force behind the landmark move toward name, image and likeness legislation that gained traction this week — if a cellist on campus can make money for that talent, why can’t an athlete? Well, regular students aren’t required to sit out a year when they move from one college to another. Nobody is sending the average history major to a waiver committee to judge whether he can still study history next semester at State after leaving Tech.

Coaches, as we all know, certainly are not required to sit out, either. Basketball coach Steve Forbes just left East Tennessee State for Wake Forest—a great hire by the Demon Deacons and a no-brainer move for Forbes. He was hired Thursday and started work Thursday. But Forbes’s players would need a waiver from the NCAA to follow him and play at Wake, and Wake players wishing to move on would be under similar constraints.

Armed with a clever enough lawyer, those players might be able to mount a case and finagle a waiver for immediate eligibility. Sometimes the wavier claims are legitimate, and sometimes they are trumped-up excuses. It’s been the NCAA’s job to distinguish between them, and results—both waivers approved and denied—have routinely generated outrage.

With a one-time transfer rule in place, the lawyering would be all but removed from the process. Player chooses to move from School A to School B, it happens, he/she plays, everyone deals with it. If a player wants to transfer a second time, save the legal fees and sob stories and sit out a year.

All that said, there is a transfer epidemic in college athletics. Basketball especially has become a transient sport. And there probably would be a spike to even greater levels if/when this rule passes.

But like every other potential change that lessens the control of the schools over the athletes, the prophesied disaster is unlikely to happen. Especially if the rule requires sitting out when an athlete transfers a second time. Everyone will survive.

There is evidence that transferring is at cross purposes with graduating. Credits get lost along the way, majors are dumbed down to enhance eligibility, etc. Those are not insignificant concerns. But it smacks of false posturing to worry about the academic impact of transferring for some athletes within an athletic department while the majority have immediate eligibility freedoms. Do the wrestlers’ academics matter less?

Nor, in fact, is sitting out a year necessarily a terrible thing. Players trying to maximize their pro potential can put in work on their skills and increase strength and athleticism. Getting ahead—or back up to speed—in the classroom is a potential benefit as well.

But creating rules that limit individual freedoms of some athletes and not others is wildly inconsistent. Get everyone on the same page, and let that page be a one-time transfer without restrictions. It may not happen in time to help JT Daniels and others this spring, but it would be the cleanest and fairest method in the future.

More From SI.com Team Sites:

NCAA Fails to Do the Right Thing Regarding Transfers
LSU Coach Will Wade Reacts to NCAA’s NIL News
Trevor Lawrence: The Face of the College Athlete?

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Author: Pat Forde

Charles Aranguiz Signs 3-Year Extension With Bayer Leverkusen

The Chilean international’s contract was due to expire at the end of the season.

LEVERKUSEN, Germany (AP) — Charles Aránguiz signed a three-year contract extension at Bayer Leverkusen less than two months before his existing deal was due to expire, the German club said Friday.

The 31-year-old Chile midfielder would have been a high-profile free agent amid the uncertainty over when or if seasons can be concluded during the coronavirus pandemic.

Aránguiz said the new deal is “the continuation of a special relationship” with Leverkusen, where he’s played since 2015.

“This season would be good if it hopefully gets going again soon,” he added.

Leverkusen is fifth in the Bundesliga standings as the league aims to return from suspension next month.

Aránguiz has played 27 times in all competitions for Leverkusen this season despite a series of minor injuries and has assisted on three goals in five games in the group stage of the Champions League.

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Author: Associated Press

Automatic Labs shuts down its vehicle-tracking service, citing the COVID-19 pandemic

Automatic Pro

Automatic has announced that it’ll be abruptly shutting down on May 28th because “the COVID-19 pandemic has adversely impacted our business.” As such, the company is discontinuing its Automatic service and recommending that customers remove the connected car adapters from their vehicles and recycle them.

As the company explains in an FAQ, “with fewer customers purchasing and leasing vehicles and drivers on the road, we unfortunately do not see a path forward for our business.” That’s despite being owned by SiriusXM, which managed to beat its Q1 earnings this week in spite of the global pandemic.

Automatic says that it’ll continue to offer its services for customers until the 28th as usual and will be giving customers the chance to…

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Author: Chaim Gartenberg

This Day in Sports History: Barry Bonds Hits First Home Run into San Francisco Bay

Barry Bonds splashed the San Francisco Giants’ first home run into McCovey Cove on May 1, 2000.

Giants great Barry Bonds launched the first-ever “splash hit” into the San Francisco Bay 20 years ago today.

On May 1, 2000, Bonds hit a three-run home run in the sixth inning off Mets pitcher Rich Rodriguez that stretched beyond right field of Pacific Bell Park. It was the first of many baseballs to splash in the bay’s waters.

Bonds holds the Giants’ record for “splash hits” with 35 total in his career. The next closest to his record are Pablo Sandoval and Brandon Belt, who each have splashed eight home runs. Belt recorded the latest “splash hit” on Aug. 29, 2019, making for a total of 81 by Giants players since the park’s opening. A total of 45 home runs have been hit into the bay by visiting teams, and no right-handed batter has ever accomplished the feat with an opposite-field home run.

Pacific Bell Park, now known as Oracle Park, became the Giants’ new home starting in the 2000 season. A “splash hits” counter was placed in the stadium at the start of the year and moved to “001” upon Bonds’ first home run into the bay.

Soon after the opening of the Giants’ new ballpark, the section of the San Francisco Bay that lies outside right field was affectionately named “McCovey Cove” after former Giants first baseman Willie McCovey. The name was suggested by two sportswriters, Mark Purdy and Leonard Koppett, and a large bronze statue of McCovey stands at the center McCovey Point near the stadium at China Basin Park.

Bonds’ first “splash hit” in 2000 ended up with a fan who was waiting on an inflatable raft in San Francisco Bay. Throughout the years, fans have continued to come by boat and kayak and wait in McCovey Cove with fishing nets to try to secure a “splash hit” ball. The gathering echos how many fans watched Giants games during McCovery’s era outside right field at Candlestick Park before the upper deck was extended.

In his 22 seasons in Major League Baseball, Bonds hit an all-time record 762 career home runs. He spent the first seven years of his career with the Pittsburgh Pirates before he left the team to sign the largest deal in baseball history at the time. Bonds followed in the footsteps of his father, Bobby, and joined the San Francisco Giants during the 1993 season, signing a six-year, $43.75 million contract.

Despite being a seven-time MVP, 14-time All-Star and eight-time Gold Glove winner, Bonds never won a World Series trophy in his career. The Giants reached the World Series during the 2002 season but fell in seven games to the Anaheim Angels.

The year prior to the Giants’ World Series loss, Bonds set the MLB record for most home runs in a single season with 73, three more than his closest competitor in Mark McGwire. Giancarlo Stanton holds the record among active players with 59 home runs hit during the 2017 season. Bonds also holds the MLB record for most career walks with 2,558.

Though Bonds holds many accolades in MLB history, he has yet to be inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame due to his involvement in baseball’s steroid era. Two months after his last career game in 2007, Bonds was indicted by a federal grand jury in San Francisco on counts of perjury and obstruction of justice and was accused of lying about his recollection of taking steroids. After pleading not guilty to the charges in 2008, Bonds’ counts of perjury were dropped but he was sentenced to two years of probation, 30 days of home confinement, 250 hours of community service and fined $4,000 after he was found guilty of obstruction of justice. In 2015, the obstruction of justice count was overturned and the case was dropped by federal prosecutors following an appeal.

Bonds has two years remaining to have his name included on the BBWAA’s Hall of Fame ballot. He received 241 votes on the 2020 ballot, with 298 needed for election.

Bonds splashed his 35th and final home run into McCovey Cove on Aug. 8, 2007 against Nationals pitcher Tim Redding. He had his No. 25 retired by the Giants on Aug. 11, 2018. 

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Author: Elizabeth Swinton

At Home with Pro Skateboarder Nyjah Huston During Quarantine

With the Olympics postponed, skateboarding’s biggest star Nyjah Huston is setting his sights on 2021, resetting his career calendar and staying in shape the best in can at his Laguna Beach, Calif., home. He invited SI in to photograph (from an appropriate distance) glimpses of his new daily routine and shared how he’s adjusting to life at home.

Nyjah Huston thought he’d spend this spring prepping for his—and his sport’s—breakout moment: the debut of skateboarding as an Olympic sport at the Summer Games in Tokyo. That moment is now on hold because of the coronavirus pandemic, as most things in sports and society are. So Huston, a four-time world champion and skateboarding’s biggest star, is setting his sights on 2021, resetting his career calendar and staying in shape the best in can at his Laguna Beach, Calif., home. He invited SI in to photograph (from an appropriate distance) glimpses of his new daily routine and shared how he’s adjusting to the quarantine life at home.

This interview has been lighted edited and condensed for clarity.

Jamie Lisanti: You’ve been quarantined at your house in Laguna Beach, which you recently bought. When you first moved in, did you have to create it into a space that felt like it was for you?

Nyjah Huston: Yeah, when I first bought the house, it had all these like weird colors and weird themes to it, and this weird green kind of granite, marble stuff. And it was just totally different than what it looks like now. Even when I bought it, my mom was like you just have to picture what it’s gonna look like after we make it what it can be. And I listened to her on that and we made it into a good place. I love it.

JL: Now that we’ve all been quarantined and forced to spend a lot more time in our homes, I’m sure you’re happy that you have this place that’s more your style. What do you appreciate the most about your house now?

NH: I definitely appreciate my gym the most because I am totally the type of person that just like has a hard time relaxing. And whenever I don’t have anything to do or I’m bored around the house, I’ll just be in there for like a couple hours sometimes, just like stretching or working out and just taking care of the body. So I’m really, really stoked on that.

JL: How has your training and fitness routine changed since you’ve been quarantined at home?

NH: I think I have been in the gym more actually. And I’ve been I’ve been better at stretching. I’ve been stretching a lot more. It’s important cause I’m getting up there now, I’m 25 now, not the young one out there anymore. So I have to take care of myself.

JL: I think sometimes people don’t understand how you train for your sport, because it is different than more traditional sports, like basketball or football. Are you out there every day on the board?

NH: I don’t skate every day. I wish I could. I definitely would if my body could still handle that. But now it’s really just whenever I’m feeling good enough to. I’ve had a ongoing knee injury the past like eight years now. So I’m just always kind of battling with that and trying to try to keep that thing as healthy and painless as possible. But skating is really hard on the body. And I mean, even if you just take a few falls, sometimes it can take you out for a couple days. It’s really just about trying to try to stay healthy at this point and skating as much as possible, obviously, but also be strategic about it and not pushing myself too hard to get hurt and stuff because we have important years coming up with the Olympics and stuff. So I have to stay healthy out here.

JL: When the Tokyo 2020 Olympics were still planned as scheduled, were you getting prepared in a different way than you would for Street League?

NH: Well, it’s hard with balancing skateboarding, like how I would normally go out and skate with my friends and film stuff for videos for Instagram, and then balancing that with contests, because you always have to keep on your mind like, Oh, like I want to try this trick right now. I want to film this. I want to challenge myself trying this. But is it worth it? Or like, am I gonna get hurt? That’s always on the back of your mind. So it’s really it’s hard sometimes because someone like myself, I always want to be out there like going for big stuff and challenging myself. But lately, starting this year, I have been more careful than ever with the Olympics coming up and stuff. And it sucks that it got pushed back a whole year now, so I kind of have to have another whole year with that same mindset of being strategic and staying safe.

JL: Are you working on certain techniques or incorporating any specific fitness training as you prepare for 2021 now?

NH: No, it’s really the same stuff. For me, it’s mainly doing good workouts for my knees, strengthening other things around my legs that can keep as much of that pressure off of my injury and just a lot of physical therapy. I have a place I go to down in Newport a couple of times a week. So that helps me out a lot. Just trying to just stay healthy and just practice as much as possible. I’m really thankful in these times, to have my own private skate park. It’s like 20, 30 minutes away from my house in San Clemente. So I’ve been skating there most of the time by myself. I’m so stoked I have that place because skating is something that if you don’t skate for like a couple weeks or a couple of months, like you feel completely different when you get back on your board. It takes a couple days to even start feeling normal again. So it’s really something you gotta keep up on.

JL: What’s your daily routine like now? Is it pretty similar to before, just because you have that private skate park?

NH: I would say it’s changed a little, but definitely not as much as I feel like most people have been affected out there, and I’m really thankful for that, for having that skate park. I don’t know what I would be doing without it. But I mean, it still sucks not being able to go skating everywhere. I love going to around the public parks and just skating around the kids and stuff with them and obviously going out with my friends and going out and hitting the streets and stuff. So I still have to be cautious.

I normally get up around 8:30. I’ll have a little something to eat. Just some avocado toast or some cereal or something. Or sometimes just a protein shake when I get up and then I’ll go in my gym. I’ll stretch for like 30 minutes to an hour. Then eat like actual breakfast at home or order something, obviously, we all love Postmates in these times. Then, I get a good workout in after that. And then I normally go to my skate park if I’m feeling up for it. And then aside from that, I’m just like chilling at home, hanging out with my roommate, she’s one of my best friends. Physical therapy sometimes. And yeah, that’s basically it.

JL: What will competing in the Olympics mean for you and for the skateboarding community in general?

NH: It means a lot to me. I’ve been really excited about it for a while now and it just sucks. I was like just hyping my myself up so much this past year. Like it’s finally happening, like skating is finally in the Olympics after so long. I’m stoked. And then, of course, the one year it gets in there it has to get pushed back a year, which is super unfortunate. But of course, I understand the circumstances, but it’s just another year now and I’m so excited for it. I’ve got another year to go out and change and be on top of my game. I think it is I think it’s definitely a cool thing for the sport. I think it’s going to be a new, exciting thing for people to watch in the Olympics, even for people that don’t know about skateboarding, I feel like a lot of people will get to know about it after watching it and kind of get turned on to it just because all those contests are really fun to watch. It always comes down to the last tricks and that’s really exciting. So yeah, I’m super stoked for it, stoked to see that skateboarding finally, finally got in there. I feel like we deserve it.

JL: I wanted to ask you about the eBay auction that you have. Tell me a little bit more about that and why that’s important to you, especially now.

NH: Yeah, for sure. I’m just so teamed up with eBay for an auction for Feeding America. Obviously, a lot of people are struggling right now. A lot of people are out of work, out of jobs, out of school. So I think keeping everyone fed is obviously the most important thing, you know, keeping people strong and healthy in these times. So 100% of proceeds will benefit Feeding America’s COVID-19 response fund and eBay will match dollar for dollar all proceeds with this campaign. It goes through May 7th. And there’s some cool items in there. There’s my winning board from I guess it’s going to be the only contest this year. It was a couple months ago, it’s called Tampa Pro, it’s a legendary skate contest. And I ended up winning that one a couple months ago. So I threw my winning board in there. There’s some other used skateboards, there’s some used signature skate shoes of mine with Nike. Yeah, so check it out. 

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Author: Jamie Lisanti