Latest news with #IDP
New York Times
a day ago
- Sport
- New York Times
2025 IDP rankings and draft strategy: The Travis Hunter dilemma and more
Well, folks, it's time for this guy to try to convince fantasy managers to ditch boring and irrelevant team defenses for the additional strategy and excitement of individual defensive player (IDP) leagues. The notion that IDP leagues are too complicated is poppycock (poppycock I say!) — just as we draft wide receivers and running backs who score points for yardage and touchdowns, in IDP, we simply draft defensive linemen, linebackers and defensive backs who are awarded points for tackles, sacks and interceptions. Advertisement Yes, the draft is longer — but since when do fantasy managers hate draft day? Don't let fear of a new format stop you from having more fun playing fantasy football. With just a few strategy tips and a decent set of rankings, you can roll into your first (or 15th) IDP draft, kick some butt and take some names. The tips and rankings are forthcoming. Whether they are good or not is … I'm sorry. Knowing a league's scoring is one of the most fundamental concepts in fantasy football, yet managers often ignore it. In IDP leagues, it's important to know two things about the scoring. The first is the ratio between the scoring for tackles and big plays like sacks and interceptions. If a league leans toward tackles (a ratio of 3:1 or less), then high-end linebackers are Gwen Stefani, and everyone else is another member of No Doubt who literally no one remembers. If a league slants toward big plays (4:1 or higher), then edge rushers and ballhawk defensive backs get a boost. The second is how the top IDPs score relative to their offensive counterparts. Elite defensive players often score on par with a high-end WR3, which can hint at when top defenders will start coming off draft boards. If players like Indianapolis Colts linebacker Zaire Franklin crack the top-12 overall? Well then, it's on like Donkey Kong. It's the magic question — the one I am asked more often than any other by fantasy managers new to the format. Unfortunately, there's no pat answer. In the Huddle IDP Expert League (a long-standing IDP league with a fairly standard setup), the first defensive player (Baltimore Ravens linebacker Roquan Smith) was drafted with the first pick of Round 6 last year. But in the King's Classic Dick Butkus Division (a league where the IDP scoring is, um, juiced), four defenders were taken in Round 1 in 2024. Advertisement In a fairly standard IDP league (two starters at defensive lineman, linebacker, defensive back and maybe a flex spot), the top defenders will usually start being drafted in Rounds 4-6. That's not especially specific, but there's a silver lining — you don't have to set the pace on defense to field a solid lineup of IDPs. I'm rarely the manager to break that seal. After the first defensive player is selected, a handful of other elite options will trickle off the board. Then, after a round or so, the first real run on IDPs will take place. Get in on that run, and it's all good. You'll have your centerpiece. There was a time not that long ago when the keyword with defensive linemen was scarcity — with so many edge rushers like T.J. Watt of the Pittsburgh Steelers classified as linebackers, there weren't enough reliable starters up front to go around in many formats. That second starter's spot could be problematic if you weren't aggressive at the position. However, the advent of 'True Position' (thus including players like Watt with the defensive linemen) has changed that dynamic. The player pool along the defensive line is significantly deeper than it once was. A compelling case can still be made for rostering at least one high-end defensive lineman — the weekly consistency they provide can be welcome at a position where there can be quite a bit of variance. But IDP drafters can show some patience at the DL2 slot while hammering away at linebacker without creating an issue up front. The first overall pick in the 2022 draft, Walker has yet to have a truly gonzo season, but he has topped 50 tackles with double-digit sacks each of the past two years — including career-highs in stops (61) and sacks (10.5) a year ago. Those numbers were good enough for a DL9 finish in The Godfather's Default IDP Scoring — yet Walker will often be available well into DL2 territory on draft day. Advertisement Hendrickson is rapidly nearing the tipping point between 'risky pick' and 'stay far away.' Yes, Hendrickson has posted 17.5 sacks and top-10 IDP numbers each of the past two seasons. But he is on the wrong side of 30, has never posted big tackle numbers and remains embroiled in the kind of nasty contract impasse that wrecked Haason Reddick's 2024 campaign. Young was my pick in this very column in this spot a season ago, and given that he finished as DL24 in 2024, it was a 'win' in a column short on them (What? I already said I'm sorry). But while Jared Verse is being drafted among the top-10 defensive linemen in some leagues, Young is an afterthought. He has tallied at least 60 tackles and 7.5 sacks in both NFL seasons. That's the kind of 'depth' IDP managers should crave. In most IDP leagues, the linebacker position is like running backs in fantasy in the 1990s. Like Godzilla rampaging through Tokyo (After about the third time? Move. It's his island). The linebackers are generally the highest-scoring defensive players and the most consistent, thanks to their big tackle numbers. Simply put, you can never have too many good ones. The flip side of 'True Position' is that for every linebacker who switched designations, the pool at the position became shallower. Those big-play edge rushers were more inconsistent, but still, the questions start piling up fairly quickly at linebacker now. The players to target in this era of the nickel as the NFL's base defense are the 'every-down' linebackers — players who rack up snap shares north of 90% and don't leave the field in obvious passing situations. If that linebacker wears the 'green dot' helmet communicator, all the better. Attack the position with at least two of the first three defensive picks. Those 'three-down' players are valuable commodities. Someone explain why Sherwood is falling as far as he is in drafts. Explain it to me like I'm 5 years old. All Sherwood did last year was lead the entire NFL in solo tackles with 98. He ranked ninth in fantasy points among linebackers. He was just handed a three-year, $45 million extension and will be New York's 'green dot' linebacker again in 2025. And yet he's available outside the top-20 at his position with regularity. Advertisement To be clear, Bolton is an excellent NFL linebacker with three 100-stop seasons in four years. In 2022, he posted 108 solos, a gonzo 180 total tackles and finished third among all linebackers in fantasy points. But if last year's so-so numbers are any indication, Bolton's role in Steve Spagnuolo's defense now is more about making an NFL impact than racking up stats. Roberts garnered some early offseason buzz as the proverbial last man standing at linebacker in Las Vegas, but after the team signed Germaine Pratt, many IDP managers just sighed and relegated Roberts back to the scrap heap. But as things stand right now, Roberts is still wearing the dot in Sin City, and if that carries into the regular season, he'll destroy his modest asking price. In IDP leagues, defensive backs are two things. The first is plentiful — as so many teams play with five or more defensive backs, it is far and away the deepest IDP position. The second is unpredictable — DB is easily the position with the most variance from year to year. The top-10 at the beginning of the year and the top-10 at season's end are very different lists. Every. Single. Year. Some players have shown they can be relatively reliable IDP options over multiple years, but it's a short list. Big names will fall flat on their faces statistically in 2025. There will be surprise standouts who emerge from nowhere to post top-10 numbers. It happens every single season. Given that, patience is generally a virtue with defensive backs. Fill out the defensive line and linebackers. Maybe even add a reserve. And then target upside plays late. If they hit, jackpot. If they don't, startable DBs will be available on the waiver wire well into the regular season in most formats. Generally speaking, safeties who spend a lot of time near the line of scrimmage are the players to target, and cornerbacks are wildly inconsistent options best avoided unless required in your league. Advertisement With that said, there might be one massive exception this year. I have already written at length about Hunter here at The Athletic. Here's the Cliffs Notes version. If Hunter plays predominantly wide receiver (the more the better), is half the talent we think he is and has positional eligibility as a defensive back, he could be to defensive backs (and even IDPs overall) what Travis Kelce was to tight ends in his heyday. That's right. I said it. *If Hunter is DB-eligible From an NFL perspective, Cross isn't a great safety or even an especially good one in coverage. But folks who view the signing of Camryn Bynum as evidence of Cross' IDP demise are missing a crucial point. That Bynum is so much better than Cross in coverage could easily mean more snaps in the box for Cross. There's a disconnect between NFL-good and IDP-good at defensive back. Take advantage of it. This has nothing to do with Baker as a player. He's one of the rare defensive backs who has shown the ability to consistently do damage, including a staggering 164 total tackles last year — the most of any defender in the NFC. But that season will be nigh impossible to duplicate, and even if Baker is a top-five defensive back again, he's being drafted at his IDP ceiling. After bouncing around the NFL for the first five seasons of his career, Elliott appears to have found a home with team No. 4 — the 28-year-old got an extension from the Steelers after recording a career-high 108 total tackles in his first year in Pittsburgh in 2024. That production was good enough for a top-10 fantasy finish in fantasy points per game, and with Minkah Fitzpatrick gone, Elliott's opportunity should get a bump this season. As always, this list of the top 100 IDPs in 2025 isn't a 'draft by numbers' list where IDP managers should just take the highest player listed on the board when they decide to make a selection on the defensive side of the ball. That sort of rigid draft strategy is a bad idea. It's a barometer for how the positions stack up against one another — nothing more. Advertisement Draft flow, league scoring and roster requirements matter, of course. Flexibility while drafting is as crucial to success in IDP as when drafting offensive players. But there's a relatively simple blueprint to a solid defense. Get after the linebackers — a pair of the top-15 at the position are good, and three inside the top-20 (if one drops) is all the better. Have one defensive lineman around whom you can anchor the position. Get Zen with the defensive backs and wait for late values — unless you want to pay the loophole tax that comes with Travis Hunter. We'll all be seeing how that goes together, y'all. Anyone who says they know for certain is either psychic or fibbing. If you do that, your team should be in every IDP draft, no matter how many you have participated in. And as IDP veterans know, once you're in it, there's no escape. You'll be at the cool kids' table. *If Hunter is DB-eligible **If Hunter is not DB-eligible Gary Davenport ('The Godfather of IDP') is a two-time Fantasy Sports Writers Association Football Writer of the Year. Follow him on X at @IDPGodfather. (Photo of Travis Hunter: James Gilbert / Getty Images)
The Star
2 days ago
- General
- The Star
Decades of faith and hard work transform Sibu's Hindu temple.
A ONCE modest house of worship has now blossomed into a grand cultural and spiritual landmark for the Hindu community in Sibu. The newly completed Sri Maha Mariamman Temple, built at a cost of RM2mil, stands not just as a place of prayer but as a powerful symbol of unity, heritage and hope for generations to come. The temple's origins date back to 1920, when it began as a humble hut. In 1971, it moved into a double-storey building donated by the late Soma Sundram. That house and its surrounding land were generously gifted for religious use – a gesture that laid the foundation for the temple's enduring legacy. Manogaran (fifth from left) leading a mini-procession around the temple. Today, after more than a decade of tireless work, community support and government funding, the temple has undergone a complete transformation. Temple president Manogaran Krishnasamy, who took over its management in 2012, described the journey as both challenging and deeply rewarding. 'This temple is built on new ground, literally and spiritually. It is the first Hindu temple in Sibu constructed under the Integrated Development Plan (IDP) for the Indian community,' said Manogaran, a retired police sergeant. 'It follows traditional Hindu customs, from the statues to the prayers – it mirrors what you would see in Peninsular Malaysia or even India.' The transformation didn't happen overnight. A large crowd of devotees at the consecration of the temple. 'It took years of fundraising, administrative work and sheer determination. Between 2018 and 2024, major construction and decorative work was completed with support from the Sarawak government and the Unit for Other Religions (Unifor), which contributed nearly RM400,000. Further help came from local philanthropists and timber businessmen who donated wooden materials valued at over RM120,000. 'Without the support of our elected representatives and the local Chinese and Iban communities, this temple would not exist in its current form,' Manogaran said. 'I am especially grateful to Premier Tan Sri Abang Johari Openg and Nangka assemblyman Datuk Dr Annuar Rapaee for their belief in our vision.' The temple consecration ceremony is steeped in tradition. Initially, 10 skilled workers from India were involved in the project but as it neared completion, only four remained. 'Each worker earns a salary ranging from RM3,000 to RM4,000. 'Yes, they are skilled workers, which is why they all have certificates,' Manogaran explained. He said 16 stone sculptures were brought in from India at a cost of nearly RM22,000 for transport, while 63 statues were built on site by the specialist workers. The temple was consecrated on July 7 in a ceremony that featured 48 days of prayers and the participation of over 30 priests from India and Peninsular Malaysia. Looking ahead, the temple committee has set its sights on an even more ambitious goal: to hold Sibu's first-ever Thaipusam celebration next year. 'In Penang, Thaipusam draws people from all over the world. It's more than a religious event – it becomes a multicultural gathering,' said Manogaran. Musical instruments formed an integral part of the consecration ceremony. 'We hope to replicate that spirit here in Sibu. Our vision is to make it a memorable and inclusive festival that also draws tourists.' Plans are already under way for a local religious procession, with hopes that it could evolve into an annual cultural highlight for Sibu. While traditional chariots pulled by bulls – as seen in Peninsular Malaysia – are impractical in Sibu, the committee is exploring creative alternatives such as airport trolleys to symbolically carry the deity during the parade. In addition to Thaipusam, the temple plans to celebrate other major Hindu festivals like Navaratri, ensuring year-round spiritual activity. The temple is open daily from 7am to 10am and 6pm to 10pm, with a full-time priest from Peninsular Malaysia stationed there to conduct daily rituals. A boy being lifted up by his parents to witness the divine blessings of Goddess Mariamman at the temple. In time, there are plans to open the temple to members of the public with fixed visiting hours. Beyond its religious role, the temple also aspires to serve the wider community. Manogaran hopes to raise funds for a temple van, which could be used to transport devotees or assist in charitable work such as ferrying the sick to hospitals. Still, challenges remain as further work is needed to improve the temple's uneven grounds – but Manogaran remains optimistic. 'Many people have served this community for decades but couldn't achieve this. I've been here just seven or eight years and one day decided: it's time we had a proper temple. With faith and unity, everything is possible.' The Sri Maha Mariamman Temple today is not only a place of worship, it is a living monument to interfaith cooperation, community resilience and cultural preservation. As it prepares to host its first Thaipusam festival next year, Sibu's Hindu community, numbering between 300 and 400 people, has every reason to be proud.
NDTV
2 days ago
- Politics
- NDTV
Returning Home Is Just The First Step For Displaced Meitei Families In Manipur
Imphal West: After more than two years of heartbreak and displacement, several Meitei families made a poignant return to Kangchup, a village nestled in Lamshang subdivision of Imphal West district in Manipur. Once filled with laughter and life, their homes now stand as charred remnants of the ethnic violence that erupted in early May 2023 between the Meitei community and the Kuki tribes. The flames not only consumed their houses but also uprooted their lives, forcing them into relief camps overnight. Today, amidst the ruins, hope flickers again. With the government announcing plans to rehabilitate thousands of displaced families across the state, these villagers dare to dream of rebuilding, not just their homes, but also the bonds that once held their community together. Internally displaced person Angom Ongbi Memchoubi Devi expressed her gratitude. "We truly appreciate the government's initiative, and we are very happy at the prospect of returning to our respective homes. Living as dependents on others has been extremely difficult and uncomfortable," Ms Memchoubi told ANI. "Life in the relief camps is especially challenging. Many of us have been crammed into single rooms with no privacy. Even in the pre-fabricated shelters, the rooms are too small, and the attached bathrooms make daily life quite inconvenient. We wholeheartedly welcome the decision to allow us to return home," she added. More than 50,000 people from the Meitei community and Kuki tribes were internally displaced during the ethnic clashes, and the majority have spent over two years living in relief camps, waiting, hoping, and enduring. In Faijang area of Kangpokpi district, rows of fabricated sheet shelters have become makeshift homes, weathering both time and hardship. Here, 896 people from 184 families continue to live in limbo. While some young people have moved to other districts in search of education or jobs, many remain, with nowhere else to go. Camp in-charge Momoi acknowledged the government has provided essential facilities, but her heart still longs for Imphal, the city where her life once felt whole. In-charge of the IDP camp, Momoi, spoke to ANI about the current situation. "There's no major hardship here. All necessary facilities are being provided by the government. In terms of difficulties, there's nothing significant. But yes, we do miss Imphal -- we've lived there since childhood, went to school and college there, so of course we miss it," she said. At the IDP camp in Faijang, we met Thomas, a young man with a dream and a voice fluent in Hindi. Having lived in both Imphal and Delhi, Thomas aspires to become a journalist. But in the shadows of displacement, his journey is far from easy. He said the biggest challenge facing residents of the camp and nearby underdeveloped areas is not just survival, but access to quality healthcare, a basic right that still feels out of reach. "All of us from the Kuki community who can't return to Imphal due to the conflict have to go to Senapati. After that, for medical facilities, we have to travel to Dimapur, Guwahati, or even Delhi. We IDPs face many problems; some had their homes burned, some were looted, and some lost family members. Many people have also become mentally disturbed because of all this," said Thomas. As Meitei and Kuki families slowly begin their return, their resilience stands as a powerful reminder of the human spirit's endurance. Yet, true rehabilitation goes beyond physical resettlement; it requires lasting peace, adequate security, and access to essential services like healthcare and education. Only then can these communities move from survival to rebuilding lives with dignity, hope, and a renewed sense of belonging.
TimesLIVE
3 days ago
- Politics
- TimesLIVE
Ekurhuleni mayor suspends controversial electricity surcharge after violent Thembisa protests
Ekurhuleni mayor Nkosindiphile Xhakaza has suspended the controversial electricity surcharge that led to violent protests in Thembisa on Monday. Thembisa residents took to the streets to air their frustration and demonstrate their rejection of the introduction of a fixed R126 electricity surcharge, which kicked in on July 1. Major routes in Thembisa were blockaded by protesting community members. Xhakaza said he understood the community's frustration. 'We understand where your frustrations are coming from and we would like to thank you for keeping the protest peaceful,' he said. He added that the tariffs had gone through the integrated development plan (IDP) process. 'These tariffs are from Eskom's pricing structure and they were approved by the National Energy Regulator of South Africa (Nersa).' Xhakaza announced that the electricity surcharge had been suspended with immediate effect while they attempt to come up with a better solution. Police had their hands full and fired rubber bullets to disperse the angry crowd which had blockaded streets with rocks, burning tyres and broken glass. Thembisa ward councillors hosted a community meeting on Monday at Rabasotho community centre that ended abruptly after residents demanded the presence of senior City of Ekurhuleni officials to provide answers on tariff increases implemented from July 1.
Libya Observer
3 days ago
- Politics
- Libya Observer
Ministry of Social Affairs reviews displaced persons grant system
Minister of Social Affairs and head of the Higher Committee for Displaced Persons, Wafa Al-Kilani, held a meeting at the ministry's headquarters on Saturday to review the disbursement of financial grants to internally displaced persons (IDPs) and assess the mechanisms used to allocate the funds. The meeting, attended by directors of relevant departments, focused on ensuring transparency and fairness in the distribution process and making sure the support reaches those most in need. Al-Kilani stressed the importance of updating IDP databases and improving payment and documentation systems to enhance service efficiency and equity across all regions. She also called for resolving any obstacles affecting the regularity of grant payments. The minister reviewed administrative and logistical operations within the ministry, urging improved interdepartmental coordination, simplified procedures, and better quality of services provided to citizens. Al-Kilani reaffirmed the ministry's commitment to implementing national social protection policies, with a focus on supporting vulnerable and crisis-affected groups, as part of a broader vision to build a sustainable and effective social welfare system. Tags: IDPs
