IDP Showdown: Roman Harper vs. Louis Delmas

I thought it would be fun to start a series entitled “IDP Showdown” in which I compare two IDPs who have very similar ADPs. Each player will be judged on five different categories: Tackles, Big Plays, Opportunity, Health, and Safeness of the Pick.

For simplicity’s sake, when analyzing these players only 2010 production will be taken into account. In other words, I am only judging their redraft value.

SS Roman Harper Detroit Lions Current ADP: 175.62 Min Pick: 85 Max Pick: 286	vs.	FS Louis Delmas Detroit Lions Current ADP: 176.28 Min Pick: 107 Max Pick: 274
	Tackles
	Big Plays
	Opportunity
	Health
	Safeness
	WINNER

Tackles: Harper is the winner here by a fairly substantial margin. He’s one of the top in-the-box fantasy strong safeties and he has put up very nice tackle numbers for three straight seasons. Delmas has 93 total tackles last season but 29 of those were assists with only 64 coming via solo tackle.

Big Plays: I gave Delmas the advantage here even though he only had 2 INTs and 1 sack. The Lions are going to expand his role further this season and give him the freedom to roam and make more big plays. My main concern is that since the Lions are really deficient at strong safety, they may limit the amount of autonomy they Delmas. Harper is mainly just a tackle guy. However, he does blitz a decent amount and had 2.5 sacks last season.

Opportunity: Being on the Lions, Delmas is going to have more point scoring opportunities than Harper since their defense figures to be on the field more than the Super Bowl Champion New Orleans Saints.

Health: Harper hasn’t really struggled with any major injuries so far in his career. Delmas was just removed from the PUP list and there was some speculation that he may have needed surgery on his groin. That has proven to be false, but I’d still feel more comfortable with Harper and his clean injury history.

Safeness: Harper is proven and you know that barring injury he’s going to get you 80-85 solos, 10-15 solos, a sack or two, and a couple forced fumbles. Delmas, on the other hand, is only heading into his 2nd season and, in my opinion, his first season is being overvalued. The 64 solo tackles were a bit low for me especially for how much the Lions defense was on the field last season. There was also a lack of big plays for a free safety. I’m not ready to anoint Delmas a top level DB just yet.

WINNER: Roman Harper would be my choice in both redraft and dynasty leagues. He’s in his prime and has established himself as one of the most consistent and safe options at the DB position. Due to the fluctuating nature of DB production from year-to-year, Harper’s consistency should be highly valued.

So who do you think wins this battle?? Any suggestions for future battles? Please leave your comments below. I’m really interested on any input you may have or any ideas for future showdown articles.