Dynasty fantasy football leagues especially are no country for old men, but linebackers like the Tennessee Titans’ Brian Orakpo are making the mid-30’s the new rookie season. Orakpo is a rush linebacker through and through, but he’s actually one of the higher-playing time 3-4 outside linebackers in the league, playing 77 percent of the Titans’ defensive snaps.
His quarterback hit rate is premium among edge rushers (ranking eighth), and his sack rate is seventh among linebackers as well. Orakpo has six games with a sack this year, not to mention three with multiple, and should easily cross double-digit sacks this year.
He has a chance to solidify his 10th throwdown this week against the Indianapolis Colts, who are far-and-away the most allowing team in terms of sack rate. It doesn’t matter that Indy ranks second-lowest in stuff rate allowed; Orakpo has 10 of those already but will be just fine with a takedown or two of quarterback Andrew Luck here.
Orakpo is available in 98.1% of ESPN IDP leagues, and we project him for 4.70 tackles, 1.06 sacks, 0.06 passes defended, and a total score of 8.42 fantasy points in Week 11.