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In IDP leagues, no position is more important than linebacker—the reality is that in most leagues, if you don't have a strong group of linebackers, you're done. Roasted. All over but the crying. Linebackers are usually the highest-scoring and most consistent players in fantasy. By a wide margin.
The reason for that is tackles. Linebackers who rack up big-time tackle numbers have both a high fantasy ceiling and a high floor. And while talent is, of course, a factor in which linebackers pile up gaudy numbers of stops, there's another major consideration—opportunity.
The key to opportunity for most linebackers is simply being on the field. Snaps. It's hard to tackle a guy from the sideline—unless you are Mike Tomlin.
That joke stays in this column for eternity. Forever.
The problem is that in this day of nickel sets as the base defense, the age of three off-ball linebackers on the field most of the time is long since over. As a matter of fact, with many NFL teams playing either more dime or three-safety looks, there are quite a few situations in which just one off-ball linebacker is on the field for a team.
Often, that lone linebacker is wearing a sticker on his helmet—the green dot that signifies that the player is wearing the helmet communicator on defense and making the defensive play calls. That player very rarely leaves the field, and while teams sometimes use a safety in that capacity, the overwhelming majority of NFL teams give that assignment to a linebacker.
With the number of every-down linebackers decreasing by the year, knowing who those green dot linebackers are is valuable information for IDP managers. In order to provide those managers with that information, once again in 2024 at Footballguys, we'll be maintaining an updated list of both who is wearing the green dot for all 32 NFL teams and who the other three-down linebackers are.
There will also be notes to keep fantasy managers apprised as to why any changes to the list happened--whether due to injury or performance, the dot can (and will) change hands.
This is it—again. Week 18 Championship Games are not for the faint of heart. Nor the big of brain (I play in two, don't judge me). It's a week that means somewhere between nothing ang everything for NFL teams and fantasy managers alike. Stars won't play. Scrubs will shine.
Table Time.
Note: Here at Footballguys, we set the benchmark for three-down linebackers at a 75 percent snap share. Linebackers listed with an asterisk (*) may not hit that benchmark on a weekly basis this season.
NOTES
Buffalo Bills
The Bills are locked into the AFC's No. 2 playoff seed, so it's a good bet that many of the team's starters on both sides of the ball will be sitting out. Green dot linebacker Terrel Bernard has already been ruled out with a quad injury, and given his injury issues this season, Matt Milano may also take the day off. Joe Andreesen and Dorian Williams will likely see most snaps at linebacker, with Andreesen relaying the defensive signals.
Carolina Panthers
The Panthers have been savaged by injuries at linebacker this season—Week 17 saw practice squaders Chandler Wooten and Jacoby Windmon serving as the team's primary off-ball linebackers, with Wooten wearing the green dot and playing every defensive snap. Both players were productive, with the duo combining for 24 total tackles and half a sack. Fantasy managers in need of a spot starter at the linebacker spot could do worse this week.
Cincinnati Bengals
It has been quite the ride in 2024 for Akeem Davis-Gaither. Re-signed in the offseason for his special-teams prowess, Davis-Gaither was thrust into the starting lineup when Logan Wilson went down. Now, the fifth-year veteran has been wearing the green dot for the Bengals, while Germaine Pratt has resumed his role as the team's No. 2 linebacker. Both should play three-down roles in a must-win game for Cincinnati.
Cleveland Browns
There isn't a team in the NFL whose fans more want the 2024 season to end than the Browns, and Saturday's beatdown by the Ravens will happen with Cleveland short a linebacker—Jordan Hicks is in the NFL's concussion protocol and has been ruled out. When Hicks departed last week's loss to Miami, second-year pro Mohamoud Diabate assumed green dot duties, while Devin Bush took over as Cleveland's secondary off-ball linebacker. Expect that to continue in Week 18.
Detroit Lions
The Lions have opened the 21-day practice window for Alex Anzalone, who fractured his forearm against the Jacksonville Jaguars back in Week 11. The hope is that the Lions will have Anzalone back for their postseason run, but it doesn't sound especially likely that he'll be out there for Sunday night's must-win game in Detroit. Anzalone himself has admitted he's not 100 percent, and the stakes in this game are too high for the Lions to gamble on a player at less than his best.
Green Bay Packers
The Packers can't win the NFC North in Week 18, but they can still avoid a Round 1 trip to Philadelphia—so expect Green Bay to play to win. However, they will do so without green dot linebacker Quay Walker, who has been ruled out once again with an ankle injury. That should mean another week of veteran Eric Wilson making the play-calls—and potentially another big stat line from red-hot rookie Edgerrin Cooper.
Houston Texans
After serving a three-game suspension for questionable hits that left him contemplating retirement, Azeez Al-Shaair is eligible to return this week. The Texans have stated they intend to play their starters in Week 18 in an effort to enter the playoffs with some momentum, and there's that much more motivation to get Al-Shaair some game reps after a significant layoff. The question is who starts beside him—and the smart money is on green dot fill-in Henry To'oTo'o.
Kansas City Chiefs
In news that should surprise exactly no one, both Nick Bolton and Drue Tranquill have been listed as doubtful for a game that means exactly jack squat to the AFC's No. 1 seed. The best guess is that rookie Swayze Bozeman will wear the green dot after he did so for a time in last week's blowout of the Pittsburgh Steelers, while veteran Leo Chenal will see a big bump in snaps in a contest that means everything to the Broncos and nothing to the Chiefs.
Los Angeles Chargers
Daiyan Henley's Week 17 goose egg is a performance that will haunt IDP managers for years to come. But the Week 18 prospects of the Chargers linebackers aren't any more encouraging. Will the Chargers rest players? Was Troy Dye's 80-plus percent snap share last week a fluke? How Saturday's game between the Bengals and Steelers plays out will have a major effect on L.A.'s plans Sunday—so an already unreliable group of linebackers is just that much more so.
Minnesota Vikings
Ivan Pace Jr. played last week for the first time in over a month. But if last week's win over the Green Bay Packers is any indication, the Vikings will head into the biggest regular-season game in recent memory not fixing that which is not broken. While Pace was sidelined, the Vikings went back to a dime look with three safeties on the field—Pace's snap share of less than 35 percent would appear to indicate that's not going to change.
Philadelphia Eagles
The Eagles haven't been so kind as to list both starting linebackers as Doubtful, but with green dot linebacker Nakobe Dean banged up and Philly locked into the NFC's No. 2 seed, odds are both he and Zack Baun will spend a lot of time watching Sunday's game with the Giants. It's going to be a lot of veteran journeyman Oren Burks and rookie Jeremiah Trotter Jr. This week. Burks has some experience calling signals, but his listing as the green dot linebacker for Week 18 is admittedly a guess.
Tennessee Titans
It feels like the Titans have been mentioned in the Notes section of this column 27 times in 17 (now 18) weeks—it has truly been a carousel at linebacker in Nashville this season. Mid-season addition Jerome Baker hopped back on a horse last week, playing all but three snaps and recording half a dozen tackles and a sack. Luke Gifford could be a league-winner—he's been consistently productive since taking over green dot duties. But Baker could also be worth a dart throw…
It is Week 18, after all.
Gary Davenport ("The Godfather of IDP") is a two-time Fantasy Sports Writers Association Football Writer of the Year. Follow him on Twitter (Can't make him call it X) at @IDPSharks.