IDP Green Dot Update: Week 10

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 defensive 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.

As the number of every-down linebackers decreases each year, identifying the green dot linebackers is valuable information for IDP managers. To provide those managers with that information, once again in 2025 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.

It's Week 10 of the 2025 season, and the winds of change continue blasting through the linebacker position with hurricane force. Injuries continue to mount. Coaches continue tinkering with lineups. And this year's trade deadline had a potentially significant impact on at least a couple of teams.

IDP managers have to keep their heads on a swivel--or bad things can happen.

Mess you up.

Of course, that's why the Green Dot Update is here--to keep IDP managers apprised as to which linebackers are staying on the field.

So cinch up them britches.

It's 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

Arizona Cardinals

There will be a new Green Dot linebacker for the Cardinals when they travel to Seattle on Sunday--with Mack Wilson Sr. ruled out due to a rib injury, sixth-year veteran Akeem Davis-Gaither will relay the defensive calls against the Seahawks. Rookie Cody Simon saw snaps last week as Arizona's No. 2 linebacker once Wilson departed, but whether he'll see a three-down role or not in what should be his first NFL start is anyone's guess.

Atlanta Falcons