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 13. Thanksgiving Week. And it's a massively important week in IDP leagues. With just two weeks left in the regular season in most leagues, quite a few fantasy squads just cannot afford to lose another game. It's that simple. Start the wrong players and take another "L," and there won't be any playoffs. Just a disappointing campaign that ends with derision and mockery from their leaguemates.

No one wants that.

Some IDP duds from linebackers are unavoidable--you-know-what happens and all that jazz. But one way to minimize the chances of it happening is to know which linebackers are going to be on the field--it's rather difficult to make tackles from the sideline. Given that (and the fact you're reading this column), you gotta know what's coming next.

Table time.

Notes

Buffalo Bills

As expected, the dislocated elbow that knocked Terrel Bernard out of last week's loss to the Houston Texans will sideline the 26-year-old Sunday in Pittsburgh. With the Bills' green dot linebacker out of action in Week 13, 11th-year veteran Shaq Thompson is expected to take over relaying the defensive signals. The Steelers aren't a great fantasy matchup for linebackers, but at this point in the season, any three-down linebacker has value for fantasy managers.

Carolina Panthers