IDP Green Dot Update: Week 14

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 14. In many IDP leagues, the regular season comes to an end after this week. Some teams will move on to the playoffs. Some will not. And for more than a few fantasy managers, this week's results will determine which group their squad belongs to. It's one last ride into the fray. One last battle against the forces of evil.

CHARGE!

Of course, to win that battle against the orcs that are your opponent (who may well be in the same situation as you), you need warriors who are on, you know, the battlefield. It's awfully difficult for linebackers to make tackles if they are on the sideline. It's also probably a penalty. You need linebackers who are on the field as much as possible.

Guess what that means.

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

After dislocating his elbow a couple of weeks ago in Houston, Bills green dot linebacker Terrel Bernard will miss a second straight game Sunday when Buffalo hosts the Cincinnati Bengals. Longtime Carolina Panther Shaq Thompson was Buffalo's defensive signal-caller last week against the Pittsburgh Steelers, logging nine total tackles. He's about as good a Week 14 plug-and-play start as IDP managers will find on many waiver wires.

Chicago Bears