IDP Green Dot Update: Week 15

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 15, and in more IDP leagues than not, that means the playoffs have begun. Where once there were many, now there are few. Win a few more games (in a row--no one said it would be easy) and the greatest honor in humanity's history can be yours--fantasy champion. Lose once, and you're toast.

Given that binary outlook the rest of the way, any edge you can gain over the competition is crucial--like, say, knowing which linebackers are actually on the field. Go figure.

Let's get edgy.

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

Well, Akeem Davis-Gaither was fun while he lasted. After posting a 75 percent or better snap share six times between Week 3 and Week 11 and logging 10 total tackles as recently as two weeks ago, the sixth-year veteran played of all of one snap in Week 14. Third-year pro Owen Pappoe led the Redbirds in tackles a week ago, but he was on the field just half the snaps. That makes him nearly impossible to trust in a must-win fantasy matchup.

Buffalo Bills