Injuries have decimated the Cleveland, Las Vegas, and Tennessee linebacker corps. Patrick Queen and Matt Milano also entered the weekend of Week 14 questionable to play. While six teams were on bye, a widespread scramble for fantasy linebackers occurred for the first time.
Games missed by fantasy-relevant linebackers are down year after year. COVID-19 impacts on their availability have abated, and injuries might be down as well. Health has cost the top 50 off-ball linebackers, ranked by fantasy points per game at FantasyPros.com, seven percent of possible games in 2022. Last year, the top 50 linebackers missed 10 percent of their teams’ games.
Meanwhile, teams are deploying nickel personnel more often; conversely, the use of dime personnel is off. The number of linebackers earning enough snaps for fantasy gamers’ weekly consideration is up as a result.
Reading the Linebacker Room
The increase in nickel necessitates two linebackers the defensive coordinator trusts on the field. Green Bay coordinator Joe Barry expressed as much following his team’s selection of Quay Walker in the first round of the 2022 NFL Draft.
Teams that lose a starting linebacker to injury must decide if a reserve should replace the starter one-for-one or whether a committee approach is necessary. The Raiders, for instance, opened the season with Divine Deablo in a full-time role until he broke a forearm. Jayon Brown replaced him in the line-up, and the Raiders maintained their defensive rotation and sub-package mix.
Both linebackers played alongside Denzel Perryman, the veteran run stuffer. Perryman played three-quarters of the Raiders’ snaps until both, Deablo and Brown were placed on the reserve/injured list. The Raiders concluded that none of their remaining linebackers, notably two undrafted free agents, were ready to play full-time. The team increased the roles of Perryman and reserve defensive backs to adjust.
Chicago, meanwhile, turned to an undrafted free-agent rookie linebacker after trading away Roquan Smith. Jack Sanborn worked his way up to a full-time role after playing 88 percent of snaps in his first career start.
Robert Schmitz on Twitter Jack Sanborn in coverage? Jack Sanborn in coverage!#Bears are in Tampa 2 and the Packers try to sucker the UDFA with a play-action pass to the seam, but Sanborn isn't fooled and gets his eyes to Tonyan after the fake, follows the route up the seam wonderfully.REALLY nice! pic.twitter.com/Aq1ckwJfxM— Robert Schmitz (@robertkschmitz) December 6, 2022 The relatively good health of linebackers, plus their increased playing time, may have lured fantasy gamers into complacency. The depth of the waiver wire for replacements for injured linebackers has rarely been tested, even in deeper leagues in 2022.
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LB Dylan Cole and Monty Rice, Tennessee
As in Las Vegas, the loss of a starting linebacker in Tennessee has cost fantasy gamers a weekly option. David Long was placed on the reserve/injured list. Dylan Cole replaced Long during the Titans’ Week 13 game and emerged as the top linebacker the following week. Cole, however, underwhelming in fantasy and struggled in real life.
Second-year man Monty Rice was more productive (12 tackles, including 1 for loss) playing in opening-day starter Zach Cunningham’s role. Cunningham has been activated from IR to return to practice.
The Titans could choose to reorganize their linebacker group as Cunningham returns to health. Rice could supplant Cole in Long’s original role. Cunningham could play full-time like Perryman in Las Vegas while Cole and Rice rotate. The Titans might conclude that both reserves are liabilities in coverage and deploy more dime sub-packages. The information available through Week 14 indicates that Cunningham and Cole would start. The linebackers’ snap counts in Week 14 suggest high risk.
Rice and the Titans have a plus match-up against the Chargers in Los Angeles. The ceiling Rice demonstrated in his most recent game with 12 tackles in just 51 snaps makes him an interesting albeit risky bet for the first round of the fantasy playoffs as long as Cunningham remains sidelined. Cole’s performance and tackle total of 5 in 59 snaps should scare off any fantasy gamers considering him in Week 15.
TURRON DAVENPORT on Twitter Zach Cunningham feels the timing is good for his window to be opened to return from injured reserve. Said he's focused a lot on his individual rehab but has been in some defensive meetings to stay in touch. #Titans pic.twitter.com/ieCvPvn1Ws— TURRON DAVENPORT (@TDavenport_NFL) December 14, 2022 LB Deion Jones and Tony Fields, Cleveland
The Cleveland Browns linebackers have just three full-time games between them. Jacob Phillips was lost for the season in Week 7 after playing 100 percent of the defense’s snaps for three consecutive weeks. Phillips is the second of four Browns linebackers on the reserve/injured list.
The Browns’ Week 15 starters are likely sophomore Tony Fields, career special teamer Jordan Kunaszyk, and former Falcon Deion Jones. The midseason acquisition, Jones, finally experienced a large workload in Week 14 (88%).
Fields made an impact in Week 13 but was scaled back a week later. He is a smaller, faster player than Kunaszyk but lacks the agility and burst of Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah, the fourth linebacker lost to injury. Fields appears more likely to assume Koramoah’s outside-linebacker spot while Jones mans the middle.
Jason McCourty on Twitter Tony Fields II had himself a day Sunday in Houston and his dad was there to take it in… pic.twitter.com/l9sf7WSheP— Jason McCourty (@JasonMcCourty) December 7, 2022 Like Rice, Fields flashed and posted good numbers in his first big opportunity this year. According to the Footballguys Custom Strength-of-Schedule tool, Fields has a lackluster match-up at home versus the Ravens. The added downside of the Browns’ season-long committee approach, reported in Footballguys’ Snap Count Summary by Team, makes all of their linebackers risky starts for a fantasy playoff game. Fields and Jones are nevertheless worth holding to see if either can maintain a large enough role for Week 17, when Browns’ linebackers should enjoy a plus match-up at Washington.
Win or Go Home
Fantasy gamers with trading rights remaining would be wise to target two veterans with attractive schedules. Christian Kirksey and C.J. Mosley should be reasonably accessible to contenders from also-rans. Footballguy Matt Montgomery discusses Kirksey, among other options, in his column. Deion Jones appears in Kyle Bellefeuil’s weekly waiver wire article, along with targets for leagues of all sizes.
As most trading deadlines have passed, fantasy gamers in full IDP leagues (11 defensive starters) likely face limited options to supplement linebackers they drafted or landed early in the season. The players that opened the season are those whom defensive coordinators relied upon to play full-time or close to it. The weaknesses of back-ups force teams to rotate linebackers and increase dime personnel deployment. Day-1 starters Divine Deablo and, to a lesser extent, Zach Cunningham should be safer options if they return to play in Week 16 than recent waiver wire adds.
Analysis at Footballguys aims to equip fantasy gamers with the confidence to acquire players for their rosters and deploy them on Sundays. Readers are welcome to contact and follow this writer @DynastyTripp on Twitter.