Reading the Defense, Week 15

Photo: USA Today Sports

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 Robert Schmitz Twitter

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.