No matter the position in fantasy football, playing time is one of the biggest drivers of success. In IDP leagues, a lot of linebackers shuffle on and off the field, but a precious few are full-time, three-down linebackers, and those players have the most opportunities for fantasy success.
Each week in this space, we’ll take a look at the linebacker situations around the league to identify the key playing time considerations and shifting jobs for IDP fantasy players to take advantage of. Check out the chart at the bottom for the full breakdown. First, a few notes on some standout situations.
Jacksonville Jaguars — Myles Jack was just put on IR and did not play against the Bucs last week. The Jags gave Donald Payne the opportunity to step in and he played almost every single snap.
New Orleans Saints — A.J. Klein and Kiko Alonso both saw the field less this week and left room for Craig Robertson to play 53% of snaps, mostly in subpackages.
Washington Redskins — Ryan Kerrigan did not play in last week’s contest against the Panthers, but his role was filled mostly by committee.
Houston Texans — Brennan Scarlett sat out against the Patriots last week, which gave Barkevious Mingo a small number snaps in base and Jacob Martin about 52% of snaps entirely in subpackages.
Arizona Cardinals — Haason Reddick only played 1 snap the entire game while Joe Walker saw a huge boost to an every-down role. Cassius Marsh about doubled his workload from the 49ers game before the bye week and played 57% of snaps. Terrell Suggs was on the field for 53% of snaps but almost exclusively in subpackages.
Los Angeles Rams — Cory Littleton didn’t play every down like he normally does — instead he played about 66% of snaps against the Cardinals. Clay Matthews saw a dip in playing time as well, going from 69% to 50%. The Rams appeared to have an entirely different group of linebackers in base defense with Troy Reeder having the highest workload in that personnel group. Travin Howard also got a nice opportunity last week and saw the field on 52% of snaps when his previous season high was only 10 snaps in week 7.
Denver Broncos — Von Miller was dealing with a knee injury and didn’t play last week against the Chargers, so the Broncos had Justin Hollins come in and play 71% of snaps.
Los Angeles Chargers — Drue Tranquill returned to the field after missing action before the bye in week 11. Denzel Perryman only played 15 total snaps and his workload has slowly been decreasing every game he has played since week 7.
Philadelphia Eagles — Kamu Grugier-Hill saw more playing time this week going up to 58% of snaps from 34%.
Miami Dolphins — Sam Eguavoen’s playing time continues to be sporadic as he saw a nice workload increase against the Eagles. He played 60% of snaps after only playing 10 total snaps in week 12.
New York Giants — David Mayo was on the field more, playing 70% of snaps up from 49%. Lorenzo Carter’s snap count went down to 57% from 75%
Check below for the breakdown for each team.