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Week 2 IDP Hits: We've Started Learning About Some Key LB Situations

Devin White, Cedric Gray, and More LBs Who Might Matter

Whew. The start of every NFL season hits different, and the time can get away from me.

This will almost certainly be the only time this year that I post this article after the start of the Sunday games. But I didn't want to ignore what we learned -- or at least started to learn -- from the Week 1 playing-time numbers on defense.

Arizona Cardinals Don’t Like New LB That Much?

Akeem Davis-Gaither’s stat line from the opening win over the Saints looks good enough:

• 7 tackles (3 solo)
• 1 pass defensed

But it was a bad day for his IDP outlook. The former Bengal played just 37% of the defensive snaps. That makes for a terrific tackle rate, but he’ll need to dramatically improve that snap share to be a candidate for our fantasy lineups.

Mack Wilson was the only non-edge LB to play more than Davis-Gaither, as Arizona opted for lots of DBs.

Dadrion Taylor-Demerson played 67% of the snaps as the third safety. Three CBs also played at least 60% of the snaps.

We’ll see if that changes in upcoming matchups, but Davis-Gaither dropped way down my Week 2 IDP rankings vs. his Week 1 starting point.

Atlanta Falcons Go Edge by Committee

Here’s how the edge playing time sorted out in Atlanta’s opening loss to the Buccaneers:

• Leonard Floyd 59%
• Brandon Dorlus 50%
• Jalon Walker 45%
• Arnold Ebiketie 43%
• James Pearce 40%

Walker dealt with an August groin injury that didn’t land him on the Week 1 injury report but might have limited his playing time. He’s also not on the Week 2 injury report, so we’ll see whether the exposure increases.

Pearce is questionable with a groin issue that limited his practice time and carried over from the Week 1 report. So don’t expect more from him even if he does play.

The whole group will need to prove it has playable parts before any of these edges make sense for lineup consideration in most IDP leagues.

Baltimore Ravens Might Have a Rookie LB Sleeper

LB Trenton Simpson failed to impress as a first-time starter last year, watching his playing time dwindle as the season wore on.

This summer found him getting another shot, though, and drawing slight positive buzz. But Week 1 said you shouldn’t believe in a breakthrough from the 2023 third-round pick.

Simpson’s 26 snaps accounted for just 31% of Baltimore’s total against the Bills and trailed fourth-round rookie Teddye Buchanan by three.

The duo reportedly basically traded off drives, and even combining that playing time into a single player would deliver just a 65% snap share. That’s not enough to make a starting fantasy LB in most leagues.

Buchanan will be interesting to watch, though, to see whether he can continue to siphon more work and become an IDP factor. He’s at least worth a deeper dynasty stash. And you can dump Simpson across formats.

Cincinnati Bengals: Joseph Ossai Might Flub His Chance

Edge Joseph Ossai gave us almost nothing statistically in Week 1 (1 solo) but did land a clear second among Bengals at the position in playing time:

• Trey Hendrickson 75%
• Ossai 63%
• Shemar Stewart 49%
• Myles Murphy 29%
• Cameron Sample 4%

Ossai might need to play better to keep that lead. He not only went quiet in the box score. His 50.5 pass-rushing grade from Pro Football Focus was his worst single-game mark since Week 9 of 2022

We’ll see how he fares against the Jaguars.

Cleveland Browns Shallow at LB and Edge

Rookie LB Carson Schwesinger played the anticipated full-time role in his debut, logging a 100% snap share. Here’s who joined him at the position:

• Devin Bush 75%
• Jerome Baker 27%
• Mahmoud Diabate 17%

Bush played just 49% of the snaps across his 16 games with last year’s Browns and previously washed out in Pittsburgh and Seattle. He and Baker are no one’s answers at LB. And yet Cleveland apparently prefers both over Diabate, who made his way into last year’s lineup as a second-year player, thanks to injuries ahead of him.

Cleveland’s edge group also doesn’t look awesome (besides Myles Garrett, of course). Here’s how the Week 1 playing time broke down behind Garrett:

• Isaiah McGuire 56%
• Alex Wright 40%
• Cameron Thomas 13%
• Joe Tryon 4%

McGuire looks interesting, at least. He delivered a sack, 2 QB hits, and 2 tackles for loss in the narrow loss to the Bengals.

McGuire’s a third-year, former fourth-round pick who played 46% of the snaps across 16 games last year. He topped out at 7.5 sacks in his final college season but delivered 29 tackles for loss in 26 games over his final two Missouri campaigns.

He’s good sized -- 6’4, 268 pounds -- with an above-average speed score for the position (104.4, 67th percentile).

I wouldn’t play McGuire this week against the Ravens, but I’ll be watching his results.

Detroit Lions Go Old School at LB

How will the Lions deploy their three well-paid LBs? For Week 1, at least, the answer was a lot. Here’s how the snap shares looked vs. Green Bay:

• Alex Anzalone 100%
• Jack Campbell 100%
• Derrick Barnes 90%

The Packers logged just 22 pass attempts vs. 25 rushes in that lopsided win. But Green Bay also logged the 11th-highest neutral pass rate (58.3%) for the week, according to RBSDM.com.

So perhaps that LB playing time was matchup-based, and maybe the Packers didn’t even run as much as expected. The Week 2 matchup with Chicago presents a much less challenging backfield.

We’ll see if the LB playing time changes.

Houston Texans Stick with 2024 LBs

Houston got Christian Harris back healthy at LB this offseason and signed former Colts starter E.J. Speed. But the Texans opened this season with the same leaders at the position. Here’s how the snap shares looked:

• Azeez Al-Shaair 100%
• Henry To’oTo’o 95%
• Christian Harris 5 snaps
• E.J. Speed 3 snaps

I went with the totals instead of the percentages for the last two just to emphasize how little they played. It’s Al-Shaair and To’oTo’o here until something changes … continuing the most difficult LB duo in the league to type.

Miami Dolphins Might Not Give Us Usable Edges

Here’s how Miami spread the Week 1 playing time among edge guys:

• Jaelan Phillips 55%
• Bradley Chubb 55%
• Chop Robinson 51%
• Matt Judon 45%

Makes sense for them. Phillips and Chubb are each coming off big injury recoveries. Robinson’s a smallish guy who doesn’t look likely to climb much above this level of playing time. And Judon’s a 33-year-old who just signed with the team on Aug. 19.

We’ll see how the group does with generating pressure. But don’t expect a weekly starter to emerge for your IDP lineup.

Minnesota Vikings Dealing with No Blake Cashman

The Vikings get their first of at least four games without LB Blake Cashman today against the Falcons. So what will their LB situation look like?

Eric Wilson steps into Cashman’s role, which will probably include relaying defensive play calls in the huddle. That should mean full playing time, which Wilson occupied after Cashman left Monday night’s win over the Bears, according to Pro Football Focus.

Ivan Pace Jr. -- the other starter -- continued to see less-than-full time after Cashman left. But he grew into a 100% player across the three games Cashman missed last year.

That Vikings defense didn’t have Wilson, who opened his career in Minnesota and returned this offseason. But this defense continues to start Pace instead of Wilson. So I’m betting we’ll see more snaps from Pace even if he doesn’t get to full time.

Indianapolis Colts Offer Little Beyond Franklin at LB

Who’s going to get full playing time at LB alongside Zaire Franklin? Looks like no one.

Joe Bachie started the Week 1 win over the Dolphins, but he played just 46% of the snaps. That matched Cameron McGrone’s share, in a blowout victory that saw many starters leave early. (Franklin played just 81%, for example.)

We’ll see how much more playing time Bachie logs in more normal game conditions, but this doesn’t look like a situation in which we’ll find much IDP value.

Jaylon Carlies might factor in as well, once he returns from IR (ankle). The Colts also recently added Anthony Walker to their practice squad.

Let’s Spin Through More LB Playing Time

Here’s a quicker look at some other LB groups that lacked clarity entering the year:

Carolina Panthers

Former Rams LB Christian Rozeboom was one of five Panthers to hit 100% playing time in the opener. Second-year LB Trevin Wallace trailed him at 86%.

Jacksonville Jaguars

This corps didn’t lack clarity, but Week 1 found Foye Oluokon getting back to 100% playing time. He did so just four times among 12 healthy outings last year. Before that, Oluokun reliably drew full-time snaps dating back to his time in Atlanta. 

The bigger surprise was LB Devin Lloyd getting just 34% playing time. We’ll see if anything changes in Week 2, but he might be done as an IDP factor in Jacksonville. The Jags declined the 2026 option on his rookie contract, making Lloyd a free agent after this year.

Las Vegas Raiders

Devin White comeback season has officially begun. Here’s how the Raiders deployed their LBs in Week 1:

• White 100%
• Germaine Pratt 92%
• Elandon Roberts 15% (injured)
• Tommy Eichenberg 20%

Roberts is back for this week after leaving early with that elbow issue. We’ll see if anything changes.

Los Angeles Rams

Nate Landman led Rams LBs at 98% playing time in the opener, with Omar Speights trailing at 71%. This will be an interesting LB corps to watch throughout the year, with little in the way of proven play or production but a high-level D-line helping everyone.

San Francisco 49ers

LB Dee Winters played every snap in Week 1. He logged 10 official starts last season but cracked 70% playing time on just four occasions.

Seattle Seahawks

Tyrice Knight played 75% of the Week 1 snaps as the No. 2 LB. We’ll need that to grow if we’re going to trust him in IDP lineups.

Tennessee Titans

Cedric Gray played 82% of the snaps in the opener as the No. 2 LB, behind Cody Barton. That’s noteworthy given the position’s lack of clarity in summer and Gray barely playing as a rookie.

Gray enjoyed a highly productive college career that included 266 tackles, 23 tackles for loss, 6 sacks, 10 passes defensed, and 5 forced fumbles over his final two seasons.

Gray’s at least an intriguing stash for dynasty IDP leagues. We’ll see about his redraft viability.

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Week 2 IDP Waiver Wire: This Bucs LB Looks Ready to Explode

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Matt Schauf, Editor

Matt has earned two Fantasy Pros accuracy awards for IDP rankings and won thousands of dollars as a player across best ball, dynasty, and high-stakes fantasy formats. He has been creating fantasy football content for more than 20 years, with work featured by Sporting News, Rotoworld, Athlon, Sirius XM, and others. He's been with Draft Sharks since 2011.