IDP Dynasty Fantasy Football: 2022 NFL Draft Rookie Linebacker Class
The NFL Draft has been and gone for another year, and all of us dynasty degenerates are busy doing rookie drafts or preparing for them.
This article sorts the main rookie LB contenders into four tiers. How those tiers are drafted obviously depends on your league.
Please note that this is orthodox LBs only. No edge rushers are included here, regardless of how your fantasy platform of choice categorizes them.
Tier one – instant heroes
Devin Lloyd, JAC
The one rookie linebacker to walk straight into a full-time role in 2022, Lloyd was selected in the first round and should play every snap he can for Mike Caldwell.
There is a chance he might be used heavily as a blitzer (which is mostly bad news for IDP productivity), but he’s the clear choice to be first LB off the board. In an era of True Position, and NFL teams increasingly putting fewer LBs on the field, this is suddenly a very valuable thing.
Tier two – in the mix
Troy Andersen, ATL
Andersen is new to the position but has shown enough to make the Falcons invest a second-round pick in him.
Initially we thought he’d be competing with journeymen Rashaan Evans and Mykal Walker, but there are whispers the Falcons do actually understand how poor Deion Jones was last season. They are probably stuck with his contract for this season, but Andersen is a red-hot candidate to be a full-time player in 2023.
This is a position that often takes a year to bear fruit given how tough the transition from college is, so that’s not an unusual thing.
Andersen is unlikely to instantly be a full-time starter, but he has every chance of being one by the end of the season.
Quay Walker, GB
Walker was the first LB drafted, but he lands in a poor spot. The Packers have led the NFL in recent years in single-LB packages. Given how analytically driven they are as an organisation, we should not expect this to reverse anytime soon. The whole NFL is moving towards single-LB looks.
And yet they drafted Walker right there in round one, which suggests either they know players take time to develop and they wanted redundancy, or that they don’t believe De’Vondre Campbell can sustain his 2021 level of play. Given he’d never done it before and is now 29, that does not seem unreasonable.
Either way, Walker is likely to see a big role sooner or later. If you can afford to wait, he’ll probably pay back your investment.
Tier three – gambles
Nakobe Dean, PHI
Dean is beloved of armchair scouts everywhere who all think it is a travesty that he dropped as far as he did. Of course, he didn’t really ‘drop’ anywhere. He was just taken later than people at home thought he would be which happens every year. There were rumours about injuries, but the truth is we just don’t know.
The Eagles LB situation was messy last season, and it will probably be so again. T.J. Edwards played well last year, the team brought Kyzir White in, and Davion Taylor is still hanging around.
Dean could well end up being ‘The Man’, but right now he’s being drafted based on scouting opinions, rather than draft capital and that’s a risk.
Christian Harris, HOU
Harris was selected in the third round by the Texans which indicates some confidence. He has a relatively simple path to playing time given the competition. Christian Kirksey, Kamu Grugier-Hill and Jalen Reeves-Maybin are all just journeymen at best. However, reliable veterans often trump shiny rookies at the LB position, so avoid optimism.
Harris is likely to get a shot at some point, but like the other player in this tier he’s far from certain.
Channing Tindall, MIA
With a new head coach but a returning defensive coordinator, there are questions about how similar the Dolphins defense is to the one from recent years. Given league trends, we can assume that they are not suddenly going to morph to using two every-down linebackers though.
Jerome Baker has been the top man, and should be again, but he’s been used more and more as a blitzer through his time in the NFL. There’s a chance that the LB should at least be a bit more orthodox which opens the door for someone like Tindall who is mobile and aggressive in space.
Tier four – long shots
Chad Muma, JAC
Muma was another LB who many home scouts adored before the draft but he was not picked until the third round and seems very firmly behind Foyesade Oluokun and fellow rookie Devin Lloyd, which massively hurts his ability to get onto the field.
The day two capital implies the team like him, but realistically he’ll only be relevant in the next two or three seasons if someone gets hurt.
Leo Chenal, KC
The Chiefs (along with the Patriots) are leading the NFL’s push towards situational LBs. They simply do not have an interest in using any of them on every sort of play. They deploy specialists on different downs and types of play. This is likely to spread throughout the league, but people have not realised it yet.
For Chenal it means he’s likely to see capped volume. There just is not a high likelihood that any Chiefs LB plays the 800+ snaps required to be a top 36 LB in 2022.
Terrel Bernard, BUF
The Bills do like to keep their starting LBs out on every snap they can handle, but Bernard is firmly behind Tremaine Edmunds and Matt Milano.
That confidence in them might decay, and someone might get injured (in fact they probably both will at some point), but Bernard is dependent on something happening to give him an opportunity.
Brian Asamoah II, MIN
Similarly, Asamoah has to contend with two very good, established NFL vets in Eric Kendricks and Jordan Hicks – not to mention an athletic project in Chazz Surrat.
Guys like this end up starting weeks and having a good score in those at some point, but it’s very rare for them to seize an IDP-relevant job.
Malcolm Rodriguez, DET
Rodriguez is intriguing and definitely has some talent, but the NFL is going to be a big step up for him. The only reason he even makes the list is that the Lions depth chart at LB is thin and uninspiring. If you’ve got a spare seventh-round pick and taxi spot, then feel free to draft him. But this is a bet that is unlikely to pan out.
Tier Five – other names
Chance Campbell, TEN
Campbell has very little competition in Tennessee. David Long and Zach Cunningham are not the future. Monty Rice probably is not.
Brandon Smith, CAR
The Panthers really only have one IDP-relevant LB role and Shaq Thompson holds it. But Smith is a rare athlete who might be worth stashing if you can.
Micah McFadden, NYG
Blake Martinez is likely to be the only Giants LB you want. But for the past decade, everyone has loved going after someone they think will be the number two. Pick him up if it makes you happy. But be sure not tog et attached.
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