Fantasy Football Leaders 2023: NFL Linebacker

Although most NFL fantasy football leagues around the world do not play in the Individual Defensive Players (IDP) format, it is undoubtedly growing in popularity with each passing season.

If you're not sure how the IDP format works, it's actually just as simple as your standard league, except instead of just drafting offensive players and a defense/special teams unit, you also draft defensive players. Some IDP leagues have individual players take the place of the D/ST unit, but there are also some that include both.

As for how fantasy football points work in IDP leagues, they are typically awarded in the following categories:

• Tackles
• bags
• Intercepted balls
• Pass interruptions
• Forced fumble
• Fumble recoveries
• Touchdowns

Some add additional metrics, such as quarterback hits and tackles for loss, but the seven listed above are generally the most popular.

Because the linebacker position has changed in recent years, it's important to select the right people for your IDP roster. And your league's points are an important consideration in selecting the right players. How does your league weight sack and pressure points against total tackles? Are there linebackers who often line up as edge players? If sack points are high, you'll certainly want those guys. If tackles count more, you might want the non-edge players.

But no matter what the score is, you obviously want the best players available. In 2023, the highest-ranked linebacker in terms of fantasy football points was Foyesade Oluokun of the Jacksonville Jaguars, who totaled 173 tackles, including a league-record 111 solo tackles. He also recorded 2.5 sacks, six passes defensed and one forced fumble.

In second place was the runner-up in the Defensive Player of the Year vote, TJ Watt of the Pittsburgh Steelers, who led the league with 19.0 sacks and also recorded eight passes defensed, four forced fumbles, three fumble recoveries and a defensive touchdown.

The top five were completed by Bobby Okereke, Bobby Wagner and Terrel Bernard.

As with offensive points, points for defensive players can vary greatly from league to league and location to location. For this article, we'll use FantasyPros' point totals.

Here's a look at the best fantasy football point scorers at the linebacker position for the 2023 season.

All statistics courtesy of Pro Football Reference unless otherwise noted.

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