7 Breakout Linebackers to Target in IDP Leagues in 2025

Aug 07, 2025

Corey Perrine/Florida Times-Union / USA TODAY NETWORK via Im

What constitutes a breakout? Can you break out again if you've already broken out previously? I'm not sure what the rules are.

For this exercise, I think what serves you, the audience, best is a look at linebackers who I believe are currently undervalued based on ADP and the ECR rankings on FantasyPros.

Regardless of your league's format and scoring system, linebackers are crucial in IDP. Whether it's offense or defense, nothing is more important in fantasy football than opportunities, and it's not hard to see that linebackers who rarely leave the field are extremely valuable.

With the rise of defensive sub-packages like dime and nickel, fewer linebackers are on the field than ever before. Traditional 4-3 fronts with three linebackers are almost nonexistent, even on early downs.

As noted in my 2025 IDP Primer, just 10 linebackers played in 90+% of their team's snaps last season, down from 31 in 2023. Overall, just nine linebackers topped 1,000 total snaps, down from 16 in 2023. Injuries were a piece of the puzzle when explaining the dip from 2023, but this is a trend that isn't likely to stop any time soon.

More IDP Content: IDP Primer | Linebackers | Defensive Linemen | Defensive Backs

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Edgerrin Cooper - Green Bay Packers

I'm prioritizing Edgerrin Cooper in drafts this season, looking to leave with him on my roster as often as possible. Regardless of your league's scoring setting, Cooper has the ability to be the overall LB1 when the 2025 season is over. Cooper posted a 17.7% tackle rate on 45% of the team's defensive snaps as a rookie, and his playing time increased as the season progressed. In fact, Cooper was PFF's top-graded linebacker from Week 15-18, leading the position in run stops and filling up the stat sheet in every possible way.

Cooper's 13 tackles for loss (TFLs) as a rookie were the most of any off-ball linebacker in the league. He played 45% of the snaps! He also forced a fumble, recovered two more, and posted 3.5 sacks. His 11.2% missed tackle rate was high, but when you combine that with his 17.7% tackle rate, that tells us that he was near that action on nearly 30% of his snaps as a rookie. The camp reports are all that you'd want to hear, as Cooper's speed jumps out when you watch him play. That's great to see since he's added ten pounds to his frame this offseason. Cooper cracks my top ten at the position, projected for a 15.15% tackle rate and the sixth-most tackles in the league (147 combined) on 92% of the snaps.

Carson Schwesinger - Cleveland Browns

I'm not sure if you can "break out" as a rookie, since anything you do is the first time you're doing it at this level, but I'm the captain here, and Carson Schwesinger is about to break out. In fact, Schwesinger is still doing things for the first time since he's only been a full-time linebacker for two years. The UCLA walk-on is already wearing the green dot for Cleveland, making the most of the opportunity presented to him as the depth chart ahead of him has parted like the Red Sea.

Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah (PUP list) is out for the season, and veteran Jordan Hicks retired as training camp opened. The Browns didn't use the first pick of the second round on Schwesinger to sit him behind Jerome Baker and Devin Bush, and it's especially encouraging that he's earned his spot as the defensive play-caller. Schwesinger's 4.55 speed and closing burst make him a tackling machine. He had 136 tackles (90 solo) for UCLA in 2024, the most in the Big Ten, with top-shelf pursuit angles and instincts against the run. Schwesinger's speed and instincts (five sacks and two interceptions at UCLA in 2024) will be leveraged in Jim Schwartz's attack-minded system.