Tag Archives: Linebackers

The top 10 linebackers of the 2023 NFL Draft:

After kicking things off with the running backs earlier this week, we’re switching over to the defensive side for the first time for these positional draft breakdowns and look at this linebacker class. Especially as we get to these positions on defense, where what you covet depends so much on what your scheme asks of players and how play-callers utilize these guys, boards will look a lot different for each team. So this is just me looking at this from a more general standpoint and ranking these prospects based on how valuable their skill-sets can be for the NFL.

It’s kind of an ambiguous group of linebackers this year I believe, because as we get to the edge defenders a couple of weeks from now, you’ll see that there’s some overlap, where a player may be defined differently depending on who you ask. Wisconsin’s Nick Herbig for example will be part of my edge rundown, rather be listed here.

I don’t think there’s a single clear-cut first-rounder, taking positional value into account, but the first four names should all go in the second round and then there’s about seven names I think have a case to go in the third. After that, there are quite a few names, who can fill a certain role and contribute on special teams, but overall there are just too many guys I think are undersized or lack a certain quality, for me to call this a strong class.

This is how I have these names stacked up:


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Top 10 linebackers in the 2022 NFL Draft:

Rolling along with my top ten positional rankings for the NFL Draft, after breaking down the top running backs, we’re now looking at the guys on the opposite side of the line of scrimmage, trying to bring them down before they can really cross it.

Once again, these are all my personal opinions based on tape study, while using advanced settings and testing numbers to back my case or mention some of the concerns I may have.

Putting this linebacker class into perspective, instead of a trio at the top of the rankings like we had last year, with Micah Parsons, Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah and Zaven Collins, there’s a clear duo at the top, while LB3 can vary a lot depending on which rankings you look like. However, I believe there’s about nine or ten more names that could arguably arguably within the first two days and even after that, there’s guys I like in specific roles.

Let’s get into it:

Continue reading Top 10 linebackers in the 2022 NFL Draft:

Rolling along with my top ten positional rankings for the NFL Draft, after breaking down the top running backs, we’re now looking at the guys on the opposite side of the line of scrimmage, trying to bring them down before they can really cross it.

Once again, these are all my personal opinions based on tape study, while using advanced settings and testing numbers to back my case or mention some of the concerns I may have.

Putting this linebacker class into perspective, instead of a trio at the top of the rankings like we had last year, with Micah Parsons, Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah and Zaven Collins, there’s a clear duo at the top, while LB3 can vary a lot depending on which rankings you look like. However, I believe there’s about nine or ten more names that could arguably arguably within the first two days and even after that, there’s guys I like in specific roles.

Let’s get into it:

Continue reading Top 10 linebackers in the 2022 NFL Draft:

Top 10 linebackers in the 2021 NFL Draft:

Continuing our series of the top ten prospects at each position in the draft – we already broke down the best available running backs earlier this week, so now it’s time look at their defensive counterparts. Once again, I evaluated the talent on the field and how I think these players project to the next level, without consideration of injuries and off-the-field concerns that may be hurt these names when NFL front offices make their decisions come late April.

In this edition, we are looking at the linebacker position, which I categorize as all off-ball second level defenders. So this won’t include edge rushers, like 3-4 outside backers, even though some of them may have been used as that to some degree. This class might not be very deep necessarily, but in terms of this top ten in particular, it might actually be an underrated one.

Here is how I have these names stacked up:

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Top 10 linebackers in the 2020 NFL Draft:

After putting out my top running back prospects on Tuesday, we will follow that up today with the linebackers – as we will jump back and forth between offense and defense until all these rankings are released.

First of all, this to me are primarily off-ball linebackers, meaning no true edge rushers or 3-4 outside linebackers, who I don’t expect to stand up a whole lot.

This group of off-ball backers might not have a big names after the top four, but they are all more athletic than I would have thought before I saw them perform at the combine and they are just absolute freaks at the top as well as a few likely day three selections.

We have one headliner, whose versatility will probably make him a top-ten pick, with two other likely first-round selections and another fringe guy, who played on the edge primarily in college. After that there is a lot of disagreements among the draft community and question marks for pretty much every prospect.

This is the list:

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Top 10 linebackers in the 2019 NFL Draft:

We started our positional rankings on Tuesday with the running backs and the way we are going to do this is alternate between offense and defense with kind of the direct matchups in one week (so tackles vs. edge rushers, wide receivers vs. cornerbacks, etc.). So that leads us to the linebackers in this edition and the opinions about this group seem to be all over the place.

While I do believe there is a clear order of one, two and three, after that there is a lot of disagreement. I think there are two clear first-rounders and another guy, who should go somewhere early on day two, but from my number five prospect on these guys might not even hear their names called before day three when I look at many of these rankings out there. Two that are frequently among the top five or so didn’t even make my list at all. I am looking for fast, athletic linebackers who fit the modern game, while also being able to defend the downhill run game, as I could see a trend of more power football being played in the near future.

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