sportsfootball

Ranking the 2026 NFL Draft: Linebackers, Safeties and Defensive Tackles

NFL Daily with Gregg Rosenthal·Apr 2, 2026·1:04:22

About this Episode

Gregg Rosenthal and Ollie Connolly give you a deep dive on the 2026 defensive NFL Draft prospects. Find out where the guys think players like Arvell Reese, Sonny Styles, C.J. Allen, Keyshaun Elliott, Caleb Downs, Louis Moore, Dillon Thieneman and more will be selected in this years Draft.

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Transcript

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It's a tough sport.

It's not for everybody.

You gotta be a little sick to love this game.

And we got some sickos.

Welcome to NFL Daily

where linebackers are absolutely back.

I'm Greg Rosenthal with me

from across the sea.

My friend, Ali Connelly,

who is a linebacker,

Sevant, would you say?

Just an appreciator.

Yes, we're going over linebackers.

We're going over safeties.

And we're going over defensive tackles.

All the positions that most people in Gore ignore.

We're going to go deep on today, Ali.

I love it.

I love when you get a linebacker draft.

And everyone says it's boring.

And I'm just sat there in my room

till like seven in the morning,

grinding the film, saying there's just more linebackers

oozing out of everyone.

I really do believe.

Yes, linebackers.

We got a couple of great rookies.

We got better play.

I think out of the veterans last year.

And I do think people are coming around

to the fact that man having a knockout linebacker

who makes a difference in all three downs is like

one of the most valuable things that you could have.

And having these two guys at the top of the draft.

I know it's big for you, some background.

What is your background with the linebacker position

and scouting specifically?

Well, early in my scouting career,

I did seven years exclusively scouting linebackers,

digging everywhere.

Does Penn have one?

Does Harvard have one?

Is there anyone available to be drafted by the league?

That was the bulk of my scouting career

was focusing on linebacker play.

That's awesome.

And that's why, yeah, this is really the alley

kindly draft.

I hadn't really thought about that.

And so let's just get going with the top of the board.

In general, we can talk about it's a deep class.

I think we'll get to that.

And it's what you want out of like a fully loaded class

at a position, which is there's some superstar talent

at the top.

There's some fun middle class talent.

You know, we could have more first round linebackers

and then certainly a bunch of day two

and then there's also depth.

But the reason I think for the casuals out there

are that Arvel Reese and Sonny Stiles from Ohio State

are right there at the top.

And I think just to start the show,

let's just note we're including Arvel Reese

in our linebacker podcast.

You feel strongly about this.

Ali, why is that?

I feel strongly about it first.

Well, let's just note those two played together.

And it's maybe the most absurd linebacking tandem

we've had since like the hurricanes are rolling

in the 2000s.

It's just preposterous.

And I know he wants to be considered an edge.

I know plenty of evaluators consider him as an edge.

I think you'd just go through the film

and grade skill by skill.

Whatever your grading scale is,

mine would be four to nine traditional NFL stuff.

That the highest marks you give those knives,

those eights, truly elite type traits,

map up to the linebacker work.

Whereas the things where you have maybe some question marks

more so in the refinement in the technique

than just the traits in the athletic skill

is in the straightaway past rushing stuff.

And there's a lot more development

that needs there technically.

And he's just solely reliant,

I think, in the past first game on truth athleticism,

just speed, power, speed to power

and kind of winning a short edge and out athleteing people.

Whereas there is such immense technical refinement

for someone so utterly gifted as a true linebacker.

And I think those skills match up so perfectly

with what he's being asked of linebackers today.

And I think a little bit of the scouting palences

going on through the draft season

is looking at linebackers in the bucket of the 2010s,

even back to the 90s

and what they were asked to do and what the requirements were,

versus what a lot of the elite guys

have been asked to do in 2026.

So in this idea of what a linebacker is,

you're not ignoring that he could be very valuable

as a blitzer, as a past pressure,

essentially in the Zach Bond mold.

I don't know if there's another comparison

of like how you see him being used,

but you see that as a linebacker, which is different

than I think a lot,

how a lot of people are viewing them.

Yeah, I think that old-school style,

which sunny styles is more built in,

which as you sit off the ball,

it's really sift and find work.

The front gets fractured,

they kind of work through the space,

they go and find the ball and attack that way.

And then it releases blitzes,

the odd mucked up look,

blitzing from death.

I do think off LVs can be a core part

of like the pressure group

and you move them around and you find matchups.

If there's like a clown at right guard,

then you can just kill for 20 reps.

You just send them to go do that for 20 reps.

But the way the league is playing right now

with so much movement and motion from the offense,

you got to find ways to address it.

And what the best DCs are doing

is having an off ball lineback

who walks down to the edge

and plays as an edge defender on early downs

and you move them around either in coverage

or in the blitz game

and moves them around the formation defensively.

I don't know why you wouldn't take the guy

who's skills are so suited to that

and say we could have the best one the league.

Zack Bohn was most impactful player in the league two years ago

for the best defense of the NFL.

Nicki Minaj worried to similar things

in a slightly different body type at safety.

We could have that with maybe the best athlete

to ever attempt to do it.

Why would we not try and get the false multiplier

and race ahead of the league

with someone who just has a completely different level

of athleticism to someone like Zack Bohn?

Yeah, and I just don't buy like he's helping your pastor.

I just don't buy that somehow.

The positional difference, let's say with David Bailey,

who's just more of a pure pastor sure

is gonna be the difference of like maybe

why you would take him ahead of our Val Reese.

When I watch these two guys recent styles

and I do want to just stick on Reese for now,

despite the testing numbers,

which for sunny styles were just completely outrageous.

But they were outrageous on its own for our Val Reese.

When they're actually playing football

and you watch Reese on the field

to me, he's more obviously like, wow.

Like he just, just the way he moves

and that's how my basic, you know,

I look at it.

Watching him is like, okay,

like I don't think you have to be that smart

to want to take him to overall

in this particular draft if you're the Jets

or if he falls to three,

to me, I keep seeing tackles to the Cardinals.

Why wouldn't they take our Val Reese?

They absolutely need a lineback

and if he falls to the Titans,

why wouldn't they take our Val Reese?

They could absolutely use him just because

there's only so much crazy next level talent

in this draft specifically or in any draft.

And it just, it just looks like on paper to me,

he has that and on film.

What do you see from that angle

of just being a difference maker?

Oh, there's a difference maker.

I think the diagnosis and attack feel

is completely off the chain.

The take on skills,

the competitive toughness,

the range, the tackling.

It's like, all the minutiae of the position,

I really do feel he doesn't an elite level

than it's wrapped up as you mentioned

in this uber athlete.

And usually when you're going through the draft,

your bounce between the two rights,

like, okay, it's a really tentatively proficient player

and you get some of these zooming lineback

as you played in less complex systems.

This is the guy who played in an NFL system

with NFL communication.

He's playing on the edge on early downs

for the most part.

He's playing the NFL role that I'm describing.

Then they'd back him off the line

of scrimmage or move him around

in the in the past fresh game.

I don't know why you wouldn't just adopt that position

one to one, which is what the league is asking for anyway.

So you can kind of designate it however you want.

You can call him an edge defend.

You can call him a linebacker.

I think he's going to play in those multiple roles irrespective

as the offense moves as they go through heavy personnel.

You got to have erases on the field

where you don't have to substitute all the time

and go through different personnel groups

and tip your hat on what you want to do.

You got to have these kind of hybrid type players.

And to me, he's just going back through recent seasons.

It's really hard to find a player

about that overwhelming a linebacker skill set.

And I just don't understand why we're trying to force him

to be out to now edge defend to say,

hey, he can be this dominant password share.

And if he has a dominant password share, that's great.

I'm all good with that.

I'm happy to say it.

Wonderful.

He's a 12 second season guy.

What a great time role having.

I just think there is such value in that degree of force

multiplication.

If that's a word by having this kind of movable piece

at the second level,

he can go and play on the line of scrimmage.

I'm going to get you and Dana Jeremiah together next week

on 40s and free agents.

So you're going to get ready to make this case to him

in terms of the positional value.

It is interesting, though.

I hadn't heard.

Is he selling himself as an edge?

That actually worries me a little bit.

Because it's almost like I heard the Yahoo guys,

Nate Tyson, Charles McDonald, they do a good job.

And they framed it as like, they wanted to ask him,

well, how do you see your next five years?

And I think that's fair to maybe wonder how he sees himself.

It is.

But I mean, go look at Devon Lloyd's contract.

And then go look at the ad-rushing contracts.

Would you not try and sell yourself as an ad-russia?

And if you've got the athletic traits

that beat some out there, stands just straight speed off the ball,

not quite the David Bailey rate.

And I don't think that he's got that quite

of that kind of first step quits.

There's a lot of real technical issues.

It's just a straight pass for sure.

But if I was going into league and I was that kind of special athlete,

let me try the really, really valuable spot.

They'll still use me the way that I'm describing

is the off-ball line back up.

But they'll call me an edge.

And then when we get the franchise tag territory,

when we get to contract discussions,

I can get the big time money.

He literally could be one of those players

that helps like change pay structure.

If he's as good as you think he is,

as we think he is,

where a guy like that gets paid more in Zach Bond,

started the process.

Because if a guy like Zach Bond can get the contract that he gets,

I think a player like Reese,

if he's as good as we hope he's going to be,

we'll sow the value of that position.

I heard you say, go ahead.

The last thing I really do want to touch on with him is,

I think this idea of putting him in the edge book,

it's almost narrow-minded,

where I think the skills are so overwhelming,

that he is the kind of guy you structure the defense around.

Maybe you're not a team that uses a move line back

a right now, Aaron Glenn, the Jets.

They don't use this kind of hybrid line back a type.

But if you get him in the building,

you will be doing yourself a disservice

to not have Zach Bond on Supacer.

It would just be foolish coaching.

It's not trying to play the game this way.

If you just try and say,

he's just going to be a wide-edged Russia,

and we're going to let him go after him.

We think it's going to be a three-year development plan.

He'll be better in 2027.

I just think you're doing yourself in the player disservice.

Now that I think about it,

I was thinking he's the smart,

he's a good pick for the Jets at two,

and they're thinking a little bit more about 2027,

supposedly,

and then he might have the higher ceiling.

They might take him.

But is that a good fit for him for the Reese fans out there?

Not really.

Although, this week, I don't know if you saw Ali,

at the coach's breakfast,

Aaron Glenn said there,

he's going to be multiple on defense

and working in some three, four principles,

not just static.

What do you think?

Let's go.

I think he's saying,

if I get all Vell,

we'll do whatever we can to move all Vell around.

I'm into the idea.

So Ali had Reese,

I believe,

as your highest rated linebacker prospects,

since Luke Eekley, is that correct?

Yep, that's correct.

So where is Sunny Styles then on that spectrum,

because in a normal season,

and certainly the last handful of seasons,

I'm going back to try to think about

who's been the best recent linebacker prospect,

I would imagine Sunny Styles would be

ahead of all those linebacker prospects,

and very high on this scale too,

he just happens to be in this draft with his teammates,

and in some people,

like Daniel Jeremiah specifically,

have him rated ahead of Reese,

so it's kind of pick who you like.

Yeah, and I think it's picked the play style.

Reese is more in that vintage mold

of off the ball,

sea ball,

get ball kind of clang him bang

in the middle of the line of scrimmage.

He's got unbelievable range in coverage,

which Vell Reese, it's different.

That is more of a pop star.

Styles are saying is more of the traditional one.

Yeah.

Styles is more of the traditional one

and has just more coverage range

and more coverage chops.

And so if you're valuing that level of coverage,

it really comes down to what you value

in the past first game

with a kind of movable linebacker

and early down front structure,

which I know is boring,

but is essential to coaching staffs.

And then if you're just more of one of these,

the Texans, the Nine as the Titans now,

it's pretty static.

It's a pretty traditional front.

You're playing kind of four three football,

and you need a dominant linebacker,

and someone you can play all three down

and carry someone in coverage.

And your ideal linebacker

is just Fred Warner.

How close can we get to Fred Warner?

Styles falls more into that bucket to me.

And I do think with him,

because the athleticism and the power,

there is untapped potentials of blitzer,

it's just that's more projection

than what is evident on the tape in college.

I love what you hear about him as a guy,

as a student of the game,

and do you think that shows up

in terms of the way he plays?

Yes, and I think it's going to make the transition

so much easier.

I think this position is a three-year development position now.

There are so much on these guys' plate.

The defense is so multiple.

The offense is so sophisticated.

I think you see that with all the starters now.

It's a lot of guys you forget about,

who go in day two, day three,

and all of a sudden they're like five-year starters,

but they didn't really kick in

until the second, third year of their career.

I think him playing in a full NFL communication system,

that is the most complex thing

for these guys to wrap their head around.

And most of the linebackers

is League of Terrible and Coverage,

that you just got to live with that.

Most guys are not good coverage guys.

I think he can be a day one plus coverage player,

which is a super skill that most guys

are walking the league just ongoing to have.

They're going to have to find that way there over time.

That is the stuff that is really tricky for them

to pick up and take that second, third season

to get to.

I do think he can hit the ground running in that way,

which very few guys can.

And look, I think the combine workout,

and you see it,

sometimes when you're watching him,

not as much.

He seems the guy who's just, he's in control

and he's going to make the play,

and he's not asked to be like,

sprinting down the field.

He does seem like if I thought about,

I don't know who the comp would be at linebacker,

but when we talked about Travis Hunter, for instance,

a year ago where the game seems slow for Travis Hunter,

that he can adjust his speed.

That's another level.

Maybe Sonny Stiles has a little bit of that to him.

He does, and if anything, at times I'm like,

can we give the guy some smelling salts?

He's got knockout power.

I would love him to just take over a quarter

a bit more than he does do.

I would like a little bit more thump and tenacity,

but there is no disputing the technique

and the violence when he's really getting after it.

And so I just don't see,

if you go through its skill set by skill set,

where there's any degree of downside,

it would have to be some poor scheme

for off the field thing.

I think him to not at minimum be a plus start,

and I think that with the coverage range he has,

as a former safety converted to linebacker,

the history of those guys,

recently who are actually at linebacker size,

is a way better hit rate than just traditional linebacker,

than trying to get them to pick up some of the coverage stuff.

And he played safety for a long time.

It's not like he was a one-year guy and then switched over,

played in multiple systems, played in NFL defense.

So I'm really confident that if you take him third or fourth overall,

you at least will be able to say,

we've got a six-year start and then that the ceiling is,

how close can we get to Fred Wolner?

So I did go back and listen to your guys show,

and it's interesting because you taped linebackers first

just because you love them so much.

And it was early in the process.

It was before the combine.

And back then, like, people were not talking about styles,

necessarily getting taken in the top five.

He was 12th or so on the consensus board.

And now it's very much more of an open conversation.

Reese is still number two on the consensus board.

But when you look at the top guys in the mock drafts,

it's more of a conversation where styles could go anywhere

from two to ten.

I mean, you never know because he is a linebacker,

whereas kind of early in the process,

I don't know what changed.

Maybe it just was the comment,

or maybe it's just people catching up to like,

hey, go where this draft actually is,

and this is where the great talent is.

You guys were kind of talking about him that way to begin with,

but maybe the consensus at the time

has changed in just two months.

Well, I fall for the linebacker's hard.

And when you see almost like a perfect technical linebacker

who's that athletic,

I fell pretty severely in week one against Texas

and they're just carried on through to early in the draft process.

I think with styles,

where teams would have him ahead of our race is just,

you do get to see more of the traditional linebacker player

and almost perfect leveling college.

And there is this untapped potential,

which the combined gave towards us,

there's so much burst off the ball.

If he did,

just playing a really attack-based system.

If he went to the Cardinals,

and they really wanted to still get after it

as an attack-based defense with Nick Rollers,

is their mortar is game in that vein

than we've seen so far,

whereas with Arvel,

a lot of that stuff still comes on the edge.

And even with the crazy explosiveness,

he doesn't always play to that tempo.

So I think with styles,

they're just more certainty in the traditional linebacker play

for the teams, at least,

with still that feeling off.

He could be difference making behind a line of scrimmage.

And certainty is always a tricky word this time of year,

but it does feel like there's only so many prospects

in this class that have that feel

that most everyone agrees about him.

I would've included Rubin Bain and Carl Tate

in Caleb Downs in different ways in that bucket,

different levels,

but a ton of styles is one of them.

And it's just like,

go where the draft is.

And that's at the linebacker.

One guy whose consensus spot has fallen quite a bit,

actually, since you talked to that,

I thought it was interesting, is CJ Allen?

I'm a little surprised by that.

So CJ Allen,

the number three linebacker in this class,

and from Georgia,

great profile, extremely productive,

seems to me like he has a pretty high ceiling.

And I don't know why the consensus has fallen on him

a little bit,

but he's an interesting combination of ceiling,

I think in floor,

an exciting player in his own right,

which again,

to repeat the sunny styles point,

wouldn't be maybe at that level,

but would be the number one linebacker,

I feel like in a lot of classes.

Oh, yeah.

In most of the class,

the past 10 years,

I think he'd be one or two,

pretty comfortably.

He's more in that short,

thickly built,

the Kobe Dean type,

more Georgia certainly have a type,

but he,

more than anyone,

is out to take souls on the football field.

He just wants to hear everything that moves.

He plays, I think,

ahead of himself far too often.

I think that will drive teams pretty bonkers,

as they dive through things.

And I know there's all the reports out there about,

hey, he called the defense.

I mean, if you go watch them actually play,

they're rarely lined up correctly,

they're consistently misaligned,

sometimes the players need even in.

So I don't think it's like a benefit to him to say,

hey, he was calling the defense,

not just checking things,

the line is screwed,

but why are they a mess then?

If he's calling things all the time.

So I think there's a lot of development need.

I think he will be on that kind of three year arc,

but he undoubtedly has unteachable athletic skill.

So I gave you a little bit of a,

a project here.

I don't know if CJ Allen fits into these buckets.

Like, do you have a player who is better,

you think, then the consensus board,

where the consensus board is at?

It would be Kishon Elliott.

I'd love it.

From Arizona State.

I know I keep talking to you about him,

but I think the,

I don't know where he is.

I don't know where he is five on the consensus board.

And he was 380th in February.

So he's, he's making a run there.

So I hope NFL Daily has helped with that.

The people have got eyes on Kishon Elliott.

Now, I think to me,

he's a compact rundown player,

plays with intellect and power.

He looks to me like all these starting linebacks in the league,

where it's not these crazy high-end explosive traits.

And people go and chase those all the time,

particularly in the second round.

And then you look in year two,

year three, go, where are they?

Are they other playing on teams?

Oh, they're not getting on the field anymore.

And teams are more comfortable saying,

most of these guys on grade and coverage

can at least be solid in their run fit.

And then can we kind of mask them

with a really zone-based defense.

There's a lot of split safety looks,

there's a lot of coverage protection.

And he just, me just fits that mouth.

He is really, really smart.

I think though he's not a great athlete,

he actually is active and alive in coverage

and picks, picks things up pretty well.

And then it's just a mall around the box.

Just kills people over and over again,

what on one in space?

So I think he's got all the traits

of a starting linebacker.

I would take him comfortably on day two.

But based on where the consensus board is,

at least it wasn't fair.

I guess he's rising now.

Maybe he won't last as long as I thought.

Well, that is late fifth round.

Arizona State, Keishan Elliott.

And it just shows you how deep linebacker

is that he's listed as like linebacker 15 or so right now.

And I know you like the depth of this class,

but who's a player that maybe isn't that middle tier?

Because I think there will be a decent amount of day two linebackers

taken.

And I'm guessing this is where this guy comes from.

A player that you're kind of lower on than consensus.

The one I struggle with is Anthony Hill from Texas.

He really does look the pop.

And I'm open to just being completely wrong on the player.

But that's just a, to me anyway,

he's six, three, two, 43.

He's going to be 20 years old.

So it's like the perfect profile.

If you can get him in the second round where I think he will go

to invest that time in two, three years

and then become a full-time starter.

And he has the athletic profile to play in basically

any system that he wants.

I just find it to be so lacking in a lot of the technical details.

I think there's a slight width that he's not always engaged

in the fight for someone that big.

You'd like to see him take people on

and really bring the thunder over and over again.

And to me is the kind of like generic football question

of block destruction take on skills.

Are they taught how much is it technique?

How much is it the mentality of the player?

I think that the number one point on the hit list

before you can get to some of the skills involved

is just they want to play violence.

It's a contact sport.

It's a collision position.

How much they want to take guys on one-on-one

when we're really getting after it.

When you're facing an old pro center,

when Creed Humphrey is firing off the ball.

Are you willing to give it right back to him?

I have real great flashes of it off the tape.

If you go on social media,

you'll find four or five clips and go,

wow, but consistently over and over again,

you got to bring the fight for 70 reps.

It's just not quite there for me.

And I just wonder if you can really develop that over time.

Or if you give someone $20 million, they say,

well, it's a pretty good payday.

I don't really have to go throw my face into the fire every day.

I mean, physicality is a trait, right?

I mean, that's something you look for, especially at this position.

Kind of compare him and TGL and because it's interesting,

again, kind of going back to this draft process.

Back in February, I think the idea was Anthony Hill

was going to be battling for that kind of linebacker three spot.

And maybe he will.

And the league will wind up liking him.

And him and CJ Allen were both ranked a little higher.

They both have fallen a little bit.

Whereas I look at Jeremiah's top 40.

And there's a huge gap between those two guys.

He sees CJ Allen.

And I do find Jeremiah tends to reflect the league pretty often.

Or at least a certain type of, you know, organizationally.

And he has CJ Allen as a top 20 player in this draft.

Hill barely cracking his top 50.

How do you see kind of the comparison of those two,

the physicality that that Allen brings?

And I know we kind of short shrifted.

If I did want to get into like the ceiling of it all,

because he does feel like a guy who's very exciting to watch.

And maybe is getting mislabeled a little bit

as like a lower ceiling player when he does have a lot of explosive potential.

Like he is a fun guy to watch.

He might be as almost as fun as watching the Ohio State guys when I checked him out.

He's just, he is kind of a blast to watch.

He is.

He's more frenetic and now controlling those guys.

I think those guys know what they're doing every single down.

I'm not sure he's always sure.

He's often pointing things out to teammates that are just flat out wrong.

It makes me tackle watching him.

It's like the leader of the group.

And he's just getting things wrong all the time.

But man, when he arrives, he just kills people.

He crushes them.

He chases everything down.

The range is off the scale.

The play speed is off the scale.

He is in that more short, stout, pocket rocket type mold.

I always fall for those guys.

I just can't help myself.

I always fall for the guys who are six one,

but play out the six four and just bring thunder to the point of attack over and over again.

Yeah.

Like and he's covering a lot of ground.

And I know you're saying sometimes he didn't know, you know, the plays right.

But like a lot of his profile, when you hear him talked about,

almost feels like he's like, you know, the grudin' grinder.

It's like that.

The smart, tough, reliable guy.

But I see a guy that's running all over the field.

So that's a great combination.

Maybe he's like the next London Fletcher or something.

I agree that I think he's almost too eager to make plays.

He'll get caught in the traffic and all that kind of stuff.

So I think that's just a subtlety to his game.

It's lacking.

I think you can refine that.

And that's what the two year, three year process,

rather than try to tap into someone.

Do you want to really get after this every single day?

I think it's easy to try and refine someone who plays with real violence and aggressiveness

and his flying all over the place and try to funnel that in.

And if you get him into one of these systems where he's just playing off the ball

and playing clean up duty, I think someone like the Saints,

where it's a lot of six one stuff where he's just the one line back off there,

just running chase, run, see, hit, and then go and play good coverage.

I think he's, there's more quality stuff in coverage, I would say,

than there is truly the take on skills.

Now he's super aggressive and that stuff can be coached though.

But he can really move in coverage in a different way and cover a ton of ground.

I think he's ideally suitable where he's at right now.

I haven't graded out as a quality starter.

I've not had three guys with quality starter grades in.

It has to be 12 years.

And he's the third guy in there.

So I'm with DJ on that.

I think he's way high to being in the top 20 plays in the class than,

than any of the guys on the list.

Okay, so you have him then third.

Who's, who's kind of in your, your next tier of linebackers,

putting me on the spot here?

Well, I have Kishon in that list.

In the solid studs here, this is where the real meat, the classes.

I love Jacob Rodriguez.

I think by the time we get to draft, now I'm just going to close my eyes and move him

probably to, to fourth.

Maybe even as high as third.

I just can't quit the guy.

I have Kishon Elliott in that list.

Mara's on a state.

We got Josiah Trotter.

We've got Jake Golday.

I have Anthony Hill in there for the reasons I mentioned.

There's still real talent in there, just I don't quite fall in love with the player.

And I've got Kyle Lewis from Pitt, who's this kind of weird malleable.

Is he a safety?

Is he a nickel?

Is he a linebacker?

I'm not sure he can play a linebacker in the NFL,

but he might be the most electric quickest player in the entire draft class.

Then I think he could cover a role as one of these hybrid players moving around the formation.

Okay, Kyle Lewis is, you know, projected again like a high third round type of pick.

You mentioned Jeremiah Trotter's son.

Isn't it like a little bit of a red flag that he has the same sort of profile as his brother

who just came out and his dad and that's not the model of like a modern linebacker?

And his brother, you know, hasn't really played much.

I really like the brother.

I think Jeremiah Trotter, Jr. is really, really intelligent.

He just doesn't quite have the athletic skills.

I think of what is demanded.

Well, they're not, you don't seem to like him that much.

You know, they're not, they're not playing him that much.

I accept that, but how many guys are being let go?

Blake Cashham was let go by the Jets goes and starts for the team.

So that's just the way linebacker play is I think at the moment.

Josiah is a footballing lunatic who really struggles to find the ball,

but is interested in running through every human's face who comes near him.

So, and he is a really, really potent ball.

It's his brother does not have that level of first-step speed

and kind of feel navigating through in the past for sure.

So he can, I think, be a positive on third down where his brother is kind of a run down only type player.

Got it.

Yeah, the point in shoot type of guy.

What do you think about the criticism for Rodriguez?

I know we're bouncing all over the place.

Nate Tyson, for instance, thinks that maybe he's not in it for the, in the fight enough,

enough physicality for Rodriguez.

That's a fair criticism.

He's more of a bouncy dance between the cracks type player.

You know, the kind of buzzword all the coaches use these days,

which Jesse Minter brought to us all is block destruction.

And when you use that verb, be a junior mind.

It's someone just smashing someone, right?

It's two-hand punch and stack and shed.

But that would be a high tower.

That would be a high tower.

It's, it's absolutely done.

A high tower.

A number one guy in the board.

But there's more to it than that.

There's, there's throwbys.

There's eye fakes.

There's different ways to defeat the block effectively.

And I think he's got so many tools to his back to just navigate through space and to navigate around people.

I think he's probably more of a coverage first.

Drop him into zone coverage.

Sprint all over the field.

Go find the ball and get it.

And maybe he does have to be more of a sub-packaged guy for you.

But those are the more valuable downs now.

The, the actual, we're setting a heavy wall.

You've got to throw your face into it.

A few add downs.

If you can play all three, that's when you move into the tier of all Val and Sonny.

And I think CJ Allen can get there.

He might be more coverage first, racing around all over the place.

And then over time, could you become like an Aziz al-Shayet type player?

If you can get a bit more tenacity out of him, I think that you could look at that.

But he is just an incredible playmaker.

I think some guys just know the sport, see it, feel it.

The volume of plays on the ball, the amount of time he's undercutting plays, jumping plays.

He's understanding a down-distance situation, all the punchouts, all the game breaking plays.

I just think that he's going to make a whole bunch of plays.

To me, he smacks up a guy with a really high national identity

where everyone knows him.

He's making a whole bunch of plays on Red Zone every week.

He's playing for the Jags or whatever.

It's like, wow, another punch out from Jake Rodriguez.

Then the PFF scores come out.

And he's in the bottom 25 linebackers in the league.

The down-to-down consistency is not what you're looking for,

but there's a whole bunch of game breaking plays.

Like, peak Devon White or something?

Peak Devon White is a good one.

I like that.

He's head out to Devon White.

Still making those tackles.

It's crazy.

Seven, I just counted on the contents board.

Seven or eight day two sort of prospects at linebacker.

Do you have any favorite comps that could be,

give me a positive, Anna or a derogatory one or both?

I'd say Kyle Lewis as like a Jeremiah of Osu Karamoah.

Oh, that's good.

Is he a linebacker?

Is he a safety?

Can he do in a different frame?

Some of the Emon Warry, Jalen, Peter, so far,

is playing Nicholson snaps.

He's playing weak side linebackers.

He snaps, then we can do all these fun rotations

where he's firing out to the half field.

He just moves differently.

Now, he has very little interest in tackling.

And it is a contact spot.

It gives me deep concerns.

But if I, just imagine if you've got someone like Steve Spagnolo,

the volume of what would be on the menu would be different.

And if he just turns out to be really talented

and coverage down the slot, even if it's just taking away Titans,

he's got to be on the field.

And you're going to have to try and live with the ups and downs.

If a team can force him into the box

and run at him over and over again,

he's just going to have to live with the downside.

I gotta, I gotta watch him.

I mean, if he, if he moved like oh, so Korma,

I mean, talk about a guy who moves different

and it was obvious pretty early in his NFL career.

JOK was like that.

There's almost a Ivan Pace-type movement

where the explosiveness of the ball is just jarring.

And then he's really, really slippery,

kind of, actually bouncing around.

Now, you do get to see him go up against Jeremiah Love

where you're seeing sake one, like movement skills.

And he gets put on like three posters,

a little bit concerning.

You got to face Jimmy Gibbs and Bijan and sake one

and Jeremiah Love as well in the NFL.

But he played in a really complex system

and he was kind of pivot player.

They would move around to be the problem solver.

So I think there's a little bit of JOK.

And that and even JOK,

and it where the leagues at right now,

you question, can you live on the field and all three down?

So I think he's going to be a pretty specific player.

But he's one of those guys,

whoever gets him clearly will have a vision

for how they can use him all over the place,

a bit Leo Chanel like something in that vein.

And so I think I've just come around to the Chiefs

that taking him forget about the profile anymore.

He just makes a ton of sense for them.

Oh, I love that.

Maybe round two, round three, something like that.

Harold Perk, probably round three,

if we are to believe the consensus.

Harold Perkens is a guy,

if there was a draft after his rookie season

at LSU might have gone in the top 10, right?

I mean, he was like the next big thing.

Yeah.

And now he's projected 122.

I'm ending the linebackers on a downer note,

but just as, again, as a casual,

it's like, what happened here?

I know it sort of fell apart,

but is there any hope here for a guy

who was that productive early in his career

to fall off that hard?

It just shows you how long the draft process is.

He is, and if Belichick was still in the league,

he would take him in the second round.

He loved those guys who were the high-end high school players

who had the great onesies,

and then maybe they fell off a bit.

He would bet that he could coach it up.

He just is, I think, too small to play

through off the ball linebacker.

And then with all the movement stuff,

we discussed with Val Valris.

Can you play on the line of scrimmage?

He cannot.

He is crazy, crazy explosive,

more of a straight line mover

than I kind of flipped the hips and turning coverage.

It's all straight ahead,

which is why the testing numbers

are off the scale.

And if you're Brian Flores,

all the Falcons,

and we're mugging up seven guys,

and we're just going to rip off the ball,

he has a speed,

and you need a speed to be able to win

in those systems.

So for one of those teams as a package player,

I think there's a possibility.

Again, it would be that Ivan Paste type situation

where there's ten unbelievable splash plays,

and then a lot of it is pretty rough

the rest of the go around.

It's just how much you value that

in a class with seven guys

who could be truly solid starters.

If we just need more Flores,

I guess Durante Jones, maybe,

could be that guy for Washington

just to take these mismatched pieces

that could be great in a fun defense

and get the most out of them.

So he is not a mismatch.

It's just pure speed,

and the speed is beneficial.

There is no power.

He seems often confused,

but by the fact it's Saturday,

let alone that they're playing football.

So you're betting on,

well, someone has to get off the ball

so fast, everyone panics.

And that's what we're paying for.

A deep, fun class.

We could do linebackers all day.

But let's take a break.

Let's come back,

talk about a really good top end

of the safety crop

and the defensive tackles in a minute.

I'm Daniel Jeremiah.

And I'm Greg Rosenthal.

And this is 40s and free agents.

The games may be over,

but the NFL never stopped.

This is my favorite part of the calendar.

Yeah, mine too, Greg.

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Back on NFL Daily.

My last show.

My last few segments

before

take a little time off

and go see the parents.

We've been cranking daily

since training camp started.

But we'll still have you covered

next week.

Jordan's got you.

Shucks got you.

Ali and Daniel Jeremiah's got you.

But yeah, I feel

a little bit like my kids

in the last few days before

spring break, you know.

You are the teacher for me

just playing like a movie

for me to watch.

I'm just enjoying your analysis.

So thank you, Ali,

for carrying me home.

Just repeated Kyle Lewis tapes

and you off on your way to your parents?

Oh, no, forget Kyle Lewis

because I think you're true

beloved in this class.

Why do I always

like confuse the two names?

The safety from Indiana.

What's his name?

A Lumeau.

Oh, man.

You spent 25 minutes.

I'm Louis Moore.

Wow.

On your show.

And, you know, I've directed people to it

when you've been on the show.

But if you're really into the draft

and you like this kind of coverage

and would want to expand

the read optional,

Ali and John Ledyard,

I'm going to just break,

break contain here

and actually start our

safety conversation.

Give me the like 60 second

elevator pitch on Louis Moore

before we get to the big names.

A guy who's like projected to go

like in the middle of day three,

but you believe has a lot more to him.

I do.

I mean, he's tiny

and there's going to be questions

of is he a nickel?

Is he a true kind of

on the shelf safety?

I think he's quite

got the lateral quicks

to go down and play

in the nickel spot.

I think you need real

physicality to play

there at the high level

in the league right now.

I think his brain just functions

at wolf speed

and you can just see it

over and over again.

Oh,

not just kind of reading

and jumping routes

which is the most obvious stuff,

but just kind of

shutting down reads

really quickly in the progression.

Understanding everyone

to Simon.

I just need to operate

a different pace.

And it's weird to me

that I just watched

Indiana run

through everyone's

face in college football.

And now I'm hearing

when people are knocking

Mendoza, well, you know,

the defense is really good.

It was really good.

And those playoff games,

defense is really good.

And yet I'm looking

through the draft.

And I can't find an

Indiana player who a team

is falling in love with.

It was the Angelo Ponds,

but it's he too small,

eight and fish

of the linebacker.

Another really intelligent

player.

But he can go on day three

and half.

It's like,

didn't these guys just

more Alabama in the

Rose Bowl?

Didn't they destroy my

amy defensively?

Didn't they destroy Ohio

state in the big tentative

game defensively?

And none of these guys

are viable enough to go

and play on Sundays.

I did.

Someone has to be good enough

to play on Sundays.

And I think that if he played

in every blank and ship type

role, we're not talking

about a superstar here.

Just a backside safety.

We're free range to go and find

the ball and make plays.

He works a different

speed to everyone else.

And he's a guy I would

want to make to you.

25 years old.

But you call them the best

goal line player in the

country.

That's 221 on the big board.

I'm going to be following

Louis Moore.

If you listened closely

last year, you know, we asked

Oli for just a deep under

the radar type of guy that he

loved.

And one of them was

Efton Chisholm.

Who made the Patriots

roster is a hero to many

small whites in New England

and who knows who might have a

fun career.

If nothing else, he contributed

to a team that made the

Super Bowl, which is a great

result for an undrafted

free agent.

It's time for charging into

the offseason presented by Apple

card for all your game day

purchases.

Let's go to the top of this

safety class.

Really the top three are all

expected to go in the first

round.

What kind of impact do you

think Caleb Downs can have?

Like right off the bat in his

career and kind of where do you

put him, assuming he's number

one at safety for you compared

to the rest of the entire

draft class?

I think he's not one safety

to me.

I think just overall in terms

of the fundamentals and having

the fewest negatives on the

report, he's an unborn player

in the draft.

Whether he has the playmaking

upside of someone like a novel

recent sunny styles.

I think it's fair to debate

and then the positional value

that falls into that too.

I would value a hybrid line

back a slightly upper of a

hybrid safety in terms of what

you can do structurally.

But I see flash of his game.

I, you know, people to talk

about him, I think in different

ways.

I see elements in how he is used

and as the pivot point of the

entire defense and what they

wanted to do on a unit that

had probably four first round

picks.

He was the centerpiece of

everything they tried to get

too defensively with a

Super Bowl champion defensive

coordinator.

That does matter to me.

And I think there are flashes

in usage of a Buddha Baker

with more of a Brian Branch

playstyle as I put it where he's

kind of a slot.

He's more fluid than explosive

whereas Buddha is a bit

blurrier, bit more explosive

off the ball.

But there is real intelligence.

There is unbelievable

tenacity and get after it type

stuff.

Unbelievable technique.

And almost everything he does.

He's pretty flawless technically.

And so it's difficult to go

through and try and find

something to complain about

with the player.

Yeah.

And a guy who you saw in multiple

systems before Patricia

got there at Ohio State

obviously was at Alabama

early.

I think that's huge.

I always think and this is

Ranking the 2026 NFL Draft: Linebackers, Safeties and Defensive Tackles

About this Episode

Hosts & Guests

More from NFL Daily with Gregg Rosenthal

40s and Free Agents with Mina Kimes: Favorite Players in the 2026 NFL Draft

Mailbag: Draft Best Fits, First to Worst Teams, Pet Heaven!

Mock Draft: Jeremiyah Love at No. 3? Caleb Downs Goes Early and WRs Fall

Power Players: Patriots director of pro personnel A.J. Highsmith