The 2022 NFL Draft provided us with a lot of high-caliber prospects at the off-ball linebacker position, headlined by first-round picks Quay Walker of Georgia (now with the Green Bay Packers) and Devin Lloyd of Utah (now with the Jacksonville Jaguars), as well as the popular to be a first-round pick before an injury led to his freefall in the draft, Nakobe Dean of Georgia, whom the Philadelphia Eagles picked up in the 3rd Round. In total, 10 off-ball linebackers were drafted in the first three rounds. The 2023 NFL Draft doesn’t project to be as stacked as the previous one, but it doesn’t lack intriguing early-round options, including the top two prospects who may have a chance to be drafted higher than any linebacker in last spring’s draft. So, here are my initial linebacker prospect rankings for the 2023 NFL Draft.
Noah Sewell, 6’2” 253 lbs, Oregon (Junior)
Strengths:
- Impressive combination of size, strength, quickness, explosiveness, and closing speed for a middle linebacker
- Arguably the most explosive and violent tackler in the draft, a forceful wrap-up tackler
- Incredible Blitzer who powers through holes with power and explosiveness, and can collapse the pocket by driving blockers back into QBs, and he has a high motor to make disruptive plays in the backfield consistently.
- Displays impressive balance and agility to change directions and make tackles in space as well as flipping his hips fluidly from pass drops to pursuing ball carriers with really good angles.
- Excellent awareness while dropping in zone coverage, and he displays really good peripheral vision allowing him to read his keys really well from QBs to receivers and put himself in the proper position to pursue the ball, and even make plays on it.
- Fits the hole with authority and does a good job splitting opposing blockers to still make a lot of tackles upon taking on a block
- He has the strength and heavy hands to jolt blockers head on
- Patient at reading the flow of blocks, he is rarely caught off guard by misdirection plays.
- He has shown a good ability to rush the passer on the edges and has the lower body flexibility to develop more as a speed rusher there.
- Displays the leadership to communicate adjustments with his teammates.
- Overall, he has an outstanding knack for making big plays in key moments
Weaknesses:
- Needs to improve tackling by involving his lower half more, tends to rely on his really powerful and explosive upper body too much, which leads to miss tackles versus more elusive and powerful ball carriers, and when he doesn’t come under control at times.
- Needs to develop better block disengaging techniques with his hands for situations where he didn’t split one side of the incoming blocker in time as he tends to be stuck with blockers then
- Can improve his pass-rush repertoire if he wants to have value as an edge rusher as well. Does a great job using bull rush and has shown a good hesitation step at times, but gets stalled by blockers and is currently lacking counter moves.
- The Georgia game earlier this season may open up his evaluation to more flaws than anticipated as he failed to make an impact to improve the Ducks’ chances to avoid a blowout versus the Bulldogs.
Ideal fit: 3-4 or 4-3 Mike Linebacker in a blitz-heavy scheme
Trenton Simpson, 6’3” 240 lbs, Clemson (Junior)
Strengths:
- Outstanding combination of size, speed, explosiveness, and overall athleticism to the point where he may be the best athlete of the entire draft at any position.
- Outstanding lateral range and closing speed.
- Can explode through his tackles on ball carriers whether in the box or in space.
- Explosive first step when asked to blitz up the middle or from the edge.
- Excellent backside pursuit defender with really nice angles.
Weaknesses:
- Still needs to develop better fundamentals as a linebacker, notably in pursuit, and when blitzing in regards to showing more strength anchoring down versus blockers, as he tends to be moved off his spots a bit too much, even against some wide receivers blocking him
- Can also improve how he reads the offense’s blocking scheme, and play with more patience as he plays too aggressively downhill at times and gets caught versus misdirection plays by committing too quickly to a gap.
- Can improve confidence as a tackler, as he tends to lunge too many times instead of closing on and wrapping up the tackler, especially given his immense physical tools
- Needs more experience as a box linebacker as he was primarily used as a slot defender in his sophomore season, but really showed outstanding play playing inside in the Tigers’ first game versus Georgia Tech this year. He did show improvement in that game dealing with the physicality of blockers and playing with proper leverage, which was a major weakness of his as a sophomore.
Ideal fit: 4-3 or 3-4 Will or Mike linebacker that will use him a lot going downhill, and in both man and zone coverage.
Nick Herbig, 6’2” 228 lbs, Wisconsin (Junior)
Strengths:
- The most surprising player I have evaluated so far in this class as he plays with explosiveness, heavy hands, power, and speed that is usually associated with prospects who, similar to Sewell and Simpson, look the part from the moment you lay your eyes on them
- As an athlete, he has a really explosive first step off the edge, has a lot of twitchiness, and has a pretty good lower-body bend, flexibility, and burst
- He converts speed to power rivaling a lot of the EDGE rusher prospects in this draft while being relatively undersized, and he uses leverage and leg drive to push blockers into QBs with relative ease.
- He stacks the edge with a powerful jolt versus blockers to which he routinely gives up between 50-100 lbs
- Has the ability to withstand double and even triple teams and disengage to still make plays in pursuit thanks to his outstanding bend and leverage at the point of attack.
- He is able to use good pass-rush moves to speed rush outside, pass-rush to the blockers inside, and displays counter moves
- Plays with an incredibly high motor and is a forceful hitter that can jar the ball loose.
- He displays pretty good footwork and fluidity to drop in zone coverage, and can flip his hips smoothly, and he has shown the versatility to do it from the edge as well as off the ball
- A true knack for disruptive and game-changing plays in the backfield, a real outlier that most likely will overcome his physical limitations that are not prototypical for his position, and yet will still be a highly productive player.
Weaknesses:
- Undersized for the position he currently plays right now as an EDGE rusher for the Badgers, and undersized for an NFL off-the-ball linebacker as well at 228 lbs. Lacks a true position projection in the pros, but in today’s game, that may be a schematic strength depending on the scheme he gets drafted into.
- Plays the off-the-ball linebacker role at times more as a disguised role instead of a true assignment and position, so it’s hard to gauge his true instincts to maneuver through blockers in the run game from that spot.
- If he plays on the edge in the NFL full-time, does he have the frame to carry more weight?
- May be overlooked due to physical limitations while having clear first-round talent.
Ideal fit: 4-3 SAM Linebacker or 3-4 Will off-the-ball linebacker or the weakside EDGE rusher in a scheme that will use him a lot to rush the passer on passing downs.
Jack Campbell, 6’5” 246 lbs, Iowa (Senior)
Strengths:
- He has a really good size for a middle linebacker with a pretty good combination of height and weight. It serves him really well dropping in zone coverage in the middle of the field where QBs are forced to throw over him, which led to good production defending the ball in the air.
- He plays with the appropriate physicality and instincts for the position. He is physical with blockers and has strong hands and the appropriate technique to disengage from blockers to redirect himself to the ball carrier.
- Plays with adequate leverage maneuvering through blocks and wrap-up for tackles thanks to his good lower body flexibility
- Disciplined in his pursuit angles and plays with appropriate patience to feel blocks to lead him to the play.
- Powerful tackler who has really good stopping power, even against some powerful running backs, and rarely misses tackles. Can explode into his tackles.
- Displays good enough footwork and balance in space to track down running backs going out of the backfield
Weaknesses:
- Lacks the explosiveness and the twitchiness of the aforementioned top Linebacker prospects
- He is not the most fluid or fastest player sideline to sideline, although he has the knack for always being in a great position to make plays
- Can be exposed in space and in coverage versus speedier and more agile offensive players, thus may be limited schematically or position-wise due to these limitations.
Ideal fit: 4-3 Mike or Sam linebacker in a zone scheme, with some 3-4 teams that may consider him as a 3-4 Mike that can take on blockers versus the run and drop in zone coverage.
Henry To’o To’o, 6’2” 228 lbs, Alabama (Senior)
Strengths:
- Really fast linebacker prospect who excels as a backside pursuit defender, as he displays really nice pursuit angles
- He has the oily hips to fluidly change direction, and he covers a lot of ground when in zone coverage.
- Can cover man to man down the field when assigned to running backs out of the backfield and tight ends down the seam.
- Can explode through his tackles when in the proper position.
- Shows the ability to play with good leverage in pursuit and sink down to make hits.
Weaknesses:
- A bit lean and undersized to be a full-time in-the-box linebacker for schemes requiring their MLB to play downhill through blockers
- Tends to be a bit reckless at times in space, doesn’t come under control at times, and misses a lot of open field tackles
- Inconsistent physicality when maneuvering through blocks, tends to get lost in traffic, and lacks the strength to anchor down and disengage, especially against powerful blockers. But when he is physical, he combines hitting the hole aggressively with a picturesque tackling technique on ball carriers that you wish was more consistent than his missed tackles.
- Lacks impact plays due to below-average production on the football in coverage and has a blitzer.
- Slow at times at diagnosing plays when it necessitates the middle linebacker to read his keys from the blockers to the backfield, leaves a lot of easy plays that can help his defense save a lot more yards and field position. Also tends to be hesitant in attacking the play as the frontside defender.
Ideal fit: 4-3 Will linebacker in a gap-attacking scheme that allows him to have a role as the backside defender and frees him up from blockers in the run game.
Other players to watch: Ventrell Miller (Florida), Mikel Jones (Syracuse), Jeremy Banks (Tennessee), SirVocea Dennis (Pittsburgh), Justin Flowe (Oregon), Cam Jones (Indiana)
