In two weeks, NFL GMs will begin negotiating with free . Consequently, the list of consistently elite players is far shorter than for other positions, and there is much more volatility in this position group. Rounding out the top-tier of linebackers, Lavonte David is likely another surprise player based on where he tends to go in drafts, but dont let the age fool you. Mandatory Credit: Trevor Ruszkowski-USA TODAY Sports. ECR VS. ADP. 2021 Snaps: 1,148 However, Georgia wide receiver Kearis Jackson is not ranked in Pro Football Focus' NFL draft big board rankings. Rookie Devin Lloydand sophomore Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah both project to be every-down linebackers on ideal defenses for expected production. While Chicago lost Akiem Hicks and Khalil Mackin the offseason, this unit could be rather strong again with some of the additions made in the secondary, and with the defensive-minded Matt Eberflus taking over as head coach. You must be logged in and create a league profile to apply custom fantasy scoring to the stats, projections and rankings pages. Andersen is a converted running back and quarterback who, in his lone full season at linebacker, racked up an absurd 67 stops. 9 linebacker in coverage with a 73.9. Final Season Stats. Teams are afraid to throw at Surtain, and he has one of the lowest target totals among . Nakobe Dean, LB, Georgia . Contract projection: Available in PFF's free agency rankings. Smith has recorded at least 101 combined tackles in each of his four NFL seasons, and his last two campaigns have been impressive. Anzalone has always shown promise but is probably better coming off the bench, especially after finishing with a bottom-10 overall grade among 94 qualifying linebackers in 2021. It was his first season missing fewer than 10% of his tackle opportunities, and he put up an 86.8 overall grade with seven tackles and two defensive stops during a strong playoff run. Devin Bush has not lived up to his draft status as a first-round pick, and 2022 might be his last chance to prove himself at the NFL level. Within 2021 and 2022's class, Detroit made use of the later rounds to nab names such as wideout Amon-Ra St. Brown, linebacker Malcolm Rodriguez and edge James Houston. 12 among linebackers in 2021 with a PFF coverage grade of 70 in 295 coverage snaps. Only Micah Parsons graded out higher than Werner among first-year linebackers last season. Yes, Davis was a late-bloomer, but not many players can make the impact he does in stopping the run, tackling, rushing the passer and working in coverage. Why drafting Dallas Cowboys LB Micah Parsons among the top-12 may not be the best decision. Tae Crowder and Micah McFadden will look to compete for the spot opposite Martinez. 2021 Snaps: 712 5 overall pick recorded 128 combined tackles, a career-high 18 QB hits in 2021 and earned his first Pro Bowl selection this past season. 2021 Snaps: 82 1. The best linebackers in todays league are elite coverage players, but they can also affect the game in other ways. Jack had hovered near 70.0 overall grades before a down 2021 season, and the Steelers will hope that those good years arent behind him. both project to be every-down linebackers on ideal defenses for expected production. Turn on this feature to cross off players during your draft. 17 linebacker in the NFL going into 2022, placing him in the "young. 1 linebacker according to PFF, with a grade of 89.7. You dont want to line him up against an opposing receiving weapon in a one-on-one, but he demonstrated better recognition of route patterns and improved as a zone coverage backer. Mandatory Credit: Steve Roberts-USA TODAY Sports. A position of concern and potential weakness heading into last season has become a real strength for Kansas City. If the Cardinals had spent those picks elsewhere and held on to Jordan Hicks in free agency, they would be in a much better spot. The following tiers reflect which players are in the best situations to produce they're ranked based on the likelihood of doing so every single week. A position of concern and potential weakness heading into last season has become a real strength for Kansas City. 8 in total pressures. The rest of 1A should surprise no one, with this group almost filling out the consensus top-five linebackers in ADP terms,. Mandatory Credit: Trevor Ruszkowski-USA TODAY Sports By Sam Monson May 24, 2022 Bobby Wagner, Seattle Seahawks Seattle's defense may have deteriorated around him, but Bobby Wagner remains the class of the linebacker position, especially since Luke Kuechly 's retirement. He didn't end the 2021 campaign in the best fashion, but did rebound to record 13 combined tackles, two tackles for loss, four QB hits and two passes defensed in Tampa Bay's two postseason games. Nevertheless, he is clearly an ascending young player contributing immensely to Tennessees defense that finished first in expected points added per rush allowed on the season. , who draws all the attention at the offensive line, opening up room for the linebackers for clean tackle opportunities. The soon-to-be 30-year-old is a solid all-around off-ball linebacker who has three straight seasons logging at least 750 snaps, and he took a major leap in 2022 with the. PFFs Fantasy Strength of Schedule (SoS) metric provides a league-wide, season-long view of opponent matchups for each fantasy position. . Much of this unit's potential lies with third-round rookie Christian Harris, who managed 34 run stops at Alabama in 2021 (tied for 36th among 374 qualifying FBS linebackers). Parsons lined up as an edge rusher on 40.6% of his snaps as a rookie, and thats where he did the bulk of his damage. Vander Esch quietly played some good football in 2022 after signing a one-year flier to return to the Cowboys following a free agency period that didnt pan out as hed hoped. There's no way he was going to get better, right? In his recent post on linebackers, PFF's Sam Monson ranked Nick Bolton No. According to training camp reports, that is paying off big time for the Eagles. The former third-round pick still has room to grow as a coverage player, but at 6-foot-1 and 235 pounds, he moves well enough in space to not be a liability in coverage. After ranking the best individual linebackers heading into 2022, here's how each team's linebacking corps stacks up. Amid replacement-level cornerback and safety play at times, Warner's gravitas over the middle of the field allowed the team to play a high percentage of zone coverage to protect its outside cornerbacks. Therefore, they are included in our defensive line rankings despite dropping into coverage at times. Kansas City Chiefs linebacker group ranked as 9th-best in NFL by PFF Teams AFC East Bills Dolphins Jets Patriots AFC North Bengals Browns Ravens Steelers AFC South Colts Jaguars Texans Titans. His 75.9 grade two years marked a career high. There are a lot of unknowns in this group due to inexperience. Seahawks only have one player in PFF's top-40 graded edge defenders Teams AFC East Bills Dolphins Jets Patriots AFC North Bengals Browns Ravens Steelers AFC South Colts Jaguars Texans Titans AFC. Elandon Roberts and Jerome Baker are average linebackers who have just one 70.0-plus season grade among their 10 combined years in the NFL. He allowed 81.0% of passes thrown his way to be caught and missed 17 tackles in all. However, he's still a work in progress in coverage and didn't tally a single interception or pass breakup in his college career. Los Angeles' overall defense is so good, at least on paper, that it might not matter who plays linebacker. The Vikings also brought in the underrated Jordan Hicks from the Cardinals in free agency. The Titans ask a lot of their off-ball linebackers, and Long can do it all. What a find he was for the Packers last year. The 49ers applied the second-round restricted free agent tender at a price tag of $3.986 million to Al-Shaair for the 2022 season, perhaps illustrating that they feared he would get signed to an offer sheet elsewhere if they went with the right of first refusal tender. Wagner gets a new opportunity on a new team with a lot more talent around him this season, so there is good reason to suspect that his grade might bounce back. Something to note is that 3-4 pass-rushers will not appear on this list. 6 in the NFL in sacks and No. Walker had a career year for the Browns in 2021, and his 78.2 PFF coverage grade was the highest of his career. So, who's the best off-ball linebacker in the NFL today? However, Dean played his role at an elite level, ranking 10th among all corners graded by PFF. Unlock all tools and content including Player Grades, Fantasy, NFL Draft, Premium Stats, Greenline and DFS. Pittsburgh Steelers (94/100) Cameron Heyward was second behind only Aaron Donald in PFF's grades of interior defensive linemen last season. Lloyd, who earned a 90.0-plus grade at Utah in 2021, does look set to start. Let's have a look at them. His struggles come in coverage, where he's allowed nearly 1,000 yards over the past two seasons. Galina ranked the Colts at No. The PFF grades aren't always right on point, but they do serve as a generally effective tool for comparisons . He rarely leaves the field, having never played less than 90% of defensive snaps when healthy in a season, and is a lock for triple-digit tackles as a result. PFF Free Agency Rank: 86 2021 Snaps: 783 2021 PFF grade: 64.2 (24th of 89) Barr agreed to a pay cut before the 2021 season that also voided the 2022 and 2023 seasons on his five-year extension signed in 2019. Still one of the more underrated players in the league, Demario Davis has been the heartbeat of one of the league's best defenses over the past five seasons. "Latest Update" refers to when we last checked for . The ACC consisted of 14 members in two divisions. Johnson got off to an unusually late start to his NFL career and has battled injuries, but he has been an excellent linebacker when he has been on the field. Mandatory Credit: Darren Yamashita-USA TODAY Sports. Still, in a league that continues to throw more and more, Bentley remains best-suited as an early-down run defender who can generate the occasional quarterback pressure. There are also linebackers who are at their best in coverage, which is useful for todays NFL. Gay hasnt graded as well but possesses the characteristics to become a top linebacker. They happily scooped up the extremely talented Georgia linebacker. Its a rebuilt Jaguars linebacking corps after losing. With that being said, Warner is still an elite linebacker and has recorded at least 118 combined tackles in each of his four NFL seasons. Lavonte David has been one of the best linebackers in the league for almost a decade, whereas teammate Devin White has not graded above the 51.9 mark he attained as a rookie. The six players in the 1A tier figure to be the favorites to post the highest tackle numbers in the league based on their expected role in their defenses. Click here to view PFF's full IDP rankings for the 2022 season and tiers for the defensive linemen and defensive backs. Unfortunately, he took a bit of a step back from his All-Pro and Pro Bowls ways. Projected contract: Two years, $14 million ($7M per year, $9 million total guaranteed), PFF Free Agency Rank: 61 Going back to our introductory paragraph, versatility is needed at the linebacker position, and his versatility is the reason why Parsons comes in at No. The strongest players are experts at open-field takedowns and make it hard for quarterbacks to feel comfortable throwing toward the middle of the field. Brown has seen his play taper off after a really nice sophomore campaign in 2018 in which he posted an 81.2 grade. Tindall is a true sideline-to-sideline linebacker. Just 25, he's on his way. CBS Sports is a registered trademark of CBS Broadcasting Inc. Commissioner.com is a registered trademark of CBS Interactive Inc. site: media | arena: nfl | pageType: stories | Age: 28. Walker is one of the best run-and-hit linebackers in the class. Editor's note: For up-to-the-minute updates based on everythingwerehearing around the NFL, go to PFF's free agency rankings, where you can sort by position, team needs, and more all offseason long. More Stats. Ranking 10 best NFL landing spots for Richardson, 2023 NFL combine: WR/TE winners and losers, Takeaways from NFL combine measurements for WR, TE, Pete Prisco's top 100 NFL free agents of 2023, NFL combine: Grading top QBs, plus winners and losers, NFL combine 2023 tracker: Top performances, highlights, Ranking the NFL's top 10 linebackers entering 2022, NFL Combine: Grading top QBs; winners and losers, NFL Draft: Top landing spots for Richardson, Mock Draft: Panthers, Colts trade up for QBs, Colossal Richardson sets multiple QB combine records, Pascal robbed at gunpoint, assaulted; WR 'doing fine', Bryce Young measures similar to former No. Subscribe to Sign Up 1. Typically, David is the ideal linebacker for IDP. 7 ranking in Pro Football Focus' list of the top 25 safeties of the 2022 . Best Bets Tool, PFF Free Agency Rank: 27 The second linebacker tier features 17 linebackers on teams that are expected to be less zone-heavy than those in the tier above. Van Noy also has the complicating factor of being one of the multiple linebackers who only seems to function at a high level within the New England Patriots defense. Another player without elite physical tools, Jewell reads the game very quickly and is consistently in the right place at the right time against the run. He also has 30 quarterback pressures over 135 pass-rush snaps the past three seasons and took a quantum leap in coverage in 2022 en route to a 73.0 grade. And even though he hasnt quite been able to maintain an elite level of play every season, his impact on the field is obvious. . Pro Football Focus's top linebacker in the 2020 NFL Draft only kind of, sort of plays linebacker. Denver let Alexander Johnson walk in free agency, which depleted this unit. He put forth a monster rookie season in 2019 but hasnt quite attained the same highs in subsequent seasons. His 2021 campaign wasn't his best, but he seems like a player that's just going to get better, and someone who could end up becoming the next Lavonte David for the Bucs. One of the best off-ball linebackers of his generation, David is still playing at an extremely high level and may benefit from New Orleans Saints linebacker Demario Davis and Los Angeles Rams linebacker Bobby Wagner playing very good football well into their 30s on recently signed contracts of their own. Las Vegas brings in Jayon Brown from the Titans to play alongside Denzel Perryman. 2021 Snaps: 323 Edwards has shown that as much as linebacker is one of the most athletic-traits-driven positions in football, prospects with marginal physical tools can still become solid NFL starters. At 6-foot-3, 242 pounds, he has legit NFL size and athleticism. The 30-year-old linebacker will be an unrestricted free agent for the first time in his career after a delayed start to his NFL career, and now hell be working his way back from a torn pectoral muscle injury. Jayron Kearse was a top 10 strong safety by their own metric. Drafting Quay Walker out of Georgia in the first round also helps the Packers' cause. NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year, first-team All-Pro and Pro Bowler. It's also noteworthy that David is good in coverage, something other linebackers can struggle with. He packs a punch as a downhill player, as he can light up offensive linemen with ease. heading into 2022, here's how each team's linebacking corps stacks up. He missed just two tackles in coverage and allowed only four explosive receptions. His 89.0 run-defense grade in 2022 ranked fourth at the position, with his 13 tackles for loss or no gain tied for 12th.
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