NFL Trade Rumors
Bowl season is officially underway in college football, with the College Football Playoff starting last night. Most of these prospects have finished putting out tape in their college careers, so it’s time for me to officially unveil my updated position rankings for the 2026 NFL Draft.
Today I’m ranking my top 10 linebackers, an increasingly interesting position in the NFL. Linebackers are becoming more important than ever, with a tight end renaissance underway and offenses spamming the middle of the field. Yet teams often refuse to pay linebackers, instead relying on rookies and young players to fill in for those responsibilities.
This year’s class is a good one, with some elite, elite prospects at the top and a nice collection of Day 2 and Day 3 players with upside. There’s a lot to like about this class, and it’s a deep one, too.
If you’d like to check out my other updated position rankings, you can do so below:
A four-star recruit from Cleveland, Reese was exclusively a special teamer as a true freshman in 2023 before playing backup minutes in 2024, racking up 43 tackles and a sack. With Cody Simon’s departure to the NFL, Reese stepped into a full-time starting role as a junior, and with that move, his production exploded. He has 62 tackles, seven sacks and two passes defensed so far in 2025, shooting his name up draft boards and earning all kinds of postseason accolades. Reese was named a first-team All-American and first-team All-Big Ten as one of the most dynamic defenders in the country.
At 6-4, 243 pounds, Reese is a physical monster with prototypical size and strength, something that’s a little rarer in the modern game. What makes him special is his speed and athleticism at that size — he flies around the football field, making plays sideline-to-sideline and routinely outrunning running backs and receivers to do it. His play speed is sensational, with quick processing and diagnosing of play designs, plus the reaction times to put his immense physical tools to use. At the point of attack, Reese plays with impressive strength, holding up against linemen in space and working through them to make plays.
Pass rushing is Reese’s true strength, however, and he’s very good at it. He has an explosive first step that puts tackles in recovery mode immediately, with superb speed to power moves to take advantage of the momentum he generates. His hands are violent and constantly working, using his length to keep the tackle at bay and working back to the quarterback. Reese can work through blockers or dart around them in an instant, and that multifaceted threat keeps tackles guessing snap to snap.
Right now, Reese struggles in coverage. As a bigger linebacker, he can get outworked by some smaller slot receivers and backs in space. He also doesn’t have the experience yet in zone coverage to be comfortable, giving up...
