2025 Draft Board: Linebackers
The below information I included in the QB draft board earlier in the week, I'm going to include it for every board, but it will be identical on each.
If you've ever read one of my draft board articles before then you have an idea of what you'll see below, but there is a slight change. If you haven't read them, quick explanation, I use stats, athletic testing, past performance from current pro players, and formulas to try and determine the chances a prospect in the current draft has at succeeding as a pro. In the past I used a "PSR", and an "A Met" and "S Met" to give every player a round grade. Now, it all comes down to a Score. The scores differ by position, so before each draft board I will put what the high score was between the 2020-2023 drafts at that position. And at the bottom you will see a small blurb I wrote up for each position.
This will be updated as pro day results become available.
High Score for LB: 88.61
My LB Draft Board
| Players | College | Score | Rounds |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jihaad Campbell | Alabama | 61.42 | Day 2 |
| Carson Schwesinger | UCLA | 59.84 | Day 2 |
| Teddye Buchanan | California | 59.76 | Day 2 |
| Jay Higgins | Iowa | 57.60 | Day 2 |
| Demetrius Knight Jr. | South Carolina | 55.32 | Day 2 |
| Carson Bruener | Washington | 55.07 | Day 2 |
| Cody Simon | Ohio State | 54.72 | Day 2 |
| Jack Kiser | Notre Dame | 54.70 | Day 2 |
| Danny Stutsman | Oklahoma | 53.80 | Day 2 |
| Smael Mondon Jr. | Georgia | 53.53 | Day 2 |
| Francisco Mauigoa | Miami | 52.49 | Day 3 |
| Kobe King | Penn State | 50.45 | Day 3 |
| Nickolas Martin | Oklahoma State | 50.19 | Day 3 |
| Kain Medrano | UCLA | 49.86 | Day 3 |
| Power Echols | North Carolina | 49.77 | Day 3 |
| Bam Martin-Scott | South Carolina | 49.06 | Day 3 |
| Barrett Carter | Clemson | 49.04 | Day 3 |
| Cody Lindenburg | Minnesota | 49.04 | Day 3 |
| Chris Paul Jr. | Ole Miss | 48.52 | Day 3 |
| Jackson Woodard | UNLV | 48.15 | Day 3 |
| Jeffrey Bassa | Oregon | 46.64 | Day 3 |
| Eugene Asante | Auburn | 43.85 | Undrafted |
| Shemar James | Florida | 43.36 | Undrafted |
| Tyreem Powell | Rutgers | 41.02 | Undrafted |
| Jamon Dumas-Johnson | Kentucky | 37.74 | Undrafted |
| Karene Reid | Utah | 35.60 | Undrafted |
Things worth noting:
-Campbell is the top dog after a great close out to his college career and a very good showing at the Combine, but Smael Mondon Jr. is the guy that helped himself out the most. He went from bottom 5 on my board to 8th. He only ran the forty and did the broad jump, but he had fantastic numbers with both, and his 10-yard split also helped give him a boost.
-Jay Higgins is this year's production warrior. He was a beast at Iowa, and while his Combine performance was not good, it wasn't bad enough to drop the bottom out. He likely won't ever be a premier player at the position, but athletically he's in the same vein as T.J. Edwards who has carved out a pretty solid pro career.
-Sleeper: Demetrius Knight. His college production and athleticism were both average to slightly above average, but that story they told at the Combine about what he had to do when he was playing at Charlotte in order to provide for his family shows what kind of work ethic he has. I'd bump him up to second on my board and take a chance on him in the late second or early third round.
I've been tracking the success rate of each position individually based on my grades from 2020-2022, and I'm going to include that for each position. It might help shine a light on some of my "things worth noting."
