2026 NFL Draft Linebacker Rankings: StickToTheModel Top 10
LB — Top 10
Loudest model-vs-board argument in the class.
Consensus has Sonny Styles as LB1. Our analytics have him LB9. Our LB1 (Anthony Hill Jr) is consensus LB3. Our analytics LB2 (Aiden Fisher) is consensus LB12 at #200 overall. The tape and the numbers aren't lined up — that's where our model earns its keep.
Tier 1: Hill, Styles, Rodriguez. Three legitimate top-50 grades from different angles — size/tape, traits/ceiling, age/volume.
Tier 2: everyone else, where the numbers and the board really start fighting — production guys (York, Fisher) pulled up, consensus favorites (Golday, Trotter) pulled back.
Every rank below is the StickToTheModel rank — our blend of the consensus big board and our career analytics (composite, peak-season score, breakout age, size).
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1. Anthony Hill Jr — Texas — 6'3", 238#1 LB recruit out of high school. Criminally underrated.
Consensus has him LB3 at #43 overall. Range: Jeremiah 32, PFF 86 — a 54-spot spread. The tape lovers like him. The production graders haven't figured out what to do with him yet.
Our analytics are clear. LB1 at the position. 100th percentile in our 2026 LB pool. Broke out at 18.1 — the youngest breakout age in our top 10 by a mile. 25 games, 8.5 career sacks, 14.5 TFL, 2 INTs, 136 tackles. All as a 20-year-old.
StickToTheModel LB1 at #22 overall.
The bet is simple. 21-year-old SEC field general with this much age-adjusted production is a top-30 pick, not a late-first flyer. Rare breed. Draft him and move on.
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2. Sonny Styles — Ohio State — 6'4", 243The tape is the whole case.
Consensus has him LB1 at #5 overall. Edholm 2, PFN 25 — a 23-spot spread that says most of the board agrees, some don't. The tape is elite. The consensus got built around it.
Our analytics pump the brakes. LB9 at the position in our pool. 67 peak-season score. 63 average. Career numbers: 3 sacks, 11 TFL, 1 INT over 25 games. 136 tackles — same as Hill, in the same number of games, but measurably less disruption per snap. 88.6 PFF grade is real. The counting-stat line is not elite.
StickToTheModel LB2.
4-3 field general of the class. Smart, fluid, freak LB who can read, diagnose and fire with the best. We're lower than consensus because the model asks for counting stats to match the tape — here they don't quite. Still a top-20 pick.
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3. Jacob Rodriguez — Texas Tech — 6'1", 230Production file the rest of the class would kill for.
Consensus LB4 at #49. Range: Thor 31, TDN 94 — a 63-spot spread. The board can't decide if he's a round-2 player or a round-4 player.
The analytics break the tie. 77th percentile career composite. Peak-season score 0.93 — the highest in our LB top 10. 49 career games, 22.5 TFL, 6 INTs, 11 PDs, 291 tackles. 93.0 PFF grade on 772 snaps. That's not a day-three profile.
Size score 0.33 is the one real flag. Smaller than the prototype.
StickToTheModel LB3 at #43 overall.
Round-2 value. The 4-year production is the floor. The coverage ability (6 career INTs, 11 PDs at LB) is the ceiling. Teams worried about frame in dime packages should stop worrying.
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4. CJ Allen — Georgia — 6'1", 235Guy we know and love.
Consensus LB2 at #37. Range: PFF 18, Thor 63 — 45-spot spread, but the middle is solid. The board likes him because the position is SEC-tested and the tape is clean.
Our analytics cool off. LB11 in our pool. 71st percentile career composite. Peak score 0.78. 39 games at Georgia, 4.5 sacks, 13.5 TFL, 205 tackles, 10 PDs. Size score 0.40 — small for the prototype.
StickToTheModel LB4 at #38.
The gap is production-per-snap. Georgia rotates heavy, and Allen's counting stats are fine inside the rotation, but they don't separate him from the LBs below him on our board the way the consensus assumes. Still a legit round-2 pick. The tape-lovable SEC LB market is real.
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5. Deontae Lawson — Alabama — 6'2", 228Biggest disagreement in the whole class.
Consensus LB7 at #118. Range: TDN 34, CBS 177 — a 143-spot spread. The market's split in half on what he even is.
Our model finds him. 73rd percentile career composite. Peak score 0.81. 50 career games, 6.5 sacks, 17 TFL, 268 tackles, 16 PDs over four seasons. Broke out at 20.1. Progression score 0.86 — got better every year at Alabama.
StickToTheModel LB5 at #83.
Floor is a rotational coverage LB by year two. Ceiling is a starting MIKE our model had two rounds higher than consensus ever did. Draft age 23.1 is the discount. The four-year production arc is the bet.
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6. Jake Golday — Cincinnati — 6'4", 240Consensus sees the size. We see the production gap.
Consensus LB5 at #53. Range: CBS 36, PFN 92 — 56-spot spread. Scouts like the frame and the 82.4 PFF grade.
Our analytics flag the rest. 67th percentile career composite — the lowest in our LB top 10. Peak score 0.66. Only 24 career games at Cincinnati, 4.5 sacks, 10.5 TFL, 152 tackles, 5 PDs. Broke out at 21.8 — the oldest breakout in our top 10 by a full year.
Size score 0.87. That part's real.
StickToTheModel LB6.
The consensus is betting size and PFF grade translate. Our analytics are betting that a small sample + older breakout + modest counting stats don't scale. The player is real at round-3. At round-2, you're reaching.
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7. Kyle Louis — Pittsburgh — 6'1", 220One season. Freakish production.
Consensus LB13 at #69 — actually listed as OLB on most boards. Range: CBS 55 at the high end, nobody higher, several analysts didn't bother ranking him.
Our model jumped. 82nd percentile career composite off one year of data. Peak-season composite 7.28. 7 sacks, 4 INTs, 16 pressures, 15.5 TFL in 12 games — tackle-for-loss rate and coverage production reading like a true hybrid.
6'1", 220. Undersized for the LB prototype.
StickToTheModel LB7 at #82 overall.
The pick depends entirely on your defensive scheme. If you run multiple fronts and can use him as a stand-up LB with coverage flex — early day-two. If you need a traditional MIKE or a 3-4 OLB, pass. Unique player, narrow fit.
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8. Taurean York — Texas A&M — 5'10", 227Age profile that doesn't exist in the rest of the class.
Consensus LB9 at #146. Range: TDN 70, CBS 194 — a 124-spot spread. The industry genuinely doesn't know what to do with a 5'10" LB who produces.
Our analytics know. LB6 at the position. 91st percentile career composite. Peak score 0.87. Broke out at 17.8 — the youngest age in our LB top 10, period. 25 career TFL over 36 games. 229 tackles. 6.5 sacks. The age-adjusted production is absurd.
Size score 0.16. That's the whole case for passing.
StickToTheModel LB8 at #101 overall.
Teams that grade on production-adjusted-by-age get him in round 3 and end up with a Zaire Franklin / Demario Davis profile. Teams that grade on "no, 5'10" doesn't work" pass and find something else. Upside is real.
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9. Keyshaun Elliott — Arizona State — 6'2", 235Board and model finally agree.
Consensus LB8 at #127. Range: Brugler 83, CBS 174 — the spread is the market telling you they haven't fully figured him out.
Our analytics have him LB10. 72nd percentile career composite. Peak score 0.81. Three seasons at Arizona State, 4.5 sacks, 15.5 TFL, 201 tackles, 7 PDs. Broke out at 19.3 — young enough to clear the age filter. Progression score 0.86.
Size score 0.55 — average for the position.
StickToTheModel LB9 at #121 overall.
Clean day-three LB profile. Middle-of-the-roster value with a chance to grow into a starter by year three. The consensus and the analytics land in the same place because nothing about him is extreme — not the tape, not the numbers, not the measurables.
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10. Aiden Fisher — Indiana — 6'1", 233Analytics LB2. Consensus LB12. Read that again.
Consensus LB12 at #200 overall. Range: MDD 173, CBS 205 — they agree. They just agree he's a round-6 pick. The industry isn't looking at him.
Our model is. 78th percentile career composite — our 2nd-highest in the LB class behind only Hill. Peak score 0.84. 37 games at Indiana, 7.5 sacks, 21 TFL, 20.5 pressures, 3 INTs, 320 tackles, 11 PDs. That's a career. Broke out at 19.3.
Size score 0.39 — small frame is the full explanation for the industry miss.
StickToTheModel LB10 at #131 overall.
Round-4 pick that produces like a round-2 pick. The Indiana tape doesn't sell itself. The production pile does. Teams grading on a spreadsheet have him circled. Teams grading on height and tape are going to pass and wonder in year two.
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Ranks 11–20
11. Josiah Trotter — Missouri — 6'2", 237StickToTheModel #171 overall
12. Bryce Boettcher — Oregon — 6'2", 232StickToTheModel #167 overall
12. Lander Barton — Utah — 6'5", 236StickToTheModel #205 overall
13. Red Murdock — BuffaloStickToTheModel #203 overall
14. Owen Heinecke — Oklahoma — 6'1", 227StickToTheModel #237 overall
15. Jimmy Rolder — Michigan — 6'2", 240StickToTheModel #238 overall
16. Caden Fordham — NC State — 6'1", 232StickToTheModel #359 overall
17. Isaiah Glasker — BYU — 6'5", 240StickToTheModel #384 overall
18. Shadrach Banks — UTSA — 6'1", 230StickToTheModel #325 overall
19. Justin Jefferson — Alabama — 6'1", 227StickToTheModel #322 overall
20. Karson Sharar — IowaStickToTheModel #345 overall