Ranking NFL's top 10 linebackers entering 2022: New No. James Bradberry (74.1) 2022 PFF Grade 20th ranked Darius Slay (73.1) 2022 PFF Grade 25th ranked Avonte Maddox (71.3) 2022 PFF Grade 33rd ranked Josiah Scott (58.4) 2022 PFF Grade. 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. Muma was one of the most productive defenders in all of college football in 2021, generating 68 total defensive stops, three picks and 21 pressures for the Cowboys. Davis is a player people keep expecting to regress, but he just hasn't. There is hope that Channing Tindall, Miami's rookie linebacker out of Georgia, can find his way on the field. 2021 PFF grade: 84.3 (2nd of 89). ECR VS. ADP. Pro Football Focus has finalized the regular season grades for the 2022 NFL season. He has yet to post a sub-70.0 grade, with three out of his four years coming in above 78.0. Unfortunately for Vander Esch, he once again finds himself in the middle of the pack of a deep free-agent group at linebacker, but he should do a bit better this time around. both project to be every-down linebackers on ideal defenses for expected production. Though he's 32 years old, David hasn't taken a major step backwards just yet. PFF's exclusive metrics provide matchup previews, position rankings, grades, and snap counts. The best linebackers in todays league are elite coverage players, but they can also affect the game in other ways. White landed with the Philadelphia Eagles on a one-year, $3 million flier last offseason after his market didnt pan out too well. There's no telling what he could be with more reps at the position. It's good news, then,. Pratts 90.1 coverage grade was the best mark in the NFL. Unlock all tools and content including Player Grades, Fantasy, NFL Draft, Premium Stats, Greenline and DFS. Edmunds is just 24 years old and entering his fifth NFL season. Some may think Wagner is too high on this list, and while he took a small step backwards in 2021, he's still one of the best linebackers in the NFL. Although Wagner might be on the downswing of a great career, this unit could push for a top-five spot by the season's end if he rebounds after a poor 2021. 8 in total pressures. Plenty of well-known 'backers had coverage grades in the 30s this past season. Now, it remains to be seen if Campbell can replicate his 2021 campaign, but based off of how he played last year, Campbell deserves a place on this list. 11 among linebackers,) his AV of 8 was tied for No. Cole Holcomb, WAS: Impressive young linebacker who could see the numbers improve in 2022. Parsons is already one of the best defensive playmakers in the NFL as he enters just his second season in the league, but its difficult to rank him purely as an off-the-ball linebacker. All Rights Reserved. "He posted a 1.5 percent drop rate in 2022, which . Here are the best available players remaining heading into Day 2 of the 2022 NFL draft. He went from having a one-year contract worth $2 million to signing a five-year deal that carries an AAV of $10 million! 8:44 am ET. With that in mind, some of these units have fewer members than others. Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah put together a great rookie season transitioning from more of an out-of-the-box linebacker at Notre Dame to an in-box linebacker. Tae Crowder and Micah McFadden will look to compete for the spot opposite Martinez. Hes earned himself a nice raise. The Super Bowl has come and gone in 2022 and we have started to turn our attention to the next football season. Hes not great in other facets, but stopping the run is still an important aspect of the position. Edwards has posted 75.0 grades or better in two of his three NFL seasons and is one of the more underrated players in the league. Cunningham is one of the most run-focused linebackers in the game, but his PFF coverage grade has declined throughout his career, dripping from average at best to outright poor over the last two seasons. February 24, 2023 7:45 am CT. A couple of New Orleans Saints standouts were recognized on the list of the top 101 NFL players of the 2022 season from Pro Football Focus analyst Sam Monson. Linebacker Rankings: 2022 Regular Season, Updated: 9/1/2022 Want Custom Fantasy Scoring? 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. Defensively, the attrition was less significant; however, one of the unit's leaders did leave in free agency Foye Oluokun. Rounding out the top-tier of linebackers. White was a reliable presence at linebacker following the loss of 2020 first-rounderKenneth Murrayduring Weeks 4-9 and when Murray was battling injuries over Weeks 11-15. Micah Parsons, Dallas Cowboys The first-ever unanimous Defensive Rookie of the Year has quickly become the standard for linebacker play in the NFL. Subscribe to PFF+ to unlock An error occured while loading Position Grades. The main contributors to a linebackers IDP success are the volume of defensive snaps combined with playing in zone-heavy defenses, which rack up tackles more efficiently. Projected contract: Two years,$12.5 million ($6.25M per year), $8 million total guaranteed, PFF Free Agency Rank: 139 The Falcons defense has fallen apart around him, and he no longer has a free run to the football as often as he did when he was playing his best football. Perhaps most importantly in todays NFL, Tranquill followed up his 74.6 coverage grade in 2021 with a career-high 75.4 mark, with his 18 stops in coverage a top-20 figure among off-ball linebackers. 2021 Snaps:444 We have already seen that play from Smith in Chicago, but the decline of the defense around him and perhaps more importantly directly in front of him has led to a decline in his play. Here are the top 10 linebackers scheduled to become free agents in March. He pairs with the solid Matt Milano, who posted the second-best season grade of his career (67.0) in 2021. His processing skills took massive steps forward in 2021, causing his grade to jump from 57.1 to 76.3. PFF ranked him as one of the 30 best players in the NFL last season, which he certainly was. No linebacker recorded more coverage snaps than Warner in all of 2021. 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. Linebacker Rankings 2022 NFL Draft Home Positions LB ALL QUARTERBACK RUNNING BACK WIDE RECEIVER TIGHT END OFFENSIVE LINE DEFENSIVE LINE EDGE LINEBACKER DEFENSIVE BACK #1 RANKED - SCOUTING REPORT 17 Nakobe Dean POSITION RANK #1 OUR RATING 90.4 ILB All Scouts Average Overall Rank 20.8 All Scouts Average Position Rank 2 Height Feet 6-0 16 at his position by PFF Teams AFC East Bills Dolphins Jets Patriots AFC North Bengals Browns Ravens Steelers AFC South Colts Jaguars Texans Titans AFC West. The former undrafted free agent is in for a big pay raise this offseason after making the absolute most of his one-year deal. 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. Cody Barton is another interesting player who will finally get a chance to start this season. That's because he's both a speedy 240 pounds and one of the best tacklers in the class, having missed only seven times on 138 career attempts. A pair of Seahawks came in at No. 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. 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. 2022 (146 FBS TEs, minimum 20 targets) Yards per route run: 25th; PFF receiving grade: 12th; YAC: 7th; 2021 (133 FBS TEs, minimum 20 targets) Yards per route run: 94th; PFF receiving grade: 111th . . While Mike Zimmer is gone, new defensive coordinator Ed Donatell is an experienced coach who can get the most out of Kendricks and this defense as a whole. After looking like he might be the next great linebacker earlier in his career. 10. 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. This was the last season that the conference used divisions in its football scheduling. Still, the. The entire schedule was released on January 31, 2022. Kendricks is one of the games best coverage linebackers, able to consistently squeeze throwing lanes and make plays on the ball once its in the air. This ranking may be a surprise after the Seahawks lost future Hall of Famer Bobby Wagner in free agency this offseason, but Wagner seemed to be on the downslope of his career. Wilson showed in the playoffs that he could finally have answered a real problem area for the Cincinnati Bengals, showing up with multiple excellent PFF game grades and making plays in coverage. Divine Deablo had some interesting moments as a rookie in 2021 and is worth keeping an eye on. 1 linebacker on this list entering 2022. His PFF run-defense grade over the last two seasons has been in the 30s, and last seasons 47.1 overall grade was the worst of his NFL career. David also just put forth his worst season since 2016, posting a 72.3 grade. The Georgia Bulldogs have a 12 players participating at the 2023 NFL combine. A defender who can blow up screen plays and make takedowns in the open field. Last but certainly not least, Pratt also peaked at the right time, with his 90.1 overall grade since Week 8 the top mark among linebackers. With all that said, let's jump in. He set career highs across the board, notching 146 combined tackles, six QB hits and two interceptions. White backed up his first season as a starter in 2021 with another solid campaign in 2022, earning grades of at least 62.0 against the run and in coverage. No. The league may be trending ever more toward the passing game, but there is still a place in the NFL for linebackers who are excellent run defenders first and foremost. Parsons is versatile, smart and instinctive. Former Penn State linebacker Micah Parsons just wrapped up his second season in the NFL, and he continues to leave little doubt the Dallas Cowboys made the smart decision using a first-round draft pick on him. Brown appeared to be on his way to a strong free agency in the 2021 offseason after three solid seasons as a starter, but he may have been an unfortunate victim of the salary cap drop, as he ultimately agreed to return to the Titans on a one-year, $4.5 million deal. Bobby Wagner may surprise some based on his age. He was not as good a coverage or run-stopping linebacker as he was as a pass rusher, but his talent makes you think he will figure it out shortly. at Across the three years prior to joining Green Bay, Campbell hadnt earned a grade higher than 56.6 in any season. David Long, meanwhile, was playing at a solid level before an injury forced him to miss most of the second half of the 2021 season. Projected contract: Two years, $9.5 million ($4.75M per year), $5.25 million total guaranteed. Something to note is that 3-4 pass-rushers will not appear on this list. There's no way he was going to get better, right? You don't do what he did in his rookie season if you aren't a star. Our exclusive database, featuring the most in-depth collection of NFL player performance data. 2022 stats (Chargers): 5 sacks, 146 tackles, 1 forced fumble. Final Season Stats. JaWhaun Bentley is a hard-nosed player like his counterpart Mack Wilson. Okereke is now coming off back-to-back seasons with at least 100 tackles and 50 defensive stops. Seven 49ers listed on PFF Top 101 Players of 2022 ranking By Site Staff follow Feb 23, 2023 at 12:56 PM -- shares Seven San Francisco 49ers landed on Pro Football Focus' Top 101 Players. Rookie Devin Lloydand sophomore Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah both project to be every-down linebackers on ideal defenses for expected production. Micah Parsons is one of the best young talents in the league, but he does split his time between off-ball linebacker and edge rusher, where he's at his best work. After looking like he might be the next great linebacker earlier in his career, Deion Jones play has fallen off a cliff. He had been one of the more consistent players at the position in the NFL, and so theres a chance he regains his form. 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. He allowed 81.0% of passes thrown his way to be caught and missed 17 tackles in all. Alex Anzalone and Chris Board are two depth players who start for the Lions. Overall, Georgia has 11 players in PFF's big board including six players ranked in the top 80 NFL draft prospects. is likely another surprise player based on where he tends to go in drafts, but dont let the age fool you. The Rams have a great defense, and the 32-year-old Wagner could find himself rejuvenated in 2022. PFF themselves had the Cowboys 2021 secondary in the top 10. 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. Sam Monson of PFF recently ranked the top linebackers in the NFL and organized them in tiers. Roquan Smith has had an up-and-down NFL career so far, and the team will be hoping he can bounce back from a 47.1 grade last season. Speed and Matthew Adams late-round dart throws. Okereke is a solid stand-in next to Leonard. A position of concern and potential weakness heading into last season has become a real strength for Kansas City. A new defensive coordinator and scheme will help him, though. 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. His struggles come in coverage, where he's allowed nearly 1,000 yards over the past two seasons. A position of concern and potential weakness heading into last season has become a real strength for Kansas City. The linebacker position in the game of football is one of the most important. Contract projection: Available in PFF's free agency rankings. Although Parsons didn't walk away from the 2022 season with hardware to show off for his accomplishments in 2022 the way he did in his rookie season in 2021, Parsons continues to . He tallied a career-high six pass breakups in 2022. Al-Shaair missed a lot of time in 2022 but earned a career-best 67.8 overall grade and 79.7 run-defense grade. 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. Campbells 90.4 tackling grade is his fifth straight such mark above 75.0, and that sure tackling goes a long way in Green Bay. 1. Login or Register Projections: QB | RB | WR | TE | K | DEF | DL | LB | DB Teams are afraid to throw at Surtain, and he has one of the lowest target totals among . The only season in which he did not record at least 100 tackles was his rookie campaign, when he missed two games. He has top-notch natural coverage skills for a linebacker his size, but everything else is a work in progress. Van Noy has now had stints in Detroit and Miami, but his good PFF grades are almost exclusively reserved for his time in the Patriots defense. 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. This group could rank much higher by the end of next season. When healthy, Johnson is among the best sideline-to-sideline run-defenders at off-ball linebacker in the league. Philadelphia brought Edwards back in 2022 on a one-year, $2.15 million deal at a position they have all but refused to invest in with top draft capital or free-agent dollars in many years, but Edwards may put the Eagles positional value to the test this offseason if they want to keep him around. However, he earned an additional $500,000 in incentives along with a trip to the Super Bowl, so it couldve been worse, all things considered. The criteria for making the top tier of IDP linebackers is relatively simple: be an every-down linebacker and play in a linebacker-friendly defense that breeds above-average tackle efficiency for the position. Davids 88.5 coverage grade this season ranked second among off-ball linebackers, and his elite 93.0 mark over the past four seasons is the top mark at the position. 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. If you go back and watch him play throughout his rookie season, you'll not only see a talented pass-rusher, but a good linebacker that can read and react quickly. Josey Jewell and Jonas Griffith should be the starters, with free agent signing Alex Singleton looking for snaps, as well. Lloyd, who earned a 90.0-plus grade at Utah in 2021, does look set to start. Unlock all tools and content including Player Grades, Fantasy, NFL Draft, Premium Stats, Greenline and DFS. Singleton earned a career-best 82.6 run-defense grade that ranked eighth among off-ball linebackers, tallying more than 100 tackles for the second year in a row, with his two-year total of 212 ranking sixth among off-ball linebackers. 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. 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. PFF's exclusive metrics provide matchup previews, position rankings, grades, and snap counts. Now that we're at the end of the 2021-22 NFL season, the free agency picture is coming into focus and teams are beginning to identify potential targets to improve their roster weaknesses. 16 overall in the 2018 NFL Draft as the second-youngest player in the overall class. One of the five highest-graded linebackers last season in his first year with Carolina, Luvu is another Demario Davis trajectory candidate. Since 2020, the Colts linebacker has twice the number of forced fumbles of any other off-ball linebacker, and he has four interceptions and eight pass breakups over that time. This means zone-heavy coverages and, more specifically, a Cover-2 heavy scheme, which proves to be the most effective coverage at propping up linebacker tackle numbers (as illustrated below). section: | slug: ranking-nfls-top-10-linebackers-entering-2022-new-no-1-as-bobby-wagner-finally-dethroned | sport: football | route: article_single.us | He's a Hall of Famer, no doubt, but the reason he's so high on this list is because he's not done just yet. Campbell is a one-year wonder at the moment, but that year was All-Pro caliber and the most recent thing we have seen from him. Jack is now trying to reboot his career in Pittsburgh after suffering similar ill-fortune in Jacksonville. And Davis has been outstanding in all areas since moving to the New Orleans defense. Both players posted the highest grades of their career, helping the Bengals to a Super Bowl appearance. Campbells ranking could justifiably be at the very top of this list or somewhere in the 30s, based on his career so far. These athletes are called upon to be run-stuffing defensive linemen on some downs, and hybrid cornerbacks on others. Alabama linebacker Christian Harris is the last player in PFF's top 100, with a plus 60 overall, pass rush, and run defense grade but just above 50 for his coverage grade. Dean's range at the linebacker position is unparalleled in this draft class. Devin Lloyd, Utah BIG BOARD RANK: 15 Chicago signed Nicholas Morrow from Las Vegas to fill the spot next to Smith for 2022. Click here for PFF's full list of top 100 free agents. despite dropping into coverage at times. He has yet to post a sub-70.0 grade, with three out of his four years coming in above 78.0. Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports. Perhaps most importantly in todays NFL, Tranquill followed up his 74.6 coverage grade in 2021 with a career-high 75.4 mark, with his 18 stops in coverage a top-20 figure among off-ball linebackers. He had a career year, helping turn around the Eagles' defense with the second-best grade among off-ball linebackers (84.4). Okereke is a solid stand-in next to Leonard. This past offseason,San Francisco 49erslinebackerFred Warnerand subsequentlyIndianapolis ColtslinebackerDarius Leonardreset the market at the position just under $20 million per year after years of stagnation. In 2019 and 2021 with the Ravens, he graded out to 80.0 and 74.8, respectively. He, perhaps critically, chose to stay in the defense that helped produce that phenomenal season, but we are all too aware of the folly of using just one season of play to determine everything we know about a player. 1 as Bobby Wagner finally dethroned Ranking the top 10 linebackers for the upcoming NFL season By Jordan Dajani Jun 28, 2022 at. Rankings&Projections |WR/CB Matchup Chart |NFL & NCAA Betting Dashboards | NFL Player Props Tool | NFL & NCAA Power Rankings Those tools caused Edwards to go undrafted despite an excellent college career, and he had to fight his way into a starting job by excelling in the preseason and on special teams. Galina ranked the Colts at No. So, who's the best off-ball linebacker in the NFL today? But in a vacuum, Much of this unit's potential lies with third-round rookie. Still, the Rams ranked fourth in the NFL last season in zone coverages (82.60%). 2004-2023 CBS Interactive. He was. Al-Shaair is in line to get paid as a free agent after teammatesFred Warner and Dre Greenlawfind themselves among the 16 highest-paid off-ball linebackers in the NFL. Milano was a fifth-round draft pick back in 2017 but has dramatically outperformed his first-round teammate, Tremaine Edmunds, within the Buffalo defense. 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. Offensive Line | Quarterback | Backfield | Pass-Catcher | Secondary | Linebackers | Special Teams) 2022 NFL Defensive Line Rankings Below is every team ranked 1-32 by how their defensive line shapes up for 2022. In this article, I list my top 20 rookie linebacker rankings for your IDP dynasty leagues. 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. With that in mind, some of these units have fewer members than others. Still, its an interesting group because of Ernest Jones, especially after his very good Super Bowl performance as he came back from an injury-plagued season. Wagner is no longer with the Seattle Seahawks, signing with the Super Bowl champion Los Angeles Ramsthis offseason.
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