2025 Linebacker Prospect Rankings
The Gridiron Review’s 2025 NFL Draft Linebacker Rankings.
*Click on the player names to see our full prospect profiles of each player.
| Rank | Rank Movement | Player | School | Height | Weight | Grade | Comp | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Barrett Carter |  |  | 6'1" | 230 | 67% | Higher End Myles Jack | Barrett Carter is a really good, but not quite great, linebacker prospect. He’s super versatile and does a lot of things right, but has his fair share of issues. We watched some of his 2022 film last year thinking he was going to come out and we remember him being a big time stand out. We didn’t get the same feel from the 2023 film, even from a statistical standpoint he was down from 2022. We can understand now why he chose to return. | |
| 2 | Francisco Mauigoa |  |  | 6'3" | 230 | 65% | De'Vondre Campbell | Francisco Mauigoa is a good linebacker prospect. He definitely has the skill set to play three downs, although was part of a three man rotation at Miami. Corey Flagg left, so we would expect that Mauigoa takes on a full time role. He struggles to get off and play off blocks, and when he tackles it looks like he lacks some functional play strength. Overall though, he makes good reads and fills gaps. Coaches will need to work with him though on blocking up gaps and not getting washed. He has the speed to play sideline-to-sideline, and squeezes routes from zone and has man coverage ability. | |
| 3 | Jason Dumas-Johnson |  |  | 6'1" | 245 | 58% | Bobby Okereke | Jamon Dumas-Johnson was really getting the development he needed at Georgia. His 2023 tape looked better than the quick look we took at his 2022 tape. He’s a very high IQ/instinct player, who plays with good patience. He’s good in coverage and has man coverage ability. He doesn’t play off blocks or shed well and his tackling needs work. We think JDJ could start as a third down/pass down LB to start his career while he develops some more. | |
| 4 | Jason Henderson |  |  | 6'1" | 225 | 58% | Malcolm Rodriguez | Jason Henderson is a smaller school prospect we like a lot based on a one game scout. We are going to need to hunt down more film, but the small sample size was fun to watch. He started a little slow against Virginia, but once he found his footing, he really made plays. His run game reads and diagnosis looks strong, and will explode through open windows. His pass drops look a little sloppy but he can play in space and sideline to sideline. He’s the energizer bunny, but in a very erratic way. He needs to control his body a little more and be a little more patient because he bites hard on play action. | |
| 5 | Danny Stutsman |  |  | 6'4" | 241 | 57% with starter upside | Malik Harrison | Danny Stutsman is a prospect we like, but acknowledge that he needs a bit of development. In many ways Stutsman is an all around backer, thus we believe he has starter upside, but we believe he’ll thrive in an early downs role early in his career. He’s an early down demon who makes his presence felt. Line him up all around the box and let him get down hill, and you’ll see truly what he’s capable of. | |
| 6 | Smael Mondon Jr. |  |  | 6'3" | 225 | 55% | NFL Isaiah Simmons | Smael Mondon continues to be an underwhelming LB prospect. Georgia has a history of sending LBs to the league, and Mondon will fit that mold, but we don’t(at least right now) see Mondon living up to someone like Roquan or even Quay. Despite looking the part, Mondon has a good handful of issues preventing him from being a top LB in the class. We envision him being a good role player similar to Simmons, but will never live up to what he’s supposed to be. | |
| 7 | Collin Oliver |  |  | 6'2" | 235 | 53% with starter upside | Walmart Brand Micah Parsons | Collin Oliver is a good not great prospect, but is fun to watch. People are going to see Micah Parsons as the comp, and think we don’t know what we are talking about. The comp is not about the caliber of player Parsons is. It’s that Oliver is played very similarly to the way Parsons is used. He’s a swiss army knife that can line up and play from all across the front. Parsons recently has also been getting knocked for taking plays off and we see a very similar issue with Oliver. Oliver can definitely develop into a starter, but we think he at least starts his career as a role player/high end backup. | |
| 8 | Deontae Lawson |  |  | 6'2" | 230 | 53% | Denzel Perryman | Deontae Lawson is not a prospect we are in love with. He plays well going down hill, but playing in space at the next level he could become a liability. His reads are good, not great, and does not really have the speed to recover from mistakes. The Crimson Tide lined Lawson up at both inside and outside linebacker and we envision he will need to make a transition to full time 3-4 OLB. If he continues to play ILB he’s more than likely going to be a 2-Down player. | |
| 9 | Jay Higgins |  |  | 6'2" | 233 | 53% | Micah McFadden | Jay Higgins is pretty underwhelming. When you see 171 total tackles in 2023 you think wow, this dude must be legit. However, in our opinion the film doesn’t match the tackle numbers. He’s strong in the box and decent in space. His high IQ puts him in position to make plays, but doesn’t always make them. He also lacks desired NFL athleticism and play strength. | |
| 10 | Jeffrey Bassa |  |  | 6'2" | 230 | 51% | Henry To'oto'o | Jeffrey Bassa is a pretty rough LB prospect, and that’s with us not believing that this LB class is super special to begin with. Bassa is a role player on defense and a special teams ace, we think he could be a developmental starter, but not much more than that at the moment. He reminds us very much of Henry To’oto’o from the 2023 class. |
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