The Top 300 Players in the 2026 NFL Draft
Caleb Downs, Jeremiyah Love, and Sonny Styles headline a deep 2026 NFL Draft class.
Bandit FootballBrad Beatson

Injury Concerns

    • ⛑️ Availability — Injury history collected from SIS and The Athletic

    Top Linebacker Prospects

    POS RK Player Grade Achetype Badges
    WLB1 Sonny Styles 84 WILL
    WLB2 Jacob Rodriguez 77 SAM ⛑️
    WLB3 Kyle Louis 73 SUB ⛑️
    MLB1 Anthony Hill Jr. 72 SAM
    WLB4 Jake Golday 65 SAM
    MLB2 Josiah Trotter 65 MIKE ⛑️
    MLB3 Bryce Boettcher 64 WILL
    WLB5 Karson Sharar 64 WILL
    MLB4 Aiden Fisher 63 SAM
    MLB5 Deontae Lawson 63 SAM ⛑️
    MLB6 Jimmy Rolder 62 WILL ⛑️
    WLB6 Eric Gentry 60 SUB ⛑️
    WLB7 Lander Barton 59 SAM ⛑️
    WLB8 Scooby Williams 59 SUB ⛑️
    WLB9 Justin Jefferson 59 SAM
    MLB7 Keyshaun Elliott 58 SAM
    WLB10 Kaleb Elarms-Orr 57 SAM
    MLB8 Taurean York 57 WILL
    WLB11 Namdi Obiazor 55 SUB
    MLB9 Jack Kelly 53 SAM
    WLB12 Wade Woodaz 51 SUB ⛑️
    MLB10 Wesley Bissainthe 50 SUB
    MLB11 Red Murdock 49 SAM ⛑️
    WLB13 Harold Perkins Jr. 47 SAM ⛑️
    WLB14 Kendal Daniels 44 SUB ⛑️
    WLB15 Xavian Sorey Jr. 43 SUB

    Linebacker archetypes are tied to 2025 usage rates, with a sub-package role meaning they were more of a specialist.

    Some of these linebackers will end up playing a meaningfully different role in the league, which could impact how quickly they earn consistent snaps on defense.

    Raw Prospect Scores

    • 🧰 Production Component
      • Source: PFF Weekly Grades — Stresses the importance of game-to-game, play-to-play consistency while adjusting for variance. Accounts for every game played during the quarterback's final two seasons in college.
      • Apply Critical Minimum — Weekly grades below 60.0 cannot be smoothed over by two-year average. Instead, once the acceptable threshold for "below-the-line" grades has been crossed, the prospect's production grade is capped and trends toward more of a boom-bust profile.

    • 🔬 Film Component
      • Source: SIS Scouting Reports — Watch a minimum of 3-5 games per prospect and assign a grade, from 1 (reject) to 9 (rare), to each of their three critical traits and half-dozen or so positional factors. Assign a final grade that projects how the prospect will stack up at their position by the beginning of their second season in the NFL.
      • Apply Critical Minimum — Mediocre traits cannot be smoothed over by average. Instead, once the acceptable threshold for "below-the-line" grades has been crossed, the prospect's scouting grade is capped and trends toward more of a boom-bust profile.

    • ⚖️ Weighting the Two: 80% Prospect Score
      • Position Specific — Some positions have stronger signal in production than film or vice versa and so they are individually weighted to reflect that.
      • 40/40 Split — Linebacker is one of the more even positions from both a production and film standpoint.

      Prospect Chips

      • 🔵 Blue Chip Potential 75+ production & 75+ film
      • 🟢 Solid Contributor — 75+ in prod. or film & 68+ in the other
      • ⚪ Situation Dependent — Everyone else

    Player Production Film Chip
    Sonny Styles 75.4 79.4 🔵
    Jacob Rodriguez 76.3 75.5 🔵
    Kyle Louis 76.1 69.7 🟢
    Anthony Hill Jr. 74.6 72.2 ⚪
    Jake Golday 76.2 59.5 ⚪
    Josiah Trotter 74.6 70.1 ⚪
    Bryce Boettcher 76.0 54.5 ⚪
    Karson Sharar 73.9 54.5 ⚪
    Aiden Fisher 72.6 57.0 ⚪
    Deontae Lawson 73.9 58.8 ⚪
    Jimmy Rolder 75.9 58.8 ⚪
    Eric Gentry 74.3 54.5 ⚪
    Lander Barton 70.9 54.5 ⚪
    Scooby Williams 72.9 54.5 ⚪
    Justin Jefferson 73.4 57.0 ⚪
    Keyshaun Elliott 72.3 30.4 ⚪
    Kaleb Elarms-Orr 74.7 33.2 ⚪
    Taurean York 75.2 31.2 ⚪
    Namdi Obiazor 74.4 30.4 ⚪
    Jack Kelly 70.5 30.4 ⚪
    Wade Woodaz 73.5 32.4 ⚪
    Wesley Bissainthe 73.4 57.0 ⚪
    Red Murdock 76.5 22.5 ⚪
    Harold Perkins Jr. 70.5 22.5 ⚪
    Kendal Daniels Inc. Inc. ⚪
    Xavian Sorey Jr. Inc. Inc. ⚪

    🦺
    Players with incomplete scores had missing data points and will be revisited after the draft. Bandit Football regrets the error.

    Athleticism, Positional Value, Intagibles

    • 🏅 Athleticism
      • Source: Next Gen Stats — Assigns a 1-10 grade on athletic profile for every player at the Combine. In some cases, NGS estimates the scores if the prospect didn't test in Indianapolis or at their college pro day.
      • RAS, MockDraftable, Football Sheets — I've added these sources to my database for future use. Many prospects had incomplete scores due to lack of testing numbers, so it made more sense to use NGS in this iteration of the model because every prospect ended up with a data point.

    • 📊 Positional Value
      • Source: Spotrac — Analyzing the rookie contract scale and how much guaranteed money each pick receives against the Top 100 cap hits in the NFL by position over the next three seasons. Takes into account the Top 10 highest paid players at their position and the relative cost savings a rookie contract could provide.
      • Additive Bonus — Each player was scored on a 1-10 scale using the consensus big board as a guide for projected savings. Fernando Mendoza was the only player to receive a 10 because starting QBs make anywhere from $30-50 million per season. Other positions, like RB, TE, LB, and S were capped at a maximum 5 points.
      • LB Positional Value
        • 1st Rd: Top 15 pick — 5
        • 1st Rd: Pro Bowl upside — 4
        • 1st Rd: Reliable starter — 3
        • 1st Rd: Situation dependent — 2
        • 2nd Rounder — 2
        • 3rd Rounder — 1
        • Projected Day 3 Pick — 0

      • 🌹🥀 Intangibles
        • Source: Dane Brugler — The Beast prospect guide includes strengths and weaknesses for every player on the big board. Includes off-the-field concerns, quotes from scouts and coaches, and non-negotiable traits for the position.
        • My Judgment — Each player was evaluated based on the additional information, including: injury history, work ethic, football iq, off-field concerns, and non-negotiables for their position. For linebacker, my non-negotiables are football intelligence and sure-tackling.

        Badges

        • 💰 Positional Value — Prospect earned a 5.0 or higher based on the potential value of their rookie contract.
        • 💎 Strong Character — Prospect assigned a 5.0 or higher in their intangible score.
        • ⚠️ Investigate Further — Prospect assigned a -5.0 or worse in their intangible score.
        Player Athleticism POS Value Intangibles Badges
        Sonny Styles 9.4 5.0 5.0 💰 💎
        Jacob Rodriguez 8.2 3.0 3.0
        Kyle Louis 7.8 2.0 3.0
        Anthony Hill Jr. 8.6 3.0 0.0
        Jake Golday 7.9 2.0 -1.0
        Josiah Trotter 6.7 2.0 -1.0
        Bryce Boettcher 6.6 1.0 3.0
        Karson Sharar 8.2 0.0 2.0
        Aiden Fisher 6.1 0.0 4.0
        Deontae Lawson 6.9 2.0 -1.0
        Jimmy Rolder 7.6 0.0 -1.0
        Eric Gentry 7.1 0.0 1.0
        Lander Barton 6.1 0.0 1.0
        Scooby Williams 7.4 0.0 -1.0
        Justin Jefferson 7.9 0.0 -3.0
        Keyshaun Elliott 7.7 2.0 5.0 💎
        Kaleb Elarms-Orr 8.6 2.0 1.0
        Taurean York 6.5 1.0 5.0 💎
        Namdi Obiazor 7.7 0.0 3.0
        Jack Kelly 8.5 0.0 2.0
        Wade Woodaz 7.6 0.0 -1.0
        Wesley Bissainthe 6.6 0.0 -10.0 ⚠️
        Red Murdock 6.3 0.0 5.0 💎
        Harold Perkins Jr. 7.8 1.0 -1.0
        Kendal Daniels Inc. Inc. Inc.
        Xavian Sorey Jr. Inc. Inc. Inc.

        Head back to the Big Board:

        The Top 300 Players in the 2026 NFL Draft
        Caleb Downs, Jeremiyah Love, and Sonny Styles headline a deep 2026 NFL Draft class.
        Bandit FootballBrad Beatson
        Jacob Rodriguez is high-volume tackler who's always around the ball and mastered the "Peanut Punch," forcing seven (7!) fumbles in his final college season. He profiles as an immediate starting, weakside linebacker with "Face of the Franchise" potential.