Consensus board vs. draft day: the full LB class, charted.
The Steal
Leon Jacobs was ranked LB19 on the consensus board (#188 overall) but lasted until pick 230, where the Jacksonville Jaguars took him in Round 7. A 42-spot fall, the largest gap between consensus and draft day of any LB in the class. Behind him, Jack Cichy (+40) and Shaquem Griffin (+39) also outlasted their rankings.
The Conviction Pick
The Green Bay Packers took Oren Burks at pick 88, 60 spots ahead of his #148 consensus rank. That's the league's strongest disagreement with the public board at the position. Teams showed similar conviction on Darius Leonard (51 spots) and Dorian O'Daniel (24 spots).
The Cliff
After Darius Leonard went at pick 36, the next LB didn't come off the board for 34 picks. That's the sharpest drop in the class.
The Spend
Teams spent 31 picks on LB, 5 of them in the first two rounds. That's above the position's average of 24 since 2018.
The Bet
The Chicago Bears spent more draft capital on LB than any other club: picks 8 and 115, 43% of their total draft investment.
The One Who Slipped
Tegray Scales, ranked #174 on the consensus board, went undrafted through all 256 picks.
| Pick | Player | Pos Rank | Consensus | Δ | School | Team |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 8 | Roquan Smith | LB1 | #5 | +3 | Georgia | Chicago |
| 16 | Tremaine Edmunds | LB2 | #10 | +6 | Virginia Tech | Buffalo |
| 19 | Leighton Vander Esch | LB4 | #30 | −11 | Boise State | Dallas |
| 22 | Rashaan Evans | LB3 | #22 | 0 | Alabama | Tennessee |
| 36 | Darius Leonard | LB7 | #87 | −51 | South Carolina State | Indianapolis |
| 70 | Fred Warner | LB6 | #85 | −15 | BYU | San Francisco |
| 73 | Jerome Baker | LB8 | #88 | −15 | Ohio State | Miami |
| 78 | Malik Jefferson | LB5 | #69 | +9 | Texas | Cincinnati |
| 88 | Oren Burks | LB14 | #148 | −60 | Vanderbilt | Green Bay |
| 100 | Dorian O'Daniel | LB12 | #124 | −24 | Clemson | Kansas City |
| 106 | Josey Jewell | LB9 | #99 | +7 | Iowa | Denver |
| 115 | Joel Iyiegbuniwe | LB32 | #278 | −163 | Western Kentucky | Chicago |
| 122 | Kenny Young | LB28 | #265 | −143 | UCLA | Baltimore |
| 141 | Shaquem Griffin | LB10 | #102 | +39 | UCF | Seattle |
| 143 | Ja'Whaun Bentley | LB | — | — | Purdue | New England |
| 147 | Micah Kiser | LB13 | #142 | +5 | Virginia | LA Rams |
| 150 | Genard Avery | LB11 | #113 | +37 | Memphis | Cleveland |
| 178 | Christian Sam | LB17 | #177 | +1 | Arizona State | New England |
| 193 | Chris Covington | LB | — | — | Indiana | Dallas |
| 197 | Shaun Dion Hamilton | LB21 | #195 | +2 | Alabama | Washington |
| 202 | Jack Cichy | LB15 | #162 | +40 | Wisconsin | Tampa Bay |
| 214 | Peter Kalambayi | LB25 | #257 | −43 | Stanford | Houston |
| 216 | Azeem Victor | LB27 | #264 | −48 | Washington | Las Vegas |
| 217 | Keishawn Bierria | LB29 | #266 | −49 | Washington | Denver |
| 221 | Matthew Adams | LB | — | — | Houston | Indianapolis |
| 225 | Devante Downs | LB | — | — | California | Minnesota |
| 227 | Quentin Poling | LB | — | — | Ohio | Miami |
| 230 | Leon Jacobs | LB19 | #188 | +42 | Wisconsin | Jacksonville |
| 231 | Travin Howard | LB | — | — | TCU | LA Rams |
| 234 | Andre Smith | LB31 | #275 | −41 | North Carolina | Carolina |
| 235 | Zaire Franklin | LB | — | — | Syracuse | Indianapolis |
| Undrafted (UDFA) | ||||||
| — | Tegray Scales | LB16 | #174 | — | Indiana | — |
| — | Skai Moore | LB18 | #182 | — | South Carolina | — |
| — | Mike McCray | LB20 | #191 | — | Michigan | — |
| — | Matthew Thomas | LB22 | #212 | — | Florida State | — |
| — | Jason Cabinda | LB23 | #247 | — | Penn State | — |
| — | Nick DeLuca | LB24 | #251 | — | North Dakota State | — |
| — | Chris Worley | LB26 | #263 | — | Ohio State | — |
| — | Garret Dooley | LB30 | #268 | — | Wisconsin | — |
| — | Al-Rasheed Benton | LB | — | — | — | — |
| — | Alvin Jones | LB | — | — | — | — |
| — | Andrew Motuapuaka | LB | — | — | — | — |
| — | Ben Niemann | LB | — | — | — | — |
| — | Dewey Jarvis | LB | — | — | — | — |
| — | James Hearns | LB | — | — | Louisville | — |
| — | Myles Pierce | LB | — | — | — | — |
| — | Nyles Morgan | LB | — | — | — | — |
| — | Stacy Thomas | LB | — | — | — | — |
| — | Tre' Williams | LB | — | — | — | — |
Pre-draft projections are from the Wide Left Consensus Big Board compiled by Arif Hasan, an aggregation of published analyst boards.