Positional Rankings: The Ohio State duo leads the 2026 NFL Draft pack of linebackers
Ohio State's Sonny Styles and Arvell Reese are the top linebackers in the 2026 NFL Draft, but who else do you need to know?
The college football season has one game left to be played, and my 2026 NFL Draft big board is starting to fill out as a result. That means the positional rankings are starting to trickle out as every prospect has more than enough tape to watch and evaluate.
Today? We are going to talk through this linebacker class, headlined by the Ohio State duo Sonny Styles Jr. and Arvell Reese. Those two have been two of the top players in the class all season long, and Styles even came in as the top player on my big board that I dropped about a month ago.
But who else is worth noting in this crop of second-level defenders?
So, I’ve watched, written up, and ranked 16 linebackers in this year’s class. Let’s talk through them. Here, I write up the top 10 linebackers in the class and categorize the full 16 into tiers.
Feel free to disagree and discuss!
Forewarning: There is a big drop-off in this class after the top four linebackers in the class. After those first four, I do not have another Day 2 grade on any linebacker in the class
I spoiled it above when I said that Sonny Styles is my top overall player in the draft class. If he’s my top player in the 2026 NFL Draft, that means he’s also my top linebacker.
It’s hard to find a weakness in Styles’ game, who went all season until the College Football Playoff quarterfinals without missing a tackle.
He’s 6-foot-4, nearing 240 pounds, and is an athletic freak. He’s fluid when changing directions, explosive triggering off of his back foot, and will flat out punch any offensive player that steps up to him.
His football IQ, particularly when working downhill, is clean and improving every week. The same can be said about the coverage instincts of the converted safety. The floor is already so high, and the sky is the limit in terms of his ceiling.
Grade: Top-10 player with blue chip upside
Arvell Reese has spent a large chunk of the season getting placed as the top player in the 2026 NFL Draft class. He’s not far off from me, sitting at No. 2 on my board (yes, that means that I think the best two players in the draft class are both Ohio State linebackers).
While Reese, a first-year starter, needs some sharpening in terms of his coverage ability, too many are getting stuck on what he is asked to do at the second level of the Ohio State defense vs. what he can do.
For Reese, the sky is the limit. He’s built in a lab, is ungodly explosive triggering downhill, is one of the more physical linebackers I’ve ever evaluated at the point of attack, and even has some upside as a pass rusher.
Some will evaluate Reese as a pass rusher. I am not there. I like him with his face to the quarterback and reacting to the action in front of him. Do not mistake Reese’s ability to play stacked at the second level with what he put on tape in 2025.
The glimpses in coverage show he can do it. His reaction time triggering in run fits shows he can play stacked full-time.
Reese is a freak.
Grade: Top-10 player with blue chip upside