LB Analysis

This position group refers to all players in the linebacker group who are not the outside linebackers with edge-defense responsibilities in a 3-4 defensive front. Draft status was not useful for this categorization, and while team rosters were of some small value, most of this classification is by exclusion (linebackers not classed as 3-4 Edges) and also by contract status.

Linebackers have fallen in priority in the era of the modern CBA, but the position itself remains one that some defenses rely upon. The median first-round linebacker will start 64 games and record 58 disruptive plays (DVDs) in his first five years, with the mean of this group being 57 disruptive plays. The top third of second-round linebackers will have comparable performances. In fact, 33 players (19 drafted after the first round) will have at least 57 DVDs in their first five years. Unsurprisingly, then, more Pro Bowlers are actually found outside of the first round than inside (15 versus 11).

However, there is a subset of linebacker that remains special. Only 25 off-ball linebackers were selected in the first round, and their mean DVD total of 79.5 is the highest of any position group. Even the median DVD total surpasses that of first-rounders in every group except edge defenders. So, hidden within the general category of “linebacker” there exists another category of “impact player who happens to be a linebacker,” and there is roughly one or two per class at the most.