Inside linebackers, like the running backs they’re built to stop, have lost a little luster in NFL circles over the past decade or so.
Only six have been selected in the first round of the past five drafts combined, another sign of the NFL’s transition to a league focused on the pass and the defenders tasked primarily with stopping it.
But the downward trend in first-round linebackers might have more to do with the position’s changing nature.
Instead of the bulky, brutish downhill enforcers who used to man the position, the current crop of inside linebackers has to be as effective in coverage as they do against the run, and only a few prospects emerge each year who appear to be true three-down linebackers.