It's the lockdown podcast network, your team every day. What's up everybody? This is Ross Jackson, one of the hosts of the lockdown podcast network. And if you haven't heard yet, we started a club and we would love for you to join. It's called the every day or club. And one of the things that you get as a member is an ad free version of the podcast that you're listening to right now. It works with whatever podcast app you already use. Same episodes every day. Just know ads. There's also a members only group chat for fans of your team plus a lot more. You can check it out by tapping the every day or club link in the show notes. Is Texas linebacker Anthony Hill the right choice for the bills at 26? We're going to explore that today on locked on bills. You are locked on bills. Your daily Buffalo bills podcast. Part of the locked on podcast network, your team every day. What's up bills mafia? It's Joe Marino on today's episode. We are continuing our work in building the Buffalo bills 2026 NFL draft board and we are going to finish up our assessment of the inside linebackers. And on yesterday's episode, we talked about seven inside linebackers today. We're going to talk about seven more and we're going to stack all 14 of them to gain an understanding of you know what this class truly has to offer and where the bills can find some value. And so we've done interior defensive line. We've done receivers. We're doing linebackers now. Next up we'll do edge rushers. We'll get to some interior offensive line. We'll fill in the blanks with any prospects that the bills have expressed interest in. And by the end of this, we'll have a draft board that is specific for the Buffalo bills. And so I'm excited to finish up linebackers today and I find myself just generally pretty satisfied with this linebacker class. I think there's top end talent. I think there's good end of first round talent. There's good day two talent. There's good early day three talent. I like how it stacks to be completely honest with you and there's some players I like that we'll discuss today. So let's do it. Let's dive in. Of course, we'll talk about size, athleticism, some career production, the age, why the bills should consider that player and what concerns there are. And then of course, I'll tell you where I grade each of these players. So first up, Anthony Hill out of Texas, six foot two, 238 pounds, 32 and three eighths on the arm length, nine and five eighths on the hand size, relative athleticism score of a 9.81 out of 10. Heck of an athlete here. 1975 career snaps, 107 career stops. Again, a stop is a tackle that would result in offensive failure. Career mistackle rate of 11.3%, but it was only four and a half percent in 2025. Anthony Hill is 21 and he just turned 21 in February. So very young. Why should the bills consider drafting Anthony Hill out of Texas? Well, there's a lot to like the size profile, the athletic profile, the physical traits are what you're looking for. There's nothing you're concerned about in terms of height, weight, arm length, hand size, movement skills. He's got all of the physical traits that you're looking for. And I think it shows up on the field. He's got really good range. I don't have any doubts in his ability to make plays all the way to the sideline. And then of course, the coverage range is really, really outstanding. And that's the money thing with NFL linebackers. I can find a lot of guys that can be physical downhill sniff out runs, but can you also play in space? And Anthony Hill can absolutely play in space and cover and the range, the change of direction, the movement skills, they're all good. He's a very short tackler and he certainly had some mistackle issues in 2024 and 2023, but he's really corrected that. And when he has a chance to get someone on the ground, they get on the ground. He's like I said, a good coverage player. I like that he plays really under control. That's maybe my favorite thing about him, where you're talking about playing linebacker and there's a lot going on all around you in front of you next to you behind you. There's a lot for you to read and process and a lot of information for you to consume quickly and respond quickly. He always just looks under control to me and never looks like he's really out of position or he's not sure what the response is or what's happening in front of him. That controlled style of play among a bunch of chaos really pops with Anthony Hill. And he's a really slippery player when he's playing off of contact. And so he's got great range. But when he has a chance to get off a block, he's pretty slippery and he's got some pretty good pop and physicality that's on display. I wouldn't say he's the most physical linebacker, but I think he's at least averaged to a slightly above average. And so that range with that slipperiness of getting off a contact is pretty appealing. So what concerns are there about forecasting Anthony Hill out of Texas to the Bills? Well, he was a good downhill player for Texas. But I think they run Blitz to good amount and that positioned him very well to sniff out some plays and shoot gaps and make some plays. And so not that that's a bad thing, but I think it's it's a little blurry between. All right. Are you are you a guy that took advantage of the scheme and made a lot of plays? Or are you truly somebody that processes very, very quickly and sniffs out plays and arrives on schedule? You know, I think there's probably some of both. But I want to be careful without over celebrating his downhill ability because it's a little bit like Terrell Bernard at Baylor, where the guy made a ton of plays against the run and a lot of plays in the backfield, but a lot of that was because he was asked to blitz and shoot gaps. And so he was in those positions. And so I think it could be a little bit blurry with Anthony Hill. I don't want to paint the wrong picture. I think Anthony Hill is a much better downhill player than Terrell Bernard, but it's at least worth bringing up. And then I would say just play with a little bit more consistent leverage. He can be a little tall when he takes on blocks. If he does miss a tackle, it's usually because he's high. And so get those pads low. And I think that will make him even more stout when he's playing off of contact. And then, of course, clean up the you remaining miss tackle concerns that exist. I think he's a late first round early second round talent. And, you know, if the bills were thinking about a linebacker at the end of the first round, and of course, we're not expecting sunny styles or R Valorice to be there. Anthony Hill would be my preferred choice if the bills picked a linebacker at 26. And so there's a lot to like here. He's a he's a really, really appealing player that I think has a lot of playmaking potential. Let's talk Josiah Trotter out of Missouri. 6-2, 237 pounds, 32 and a quarter inch arms, 10 and a quarter inch hands. We don't have the athletic testing on him, so no relative athleticism score. He was a two year player. Missouri this past year, if I'm not mistaken, West Virginia the year prior. So 1144 snaps across two seasons, 73 stops a career miss tackle rate of 9%. Again, we're looking for 10 or lower. So 9% is perfectly acceptable. He's young, 20 years old. He's going to turn 21 in April. So why should the bills consider drafting Josiah Trotter out of Missouri? First of all, yes, it is the son of Jeremiah Trotter. You probably remember him from his time with the Eagles. And he had a brother that played at Clemson and got drafted. It was last year, a couple of years ago. But Josiah is certainly a more appealing player than his brother at Clemson was. Physical and instinctive, very aggressive downhill player. This this dude loves to explode downhill, fire his gun and blow stuff up. I mean, he's a really, really good downhill run defender sniffing out plays, taking on contact, playing through contact. He's a hammer between the tackles. And he has really heavy hands to stack and shed blocks. And, you know, he's not one of those guys that you're going to see getting hung up on contact all the time. He's going to take it on and he's going to disengage pretty consistently and not give a lot of ground. I think that also shows up when he blitzes, where I think there's a really appealing blitzing profile with that power, his ability to convert speed to power, has some rush moves, actually, that show up when he's given chances to blitz. And he's just an absolute hammer as a tackler. Like there's guys that get people on the ground and then there's guys that get people on the ground and make a, you know, leave a mark, right? They they bring the smack, right? That's what Josiah Trotter does. You're going to see a lot of big time physical tone setting impact tackles. What concerns are there about forecasting Josiah Trotter out of Missouri to the bills? Well, the coverage profile is kind of missing here. It doesn't look like a very comfortable or instinctive player in coverage. In fact, you'll see him off the field frequently on long and late, you know, obvious passing downs was early, didn't want him out there unless he was going to blitz. And so that's something to be mindful of. And he's also a guy that just makes a lot of full speed mistakes. Misdirections, playfakes, play action. He's going to bite hard and he doesn't necessarily have the athletic profile to truly recover in some ways. He reminds me a lot of Dorian Williams, absolute hammer downhill, physical aggressive, has some straight line explosiveness, but bites hard on playfakes and doesn't have a huge coverage profile. I think they're very, very similar type players to kind of paint the picture there. But I think middle of day two, maybe, you know, early third round is probably where I feel is the appropriate range to draft Josiah Trotter. All right, coming up next, want to get into Jacob Rodriguez from Texas Tech. There's a sleeper out of Michigan that I'm excited about. And of course, later we'll get to my full ranking and grades of the 14 linebackers that we have profiled here on the podcast. So folks, be sure to stick with me. This episode is sponsored by BetterHelp. Financial stress is something a lot of people are carrying right now. And it's not just about numbers. It can affect your sleep, your relationships and your overall mental health and ways that build up over time. And the reality is struggling with money doesn't mean you've failed. Sometimes it just means you haven't had the right kind of support. It's something I've thought about how easy it is to put pressure on yourself financially without really talking about it. The stress that comes with trying to figure out everything on your own, the expectations you have to have everything together and how that pressure can spill into other areas of your life. Therapy isn't about financial advice. It's about working through the stress, the anxiety and the emotions that come with it. With over 30,000 licensed therapists and more than six million people served, BetterHelp makes it easier to get matched and start focusing on what you need. When life feels overwhelming, therapy can help. Sign up and get 10% off at betterhelp.com slash locked on. That's betterhelp, H-E-L-P dot com slash locked on. All right, welcome back. Let's continue talking linebackers here. Next up is Jacob Rodriguez out of Texas Tech, six foot one, two hundred and thirty one pounds, 30 and seven eighths on the arm length, nine and a quarter inch hands. Relative athleticism score of a nine point six one, one thousand nine hundred and fourteen snaps at Texas Tech, 141 career stops. A missed tackle rate of 15.1% is 23 and will turn 24 in September. So why should the bills consider drafting Jacob Rodriguez out of Texas Tech? Well, I think he's physical. I think he's athletic and I think he makes a ton of plays. The splash plays are just abundant year for his career. Twenty five and a half tackles for loss, six interceptions, 12 pass breakups, 13 force fumbles, five fumble recoveries. The guy makes plays. He's fast to flow. He's urgent. I think he's a very good take on and shed player in terms of blocks. I didn't expect that. I think he's the guy at the combine that talked about how he liked to watch Matt Milano and maybe Shaq Thompson. Maybe it's Rob Bernardo. I can't remember, but I thought he referenced a couple of bills linebackers. And I think there's a lot of similarities, but I think Jacob Rodriguez might be a better take on and shed player than than those guys plays with very active hands and feet. You know, he's he's knows how to navigate through the junk and he plays behind his hands and those feet are always springing and bouncing. And he's looking to leverage and fire his gun. I think he's got a good feel for for coverage. I think he's got really good range. And so there's a pretty complete profile with the ways that he can play because he has that physicality playing downhill because he can play in in space and cover. You know, there's a lot of appeal for the different ways he can he can produce. What concerns are there about forecasting him to the Buffalo Bills? Well, I do think that he has room to get stronger. I look for him to have more functional strength. I think he is a good take on player. He does deconstruct blocks well, but how firm are you when you take on that contact? How firm are you as a tackler? And I think that showed up 15 percent mis-tackle rate. Wasn't always able to get guys on the ground. I think he does have quite a bit of wasted movement and there's false steps and he is springy and active, but some of that is not really working towards getting to the football. And that stuff will get you in trouble in the NFL. I think he's guilty of some over pursuit. And so when you kind of see him not make a play, you think he should, I guess the good news is he over pursues it. You'd rather that than under pursue it. But, you know, you do see some of that and he does have a lack of length. And I think that also contributes to the mis-tackle rate being 15 percent, where he's got sub 31 inch arms. So I think there's some limitations here, but ultimately a pretty attractive player in terms of playmaking upside. I probably like him better in a four, three style defense is a weak side backer. But as the cleanup player to a thumper in a three, four, I think he can work. I value him in the second round. All right, next up, Deontay Lawson out of Alabama, six, three, 226 pounds, 31 and seven eighths on the arm length, nine and a quarter inch hands. We don't have any athletic testing on him. He's played a ton of football, two thousand four hundred and sixty one snaps. Hundred and forty four career stops, a career mis-tackle rate of 14 and a half percent. He's 23 and just turned 23 in February. So why should the bills consider drafting Deontay Lawson out of Alabama? Well, he's an urgent player that plays with active hands, active feet. He wants to get after it. And you could tell that there's a lot of technique with how he is pursuing the football, how he takes on blocks. He's a he's a you could tell he's been a well coached player. He's a quick processor. He fires his gun. You know, there's no hesitation with how he plays. A good lateral movement skills to scrape and get over top of blocks and pursue the football towards the sideline. I like his coverage range as well. He's he's one of those guys that you feel like can help you in space and playing in coverage. He's he's been a very good blitzer and a two year team captain, leader, communicator, all of that stuff. Like you're talking about inside linebackers and being the quarterback of the defense. I think you'll feel comfortable with him doing that for an NFL team. So what concerns are there about forecasting Deontay loss into the bills? Well, I do think he plays through a straw a little bit. And sometimes, you know, he's really focused on his assignments and there's not there's things going on in his peripherals that I don't think he has a good enough feel for. Climbing blockers that are going to be in his way. He doesn't see it. He doesn't feel some of that. And it takes him out of plays. And I do think for his his overall profile, I wish he had a little bit more pop in his punch. I wish he had some more functional strength to hold up more as a downhill player, whether it's taking on blocks or finishing as a tackler. You just want a little bit more thump in a guy like this, but he's a good player. I could see him being a solid starter, maybe a really good backup. I grade him in that that fourth, probably that fourth to early fifth round range, early, early day three type prospect for me. All right, let's talk about Bryce Botcher out of Oregon. Six one, 230 pounds, 31 and a quarter inch arms, nine and a quarter inch hands. Relative athleticism score of a 7.12, 1,464 snaps at Oregon. 92 career stops, 10.1 percent missed tackle rate for his career. He's 23 turns 24 in August. So why should the bills consider drafting Bryce Botcher out of Oregon? Really aggressive, physical and urgent player, super likable play temperament. You know, sometimes you just watch football and you say that guy's a football player. He gives you that vibe, which is how he flies around and how physical he is. I I think he's a smart player. I talked I think in yesterday's episode about that slow till you know mindset that linebackers need to have where you want to kind of take your read step. And once you confirm what's happening, go. I think he he does that well. I think he's got really good overall range in terms of areas on the field he can make an impact so you can get to the sideline. I think he can be tasked with covering ground in coverage, whether that's carrying routes in man or getting some depth and zone. I think it'll be a monster on special teams. And he was a two sport athlete. He actually got drafted into Major League Baseball, a 20, 24, 13th round pick by the Astros and he wants to play football. And so he obviously pursued that. But I think the just the natural athletic profile shows up when you watch him play. What concerns are there about Bryce Bachar out of Oregon? Well, you wish he was a little bigger. You wish he was a little stronger. You wish you had a little bit more thump to him. You know, he's 230 pounds, 31 and a quarter on the arm length. And he plays urgent and physical. But you know, how functionally strong is he? I think that's a fair question. Well, I think he is a good processor. I don't think he's consistently correct about it. He's sometimes more reactive than he is anticipatory. And so I think there's some work to do in terms of developing those processing skills. And then just generally, I worry about the ceiling. You know, is this probably more of a depth player, a special teams guy? He'll be a 24 year old rookie that needs to get stronger and, you know, needs to develop more processing skills. And so probably more of a depth player, but a valuable one. I think that hurts the valuation, obviously. So I grade him more in the middle of day three, kind of that fifth to sixth round range. All right, coming up next, there's a sleeper that I really like, a good amount that I'll talk about. I want to get to our Velry, so even though there's no chance the bills are going to draft them. And then I'll give you my. My rankings for the 14 linebackers that we have covered on the podcast. So folks, be sure to stick with me. All right, welcome back. My favorite sleeper at linebacker in this class is Jimmy Rolder out of Michigan. 6 3, 238 pounds, 30 and a half inch arms, nine and three quarters on the hand size, relative athleticism score of 9.5 2, 909 career snaps, 48 career stops, a missed tackle rate for his career of only 5.8%. He's 22 and just turned 22 in February. Why should the bills consider drafting Jimmy Rolder out of Michigan? He's an urgent, violent downhill player. He has the mass and strength to take on blocks and he's a punishing tackler. You know, you want a guy that can thump, he can thump. Secure tackler, a missed tackle rate for his career of 5.8% takes good angles and is an impact finisher. You can feel him when you're watching Michigan. You can absolutely feel him. Got a big time nose for the ball. I love his trigger. The zone drops look sound. Watch the Michigan State Tape. Yeah, that's one of probably the best individual performances that I've watched this year is Jimmy Rolder against Michigan State in 2025. And I think you'll get a feel for the high end of his coverage ability. I think there's a lot of upside here. I'll talk about a weakness here in a moment that he's only a one year starter. 11 career starts. But while that is a weakness at the same time, it's appealing because I think there's a lot of upside. There's size, there's athleticism, there's flashes of physicality, there's flashes in past coverage. So I think there's some ceiling to develop into that makes him pretty attractive to me. Now, what concerns are there about forecasting Jimmy Rolder out of Michigan to the bills? One year starter, right? So he's not a guy that's. Played a ton. Now, I like what he's shown, but he's not showing it for nearly as long as some of these other guys. I do think he lacks length and wingspan. And so when he works laterally, his margin for error is less. And you could see him at times lose that outside leverage when he's working towards the sideline. Stop because he doesn't have good enough movement skills or anything like that. But if he's a tick slow and then he doesn't have that margin for error with his wingspan, you know, obviously it makes it a little bit more difficult to be consistent there. And then I do think there is a lot to prove with his coverage profile. There's some great flashes, but coverage is something that just reps matter. And he doesn't have many reps. I think like around 400 career coverage snaps. And so we need to learn more about what he can offer in coverage. But I have no doubt about his ability to thump. I think he has upside and he's my favorite sleeper at the position. So I'll grade him higher. Probably the most people I have a fourth round grade on him, but he's a he's a pretty attractive guy for me. And if you can have some some convictions about what you see and forecast it and project some growth, I think you can get a and get maybe a steal here. All right, let's talk our Velrice, as I've said, at other position groups. I want to talk about guys that the bills really won't have a chance to get because they're going to go high. I think there's value in discussing them and listening to how I talk about them. And, you know, this is a player that I'm sure the bills have to deal with. So we'll put some information out there, at least how I feel about our Velrice out of Ohio State. He's 64, 241 pounds, 32 and a half inch arms, nine and a half inch hands. We don't have a relative athleticism score for him, but I'm sure it'd be really, really high. He did run a 40 and he ran it in 4.46 seconds. So there's was really not any concerns about his athletic profile. It's it's something that I expect to be elite. A 960 career snaps, 53 career stops, a career mistackle rate of 9%. He's 20 years old. He doesn't turn 21 until August. So he's super young. So why should the bills consider drafting our Velrice out of Ohio State? Well, he's dynamic, size, speed, strength, explosiveness, flexibility. We are firmly checking those boxes. And there is a just a really exciting physical upside here. There's no athletic restrictions whatsoever. Whatever you want him to do in the front seven, he has a ton of ability to do it. And he's he's really physical, too. I think that's what I really love about him. Sometimes you see these these guys that have a lot of athleticism, but there's not a physical component to how they play. Well, our Velrice is a tone setter. I like how active his hands are and the physicality that he plays with. And obviously he's kind of a hybrid type player where there's probably going to be some usage of him as an edge rusher, as a blitzer from a second level, true regular inside linebacker reps. And I think he's got a lot of appeal to do any of that. I think he can cover. There's no athletic restrictions. You want a really dynamic spy player, he can do it. And so if you're looking for like a front seven weapon, he's really appealing. The I think people have an urgency to compare him to Micah Parsons. I get it. I think obviously that's really rich. But if this is what he becomes, I wouldn't be overly surprised. I do think that he's. Got more to show in terms of like developing that that pass rush profile to be a Micah Parsons, but I think he's got that type of ceiling. And I like that he's also worked with Matt Patricia, an NFL coach. And that'll help him project to the next level as a really young man. So what concerns would there be about forecasting our velarice to the bills? Well, I think in this would apply to any team is you do have to have the right plan and understand that while there's a ton of ceiling, there's a ton of upside to do whatever you want him to do. The reality is he's not refined in any one area. There's a lot of past rush ability. He shows some good moves. He's got burst and bend for days, but developing all of that and refining it to be the impact player that he's going to be drafted to be. If you want him to live full time on the second level, the processing both downhill and in coverage, right? It just all has to come together. And so what's the right plan? How do you get the most out of him now next year and in three years? I think you have to have a really detailed plan and flesh out certain areas of his game for him to be this total package that he has the potential to be first round. Great all day long. All right. So we've done 14 linebackers. Let me tell you how I stack them up. Sunny Styles is number one. Sunny Styles is probably going to be my number one overall prospect in this class. It'd be tough to convince me there's a better football player in this draft than Sunny Styles out of Ohio State. So he has a first round grade, but he also has a top 10 grade. Our Val Rhys would be my linebacker too. Out of Ohio State, he has a first round grade. My third linebacker is Anthony Hill out of Texas. Late first, early second round grade. My linebacker for is CJ Allen out of Georgia. Second round grade. My linebacker five is Jacob Rodriguez out of Texas Tech. Second round grade. Number six is Jake Galdi or Galdi out of Cincinnati. That's a late two, early three. Josiah Trotter is number seven out of Missouri. Late two, early three. Number eight is Kyle Lewis out of Pittsburgh. He's the third round grade, probably more of a fit for four or three teams unless you want to use him as like this hybrid safety linebacker type player. Number nine is Caleb Elarm's or out of TCU have a fourth round grade there. Jimmy Rolder, number 10 out of Michigan. That's a fourth round grade. Deontay Lawson out of Alabama is linebacker 11. He's a fourth round grade. Bryce Botcher is number 12 out of Oregon. He's a late five, early six. Keeshawn Elliott is number 13, the linebacker out of Arizona State. He's a late five, early six. And then Red Murdoch is number 14 out of Buffalo. Late six, early seven in terms of where I value him. So those are the 14 linebackers. I like I like a lot of these players. If the bill took one at 26, let it be Anthony Hill. I think I'd be OK with CJ Allen, but I would prefer Anthony Hill. If they take one at 91. Could they be in the mix for Jake Galdi or Josiah Trotter? If they take one in the fourth round, Jimmy Caleb, Elarmz Orr or Jimmy Rolder. There's players that I like kind of in those ranges. There's other ones that I like as well. But those are the ones that really kind of stand out to me at those different tiers. So the bills haven't done as of the recording in this podcast, which is in advance. So maybe something has happened that I don't know about. But as of now, they really haven't done anything at linebacker. And that to me really sets the stage for an investment because you have you have just a lot of variables that are unknown. Dorian Williams, is he ready to be a full time starter? I think so. But I don't know. Can Terrell Bernard fit into this defense and be healthy? We don't know. And so there's a lot to sort out here. It sets the stage to me for a somewhat meaningful investment. Maybe even at 26, I think it's more in play than maybe we're giving it credit for. And so we're prepared for it. We've talked about these linebackers. And so we'll see how it all shakes out, but we're getting prepared. All right, folks, we'll shift our attention next to Edge Rushers and continuing to build this Buffalo Bills 2026 NFL Draft Board. Hope you enjoy it. I hope you come back. As always, I kindly ask that you share, subscribe, rate and review. Have a great rest of your day. Go Bills. And I look forward to catching up with you again real soon. It's tax time. And for a lot of us, the old way of doing taxes is just a lot. But this year, you're getting an upgrade. Intuit TurboTax now has in-person locations where you can meet face to face with a real tax expert, get your documents uploaded and just like that, you're done. Your expert works to get you every dollar you deserve while you get real time updates and go about your day. Head to TurboTax.com slash local to book your appointment.
