With the new league year just around the corner, it's time for all 32 NFL teams to turn their attention to NFL free agency in a bid to improve their rosters for a new campaign.
Here are the top free agents at linebacker, taken from PFF's free agency rankings.
Editor's note: For up-to-the-minute updates based on everything we’re hearing around the NFL, go to PFF's free agency rankings, where you can sort by position, team needs, and more all offseason long.
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1. LB Lavonte David
Contract projection: Available in PFF's free agency rankings
One of the best off-ball linebackers of his generation, David is still playing at an extremely high level and may benefit from linebackers Demario Davis and Bobby Wagner playing very good football well into their 30s and after signing contracts in recent years. Potentially losing a step or two with age can be negated by elite play recognition and instincts, both of which David has in spades.
David’s 88.5 coverage grade this past season ranked second among off-ball linebackers, and his elite 93.0 mark over the past four seasons is the top mark at the position.
2. LB Tremaine Edmunds
Contract projection: Available in PFF's free agency rankings
Edmunds made huge strides in coverage in 2022, a major weakness in his game through his first four seasons. He is a truly freakish athlete and will be 25 years old throughout his entire sixth NFL season in 2023 after being selected No. 16 overall in the 2018 NFL Draft as the second-youngest player in the overall class.
Edmunds’ 86.9 coverage grade in 2022 was the third-best mark among off-ball linebackers, and he forced an incompletion on 10.3% of targets into his coverage while allowing just four explosive receptions the entire season (0.9% of targets into his coverage, ninth among linebackers). Edmunds also missed just 6.5% of potential tackles, the lowest rate of his career and another huge sign of continued growth from a football intelligence and play recognition standpoint.
3. LB David Long
Contract projection: Available in PFF's free agency rankings
The Titans ask a lot of their off-ball linebackers, and Long can do it all. His 89.0 run-defense grade in 2022 ranked fourth at the position, with his 13 tackles for loss or no gain tied for 12th. Long plays a downhill, attacking brand of football that helps him blow up a lot of plays but also makes him particularly susceptible to over-committing on play-action passes and missing tackles when he takes a poor pursuit angle. Nevertheless, he is clearly an ascending young player contributing immensely to Tennessee’s defense that finished first in expected points added per rush allowed on the season.
The 2022 season was Long’s first as a full-time starter at middle linebacker, but he’s made the most of opportunities in the past. Over the past three seasons, his 19.8% pass-rush win rate and 23.8% pressure rate are both the second-best marks among off-ball linebackers with at least 100 pass-rush snaps over the span.
4. LB Bobby Wagner
Contract projection: Available in PFF's free agency rankings
Wagner is the poster child for great linebacker play over the span of the past 11 seasons. The only question mark is if he can continue his high level of play now that he's entering his mid-30s. Wherever Wagner lands, a team is getting more than just a solid linebacker in all phases.
5. LB T.J. Edwards
Contract projection: Available in PFF's free agency rankings
Philadelphia brought Edwards back in 2022 on a one-year, $2.15 million deal at a position they have all but refused to invest in with top draft capital or free-agent dollars in many years, but Edwards may put the Eagles’ positional value to the test this offseason if they want to keep him around.
He had a career year, helping turn around the Eagles' defense with the second-best grade among off-ball linebackers (84.4). Edwards was one of just four linebackers to earn grades above 75.0 in run defense and coverage, generating 11 quarterback pressures on just 26 pass-rush snaps, as well. The former undrafted free agent is in for a big pay raise this offseason after making the absolute most of his one-year deal.
6. LB Bobby Okereke
Contract projection: Available in PFF's free agency rankings
Okereke stepped up in a major way in the absence of fellow off-ball linebacker Shaquille Leonard, with his 72.9 grade ranking 23rd at the position. Okereke was particularly stout against the run, with his 13 defensive stops against the run tied for the 13th most. Okereke is now coming off back-to-back seasons with at least 100 tackles and 50 defensive stops.
The former third-round pick still has room to grow as a coverage player, but at 6-foot-1 and 235 pounds, he moves well enough in space to not be a liability in coverage.
7. LB Leighton Vander Esch
Contract projection: Available in PFF's free agency rankings
Vander Esch quietly played some good football in 2022 after signing a one-year flier to return to the Cowboys following a free agency period that didn’t pan out as he’d hoped. Unfortunately for Vander Esch, he once again finds himself in the middle of the pack of a deep free-agent group at linebacker, but he should do a bit better this time around.
Vander Esch’s 70.8 grade is his best since his rookie season in 2018, and he also set career highs in missed tackle rate (6.5%) and yards allowed per coverage snap (0.49).
8. LB Germaine Pratt
Contract projection: Available in PFF's free agency rankings
With both Bengals starting safeties in Jessie Bates III and Vonn Bell pending free agents, a big extension for wide receiver Tee Higgins likely in play and fellow off-ball linebacker Logan Wilson also eligible for an extension after the season, it’s possible Pratt hits the market even after a career year.
Pratt’s 90.1 coverage grade was the best mark in the NFL. He missed just two tackles in coverage and allowed only four explosive receptions. Pratt didn’t miss many tackles as a run defender, either, whiffing on just 5.9% of opportunities after three straight seasons above 10% to start his career. Last but certainly not least, Pratt also peaked at the right time, with his 90.1 overall grade since Week 8 the top mark among linebackers.
9. LB Drue Tranquill
Contract projection: Available in PFF's free agency rankings
The 2022 season was Tranquill’s first as a full-time starter following Kyzir White’s departure, and his 105 tackles were more than his first three seasons combined. Perhaps most importantly in today’s NFL, Tranquill followed up his 74.6 coverage grade in 2021 with a career-high 75.4 mark, with his 18 stops in coverage a top-20 figure among off-ball linebackers.
He also made the absolute most of the occasional blitz, tallying 15 pressures, five sacks and three more quarterback hits on 70 pass-rush snaps.
10. LB Alex Singleton
Contract projection: Available in PFF's free agency rankings
Singleton has had quite the career path to this point, finally reaching unrestricted free agency ahead of the 2023 season after entering the NFL as an undrafted free agent of the Seattle Seahawks in 2015. The soon-to-be 30-year-old is a solid all-around off-ball linebacker who has three straight seasons logging at least 750 snaps, and he took a major leap in 2022 with the Denver Broncos.
Singleton earned a career-best 82.6 run-defense grade that ranked eighth among off-ball linebackers, tallying more than 100 tackles for the second year in a row, with his two-year total of 212 ranking sixth among off-ball linebackers. He also has 30 quarterback pressures over 135 pass-rush snaps the past three seasons and took a quantum leap in coverage in 2022 en route to a 73.0 grade. You don’t want to line him up against an opposing receiving weapon in a one-on-one, but he demonstrated better recognition of route patterns and improved as a zone coverage backer.
11. LB Kyzir White
Contract projection: Available in PFF's free agency rankings
White landed with the Philadelphia Eagles on a one-year, $3 million flier last offseason after his market didn’t pan out too well. However, he earned an additional $500,000 in incentives along with a trip to the Super Bowl, so it could’ve been worse, all things considered.
White backed up his first season as a starter in 2021 with another solid campaign in 2022, earning grades of at least 62.0 against the run and in coverage. Teams could do a lot worse than White if they are looking for a solid weakside linebacker who has the speed to stay with pass-catchers in coverage for the most part. He tallied a career-high six pass breakups in 2022.
12. LB Denzel Perryman
Contract projection: Available in PFF's free agency rankings
Perryman was signed to a two-year, $6.085 million contract before the 2021 season and promptly traded to the Las Vegas Raiders before the first week of the campaign. He ended up making the Pro Bowl by logging a career-high 863 snaps and racking up 121 tackles and 61 defensive stops.
Perryman was looking for a new contract heading into 2022 but ultimately played out the year, earning a strong 80.5 run-defense grade. His 62 run stops over the past two seasons rank ninth among off-ball linebackers, and his 18 tackles for loss or no gain are tied for 14th.
13. LB Azeez Al-Shaair
Contract projection: Available in PFF's free agency rankings
Al-Shaair is in line to get paid as a free agent after teammates Fred Warner and Dre Greenlaw find themselves among the 16 highest-paid off-ball linebackers in the NFL.
The 49ers applied the second-round restricted free agent tender — at a price tag of $3.986 million — to Al-Shaair for the 2022 season, perhaps illustrating that they feared he would get signed to an offer sheet elsewhere if they went with the right of first refusal tender.
Al-Shaair missed a lot of time in 2022 but earned a career-best 67.8 overall grade and 79.7 run-defense grade. It was his first season missing fewer than 10% of his tackle opportunities, and he put up an 86.8 overall grade with seven tackles and two defensive stops during a strong playoff run.
14. LB Cole Holcomb
Contract projection: Available in PFF's free agency rankings
15. LB Eric Kendricks
Contract projection: Available in PFF's free agency rankings
16. LB Kaden Elliss
Contract projection: Available in PFF's free agency rankings
17. LB Rashaan Evans
Contract projection: Available in PFF's free agency rankings
18. LB Quincy Williams
*Re-signed with Jets
Contract projection: Available in PFF's free agency rankings
19. LB Anthony Walker
Contract projection: Available in PFF's free agency rankings
20. LB Devin Bush
Contract projection: Available in PFF's free agency rankings
21. LB Alex Anzalone
Contract projection: Available in PFF's free agency rankings
22. LB Cody Barton
Contract projection: Available in PFF's free agency rankings
23. LB Nicholas Morrow
Contract projection: Available in PFF's free agency rankings
Morrow has signed consecutive one-year fliers after dealing with some injuries. And while his 2022 campaign wasn't his best from a grading standpoint on a Chicago Bears defense that had the league's worst defensive line playing ahead of him, he did hold up for a career-high 1,086 snaps.
Morrow's 48 defensive stops were a new high watermark, and his 15 tackles for loss or no gain were ninth most among off-ball linebackers on the year. He has positional flexibility, upside and demonstrated durability in 2022 — a good recipe for a lower-cost free agent who could make an impact going forward.
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