Which Workouts Matter Most for Linebackers at the NFL Draft Scouting Combine?

In order to be a standout off-ball linebacker in the NFL, you need to be smart. You have to diagnose a play and react as quickly as possible, and that's not something we can measure at the NFL Draft Scouting Combine.

That's not to say the workouts don't matter, though. The speed to make a play after that reaction matters, too, and they've got drills to cover the bases there.

Which workouts matter most for linebackers, though, and which don't?

We'll attempt to answer that today, looking at linebackers at the combine from 2010 to 2021 (giving them at least four years in the league). We'll take their workouts in Pro Football Reference's database and compare them to the Approximate Value (AV, PFR's attempt to quantify the value a player provides to his team) for each player across his first four years in the league, the length of a rookie contract (minus the option for a first-rounder).

This isn't a perfect exercise. AV is better at tracking who was on the field than who excelled, and not every player does every workout. Some don't do any. Still, it can at least give us a ballpark of which workouts we should emphasize (or not).

For this exercise, we'll be looking at off-ball linebackers. A lot of edge defenders are classified as linebackers, as well, but you can read up on what NFL Combine workouts matter for edge defenders in our piece on defensive linemen.

Key Workouts for Linebackers at the NFL Draft Combine

There are two routes to examining this, and we'll go through both today.

First, we'll just look at the R-squared value between each player's workout metrics and his AV across the first four seasons. R-squared measures the predictiveness of data points with zero being no relationship and one being a perfect correlation.

The table below shows that AV. The raw column is just the straight-up workout metric while the weight-adjusted column accounts for the player's weight at the combine.

Here, only one workout wound up being significant. That was the 40-yard dash, whether adjusted for weight or not.

That R-squared of 0.136 actually is a standout across other positions. It's actually the third highest mark of any workout at any position, trailing just the weight-adjusted 40 time for tight ends and offensive tackles. So while instincts matter, and we shouldn't put too much stock in other workouts, 40 time is significant for these off-ball linebackers.

The other route to measuring impact is by looking at the best of the best at the position and seeing what kind of workout metrics they put up.

The table below looks at the average percentile rank in various workouts of the 29 off-ball linebackers to post at least 25 AV in their first four seasons. This percentile rank is relative to all off-ball linebackers to do that workout from 2010 to 2021.

Once again, 40 time stands out, and nothing else really moves the needle.

This isn't a position where you find many studs who run poorly. Of the 27 top-end linebackers with a 40 time in this sample, only 5 were below the 50th percentile, and only one was below the 37th. Conversely, 7 of 27 were in at least the 90th percentile.

So, yes, instincts are key at linebacker. Based on the data, the ideal would be to find a guy who combines those instincts with top-end speed so that they can turn their reaction time into a big play.

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