It was considered a shock when Ohio State defender Arvell Reese fell to the New York Giants at No. 5 total within the 2026 NFL Draft.
Reese was broadly projected to be drafted someplace within the vary of picks 2 to 4. And even then, Reese was not broadly thought of an possibility for the Giants as a result of he was nearly universally evaluated as an edge prospect within the mould of Micah Parsons and Abdul Carter.
And provided that the Giants already boast Brian Burns, Carter, and Kayvon Thibodeaux at edge defender, the thought of them drafting one other go rusher was broadly dismissed.
Proper up till the Giants drafted Reese. John Harbaugh and Joe Schoen advised the New York media up entrance that whereas Reese would rush the passer as a blitzer, he could be enjoying (weak facet) linebacker. Fairly than deal with him as a convert and a venture, the Giants are going to play Reese in the identical approach he was used at Ohio State.
In that mild, it now looks like one thing of a blind spot that Reese continues to be being evaluated as an edge defender and never a linebacker — a blind spot that’s enabling poor evaluation of the Giants’ protection elsewhere.
So in an effort to repair that blind spot, I dove again into Reese’s tape to judge him purely as a linebacker. That’s a special grading sheet with completely different traits from my unique scouting report in April.
In a change from my ordinary scouting stories, I’ll be peeling again the curtain a bit on this one and sharing a few of my course of. As a part of that, I’ll share the 11 traits on which Reese was graded, the grades for every of these, and the ultimate grade.
Ed has repeatedly requested me so as to add grades to my scouting stories, however I’ve constantly refused. I usually consider they’ll detract from a extra nuanced dialog. Nonetheless, on this case, I feel they is likely to be constructive.
These traits that each soccer participant ought to have are the identical for each single prospect scouted. Clearly, completely different positions are held to completely different requirements, and a guard who runs a 4.9-second 40-yard sprint with a 30-inch vertical could be thought of to be way more athletic than a receiver with the identical numbers. That mentioned, tape is king, and a participant who strikes nicely with quickness and fluidity, or visibly retains up with a participant we all know to be a wonderful athlete, can rating nicely, too.
Likewise, we’re in search of the opposite traits on tape. Meaning issues like shortly recognizing and reacting to opponents’ performs, giving excessive effort in pursuit, restricted hesitation or indecision, or profitable bodily one-on-one matchups.
Athleticism: 9Mental Processing: 8Competitive Toughness: 9Play Velocity: 8Play Power: 9
We solely have Reese’s 40 time (4.46 seconds at 6-foot-4, 241 kilos), however we don’t want a stopwatch and tape measure to inform us that he’s a wonderful athlete for the linebacker place. Reese is clearly quick in a straight line, but in addition exhibits spectacular quickness and twitch when transferring laterally. He’s in a position to shortly cowl floor in protection zones, in addition to circulate round blockers whereas sustaining an “athletic ready” place like an industrial-sized MC Hammer.
Reese additionally has glorious physique management and the fluidity to drop his hips and alter his heart of gravity, or bend the sting as a go rusher.
The 2 issues that basically leap off the display in watching Reese’s tape are his versatility and play energy.
Reese’s place and duties advanced considerably over the course of the 2025 season. He began the yr as a reasonably normal off-ball linebacker, normally lining up on the weakside of the offense and solely often strolling as much as the road of scrimmage. Because the yr progressed, Reese was deployed all around the Buckeyes’ defensive entrance. He lined up in each hole, from A to D, and on each left and proper sides, in addition to deployed as a SAM, WILL, and MIKE linebacker. He was even used as a main communicator on the second degree, relaying calls and serving to to get his teammates lined up.
Reese cut up time nearly completely between the road of scrimmage (327 snaps) and an off-ball alignment (320 snaps), and as such, watching Reese’s tape was a particular “Where’s Waldo” train.
Whereas that definitely highlights his prodigious athleticism, it additionally factors to his Soccer IQ and processing. Reese not often regarded misplaced, exhibiting a transparent understanding of his numerous duties and the way all the pieces suits collectively from a number of positions in Matt Patricia’s advanced protection.
Lastly, Arvell Reese is freakishly sturdy. So long as he’s partaking with leverage (which is pretty straightforward because of his decrease physique fluidity), Reese is routinely in a position to stalemate, stack, and shed linemen 60 or 80 kilos heavier.
(Reese is the Ohio State linebacker sporting quantity 8)
We’ll get to his run protection in a minute, nevertheless it’s value pausing right here to understand how Reese makes use of method to maximise his play energy. Reese takes on blockers with glorious method that’s harking back to how offensive linemen ought to tackle defenders. He comes as much as aggressively assault blockers, establishing leverage with low hips, and fires his arms contained in the defender’s chest plate to manage them. He then uncoils to drive them off the ball earlier than accelerating into the backfield.
He has heavy, violent arms and isn’t afraid to make use of them to stack and shed defenders, and can also be a really safe tackler. He’s in a position to carry down most offensive gamers with the minimal of leaky yardage.
These traits are (clearly) particular to every place. Off-ball linebackers have a few of the most various duties in soccer. They might be requested to be efficient each downhill as run defenders, drop into protection to assist disguise or simulate stress, actively cowl operating backs, tight ends, or receivers, or rush the passer as a blitzer.
It’s clearly nice for a linebacker to excel in all of those, however that’s additionally extremely tough for groups to search out. A part of the fashionable offensive explosion has been a concerted effort to assault the second degree and pressure defenses to decide on between nickel and base units.
Run Protection: 9Space Play: 9Pass Protection: 8Pass Protection: 8Playmaking: 8Blitzing/Go Rush: 9
Reese is a type of uncommon linebackers with the traits to be a real “three-down defender”. That’s a misnomer anymore, as groups are equally prone to run or go on a given down or distance, however that’s additionally irrelevant.
Reese’s energy and toughness make him a extremely succesful run defender, who can each make the play himself in addition to tackle blockers to eradicate operating lanes and leverage the ball again to his teammates.
These are additionally the traits that permit Reese to stroll as much as the road of scrimmage as a psuedo-EDGE.
(Reese is the sting defender on the defensive left / offensive proper)
Reese grew to become one of many essential pivot gamers in Ohio State’s formidable protection. His presence allowed defensive coordinator Matt Patricia to vary their look on a second’s discover, adapting to offensive formation and personnel with out having to vary subpackages.
Curiously, whereas Reese cut up his time evenly between the road of scrimmage and off-ball, he solely had 119 pass-rush snaps. That averages out to eight.5 pass-rush snaps per sport, and whereas that was clearly influenced by Ohio State pulling their starters in blowouts, it’s nonetheless remarkably low for a participant who was initially evaluated as a potential edge defender.
As an alternative, Patricia used Reese’s athleticism and psychological processing to play “Run to Coverage” methods. In different phrases, Patricia routinely requested Reese to step up and play the run, learn the play, then drop into protection within the flat or hook-curl space. That not solely made use of Reese’s run protection, it additionally used his athleticism to be a think about zone protection.
Moreover, it leveraged the specter of Reese as a go rusher to simulate stress, pressure blockers to account for him, and create favorable matchups elsewhere.
To be clear, there have been situations through which Reese was fooled by play design or misdirection. Reese is a really younger participant who solely has restricted expertise at any place, not to mention the myriad duties he was requested to carry out in Patricia’s protection. There are additionally some situations the place he turns and runs to get depth in his drops quite than backpedaling. That takes his eyes out of the backfield and may make it robust for him to regain his sense of the play because it develops.
There are clearly going to be instances when he doesn’t belief what he sees or bites on well-executed misdirection. That being mentioned, he usually acknowledges the error and corrects shortly.
His athleticism allowed him to make up the misplaced time in faculty, however these margins might be a lot tighter within the NFL.
Reese was additionally requested to match up in man protection occasionally, whether or not by design in a pure “man coverage” name, or as a response to the offense in “man match” protection guidelines.
He most likely shouldn’t be requested to match up with extensive receivers, and even notably fast and shifty operating backs.
Nonetheless, Reese’s personal velocity and quickness ought to permit him to cowl most tight ends or backs out of the backfield.
(Notice: Reese does an awesome job of overlaying the again and getting in place to defend the swing go. Given his quickness, size, and play energy, that most likely wouldn’t have gone for a lot. Nonetheless, this was simply a completely superbly designed play by Indiana.)
Lastly we come to the blitz, the place Reese’s upside triggered many (together with yours really) to initially consider him as an edge defender and never an off-ball linebacker.
Reese usually instances the snap nicely and has a legitimately explosive get-off to go along with second and third-step acceleration. Whether or not he’s lined up on the second degree, inside, or is speeding off the sting, he’s an issue for the opposing blocker.
Reese’s arsenal of pass-rush strikes is a particular work in progress. Proper now he’s largely depending on his velocity to place blockers off stability or taking them unexpectedly along with his energy. He’s in a position to dip beneath their blocks because of his flexibility, however he nonetheless must learn to use his arms to completely unleash his athletic traits.
Reese gained’t want an enormous pass-rush arsenal, nevertheless one thing like a elegant club-rip and long-arm to play off a bull rush would make him extremely harmful as a fourth or fifth rusher.
All in all, the Giants have been possible shrewd to instantly state that Reese will play linebacker. It would permit him to remain at a well-known place and develop at his personal tempo, in addition to permit them to make use of his versatility to facilitate a extra refined protection than we noticed during the last two years.
The Giants must watch out to keep away from placing an excessive amount of on Reese too quickly and pressure him to put on too many hats. Nonetheless, he confirmed a flair for processing a major quantity of knowledge in Patricia’s protection, so he would possibly be capable to deal with greater than the common rookie.
Reese’s size, athleticism, processing, energy, and spatial consciousness all give him a really excessive upside as an off-ball linebacker. His upside as a blitzer ought to permit a harmful Giants’ go rush to be much more fearsome, at the same time as he must hone his sport in that space.
It is smart in hindsight that each the Jets and Cardinals handed on Reese. It takes a staff with a way more secure surroundings to develop a participant like him and get essentially the most out of him. Likewise, it is smart that so many have been evaluating Reese as an edge defender — his upside there may be legitimately thrilling, and this was a draft with few blue chip prospects at premium positions. And whereas a flexible second degree participant (be he a linebacker or a field security) is essential to trendy defensive scheming, it nonetheless isn’t as useful as a hyper-athletic go rusher.
Even so, it nonetheless looks like a stroke of luck that he fell to the Giants, and it’ll be completely fascinating to see how a coach with as various a background as Dennard Wilson makes use of Reese.
