Jordan’s Film Room: Arvell Reese — The Hybrid Linebacker/Edge of the Modern NFL

In the heart of Columbus, a 6-foot-4, 241-pound heat-seeking missile named Arvell Reese is rewriting what modern NFL front-seven stars look like. The Cleveland native and Ohio State hybrid linebacker/Edge erupted in 2025 as a full-time starter. He terrorized Big Ten offenses seamlessly flipping between off-ball destroyer and explosive edge rusher in route to earning consensus All-American honors, Big Ten Linebacker of the Year, and declaring as a true junior for the 2026 NFL draft at just 20 years old.

2026 NFL Draft: Arvell Reese

Arvell Reese isn’t just another talented Buckeyes player. He’s a rare, explosive athlete with elite length, violent closing speed, and the kind of sideline-to-sideline range that makes offensive coordinators scheme around before the snap. Evaluators float the idea of Micah Parsons-like upside as a versatile disruptor who can set edges, blitz from anywhere, and hunt quarterbacks with sudden get-off and power that jolts offensive linemen.

Background

From Glenville High School, Reese anchored a defense that won the program’s first ever state championship. During this time, he earned Ohio Division IV Defensive Player of the Year honors, High School Butkus Award finalist status, and consensus four-star recruiting rankings.

Reese then committed to Ohio State over offers from Alabama, Penn State, and others. His Buckeye tenure started quietly, limited to special teams as a true freshman, then a rotational role as a sophomore in 2024. The breakout came in 2025 under coordinator Matt Patricia’s versatile scheme splitting reps as an off-ball linebacker and stand-up edge rusher. During that season, Reese had 69 tackles, 10 TFL, 6.5 sacks, and two passes defended. In a draft class hungry for game-changers, this young phenom isn’t waiting his turn anymore — he’s arriving to dominate.

Film Room

Arvell Reese’s 2025 tape shows a rare hybrid weapon. He has explosive athleticism that wrecks plays from off-ball linebacker and EDGE alignments alike.

He reads and reacts lightning-fast with quick keys, aggressive downhill triggers, and elite closing speed allowing him to cover ground as a true sideline-to-sideline defender. In the run game, he sheds violently, keeps leverage on cutbacks, and finishes tackles with authority. Missed tackles were essentially nonexistent in his tape.

On the edge, his first step is sudden and violent while still bending corners fluidly, converting speed to power, and pressuring consistently with long-arm swipes, bull rushes, and clean stunts/loops. The 6.5 sacks came from clean wins and closing burst that turns pressure into sack production. His tape reflects a player capable of becoming a superstar for a defense changing the game from a variety of alignments.

Strengths

Age and Upside

At just 20 years old (turns 21 in late August 2026), Reese is among the youngest prospects in the 2026 NFL draft class with legitimate starting production. His limited sample size (only one full season as a starter) is offset by his explosive growth trajectory — going from rotational piece to consensus All-American in a single year.

The physical gifts are already elite, and the technical areas still have massive room to improve. His youth, proven impact, and sky-high ceiling makes him one of the highest-upside front-seven players in recent draft history, with realistic All-Pro potential in the right scheme.

Size and Build

Reese measures an ideal 6-foot-4 and 241 pounds with a long, lean, explosive frame. He carries good weight distribution with broad shoulders, thick base, and long limbs that allow him to play even bigger than his listed size. The build is prototypical for a modern hybrid linebacker/edge — tall enough to see over the line, lengthy enough to disrupt passing lanes and stack blockers, yet lean and flexible enough to bend and pursue. He looks the part of a Day 1 NFL starter with natural power and room to continue adding functional mass.

Durability and Usage

Reese has shown excellent durability as a player. He started 14 games in 2025 with no major injuries reported and logging heavy snaps, handing the toll of a hybrid role without a drop-off. His positional versatility is elite: off-ball weak-side LB, stand-up rusher, A-gap blitzer, quarterback spy, spot drop zone-coverage and even interior stunts. This scheme-proof flexibility makes him a true chess piece who can be moved around to create mismatches and disguise pressures, maximizing his impact in any defensive system.

Athleticism

Reese is a freak athlete with rare explosion, speed, and fluidity for his size. He flashes outstanding burst off the line, long-striding top-end speed, and natural bend to dip around the corner — especially at his size.

This athleticism does not come at the cost of his strength. Reese is a physically imposing player within the front seven with outstanding composite strength in both his upper and lower halves. He has the ability to generate knock-back force converting speed to power and compressing quarterbacks with A-Gap pressure.

Run Defense

Arvell Reese is an outstanding run defender with elite instincts, quick triggers, and diagnoses trench traffic instantly exploding downhill filling gaps, remaining discipline to run fits, and securing tackles at or behind the line of scrimmage.

On the edge, Reese diagnoses blocks instantly. He maintains hard edges at the line of scrimmage, and attacks gaps with violent hands to stack and shed interior linemen or pulling guards.

Reese maintains leverage on cutbacks, too. He rarely gets washed out, and pursues with sharp angles that make him nearly impossible to outrun laterally. His power at the point of attack jolts bigger blockers, and he consistently limits runners to minimal gains or forces negative plays.

Coverage

While still developing, Reese shows promising coverage traits with good zone range, quick eyes to locate the ball, and the length and fluidity to match athletic TEs or RBs. He drops into underneath zones effectively, covers ground well, and has the tools to become a plus coverage defender.

Reese’s instincts help him sniff out screens, draws, and misdirection, and he rarely gets fooled by the same concept twice. With his natural athletic gifts and continued mental development the potential is undeniably high.

Finally, in a league that has slowly migrated towards athleticism at the quarterback position — Patrick Mahomes, Josh Allen, Lamar Jackson, Caleb Williams, Jaxson Dart, etc — Reese provides a potential kryptonite to this athleticism. His ability to operate as a QB spy with his athleticism and closing speed is elite.

Pass Rush

Reese’s pass-rush traits are high-end despite limited dedicated reps. His first step is sudden and violent. Reese converts speed and bend into power, generating consistent pressure with long-arm swipes, bull rushes that displace tackles, and clean stunt execution. His closing speed turns pressures into sack production, and his length disrupts throwing lanes. The raw athleticism is elite. Once he adds a refined counter menu and intentional hand usage, he could become a legitimate double-digit sack threat from multiple alignments.

Tackling

Reese is an exceptional tackler with violent wrap technique. He drives through contact with a massive tackling radius created by length and strong hands. Missed tackles were almost nonexistent in 2025 where he finishes through contact in the open field, wraps up ball carriers before they can break away, and brings them down with authority. His play strength allows him to drag runners backward or stop them cold at the line, making him one of the surest tacklers in the class.

Intangibles

Reese plays with a relentless self-proclaimed “dog mentality” and high-effort motor that jumps off the tape. He never takes plays off. Reese will chase down ball carriers from behind, fight through contact, and brings violent energy to every snap. His physicality is elite — he delivers explosive hits, sheds blockers with power, and plays with the same intensity on the last play as the first. Combined with his youth and work ethic, these intangibles give him the makeup of a future team leader and defensive cornerstone.

Weaknesses

Limited Starting Experience

Arvell Reese has only one full season as a starter and relatively few total defensive snaps compared to other top prospects who’ve started for multiple years. His early college career was limited to special teams and rotation, so the body of work is still building. The 2025 tape is dominant and the traits translate. However, some teams may have questions about consistency over a larger sample. And, how he holds up against elite competition week-in and week-out in the league.

Coverage Limitations

Coverage remains the clearest area of concern for Reese. In zone, he shows good range and ability to cover ground, but he can be slow to react to play-action deep drops, often getting caught with his eyes in the backfield too long or not getting enough depth quickly enough. In man coverage, he is still refining his footwork, transitions, and mirroring. While the tools are there for improvement, this is currently a below-average trait that NFL teams will need to scheme around early in his career.

Raw Pass-Rush Technique and Plan

Reese relies heavily on elite athleticism rather than a refined pass-rush menu. His wins often come from sudden first step, violent hands, and closing burst rather than counters, rip/swim moves, or secondary moves when the initial rush is stalled. His hand usage, leverage manipulation, and ability to chain moves together are still also still developing. Against longer NFL tackles with strong punch and anchor, he could get stood up or washed out if the initial burst doesn’t win immediately. The upside is massive, but he’s not a finished product as a pure edge rusher yet.

Over-Aggressiveness and Over-Pursuit

Reese’s downhill, aggressive style is a strength in many ways. However, it can lead to occasional over-pursuit and vulnerability against cutback runners or misdirection plays. He also will fall victim of biting too hard on play action fakes as well. While his instincts and recovery speed help mitigate this, it has still got him out of position in a few instances resulting in completions.

Arvell Reese: Draft Range and NFL Projection

Arvell Reese is a consensus top-5 lock in the 2026 NFL draft, with many believing he can go as early as second overall. His youth, production, and elite traits give him legitimate franchise-altering upside with an immediate impact as an every-down hybrid starter. Some believe his skillset is maximized with a move to edge. However, I actually believe he is move developed at off-ball linebacker than given credit for. For that reason, I believe he is best suited at weak-side (Will) linebacker with edge rush/blitz responsibilities in sub-packages or third down situations while he continues to refine his coverage skills.

In summary, Reese is worthy of consideration as early as first overall with a borderline generational skillset at off-ball linebacker. In the right system, he becomes a defensive cornerstone who changes games with a high-floor and an All-Pro ceiling.

Player Comparison — Demario Davis

A player comparison floated by many is Micah Parsons due to his ability to play off-ball linebacker and edge similarly to Parsons usage at Penn State. The issue, Parsons made a full transition to edge rusher where his skillset was better suited. I feel the opposite about Reese.

Reese’s best fit in his transition appears to be as an off-ball linebacker who has the positional versatility to operate as an edge rusher in sub-packages. Although, finding a comparison for this play-style is difficult making Reese a very unique evaluation.

Reese projects as a bigger, longer, more explosive version of Demario Davis — a reliable weak-side linebacker who dominates run defense with violent tackling, elite play strength, and outstanding instincts. Like Davis, Reese reads keys quickly, shoots gaps, sets edges, and finishes tackles with authority and low missed tackle rates, bringing the same high-motor physicality that makes him a consistent 3-down anchor.

Reese adds superior length, range, and notable pass-rush upside — flashing sudden first-step burst, fluid bend, and speed-to-power off the edge on stand-up and blitz — which could push him toward higher splash production (more pressures, TFLs, and sacks) than Davis while maintaining that dependable Pro Bowl-caliber floor in a 4-3 scheme as the Will.

Final Thoughts

Arvell Reese is one of the more complete, high-upside front-seven prospects to enter the NFL draft in recent years. At just 20 years old with only one full season as a starter, he’s already produced at an elite level and earned a number of awards while playing a true hybrid role that demanded versatility, physicality, and toughness. The tape backs shows a violent, explosive, instinctive, and relentless chess piece with traits that translate directly to the NFL.

While he’s not a finished product, he’s far from a project. The floor is already a plus starter, and the ceiling is a game-changing, Pro Bowler with All-Pro upside. In the right scheme he is a hybrid chess piece who can anchor a defense for the next decade. This isn’t hype, this is a prospect who’s ready to enter the league and dominate in multiple facets.