Deontae Lawson

Draft-Week Buzz

No verified pre-draft news items in the past 30 days for this prospect. See Day 2/3 Team Fits below for projected landing spots and /news.html for the cross-prospect timeline.

Background

Alabama LB from Mobile, AL; four-year Bama inside LB and defensive signal-caller.

College Production

2022-25 Bama: 250+ career tackles, 20 TFL, 4 INTs — SEC-championship pedigree.

Scouting Take

Instinctive MIKE with pre-snap command. Take-on strength average; athletic ceiling capped.

Draft Projection

Round 3. Three-down starter with captain value.

Sources

• ESPN Player Page
• Wikipedia
• 247Sports Profile

Our scouting profile is assembled from these primary sources + cross-checked against ESPN (Kiper / Reid / Miller), PFF's 2026 Big Board, Dane Brugler's The Beast 2026, and Daniel Jeremiah's top-50. See our full methodology and citations.

Day 2 / Day 3 Team Fits

NFL teams that lost a same-position veteran this offseason — and could target Deontae Lawson as a Day 2/3 replacement option.

• REPORTED New York Giants: moved on from Bobby Okereke (MIKE-LB).
  Picks held: R1 #5; R2 #37
• REPORTED Cincinnati Bengals: moved on from Akeem Davis-Gaither (slot-LB).
  Picks held: R1 #10; R2 #41
• REPORTED Chicago Bears: moved on from Tremaine Edmunds (MIKE-LB).
  Picks held: R1 #25; R2 #57; R2 #60 via Buffalo

Confidence: "VERIFIED" departures cite a publication URL (Spotrac, OverTheCap, ESPN, NFL.com, team transactions page) confirming the move and date. "REPORTED" entries come from public free-agency trackers without a single canonical source we could attach. Fits are archetype-and-position based; we are not claiming the team has expressed interest in the prospect.

NFL Scheme Fit

Scheme matches are bucketed from the prospect's height, weight, and (for WRs) archetype tag against a static lookup of which NFL teams currently run each scheme family.

Rookie Contract & Landing-Spot Outlook

Contract band uses the 2026 NFL CBA rookie wage scale projected from the prospect's expected pick range; guarantee % is the slot-default at that pick. Landing-spot best/worst case is derived from TEAMS data (positional needs + scheme overlap minus same-position R1 conflicts) — not a claim that either team has expressed interest.

By the Numbers — 2026 Class Context

• Frame: Among 2026 LB prospects, his 6-2 / 235 lbs frame sits at the 73rd percentile in height and 88th percentile in weight.
• Position class: Deontae Lawson is LB #8 of 26 ranked LBs in the 2026 class. Of those, 4 are projected in the R3 range.
• School pipeline: Alabama has 2 LBs in the 2026 NFL Draft class (8 total prospects from the school).

Computed factually from the 2026 prospect class roster — height/weight percentiles benchmark this player against every other ranked prospect at the same position. Recruiting arc compares his high-school 247Sports/Rivals composite to his current projected round.

Deontae Lawson’s NFL Archetype: Fred Warner

Fred Warner (San Francisco 49ers)

Closest LB physical profile in the modern NFL: 6-2/235 lbs. Same frame, same role bucket — NOT a talent or career-arc projection.

Note: this is a physical-profile match — frame, position, role bucket. Not a talent or career-arc projection.

Similar Linebacker Prospects

Closest matches to Deontae Lawson (6-2 / 235 lbs, #8 LB) by ranking proximity and physical profile. SIZE MATCH = within 1″ height and 10 lbs; TIER MATCH = within 2 ranking spots.

• Jake GoldaySIZE MATCH Cincinnati · 6-2/230 lbs · #6 LB · R2-R3
• Bryce BoettcherSIZE MATCH Oregon · 6-2/230 lbs · #10 LB · R3-R4
• Anthony Hill Jr.SIZE MATCH Texas · 6-2/235 lbs · #5 LB · R2
• Jimmy RolderSIZE MATCH Michigan · 6-2/230 lbs · #11 LB · R5-R6
• Kyle LouisSIZE MATCH Pittsburgh · 6-1/225 lbs · #7 LB · R3

→ Full Linebackers rankings

Alabama & The 2026 Class