The 2026 NFL Draft is in Pittsburgh! This draft season, we’ll be scouting as many of the top prospects that the Pittsburgh Steelers could have their eye on. We’ll break down the prospects themselves, strengths and weaknesses, projected draft capital, and their fit with the Steelers.
The Steelers have done a ton to bolster their defensive line and secondary this offseason, but the Pittsburgh linebackers remain one of the more heavily scrutinized position groups on the team.
The basics on CJ Allen
- Position: LB
- Class: Junior
- Size: 6’1, 230 pounds; 311/2” arms, 751/2” wingspan
- Age: 21 (03-01-2005)
- Projected draft round: 1st/2nd (Top-50)
Defensive stats via Sports Reference
CJ Allen scouting report
Allen is vying to be the
next one up in a long line of Georgia linebacker excellence. One of the top linebacker recruits coming out of high school, Allen was starting by the final five games of his freshman season in Athens.
Allen isn’t the flashiest player. There’s a reason why linebackers such as Ohio State’s Sonny Styles and Arvell Reese are potential top-10 picks while Allen is a fringe first-round prospect. But what Allen may lack in the athletic sizzle compared to what those two prospects offer, he makes up for with football IQ, which translates to real-time game speed.
Allen’s smarts and instincts allow him to diagnose quicker and play with confidence. Allen may not be winning the 40-yard dash contest, but he still packs plenty of speed, showing sideline-to-sideline range. Better yet, you’ll rarely catch Allen taking a poor angle when chasing down a ball carrier. And when making run fits and engaging blockers, he’s got power hands that allow him to strike and disengage so he can go make the play. All of this led to him being one of the best run defenders in college.
Allen’s no slouch in pass coverage either. Georgia’s coaching staff gave him difficult assignments a lot of the time because they knew he could make them right. He did everything, including covering tight ends, running backs, and receivers in the slot. I won’t pretend that Allen looks like Fred Warner out there — he isn’t nearly as fluid and displays some stiffness — but more often than not, Allen is able to be exactly where the defense needs him to be, whether that’s in a myriad of zone concepts or in man.
Pair that with the praise he received for his preparation, intelligence, and leadership, and Allen is the exact type of player NFL teams will want as the heart of their defense.
Strengths
- Sound tackler with disciplined technique (7.4% career missed tackle rate)
- Smartest guy on the field, able to react to what he’s seeing from the offense before it happens
- Experience (1,610 defensive snaps in college) and leadership (team captain, green dot)
- Plays with more pop and power than you’d expect from his frame
- Skilled at finding proper leverage to disengage from blocks to make a tackle
- Plays the run with both urgency and patience; ie: he doesn’t rush the process to the point of sloppiness, but still attacks downhill
- Growing as a blitzer
Weaknesses
- Average athleticism and speed
- Short arms and wingspan for a linebacker
- Lacking in splash plays, just one career INT, two career fumbles forced
- While adequate in zone coverage, there are concerns if asked to play man coverage
What others are saying about CJ Allen
Lance Zierlein, NFL.com
“Green dot” linebacker and team captain more capable of rowing the boat than making big splashes. Allen plays with toughness and control, sorting through run fits with patience and leverage in pursuit. He has average trigger quickness and pursuit speed, which forces him to work harder to get to junction points when facing climbing blockers. He has adequate size and strength with good hand strikes to play off blocks. He doesn’t blow up blocks or disrupt on the other side of the line all that often, though. He’s an effective blitzer with average man-cover talent and is capable on all three downs. Allen is a dependable starting Mike ‘backer who raises the floor of a defense.
Todd McShay, The Ringer
Allen is a violent, instinctive, and experienced off-the-ball linebacker whose game leans more toward substance than flash. He uncoils into blockers and plays stout for his size, flashing a powerful punch to stack and shed. Even when giving ground initially, he works off contact and finds ways to finish plays. His quick reads and strong effort show up against perimeter runs, and his reaction time makes it difficult for offensive linemen to reach him on zone concepts. His discipline stands out on tape, as he rarely vacates his gap.
Travis May, A to Z Sports
Allen has become a player who is good at just about everything a linebacker can do on a football field. Is he elite at any one thing? No. However, he’s shown plenty of success in run defense (his core strength), adequate performance in coverage, and added a layer of pass rush this year that he hadn’t displayed before (four sacks on the season). He’s a truly elite run defending linebacker. When it comes to gap discipline, attacking the line of scrimmage to limit positive gains, and an extreme low missed tackle rate three seasons in a row, it’s clear that Allen is special against the run.
CJ Allen’s fit with the Steelers
If Pittsburgh were able to draft Allen, whether in the first or second round, he should quickly earn a role on early downs. With Payton Wilson still struggling to fit the run consistently at the NFL level, adding Allen to the fold would give Pittsburgh a more skilled player than Malik Harrison for that role. Patrick Queen and Payton Wilson would likely remain the sub-package linebackers in 2026, but with Queen on the last year of his deal, Allen would be a play for the future as much as he would be for this season.
TL;DR: CJ Allen is a smart, experienced leader on defense whose superpower is stopping the run, an element the Steelers’ defense desperately needs.
What are your thoughts on Georgia linebacker CJ Allen? And which draft prospects would you like to see profiled next? Let us know in the comments below!
