Top 10 linebackers in the 2019 NFL Draft

#10 Dakota Allen, Texas Tech

A former three-star recruit from a small Texas city, Allen looked like a future star as a freshman, when he put up 87 tackles, with six of them for loss and two interceptions. In the ensuing offseason, he was dismissed from the program due to being arrested for burglary and stealing guns.

After one year at community college where he was featured on the series “Last Chance U”, Allen got another chance in Lubbock, putting up even better numbers in 2017 and receiving first-team All-Big XII honors last season despite playing in just ten games. Overall in 34 games for the Red Raiders he combined for 249 tackles, with 17.5 for loss, four interceptions and seven PBUs.

Allen is a fantastic athlete with the speed and short-area quickness in the NFL is looking for. He trusts in what his eyes tell him and immediately shoots through the opening in the run game before a puller can even put hands on him. He dips his shoulder to avoid giving up any area to grab and goes underneath blockers when the ball-carrier is in range. Allen is not afraid of contact either though, blasting into lead-blockers and creating a pile by driving his legs at the point of attack.

He can also run through one-half of offensive linemen to force the play back inside while having enough burst to make the tackle if the ball-carrier decides to bounce the run out wide. When teams run the ball his way, Allen usually plays with good knee-bend and forward lean to ready himself for contact. If he sees any type of counter of misdirection play, he is almost like a defensive lineman disrupting things in the backfield before the blocking can even get set up.

That flash of speed also shows up in coverage, where he mirrors the eyes of the quarterback and reacts to everything going underneath him, as well as having a feel for receivers coming in behind his zone. Allen has experience running down the seams with detached tight ends and slot receivers while showing the pursuit towards the sideline on slip screens and slant routes to be first defender to make contact.

When he sees the quarterback check the ball down, hand it off on a draw play or the space clearing up to get to the passer, it’s like Allen flips a switch as he accelerates there in a heartbeat. He is also very dangerous on delayed blitzes, where he darts right through the open lane.

While he excels at avoiding blocks or beating guys to the spot, Allen struggles to disengage once blockers getting into his chest and he has to be more active with his hands overall. He shows a lack of discipline on the backside on running plays at times and surrenders cutback lanes as well as giving up room for quarterbacks when pulling the ball on option run plays, when he is tagged with contain responsibilities. Allen will get drawn in by play-action fakes and put himself into bad positions.

As a tackler, he gets his arms a little wide and uses more of a hug-motion to chop the ball-carrier down instead of an upwards wrap to secure tackles. Some of the angles he takes towards the sideline are too aggressive and he can only try to leap at the legs of the ball-carrier at times.

While questions about his off-the-field behavior will surround him through the draft process, Allen has done everything possible to better himself. He was a captain in both years after returning to Texas Tech, coaches have raved about his team attitude and he has led by example.

Even though coaches will have to reign him in a little and make him a more disciplined player within the structure of their defense, I really believe Allen’s upside is sky-high, He is far from a finished product, but he stands out to me in a very muddy linebacker class.