LT Overton is a Defensive Battering Ram

Alabama defensive lineman LT Overton is an intriguing prospect in the 2026 NFL Draft.

Is he an edge rusher?

Is he a defensive tackle?

He plays both positions on game film, and he’s listed on Alabama’s website as a “Defensive Lineman.”

Overton is built like a defensive tackle, but he also made some noise as an edge rusher. Even as an edge rusher, he sometimes lined up pre-snap standing up, but most of the time with his hand(s) down the dirt like a traditional defensive end.

Regardless of what position he’s labeled as, Overton is a force to be reckoned with against the pass and the run.

CBS, The Athletic, SB Nation, Pro Football Network, SI, Bleacher Report, The McShay Report, ESPN, USA Today, NBC Sports, Fox Sports, 33rd Team, and Newsweek have all mocked Overton in the first round of the 2026 NFL Draft (nflmockdraftdatabase.com).

Am I ready to value him that highly?

No.

Not yet.

Don’t get me wrong, I like Overton a lot. I just need to see how he develops in 2025.

Elephants in the room?

• Decent speed
• Limited use of pass rush moves

Overton doesn’t have great pass-rushing speed, and he gets hung out to dry a majority of the time attempting to win the edge.

And this is at the college level.

Most of his wins are when he works the inside gaps.

Overton flashes a good number of pass-rush moves.

Keyword: flashes

Most of the time, he relies on his most dominant trait.

Authoritative bull rusher

This is what has me most excited about Overton.

HE HAS AWESOME RAW BRUTE STRENGTH AND POWER.

Overton showed a few times that he can drive grown offensive linemen back into the quarterback’s face.

Plays like football is important to him

Effort.

It’s what separates the wheat from the chaff on an NFL roster.

Overton brings it.

Rarely did I see him take his foot off the gas.

Early NFL thoughts

Another thing that has Overton sitting outside my 2026 NFL Draft first-round board at this point in the process is his low sack production in 2024:

• 2 sacks

Looking back before that, Overton played 23 games for Texas A&M and logged 1 sack before transferring to Alabama.

Overton is more of a “pressure guy” than a “sack guy” on film.

Pro Football Focus confirms that Overton had 39 pressures and an 18% win rate.

What does all of this tell us?

Overton is disruptive, and that’s worth its weight in gold, but his limitations often prevent him from closing the deal.

⎯ Honestly, he’s an underweight defensive tackle. The average size of defensive ends is 6-foot-4, 270 pounds, and the average size of defensive tackles is 6-foot-3, 299 pounds.

#22 LT Overton 6-foot-5, 278 pounds

Daniel Kelly’s 2025 Summer Grade: Second-Round (I would select him)

Projected by NFL Mock Draft Database to be a First-Round prospect as of August 31, 2025

2024 game film evaluated: Western Kentucky, USF, Wisconsin, Georgia, South Carolina, Tennessee, Missouri, LSU, Mercer, Oklahoma, Auburn, and Michigan (click to view games watched to form this evaluation)

Note: Weighed about 30 pounds less while playing at Texas A&M (SI)

2026 NFL Draft Scouting Report

A fighter with a thick athletic frame. Long arms. Dense muscle mass. Violent nature. Tenacious. Powerful. Noticeably slow off the snap occasionally. Some other delayed reactions were shown. Stands up and puts hands down in the dirt (often in a 4-point stance). Loves to play bumper cars with the big boys. Hammers quarterbacks and ball carriers. Draws double teams (charted 31 double teams on passing plays and 8 on running plays). Active hands. Flashes head fake, slap, rip, swim, spin, and ghost pass rushing moves. Learning how to achieve leverage. Demonstrated some hip tightness. Average pocket adjust. No short-area burst. Limited secondary pass rush plan. Hunts and chases down screens and pass plays. Dropped into short zone pass coverage a handful of times. Run defense is important to him. Misses some tackles.

What to watch for during the 2025 college football season

1. Getting off the snap on time?

2. Pass rush moves?

3. Winning the edge?

Daniel Kelly is a former NFL Scout with the New York Jets. He was hired on the regime which featured Bill Parcells, Bill Belichick, Scott Pioli, Mike Tannenbaum, and Dick Haley. He is currently the Editor-in-Chief for First Round Mock, and has written for Sports Illustrated (Lions, Jets, and 49ers), NFL Draft Diamonds, and Yardbarker, as well as a featured guest on ESPN Radio and Fox Sports Radio. Featured in USA Today. For more information about him visit his website at whateverittakesbook.com. Follow on Twitter @firstroundmock.