Pete Werner

Pos: LB

School: Ohio State

Ht: 6’3″

Wt: 238 lbs

Strengths:

  • Very underrated athleticism; elite functional athletic ability
  • Good build for a linebacker
  • In the run game, he does an excellent job diagnosing plays
  • Extremely explosive linebacker, once he sets his eyes on the ball carrier, he attacks with speed and aggressiveness
  • Tenacious player, plays with aggression
  • Can blitz the QB well when asked to do so; however it mainly comes when he has open lanes
  • Great man coverage linebacker. Elite speed for his position allows him to keep up with quick RB’s
  • Extremely fluid hips; one of his best traits that allows him to be a great man coverage linebacker
  • Once he diagnoses the play, he does a decent job in zone coverage
  • Great change of direction; credit the fluid hips
  • Has shown flashes of good block shedding
  • Good recovery speed
  • Good proactive hands
  • Solid lateral quickness

Weaknesses:

  • Werner needs to improve his play recognition when in zone coverage. Either he is too late to pickup the play, or he may rush the read and open his hips up which forces him to chase the receiver.
  • Werner is an overall strong player, however he need to utilize this strength with block shedding much more.
  • Solid tackler, but could use some refinement with wrap up tackling as he may miss tackles here and there.
  • No counter moves when he blitzes and it is picked up. If he wins, it is either because of his athletic ability or a pure bull rush; something he could definitely improve once he is in the NFL

Overall Assessment:

After watching Pete Werner, specifically against Penn State and Indiana, I am truly impressed. Werner is among the most underrated linebacker prospects in this draft class. He brings the full package that you would want out of any linebacker. Great functional athleticism, good build, nose for the football and explosive player. He plays with aggression and can do just about anything he is asked to. He moves like a safety in coverage, and can handle man coverage with some of the faster RB’s and WR’s in college football. His hips are fluid, and are greased, meaning he can open up corresponding to his eye tracking with the QB. These fluid hips allow him to have excellent change of direction, making his recovery speed a lot better. Once he is in coverage, he is an excellent linebacker, however Werner’s main flaw stems right before he settles into his zone. His reads are mostly correct often times, however his play recognition really needs work. He needs to play smarter, as the simple bait of the QB moving his eyes, is enough for Werner to have to rely on his excellent athleticism to catch up to his assignment. He has all of the tools, but I need to see him utilize his strength more often when block shedding. At times, his block shedding is simply outstanding, however he gets picked up very easily at times, and needs to utilize his hands, and long arms accordingly in order to do so. His tackling could look to improve, however playing SAM he wasn’t really forced to be a tackling machine at Ohio State. He projects best as a SAM LB in the NFL, which means I would hope for him to improve some of his pass rush counters as he may be used as a rusher on 3rd downs at the next level. Overall, I am really excited for Werner’s future. There isn’t nearly as much buzz about Werner as there should be, as his talent is deserving of a late first round – early second round nod. There is a belief that the NFL thinks more highly of Werner than the media, but he still may be available in the back end of round 2. Werner provides positional versatility as a result of his athletic ability, and can play WILL, MIKE (if the tackling is improved) and SAM, at the next level.

Pro Comp:

Jaylon Smith

Scheme Fit: 4-3 SAM LB

Pick Projection: Early 2nd – Early 3rd

Team Fits: SEA, DEN, WAS

Draft Grade: 8.2/10