by J.T. Toth
Photo Courtesy of Land-Grant Holy Land.
At Draft 412, the NFL draft talk never ends. We will keep you ready for the next set of gridiron stars—from today and all the way until draft night 2024. We will bring you mock drafts, player profiles, individual team needs, and everything else you may need related to the 2024 NFL Draft.
Today’s Spotlight - Ohio State, Linebacker, Steele Chambers
Name- Steele Chambers
Pos- Linebacker
Team- Ohio State
HT/WT- 6’1” 232 lbs.
Born- N/A
Home – Atlanta, GA
Chambers attended Blessed Trinity Catholic High School in Roswell, Georgia. He ran for over 1,500 yards in his senior season while leading the defense in tackles from his linebacker position. He was named Georgia’s Region 7 AAAA Player of the Year in 2017, and was rated a 4-star prospect and a top 20 overall athlete in the country by 247Sports.
Chambers played in a total of 11 games between 2019 and 2020 as a running back and special teams player and has 221 yards on 28 carries for a 7.9 average in his career. In 2021, Chambers was moved to linebacker and he played in all 13 games, starting 4 and collecting 47 tackles and 1 interception.
This past season, Chambers became a full-time starter for the Buckeyes, starting in 13 games and finished 2nd on the team with 77 tackles. Chambers also added 2 sacks and 2 interceptions in a season where he was named an Honorable All-Big Ten.
So far this season Chambers has started all 3 games and has totaled 19 tackles and an interception.
Chambers is an athletic, playmaking linebacker who seems to always be around the ball. He is quick enough to explode through the gaps and make a play before offensive linemen even set up for a block. He is smooth in lateral movement and can drop back into coverage effortlessly. He is athletic enough to cover slot receivers or tight ends and strong enough to knock them off their routes. He is explosive coming through a ball carrier and looks for violent collisions. He understands zone coverages and plays off the quarterback’s eyes to cut off routes and make big plays.
He can get over aggressive at times and he has a tendency to leave his coverage on pump fakes or play action. As good as he is at getting to the ball carrier, he struggles at times to finish. At times, Chambers can drop his shoulder looking for the knockout hit instead of wrapping up the running back and securely bringing him down. He is still learning the position and lacks the instincts of other top prospects at the position. Right now, he gets by on his pure athleticism and will have to improve his overall mechanics and instincts to be successful in the NFL.
Though Steele Chambers is a tad bit more athletic than Bobby Okereke, they play a similar style of linebacker. Okereke, a 2019 3rd round draft pick of the Indianapolis Colts was a playmaker who used his athleticism at Stanford to become a top linebacker. If Chambers can keep improving as Okereke has since being drafted, then he will be a long term addition to some teams' linebacker corps.
Strengths
Lateral movement
Fluid mechanics
Athleticism
Playmaking ability
Weaknesses
Over aggressive
Instincts
Still raw
Finishing when tackling
Final Analysis
Steele Chambers is still raw and is trying to show scouts in 2023 that he is a legitimate prospect at linebacker. His athleticism is through the roof and even if gets selected late in the draft, Draft 412 believes he will make a team based on special teams.
Draft 412 Draft Prediction - 6th or 7th round