LB, Wisconsin
Height: 6’3″
Weight: 250 lbs
Class: Junior
A three-star athlete recruit in 2019, Chenal had just two offers coming out of high school. One of those came from South Dakota State and the other from his home state Wisconsin. He committed to the Badgers and became a starter in his sophomore year. He then produced an outstanding 2021 campaign that saw him voted First Team All-Big Ten and First Team All-American.
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Strengths
Chenal offers a truly rare combination of size, strength, and athleticism. At 6’3″ and 250 lbs he is built like an old school linebacker and has the physicality to match. He showcases great power at the point of attack and will shed blocks easily if left one-on-one with a tight end or a running back. Chenal put up an impressive 34 reps on the bench press at his pro day and has even recorded 40 reps in the past. That puts him just one behind the positional record.
Whilst Chenal might have the size of a traditional strong side linebacker, he actually moves like a much lighter player. He displays outstanding short area quickness and has the speed to work sideline to sideline. He is also a surprisingly fluid mover for a bigger player and this will be vital in the NFL, where the ability to cover and play in space is essential. Chenal actually tested above the 80th percentile in every drill at the Combine and logged a 9.99 Relative Athletic Score. This is the third highest score by a linebacker prospect since 1987.
He pairs these traits with some outstanding ability as a run defender. Chenal has the play strength to go through blockers, but also has the quickness to slip between blocks and get into the backfield. He is consistent at maintaining gap integrity and does an excellent job of scraping and getting across blocks to the ball carrier. This all saw Chenal contribute 44 run stops in 2021, the third most of any Power Five defender. He also had just 12 missed tackles on his 111 attempts.
Chenal’s ability as a blitzer will also be coveted at the next level. His size and play strength means he is a mismatch for any tight end or running back left in pass protection. He also showed the ability to beat offensive linemen and get into the backfield. Chenal racked up 47 pressures, including 14 sacks, on just 188 pass rushing snaps during his college career.
Weaknesses
The biggest weakness to Chenal’s game is his ability in coverage. He played in a spot-drop heavy role at Wisconsin that didn’t ask a lot of him. When dropping back he does have a tendency to get his eyes caught in the backfield and will be manipulated by smarter quarterbacks. This did see him give up a number of big plays in college, with a passer rating allowed of 107.6.
He also needs to show a little more patience as a processor. Whilst his instincts are generally correct, he does have a habit of triggering too quickly if offenses use trickery or misdirection. That can lead to him getting out of position and this is something that smarter offenses will exploit at the next level.
Bottom Line
Very few linebacker prospects can match Chenal’s combination of traits. He needs to develop a feel for coverage, but his excellent run defense and open field tackling will get him playing time as a rookie. The added dimension he offers as a blitzer is also very valuable. Chenal has all of the tools to develop into a quality starter in the NFL.
Ideal role: Sam linebacker in a blitz-heavy scheme
Round projection: 1st round
