Micah Kiser led the 2017 Virginia Cavaliers in tackles. He was second in sacks and third in tackles for loss. He had two fumble recoveries, and no other defender had registered a single one. He was also fourth in pass break-ups. Now that he’s in the NFL, the linebacker unit is going to suffer a downgrade, right?
Thankfully, not. As we saw last week, the defensive line is not going to be a source of strength this year. But the linebackers may be able to cover for that weakness. After all, the unit returns last year’s third and fourth place finishers in tackles, as well as last year’s sack leader, TFL leader (tied) and five forced fumbles (out of a total of 8).