INDIANAPOLIS -- Wednesday marked the first day of prospect press conferences at the 2026 NFL Scouting Combine, with defensive linemen and linebackers leading off the podium proceedings. Here are six things we learned from their sessions with reporters on the eve of their workouts at Lucas Oil Stadium.
1) OSU's Reese potential NFL position. Ohio State's Arvell Reese is projected to be a potential top-five pick in the 2026 NFL Draft. Now we just need to figure out his NFL position.
Reese, who split time between linebacker and edge rusher at OSU, said he thinks playing both spots is possible in the league.
"Teams have pretty much been asking me what I wanted to do, you know, just seeing where my mind was at," Reese said. "I think I'm an outside linebacker. Or an edge, potentially."
The 6-foot-4, 240-pound Reese said he has a lot to improve on at both spots, adding he'd like to get "a little bigger." He thinks he's "pretty decent at both positions" but that he's "just beginning to scratch the surface of what I can do as a pass rusher," noting that he's typically relied on his raw speed and power to this point.
Some teams have been showing Reese tape of Sam linebacker and edge rushers in combine meetings. Reese said Buckeyes defensive coordinator Matt Patricia compared him to former Patriots LB Jamie Collins, and they watched cutups of Collins together.
Reese is opting to work out at the combine, including running the 40-yard dash, and do positional work at both positions. He opted not to make a prediction for his 40 time.
"Right now, the plan is to run the 40, do the linebacker drills and the edge drills," he said.
-- Eric Edholm
2) UGA's Allen not working out in Indy. NFL teams will have to wait a bit longer to see athletic testing results for one of the draft's top linebackers.
Georgia's CJ Allen told reporters on Wednesday that he will not be working out at the combine.
"I'm going to push everything to my pro day," he said. "That's when I'll be running, jumping and doing drills."
The All-American led the Bulldogs with 88 tackles last season and is firmly in the first-round mix. NFL.com analysts Bucky Brooks and Daniel Jeremiah both have Allen going 30th overall to the Broncos in their most recent mock drafts.
-- Dan Parr
3) The next Fred Warner? Top LB prospect warmly welcomes the comp. A five-star recruit from the suburbs of Columbus, Sonny Styles arrived at Ohio State with plenty of fanfare. The son of Lorenzo Styles -- who starred for the Buckeyes in the 1990s as an All-Big Ten linebacker -- Sonny actually spent his first two years with the program at safety. But in the spring of 2024, he converted to his father's position, and OSU LBs coach James Laurinaitis made a prediction.
"When I first switched from safety to linebacker," Styles recalled on Wednesday at the NFL Scouting Combine, "Coach Laurinaitis sent me a text, he said, 'Hey, man -- you're gonna be a first-round linebacker.' "
A couple years later, that assessment appears quite prescient, with Styles being one of the most universally acclaimed prospects in the 2026 NFL Draft. Ranked as Daniel Jeremiah's No. 5 overall player in the class, Styles is a mock mainstay. At this point, the question isn't whether he'll go in Round 1, but rather, how high? Off-ball linebackers seldom crack the top 10 these days, but Styles offers rare athleticism and versatility in a 6-5, 243-pound frame, garnering regular comparisons to the current gold standard at the position, Fred Warner.
"He's a great player, one of the best linebackers in the NFL, so I don't mind the comp at all," Styles said.
Styles particularly appreciates Warner's football IQ. And he models his game after another cerebral linebacking great, Luke Kuechly.
"He was so smart that people forgot he was such a great athlete, and that's kind of what I want for myself," Styles said. "I think I'm a great athlete, but I want my football intelligence to stick out more than my athleticism."
Kuechly, who will be enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame this August, was the ninth overall pick in the 2012 draft. Could Styles hear his name called as early in April? It's a popular topic of conversation in this draft cycle.
-- Gennaro Filice
4) Rodriguez sees fit with Bears, Broncos. Coming off a monster final season at Texas Tech, Jacob Rodriguez said he plans to participate in all combine events except the bench press.
Rated by NFL.com analyst Lance Zierlein as the No. 4 linebacker in the draft, Rodriguez told reporters he's met with every NFL team and seemed to view Chicago and Denver as two destinations that would suit him well. Both teams could be in the LB market this offseason, with the Broncos' Alex Singleton headed for free agency and Tremaine Edmunds potentially parting ways with the Bears.
"I had a great conversation with them," Rodriguez said of the Broncos. "I thought everything was really, really smooth. Their room was really aligned. How they were asking questions and what they wanted to know, I think it kind of showed how much they trust each other and trust in the coaching staff. That's why they had a lot of success this year. ... Great organization, great coaches, great place to be. I would be very, very excited to be there."
As for the Bears, Rodriguez said he met with them at the combine and last month at the Senior Bowl.
"They're great," he said. "I think a lot of their core pillars as a team align with everything I believe in as well. I've had really good conversations with them."
Rodriguez finished fifth in the Heisman Trophy voting last season, leading the Red Raiders with 128 tackles. He also became the first FBS player since at least 2005 to post seven or more forced fumbles and four or more interceptions in a season, per NFL Research.
-- Dan Parr
5) Bailey planning to showcase talent with stock booming. As the No. 3 overall player in Daniel Jeremiah's top 50 prospect rankings, Texas Tech edge rusher David Bailey's stock can't get much higher than it is now, but that won't prevent him from participating in athletic testing here in Indianapolis.
Bailey told reporters he will take part in all but the 20-yard shuttle and three-cone drill when he takes the field at Lucas Oil Stadium on Thursday.
"You should expect to see me do everything else," he said.
After graduating from Stanford in three years, Bailey transferred to TTU for his final college season and took his play to a new level, tying for the FBS lead with 14.5 sacks. Now he has a chance to be one of the first players off the board when Round 1 begins on April 23. He wouldn't bite when he was asked about his potential draft slotting on Wednesday, though, taking all the buzz in stride.
"Top two, top three, top 10, first two rounds, it doesn't really matter to me," he said. "This is just a super cool opportunity. Looking back, I don't know if I ever thought I'd be here. I'm just super blessed."
Bailey also mentioned he's met with the Jets and Cardinals, who hold the second and third overall picks this year, respectively.
-- Dan Parr
6) Mesidor sees advanced age as a feature, not a bug. There's a lot to like about Akheem Mesidor, a relentless pass rusher who earned first-team All-ACC honors this past season with 12.5 sacks, including 5.5 in Miami's four-game College Football Playoff run. As Bucky Brooks' No. 3 edge defender and Daniel Jeremiah's No. 20 overall prospect, Mesidor is widely projected to be a first-round pick. But one potential knock on his draft profile is the advanced age. Having played college football for six years -- two at West Virginia, followed by four with the Hurricanes -- Mesidor turns 25 on April 5, making him one of the older players in this draft class. He doesn't see this as a negative, though.
"You can call me a seasoned rookie," Mesidor said on Wednesday in Indianapolis. "I think I'm coming in more mature with a different approach, different mentality than a lot of younger guys. I think my age could be a plus."
To his point, Mesidor draws steady praise for the maturity of his game, which combines a non-stop motor (SEE: last season's impressive total of 63 tackles, including 17.5 for loss) with a deep bag of pass-rushing moves (tied for fourth in the FBS with 67 pressures, per Pro Football Focus). A native of Ottawa, Canada, the 6-3, 265-pounder believes the prolonged voyage truly refined his skill set, which will allow him to hit the ground running in the NFL.
"Everybody has their own path, everybody has their own timeline -- mine just happened to be six years in college," Mesidor said. "And I was able to continue to learn and grow with these amazing people around me who helped me become the person that I am right now."
One of those people has been Jason Taylor, Miami's defensive line coach for the past three seasons. A Pro Football Hall of Famer with the seventh-most sacks in NFL history (139.5), Taylor has been an invaluable resource for Mesidor.
"I'm always in his office, always in the facility. JT has a couch right there -- I'm always laying on it, we're always talking or watching film," Mesidor said. "He's been a tremendous help and like a mentor to me throughout this whole process."
A product of Akron, Taylor wasn't drafted until midway through the third round (No. 73 overall) back in 1997. Mesidor appears set to come off the board much earlier in a couple months. But that's also a testament to Taylor's tutelage.
"He was tremendous in the league, a legend," Mesidor said. "And he taught me how to be a professional, how to approach the game, how to approach the way you eat, sleep, train, all these different things."
-- Gennaro Filice
