Cleveland used the 149th pick on the undersized but athletic linebacker, who posted 85 tackles and t
The Cleveland Browns selected linebacker Justin Jefferson out of Alabama with the 149th overall pick in the fifth round of the 2026 NFL Draft, addressing a positional need that had not received much attention earlier in the weekend.
Jefferson is the second consecutive Alabama player the Browns took in the fifth round and the fourth SEC player they selected across the entire draft. He joins a linebacker room that entered the offseason thin behind Carson Schwesinger, who won the Defensive Rookie of the Year award last season after recording 146 tackles, two interceptions, 2.5 sacks and 11 tackles for loss. Cleveland added Quincy Williams in free agency, but depth behind those two remained a question heading into draft weekend.
A winding road to the fifth round
Jefferson grew up in Memphis and began his college career at Pearl River Community College in Mississippi, spending two years there before transferring to Alabama in 2023. He played a limited role in his first season with the Crimson Tide but stepped into a much larger one in 2024, finishing with 60 tackles, 6.5 tackles for loss and two sacks.
His final college season in 2025 was his most productive. He recorded 85 tackles, 6.5 tackles for loss, three sacks, one interception and five passes defended. Across three seasons at Alabama and 41 career games, he finished with 149 tackles, 13 tackles for loss, five sacks, one interception, six passes defended and three forced fumbles.
He was widely projected as a fifth-round value heading into the draft, and Cleveland selected him at a pick consistent with that assessment.
What he brings and where the questions are
Jefferson stands at six feet tall and weighs 223 pounds, which puts him on the lighter end of the linebacker spectrum. That size creates real challenges against bigger offensive linemen and tight ends, particularly in gap control and block-shedding situations. His lack of functional mass to absorb contact at the line is the most frequently cited concern among evaluators who studied him closely.
What compensates for that, at least partially, is athleticism. Jefferson has above-average change-of-direction quickness and the speed to stay engaged with plays that develop laterally or stretch the field vertically. He has the coverage ability and quickness to track mobile quarterbacks, which makes a nickel linebacker or special teams role a realistic starting point for his NFL career.
The mental processing side of playing linebacker in a complex NFL defense is another area where Jefferson will need to develop. At the junior college and college levels, the volume and speed of reads required increases significantly from year to year. The jump to the professional game is steeper still, and how quickly he can absorb a Browns defensive system will likely determine how much he contributes as a rookie.
The room he is joining and what his role might look like
The Browns linebacker depth chart currently features Schwesinger as the clear lead piece, with Williams, Easton Mascarenas-Arnold, Edefuan Ulofoshio and Nathaniel Watson rounding out the group. Jefferson enters that competition as a developmental option with enough athletic upside that the organization may find ways to get him on the field, particularly on special teams where his speed and pursuit skills translate most directly.
A nickel linebacker role that asks him to cover tight ends and running backs out of the backfield, blitz on passing downs and contribute on coverage units could be his most efficient path to early playing time. Whether he grows beyond that role in year one will depend on his ability to close the gap between college production and NFL processing.