Cody
Lindenberg.
Cody
Lindenberg.
Minnesota· 6'2"· 236 lb
"Lindenberg is a cerebral, green-dot linebacker whose proven field generalship and disciplined run-fitting could elevate an NFL defense if he stays healthy after his injury-plagued college career."Pre-draft read
Lindenberg played the green-dot MIKE in Minnesota's four-down front, aligning stacked over the guard and setting the front with his voice before the snap. His game is diagnosis: he reads the guard's helmet and the back's track, triggers on the first true key, and arrives square. He takes on pulling linemen with his inside shoulder, keeps his frame clean with a stab of the hands, and finishes with his feet under him.
The second trait is range once he is clean. He runs the alley from hash to numbers and closes on the perimeter. Coverage is zone-first: he sinks to depth, reads the quarterback, and passes crossers on. The signature is the pre-snap work — checks, adjustments, front alignment — that makes a defense right before the ball moves.
Four-down base defense that plays single-gap run fits with zone-match coverage behind it
Year 1: backup off-ball linebacker and four-phase special teams contributor with emergency green-dot duty. Ceiling: low-end starting MIKE on early downs for a zone-heavy defense that values communication over coverage range.
A man-heavy defense that asks its inside linebacker to travel with backs and tight ends out of the stack, or a light front that leaves him unblocked-but-exposed in space every snap.
Value is highest for a coordinator who wants one clean communicator on the field in base packages and is comfortable subbing him out on obvious passing downs.
Cody Lindenberg 2024 Highlights
Senior-season tape: run fits, downhill triggers and open-field tackling.
2025 Senior Highlights: LB Cody Lindenberg | Minnesota Football
Program cut-up of his All-Big Ten first-team senior year.
Cody Lindenberg Highlights | 2025 NFL Draft
Pre-draft reel used by evaluators ahead of the Raiders pick.
A five-year Gopher and Minnesota native, Lindenberg is the modern version of a coach-on-the-field linebacker: not a burner, not a blitzing specialist, but the player who gets ten other people lined up correctly. Anoka to Minneapolis, three-star to team captain, he wore the green dot for a defense that asked its linebackers to communicate constantly and fit the run with discipline.
Availability shaped his tape as much as talent did. He broke through in 2022 with 71 tackles after taking over the final six games, then lost 2023 to injury after only four appearances. The 2024 return was the real evaluation: 94 tackles, five tackles for loss, six pass breakups and an interception across twelve starts, with double-digit tackle games against Penn State, Maryland and Rutgers and first-team All-Big Ten honors from the coaches. He also skipped on-field testing at the combine, leaving teams with tape and Senior Bowl week.
The board read him as a late-round backup linebacker and core special teamer, and that is where he went. Las Vegas took him at 222 with no illusions about a starting job — the appeal was a fifth-year captain who could learn a playbook fast, play four phases, and be trusted as the emergency signal-caller. At that cost, that profile is exactly the right swing.
- 01
Pre-snap processing
five-year starter-caliber communicator who wore the green dot, sets fronts and checks strength with the play clock running down.
- 02
Run diagnosis
reads guard helmets and back tracks quickly, triggers on the first honest key and shows up square in the correct gap.
- 03
Block management
attacks pullers with the inside shoulder and stabs his hands to keep his frame clean instead of absorbing contact.
- 04
Tackling reliability
breaks down under control, wraps through the hip and rarely lets ball carriers slip off first contact in space.
- 05
Zone coverage feel
sinks to proper depth, reads the quarterback's shoulders and passes off crossers without abandoning his landmark.
- 01
Testing profile
declined on-field work at the combine and projects as an average athlete for the position rather than a plus mover.
- 02
Man coverage
struggles to mirror backs and tight ends on option routes and gives up separation when asked to travel from a stack.
- 03
Injury history
missed most of 2023 and never played a full 13-game season, so the durability question follows him into the league.
- 04
Pass rush value
offers little as a blitzer, lacking the burst and rush plan to make his pressure snaps worth designing around.
| Yr | Team | G | Tkl | Sk | Int | PD | FF |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | Minnesota | 6 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2021 | Minnesota | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2022 | Minnesota | 13 | 71 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2023 | Minnesota | 4 | 31 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 2024 | Minnesota | 12 | 94 | 1 | 1 | 6 | 0 |
| Career | — | 38 | 209 | 2 | 1 | 8 | 1 |
Career totals per footballdb/Minnesota bio (117 solo, 92 assisted). Per-season TFL and pass breakups only verified for 2024; unverified splits left null.
A dash means the figure is not published by a source we trust — never a zero we invented.
Late-round captain type who lives on special teams and spot defensive duty.
Instinct-first Day 3 linebacker who earns base-down snaps with processing and dependable tackling.
Career core-four special teamer whose defensive snaps stay situational.
Everything above is the pre-draft evaluation. This section is what actually happened — updated year over year.
Las Vegas used him exactly as the seventh-round profile suggested. Lindenberg made the 53 out of camp, dressed for all 17 games as a rookie and played almost entirely on special teams, logging seven tackles and no starts while sitting behind the veteran group on defense. He was on the field for four kicking phases most weeks and got scattered defensive snaps in blowouts, which is the standard year-one ceiling for a late Day 3 linebacker.
In hindsight the pick still reads correctly. A team taking a linebacker at 222 is buying dependability and coverage-team value, not a starter, and Lindenberg cleared that bar in year one by being available every week. The question that decides his career is the same one his tape raised: whether the processing is good enough to overcome average athletic tools when he finally gets a run of defensive snaps. Nothing about the rookie season answered it either way.
Data note: Career totals per footballdb/Minnesota bio (117 solo, 92 assisted). Per-season TFL and pass breakups only verified for 2024; unverified splits left null.