Jack
Kiser.
Jack
Kiser.
Notre Dame· 6'2"· 231 lb
"An experienced, professional off-ball linebacker with elite tackling reliability and special teams value, Kiser's NFL impact will be determined by his ability to avoid blockers and move laterally in space."Pre-draft read
Kiser operates as an off-ball MIKE with green-dot responsibility, and his separator is processing speed rather than raw movement. He reads guard and back keys early, beats pullers to the fit point, and takes economical angles that let him arrive square. Tackling is the signature trait: he wraps low, drives through contact and rarely gives back yards.
Against the run he spills lead blocks willingly and uses active hands to stay clean in traffic, though he wins on leverage and timing rather than pop. In coverage he is a zone-first defender who carries hooks, feels crossers and clouds throwing lanes, with ball production concentrated in a two-pick-six 2021. The athletic ceiling is modest; the reliability and four-phase teams value are not.
Single-gap 4-3 or nickel-base defense that plays two-high zone behind it and asks the MIKE to run the call, not run down field-stretching athletes
Year 1: core special teams player and third linebacker who takes early-down run snaps when the starters rotate. Ceiling: a green-dot backup MIKE who can start 6-8 games a season without the defense changing its calls.
A one-high man-heavy defense that isolates its linebackers on backs and move tight ends, or a 3-4 front that asks the inside backer to two-gap and stack NFL guards at the point of attack.
Value climbs on teams that let the linebacker read blockers downhill and stay behind a clean two-gapping nose.
Jack Kiser 2024 Season Highlights
Final-season tape from the National Championship run: downhill run fits, tackling in space and green-dot communication.
The Best of Jack Kiser | Notre Dame Football
Career reel including the 2021 pick-sixes and the special teams work that defined his first three years.
LB Jack Kiser Highlights | 2025 NFL Draft
Team-produced draft package framing the profile Jacksonville bought at pick 107.
Kiser is the rare six-year college defender who arrived in the league already finished as a football player. He redshirted in 2019, grew up on Notre Dame's coverage units, and by 2024 was wearing the communication device, captaining the defense and setting the program record for games played. Everything about the profile is professional: preparation, alignment, gap integrity, tackling form.
The production followed the role. He never carried a huge counting profile until his final season, when he started all 16 games of a National Championship run and led the Irish with 90 tackles, adding two sacks and multiple takeaways down the stretch against Navy, Army and Georgia. The flags were athletic and chronological. He declined to run at the Combine and tested as a functional rather than explosive mover at the Pro Day, he can get engulfed when linemen latch onto his frame in space, and he would turn 25 months into his rookie year.
The board read him as a late day-three special teams core with a backup linebacker floor, and the Jaguars took him a round earlier than most projections at 107. That price bought certainty, not upside: a plug-and-play teams demon with the football intelligence to survive defensive snaps immediately if the room thinned out.
- 01
Tackling reliability
Wraps low, plays through contact and finished college with one of the lowest missed-tackle rates among draft-eligible linebackers.
- 02
Run diagnosis
Reads guard and back keys instantly, beats pullers to the spot and consistently arrives at the fit point square and under control.
- 03
Block deconstruction
Active hands and good extension keep him clean in traffic; he spills lead blockers rather than absorbing them passively.
- 04
Football intelligence
Wore the green dot in 2024, set protections and checks pre-snap, and communicated across all three levels as a captain.
- 05
Four-phase special teams
Roughly 1,000 kicking-game snaps and a Notre Dame Special Teams Player of the Year award give him an instant NFL job.
- 01
Athletic ceiling
Declined the Combine forty and tested as a functional rather than explosive mover; the margin for error shrinks against NFL speed.
- 02
Anchor in space
Can get engulfed once offensive linemen latch onto his frame, lacking the lower-body power to disengage on his own terms.
- 03
Man coverage
Zone-comfortable but stiff turning and running with backs and move tight ends on wheels and option routes out of the backfield.
- 04
Age profile
Six-year player who turned 25 early in his rookie season, so there is little projection left in the traits or the frame.
| Yr | Team | G | Tkl | Sk | Int | PD | FF |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | Notre Dame | 11 | 20 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| 2021 | Notre Dame | 13 | 45 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 0 |
| 2022 | Notre Dame | 13 | 53 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2023 | Notre Dame | 13 | 52 | 0.5 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| 2024 | Notre Dame | 16 | 90 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Career | — | 66 | 260 | 5.5 | 4 | 6 | 0 |
A dash means the figure is not published by a source we trust — never a zero we invented.
Special teams captain with real defensive snaps in reserve; long career built on reliability.
High-volume tackling MIKE who ran the call and produced far beyond his testing profile.
Comparison in role only — if the coverage limitations cap him, he never gets past teams-only duty.
Everything above is the pre-draft evaluation. This section is what actually happened — updated year over year.
Jacksonville drafted him for the kicking game and used him exactly that way. He made the 53 out of camp, appeared in 14 games as a rookie in 2025 and logged 14 tackles on a defensive snap count that never grew, finishing the year on injured reserve while Foyesade Oluokun and Devin Lloyd handled the every-down work. The role was core teams first, emergency linebacker second, and he never looked overmatched when he was on the field.
In hindsight the pick reads as a slight reach in price and an accurate read on the player. Nothing in Year 1 argued that Kiser is a starter waiting to happen, and nothing argued he was a wasted selection either. With Lloyd's contract situation opening a lane in 2026, the honest projection remains what the evaluation said: a dependable rotational linebacker and special teams captain whose value is measured in snaps he does not blow, not in splash plays he creates.