Given the Pittsburgh Steelers’ lack of a need at the inside linebacker position in the 2025 NFL Draft, I didn’t spend a ton of time focusing on the group at the Senior Bowl. That didn’t stop me from consistently noticing Oregon ILB Jeffrey Bassa. He stood out in quite literally every aspect of his game.
As a former safety, Bassa is fluid with his movements and has a degree of athleticism that will enable him to be a versatile player in the NFL. He can run sideline to sideline, he can cover running backs and tight ends, and he is physical enough to come downhill and stuff the run.
I spoke with Bassa at the Senior Bowl after one practice, and he described the strengths of his game.
“My ability to cover running backs out of the backfield and then also tight ends and then run with receivers in coverage,” Bassa said. “There’s a mismatch there, and then as well my [film] study of being able to do it all. Be able to stop the run.”
He basically described every area of his game as a strength. Watching him on the practice field, I wouldn’t say he is just talking himself up. The thing that enables it all is his dedication to film study and being a student of the game.
“If I’m watching NFL games, I watch games differently,” Bassa said. “For instance, if the Super Bowl is on, I’m trying to figure out what cover they’re in on defense. So it just comes to my film study, my preparation out here and being confident, having my guys in line and telling them what to anticipate. If I see something, I make sure everybody knows.”
An underrated part of being an every-down linebacker in the NFL is the ability to communicate. They are aligned in a central location to the defense, so they naturally have to be the ones to keep everybody on the same page. The NCAA just started allowing college players to have a green dot to field communications from the sidelines via a speaker in their helmet. This is a huge benefit to players like Bassa, who will likely need to wear the green dot at some point at the next level.
I asked him how confident he is playing that role of the defensive quarterback.
“One-hundred percent confident,” Bassa said. “Running the show and making sure everybody’s aligned and them also knowing the checks and adjustments if the team goes in motion. I was running the show [at Oregon].”
His experience as a safety shows in his game, but there is always the question of how hybrid linebacker types handle the physicality of the run game or coming downhill on a blitz.
“I always wanna be physical at the point of attack, but then also being able to have finesse sometimes when it does go from speed to power or when it goes to finesse,” Bassa said. “Being able to have a lot of tools in my tool belt so teams can’t really predict what I’m doing.”
Here is a clip of him knocking over 233-pound RB Ollie Gordon II at the Senior Bowl via SCOUTD on X.
At 6010, 226 Bassa is going to end up being a big standout at the 2025 NFL Scouting Combine, so don’t be surprised if buzz surrounding him grows throughout the rest of the process.
It doesn’t seem like ILB is a position of need, but the Steelers showed some interest in Bassa, including a meeting with head coach Mike Tomlin and others. Most players have informal meetings with scouts or other personnel from every team, but not every one of those meetings has the head coach included.
“When I was getting interviewed by the Steelers, going into the interview room, just having a lot of respect for him and wanting to meet him and introduce myself,” Bassa said of meeting Tomlin. “My first interaction with him was during interviews.”
With Elandon Roberts a pending free agent and Patrick Queen falling short of living up to his contract in Year 1, perhaps inside linebacker is more of a possibility than we think.
