2025 NFL Draft Scouting Report: UCLA LB Carson Schwesinger

From now until the 2025 NFL Draft, we will scout and create profiles for as many prospects as possible, examining their strengths, weaknesses, and what they can bring to an NFL franchise. These players could be potential top 10 picks, down to Day 3 selections and priority undrafted free agents. Today, a scouting report on UCLA linebacker Carson Schwesinger.

#49 CARSON SCHWESINGER/LB UCLA – 6020, 225 POUNDS. (RS JUNIOR)

Measurements

THE GOOD

– Awesome football instincts and awareness to read and react quickly
– His motor never hits empty and he plays with intensity at all times
– Eyes, hips, and feet are synchronized when moving laterally
– Fast trigger to fly downhill to shoot gaps or pop ball carriers
– Very good wrap-up tackler to engulf and drive guys down
– Shows nice balance and body control to stay on his feet in any situation
– Loose and fluid hips to turn and break into routes or get to depth
– Great timing to know when to break on the football
– Excellent blitzer off the edge who has fast and strong hands to shed linemen
– Adequate size, arm length, and general athleticism for the position
– Special teams dynamo in kick-coverage situations

THE BAD

– One-hit wonder year for production
– Needs to add some lower-body mass
– Can be driven backward and squashed by bigger offensive linemen
– Inconsistent ability to stack and shed blocks
– Leveraged into biting on misdirection in coverage situations
– Will overpursue on the backside action when he gets out of control
– Eyes are lured by backfield options in passing situations to let receivers loose
– Late to recognize developing routes out of the backfield
– Teams could question why it took him so long to become a full-time starter

BIO

– 806 total snaps (706 snaps this past season)
– 569 special teams snaps
– Appeared in 38 games with 10 starts
– No injury history
– Career: 163 total tackles (109 solo, 54 assisted), 20 pressures, 11.0 TFLs, 15 missed tackles, 5. sacks, 3 TDs allowed, 2 INTs, 2 PBUs and 1 forced fumble
– 2024 season: 136 total tackles (90 solo, 46 assisted), 18 pressures, 9 TFLs, 11 missed tackles, 4 sacks, 3 TDs allowed, 2 INTs, 2 PBUs and 1 forced fumble
– Born in Moorpark, Calif.
– Played at Oaks Christian School in Westlake Village
– 2024 first-team All-Big Ten selection and AP All-American
– 2024 Butkus Award Finalist
– 2024 Burlsworth Trophy Semifinalist
– Eight-time Athletic Director’s Honor Roll member for academics
– Graduated with bio-engineering degree
– 2021 zero-star recruit out of HS (walk-on at UCLA)
– Played LB and WR for his high school football team
– Amassed 268 tackles, 13.0 TFLs, 5.5 sacks, 11 INTs, 19 PBUs, 5 forced fumbles, and 5 fumble recoveries
– Had 115 receptions, 1,670 yards and 10 touchdowns as a receiver
– Brother played Division III football in college

TAPE BREAKDOWN

Schwesinger’s athleticism really stands out. He shows quick feet and oily hips to move laterally well and cover a lot of ground. That combined with loose hips allows him to be very effective in coverage. He can drop into coverage quickly, cover the slant and flat routes, carry post routes, and overall just make for tight windows when playing underneath. It was also noticeable that he could stay with and mirror running backs on wheel and post routes well. He’s already excellent at playing the screen game, eluding blockers and coming in for the strong takedown.

Schwesinger has an astute understanding of zone and man concepts, knowing where his depth is and timing his pursuit.

I loved how active he was and would look for work instead of being frozen in a circle. This could also be his undoing in coverage when he would try to do too much and go into others’ areas when it was unnecessary to try to make a play or cover for others. It would lead to receptions in the shallow areas of the field and YAC, but this happened to such a small degree that I would not call it a huge concern. He just needs to stay more disciplined and that will also come with playing at the next level where his assignments will be more defined.

Schwesinger has great play recognition, scheme awareness, and blocking angles to know where to be to find running backs as a run defender.

You also see him play with high-level effort and motor on every down. I never once questioned his fitness or physicality level when I watched him. He has a quick trigger to plant and come downhill in a hurry. He has excellent short-area agility, but when he has to cover a ton of ground, he shows more modest speed. Schwesinger doesn’t wait for the play to come to him, he comes to the play looking to find contact and shoot gaps.

Schwesinger looks as though he has average long speed for a middle linebacker on film. His short-area acceleration more than makes up for this though.

Schwesinger knows how to square his body up to shed blocks and make tackles. He rarely doesn’t fully wrap up runners as a tackler and shows good lower-body drive to take guys to the ground quickly. Although he shows these skills, Schwesinger could stand to add a little more mass and strength so he can shed linemen and tight ends even better. This is especially evident when offensive linemen are utilizing down blocks, and he can get engulfed by them.

As a blitzer, he shows a lot of potential to be used as a chess piece because of his gap understanding, snap timing, and ability to fly to the line. Running backs had a really hard time picking him up coming downhill and he’s not afraid to thump with tight ends and offensive linemen. I like his violent hands really trying to attack linemen and force them to reset their stance because of his speedball nature. Once he gets into the backfield, he rarely overruns the quarterback or pocket. He’s got good spatial awareness to know where he is and he came away with four sacks in 2024. Running backs, beware if you see this guy get past your line of defense.

I like his potential as a special teamer too with his propensity to run hard, know where the coverages are flowing, excellent tackling ability, and just general nose for the football. He could definitely play immediately on the coverage units.

CONCLUSION

You can definitely see the path for Carson Schwesinger to play in the NFL, even with just one year of production at UCLA. Despite not being an athletic marvel, he plays and looks like a modern-day three-down middle linebacker. There isn’t much he doesn’t do well in coverage or as a run defender. I see him as an early contributor and could play on any team who needs an eventual defensive captain. The sky is the limit for him and his ceiling hasn’t even been reached yet.

I don’t think that the Pittsburgh Steelers will be interested in him because he’ll likely be an early-round pick, and they already have two starting-level players (Patrick Queen and Payton Wilson). I would love to see him in the Black and Gold, but I’m not sure it’s in the cards with where the position is and what the team’s needs are. There really isn’t a comparison for his one-year ascension from out of nowhere, but I see a lot of abilities that he has in common with another great inside linebacker in Lavonte David. Neither are super flashy players, but I think Schwesinger will be really dependable, and you’ll hear his name a lot in the coming years.

Projection: Day 2
Depot Draft Grade: 8.4 – Second Round (Future Quality Starter)
Games Watched: vs Oregon (2024), vs Iowa (2024), at Penn State (2024), at LSU (2024)