Anfernee
Jennings.
Anfernee
Jennings.
Alabama· 6'2"· 256 lb
"An Alabama captain whose leg was nearly lost in the Sugar Bowl, who came back to post 13 tackles for loss in back-to-back seasons by winning with leverage rather than speed."Pre-draft read
Jennings is a 6-3, 259-pound edge-setting linebacker whose value is in how many jobs he can do competently rather than any single elite trait. He plays the strong side with heavy hands, stacking tight ends and squeezing the C-gap so the ball bounces to help. Alabama moved him from a hand-down five technique to a stand-up rusher to a hook-zone dropper.
The second trait is disruption without burst. He posted 13 tackles for loss in each of his last two seasons and eight sacks as a senior, almost all of it from power and effort rather than an explosive first step. He is a heady zone defender who breaks on the flat throw. The signature is the run fit: he is the strong-side edge who refuses to lose contain on a critical down.
Multiple front that plays two-gap principles on early downs and needs a strong-side edge who can set the point and drop into zone.
Year 1 base-package edge setter and core special-teams player, with a ceiling as a three-down strong-side starter who logs 60 tackles and five sacks.
A wide-nine speed-rush front that asks its edge to win one-on-one in obvious passing situations, which is the one thing his first step cannot do.
Alabama LB Anfernee Jennings Highlights
Career reel showing the edge-setting power and the versatility Alabama asked of him.
Alabama LB Anfernee Jennings | LSU Week 2019
Senior-season tape against the best offense in the country that year.
Anfernee Jennings 2018 Highlights
The first season back from the Sugar Bowl knee injury, with 13 tackles for loss.
Jennings arrived from Dadeville, Alabama, and became a fixture of Nick Saban's front seven across four seasons and 54 games. He played fifteen games as a freshman in 2016 in a rotational role, then showed up in a big way as a sophomore with 41 tackles and six tackles for loss.
His career nearly ended in the 2018 Sugar Bowl. Playing the best game of his life against Clemson, he was unintentionally leg-whipped by a teammate as he planted his left foot; the knee hyperextended backward, and the injury turned out to be far more severe than the initial posterior cruciate ligament diagnosis, with reporting later indicating the leg itself was at risk. Alabama's medical staff put him back together and he was on the field for the 2018 opener, then posted 50 tackles, 13 for loss and 5.5 sacks that fall. As a senior he was better still: 83 tackles, 13 for loss, eight sacks, an interception and a permanent team captaincy.
The board saw an NFL-ready edge setter with a limited athletic ceiling. He was not going to win with speed, and evaluators split on whether he was a two-down strong-side player or a genuine three-down linebacker. New England, a defense that has always valued exactly this kind of positionally flexible power player, took him at 87.
- 01
Edge-setting strength
Heavy hands and functional power let him stack tight ends and spill pulling guards without ceding ground on the strong side.
- 02
Scheme versatility
Alabama aligned him as a five technique, a stand-up rusher and an off-ball dropper, and he was competent in all three roles.
- 03
Sustained disruption
Recorded 13 tackles for loss in each of his final two seasons and 34 for his career, all earned through leverage and effort.
- 04
Senior-year peak
83 tackles, eight sacks and an interception as a captain, the most complete season of his four years in Tuscaloosa.
- 05
Proven toughness
Returned from a catastrophic knee injury in the Sugar Bowl to start the following season opener without missing a game.
- 01
Limited burst
Wins with power rather than get-off, so NFL tackles with average sets will neutralize him on obvious passing downs.
- 02
Serious injury history
The 2018 Sugar Bowl knee injury was severe enough that the medical file follows him into every team meeting.
- 03
Tight athletically in space
Not a fluid mover in coverage against backs and slot receivers, which caps the three-down projection.
- 04
Modest sack production
Eight sacks in his best season and 14.5 across four years from a front that generated pressure for him constantly.
| Yr | Team | G | Tkl | Sk | Int | PD | FF |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | Alabama | 15 | 19 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2017 | Alabama | 11 | 41 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| 2018 | Alabama | 15 | 50 | 5.5 | 1 | 11 | 0 |
| 2019 | Alabama | 13 | 83 | 8 | 1 | 5 | 1 |
| Career | — | 54 | 193 | 14.5 | 2 | 18 | 3 |
Sports-Reference totals including bowl games are used and the four seasons sum exactly to the 193-tackle, 34-tackle-for-loss career line. Other databases disagree materially: CFBTrack lists 185 career tackles with 32.5 for loss and StatMuse lists 15.5 sacks with 29 for loss, differences driven by how each source handles postseason games. The Sugar Bowl knee injury occurred on January 1, 2018, which falls in the 2017 season line.
A dash means the figure is not published by a source we trust — never a zero we invented.
The role rather than the production: a physical run-first defender who becomes a reliable starter without pass-rush volume.
The ceiling: a versatile, scheme-smart front-seven piece who starts for a decade and contributes to championship defenses.
Edge who never earns a full-time role and bounces between rotation, injury and special teams.
Everything above is the pre-draft evaluation. This section is what actually happened — updated year over year.
New England used him almost exactly as advertised, and it took time. He played fourteen games as a rookie in 2020 with four starts and 20 tackles, then missed the entire 2021 season. He came back in 2022 as a rotational piece and special-teams contributor with 27 tackles and 1.5 sacks, and in 2023 he finally became a full-time starter, playing fifteen games with fourteen starts and 66 tackles. His best season was 2024: all sixteen games started, 78 tackles, 2.5 sacks and a forced fumble.
Mike Vrabel's arrival cut his role to about a third of the defensive snaps in 2025, though he still produced two regular-season sacks and two more in a postseason run that reached Super Bowl LX. New England released him in March and New Orleans signed him after the 2026 draft. Through seven years he has 77 games, 40 starts and 7.5 sacks. In hindsight this is a solid third-round return rather than an exciting one. Two years as a full-time starter, six years on a roster and a Super Bowl appearance is real value at 87, and the ceiling was always going to be exactly this.
Data note: Imported from Wikipedia 2020 NFL draft player selections table.