Craig StoutJul 9, 2026
Craig ranked their top 10 linebackers for 2026 with Jack Campbell first and Ernest Jones second, dropping Fred Warner to third on the belief that Warner's age-30 season and post-injury form mean they are no longer the league's best linebacker.
Said on air, transcribed by us · KC Sports Network (podcast)Hear the original
What Craig Stout said
I just think that this is the year that we see that Fred is not the best linebacker in the NFL when he is playing games.
- Where it was said
- KC Sports Network (podcast)
- The episode
- KC Laboratory 7/8: Where Does Nick Bolton Rank Among NFL Linebackers? (2026 LB Rankings)
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How the call scored
One checkable claim, graded on its own against what actually happened.
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The call is scored 0 to 100 against what happened, on its own, by the published methodology. The naive guess is what knowing nothing would have scored on the same call; the gap, weighted by how hard the call was, is the skill.
“I'm a Stiles, number 10... Number nine, Cedric Gray from the Tennessee titans, and number eight, Jordan Brooks for the Miami Dolphins... Number seven, Aziz Alshayir. Number six, Carson Swessinger. And number five, Devin Lloyd... Number four, Zach Vaughn, and number three... This is Fred Warner... my final tier that's called move over, Fred... Number two, Ernest Jones, and number one, Jack Campbell.”
VerdictWaitingNot settled yet. This is graded once the result is in.
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