For all of the tentpole events that NFL draft prospects go through on their way to selection weekend, nothing outside of game tape can make more of a difference than a prospect’s performance at the scouting combine. If a guy aces his interviews with teams, and then goes out on the field at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis with athletic excellence, the result can be career-transformative to the tune of several million dollars. On the other hand, if a prospect sleepwalks through the interviews and the drills, it doesn’t take much for that stock to crater — just ask one Shedeur Sanders about that.
When looking at the most likely prospects to shock NFL difference-makers at the 2026 combine, which begins in a drill sense on Thursday, February 26 and goes through Sunday, March 1, here are six defensive players we think could really blow it up and some of money in the process.
Some may not be stars now, but they could very well be within the next week or so.
Dani Dennis-Sutton, EDGE, Penn State
When the New York Giants made Abdul Carter the third overall pick in the 2025 draft, that meant that it was Dani Dennis-Sutton’s time to shine on the edge for the Nittany Lions, and the 6’5″, 265-pound Dennis-Sutton did just that last season, with eight sacks, 51 total pressures, 29 stops, three tackles for loss, and two forced fumbles in 2025. Dennis-Sutton will likely be a second-day pick because of his straight football skills, but he could accelerate that process a bit with the speed he shows in the open field, which could show up both in the 40-yard dash and in the positional drills.
Whether he’s dropping into coverage, spying a mobile quarterback at the line of scrimmage, or playing out an outside run to the boundary, Dennis-Sutton’s straight-line speed and movement skills should have him registered as a potential combine superstar.
Romello Height, EDGE, Texas Tech
Texas Tech edge-rusher David Bailey will likely be selected in the top half of the first round in large part because he’s such a great quick pass-rusher — nobody else in the NCAA had more quarterback disruptions last season on dropbacks of 0-3 steps — but Bailey is far from the only Red Raider on that 2025 defensive line who’s in line to amaze at the combine with pure demon speed. Tackle Albert Regis can move very well around the formation, and if you can take your eyes off Bailey for a second, fellow edge defender Romello Height might just catch your eye.
After stops at Auburn, USC, and Georgia Tech, Height found his home in Lubbock last season, going off for nine sacks, 58 total pressures, 27 stops, two tackles for loss, and three forced fumbles. NFL teams will be wise to avoid overlooking Height, certainly in the middle rounds, as a 6’3”, 240-pound edge man who can scald blockers around the arc and in space.
Justin Jefferson, LB, Alabama
When it comes to modern linebackers in an NFL where more and more teams are playing big nickel and dime, requiring said linebacker(s) to cover at least half the field as a matter of ease, speed is mandatory — both of the straight-line variety, and of the peel-back and turnaround variety. And in the 2026 combine class, there’s no faster linebacker than Alabama’s Justin Jefferson (no relation), who regularly topped 18 miles per hour on the move last season.
The stats are impressive enough — in 2025, Jefferson totaled three sacks, eight pressures, 68 solo tackles, 35 stops, and 32 catches allowed on 56 targets for 321 yards, 181 yards after the catch, no touchdowns, one interception, five pass breakups, and an opponent passer rating of 77.5— but Jefferson will need a prominent combine performance to have NFL teams looking back on all that good tape. I’m here to tell you that Jefferson has the proverbial skills to pay those bills.
Julian Neal, CB, Arkansas
After three seasons with the Fresno State Bulldogs, Julian Neal transferred to Arkansas for the 2025 season, and found results both good and bad. Notre Dame, Auburn, and Missouri lit him up in coverage to a degree, but he was more than solid against other major schools — Ole Miss, LSU, and Tennessee in particular. Overall, the 6’2”, 208-pound Neal allowed 27 catches on 48 targets for 346 yards, 127 yards after the catch, three touchdowns, two interceptions, eight pass breakups, and an opponent passer rating of 82.5.
But none of that is why Neal is on this list. Neal is on this list because no defensive back on his way to the 2026 combine had more high-speed plays last season than his 31, and you can see how, at times, that speed allows him to make up for arrears in coverage awareness. When you watch him exhibit his trail speed in coverage, it also makes you think that we have a 4.3-ish 40-yard dash guy here. Maybe he’s not on pace to break the 40-yard dash mark Baylor’s Kalon Barnes put up for cornerbacks since 1999 with a 4.23-second time, but something in the vicinity of Riq Woolen’s 4.26 in 2022 would not seem entirely out of the question. One thing’s for sure — with that kind of speed, NFL teams will be eager to find out if Neal can stay more in phase at the next level.
D’Angelo Ponds, CB, Indiana
The Indiana Hoosiers’ defense spent the entire 2025 season as a highly underrated entity, even after Curt Cignetti’s team won the natty with Fernando Mendoza as the main man. But it wasn’t Indiana’s offense that ranked second in the FBS in scoring defense, behind only Ohio State. Nor was it Mendoza who was responsible for a defense that ranked second in rushing defense behind Texas Tech. And it was that Indiana defense that ranked fourth in the nation in yards per completion allowed, behind Ohio State, Texas Tech, and San Diego State.
One of the stars of that defense was cornerback D’Angelo Ponds, and based on his 2025 season, the only real question about Ponds’ NFL viability is where he’ll line up at 5’9” and 173 pounds. Because everything else is there. Ponds allowed 31 catches last season on 63 targets for 357 yards, 55 yards after the catch, no touchdowns, two interceptions, nine pass breakups, and an opponent passer rating of 53.5.
Moreover, Ponds averaged 21.3 miles per hour on his top five speed plays in the 2025 season, so it isn’t as if he’s both smaller and slow. Tape shows a guy whose size is really only a deficit if you convince yourself that it is.
Dillon Thieneman, DB, Oregon
Given the extent to which everybody in the NFL is looking for the next great do-it-all safety in the Derwin James/Kyle Hamilton/Nick Emmanwori mold, and the extend to which Ohio State’s Caleb Downs already has the crown as the best potential player of that ilk in this draft class, teams drafting outside the top five are forced to look elsewhere in this class.
One expects that a lot of these teams will have a sharp eye on Oregon’s Dillon Thieneman, who played 434 snaps in the box, 247 at free safety, and 118 in the slot for the Ducks in 2025. Overall, and no matter where he was, Thieneman allowed 18 catches on 29 targets for 145 yards, 42 yards after the catch, three touchdowns, two interceptions, four pass breakups, and an opponent passer rating of 80.4. Thieneman also had four quarterback pressures, 72 solo tackles, 30 stops, and three tackles for loss.
But you need to watch how quickly Thieneman gets into his transitions in coverage to understand why he’s a potential combine star — not only in the straight-line runs, but especially in the position drills for defensive backs. When NFL teams get a load of that, Thieneman will find his agent’s phone overloading pretty quickly.