The 2026 NFL offseason is here and that means it’s time for mock drafts, draft profiles and everything that goes with them. So without further ado, here’s one of many Draft Profiles for the 2025 NFL draft.
Josiah Trotter, LB, Missouri
HT: 6’2
WT: 238 lbs
Accolades:
- First-team All-SEC (2025)
- Big 12 Defensive Freshman of the Year (2024)
Video:
Pros:
- Run Defense: His defining trait — consistently shuts down rushing lanes before they can fully develop.
- Play Recognition: Processes run concepts with urgency, showing the ability to diagnose both zone and gap schemes early in the down.
- Block Shedding: Brings heavy, forceful hands at the point of attack to create separation and disrupt linemen’s angles.
- Play Strength: Strong lower half allows him to anchor versus double teams and maintain square positioning through contact.
- Trigger Quickness: Explosive first step enables him to shoot interior gaps and penetrate before ball carriers can adjust.
- Lateral Mobility: Displays functional hip flexibility to slip through congestion and redirect when runs spill outside.
- Tackling Reliability: Secure wrap-up finisher who consistently stops forward momentum and limits yards after contact.
- Pressure Upside: Flashes legitimate pass-rush value on delayed blitzes and zone pressures thanks to active hand usage.
Cons:
- Length Limitations: Below-average arm length for the position can make it tougher to consistently control and disengage from NFL-caliber blockers.
- Range Ceiling: More sudden than truly fast, lacking ideal sideline-to-sideline burst to chase plays outside the numbers.
- Coverage Awareness: Still developing route recognition skills and can be late reacting to patterns developing behind him.
- Matchup Concerns: Has difficulty staying in phase with athletic tight ends and quicker backs who can stack or separate vertically.
- Space Mobility: Lateral movement can look tight when asked to mirror in man coverage or transition smoothly in open field situations.
- Medical Evaluation: The lower-leg injury that sidelined him for the 2023 season will be closely vetted during the pre-draft medical process.
Summary:
Trotter’s physical presence is evident the moment you turn on the tape. He plays with conviction in his reads, firing downhill decisively and delivering forceful contact at the point of attack. Run defense is comfortably the strongest aspect of his profile, as his ability to quickly diagnose both zone and gap concepts consistently keeps him ahead of climbing blockers at the second level. His performance against South Carolina — when Missouri limited the Gamecocks to negative rushing yardage — stands as a clear example of how disruptive he can be in the ground game.
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