Lt Overton’s draft stock is rising as the former Alabama edge rusher heads toward the 2026 NFL Draft, where he is projected to come off the board on Day 2. Some mock drafts have Overton slipping into the third round, while others see him as a fourth-round pick.
The 21-year-old spent last season doing the kind of work NFL teams notice. He led Alabama in pressures during the 2024 season with 39, then followed that with 24 pressures in 2025, along with four sacks and six tackles for loss. That improvement matters because his profile has long been about pressure more than finish.
Overton said in March 2025 that he felt he had left a lot on the table the year before, especially on sacks. He said pressures were useful, but that the production everyone wants to see is the kind that ends plays in the backfield. He added that his mindset was to go out and prove what he could really do.
That is the thread running through his draft case now. In 2024, Overton was productive without piling up the sack total, finishing with two sacks even as he led Alabama in pressures. By 2025, the numbers moved closer together, and the result is a prospect whose tape suggests disruption and whose stat line now shows more finishing ability.
Alabama defensive coordinator Kane Wommack gave that arc some weight before the SEC Championship, calling Overton an ultimate competitor and saying he had done a really good job of staying in shape. Wommack added that Overton looked great and described him as a difference maker off the edge, the kind of player that changes a defense.
The tension for evaluators is simple. Overton’s pressure totals have been strong enough to keep him on draft boards, but the question has been whether the sacks would catch up. In 2025 they did to a degree, and that is why he now sits in the conversation for Day 2 rather than as just another depth edge rusher.
For Overton, the next step is no longer about proving he can create chaos. It is about convincing teams that the production they saw in 2025 is the start of the player he can become, not the best version of a one-year run.
