Scouting Profile: Carson Bruener - LB - Washington
Sales Pitch: Productive college linebacker with an ideal mental makeup. Physical limitations indicate a future backup/special teamer as opposed to starter.
*Gold Numbers Indicate NCAA T-25 for 2024*
*Red Numbers Indicate NCAA B-25 for 2024*
Scouting Report
Carson Bruener is a former 3-Star recruit from the state of Washington. The son of NFL veteran and Husky legend Mark Bruener was a four year contributor for the University of Washington. Bruener was a special teams standout and impactful rotational player until his senior season, where he started 13 games as the green dot backer in a Belichick defense.
Bruener was a highly productive college linebacker who stuffed the stat sheet during his time on Montlake. He possesses the ideal mental makeup for a middle linebacker with good toughness and processing skills. Bruener is at his best as a run defender in the box, where quick key and diagnose skills allow him to trigger downhill and leverage his gap. He does an excellent job tracking ball carriers past their blocks and playing with proper angles in pursuit. Bruener has a short compact frame with the upper body strength and contact balance to weave through traffic in pursuit of ball carriers. He was an impactful coverage player with a penchant for splash plays. In 2024 he put up strong ball production, with 3 interceptions and 4 pass breakups, due to his knack for being around the ball.
Bruener is a undersized linebacker by NFL standards, with below average weight and arm length. He is easily knocked off his spot by first contact and struggles to disengage from linemen when they get hands on. Despite good testing numbers at the combine, Bruener’s tape shows an average NFL athlete. He is frequently beat to the sideline by ball carriers and relies on angles and effort to chase down runners not speed. He lacks the foot quickness to stay in front of ball carriers in space and short arms limit his radius when he cannot square up his target. In coverage Bruener lacks the size or movement skills to match up with RBs or TEs in man-to-man. He plays with good spacing and awareness in zone coverage, but lacks the length or redirect ability to take away throwing lanes. He displays limited range as a coverage player and can be exposed if isolated down the field. Washington used their backers often as a rushers from walked up alignments but Bruener made very little impact in that regard with only one career sack.
Bruener profiles best as a backup MIKE linebacker. While he was an effective college linebacker he lacks the physical tools to be relied on as a starter at the NFL level despite a good mental makeup. Bruener projects as a Day-3 pick who acts as roster depth and a core special teams player.