A scouting report on Pittsburgh Steelers undrafted free agent signing, Missouri LB/S Daylan Carnell.
N0. 13 Daylan Carnell/ S/LB Missouri – 6024, 233 pounds (R-Senior)
MEASUREMENTS
Player Ht/Wt Hand Size Arm Length Wingspan
Daylan Carnell 6024/233 10″ 31 3/8″ 77 1/4″
40-Yard Dash 10-Yard Dash Short Shuttle 3-Cone
4.89 1.69 4.48 7.56
Broad Jump Vertical Bench Press
N/A 34″ 19
THE GOOD
– Very willing downhill tackler; not afraid of collisions
– Good at stacking and shedding blockers; uses two hands with good extension to create space
– Solid eye discipline in zone coverage
– Transitions well from his backpedal to turn and run vertical with receivers
– Frequent communicator pre-snap
– Solid use of hands at catch point to break up passes
– Versatile alignment in college
– Good mental processing and football IQ
The Bad
– Weak athletic profile overall
– Overly reliant on good angles and doesn’t always take them
– Tackling technique is poor in open field
– Change of direction and acceleration are an issue in coverage
– Not a sideline-to-sideline defender; doesn’t swarm to the ball if he’s too far from the play
Stats
– Career stats: 175 total tackles (19.5 TFL), 24 PD, 5 INTs, 3 sacks, 4 FF, 3 defensive TDs in 57 games
– 2025 stats: 41 total tackles (6.5 TFL), 4 PD, 1 INT
– Career snaps: 2,209 on defense (1,226 slot corner, 764 box defender, 187 free safety, 32 wide corner), 231 special teams snaps (4 units)
– 2025 snaps: 568 on defense (361 slot corner, 158 box defender, 44 free safety, 5 wide corner), 67 special teams snaps (3 units)
– PFF: 70.7 overall defensive grade, 65.7 run defense, 65.4 tackling, 73.1 coverage, seven missed tackles (14.6 MIS%) in 2025
Injury History
– Undisclosed injury on the injury report in Oct. 2024, didn’t miss any games
Bio
– 23 years old, will be 24 in November
– Originally a four-star recruit out of Ben Davis HS in Indianapolis
– Spent all five seasons at Mizzou
– Listed by Mizzou as a safety, but LB by Steelers; played STAR hybrid role in college
– Graduated with general studies degree with aspirations to pursue a master’s degree in management
– Coach’s son growing up
– Wears pink mouthguard and cleats in honor of his aunt, who passed from breast cancer in 2019
Tape Breakdown
You can easily spot Carnell via his pink cleats in all the clips below (No. 13).
Carnell’s tackling is a mixed bag, but I first want to establish when it looks good. He is perfectly willing and able to come downhill and meet a running back or blocker head on. He is strong in those situations, and does a nice job wrapping up.
He also excels at using his arms to stack and shed blockers. He lands his punches cleanly, and gets full arm extension to create space to tackle.
Where he gets into trouble is with angle tackling in the open field. He lacks the twitchy athleticism to change direction quickly and is susceptible to whiffing.
With his limited athleticism, he is reliant on taking good angles. He doesn’t always take the best angles, and it sticks out like a sore thumb when he misses.
On the blitz, he is going to struggle to get home with limited burst. But he does read the QB’s eyes well to get his hands in throwing lanes.
His football IQ overall is good, and it helps him diagnose plays like this for a TFL. He blows up the blocker on his way to a perfect tackle.
Conclusion
Overall, Carnell is experienced as a versatile chess piece on defense, but he lacks the athletic profile to survive at safety or in the slot at the next level. If he can find a home, it will be at inside linebacker and on special teams. Unlike most safety-turned-linebacker prospects, Carnell shouldn’t be considered a hyper-athletic player at inside linebacker. He has experience in coverage and is more advanced mentally in that area, but limited athleticism will make it hard to cover in the NFL. I wouldn’t expect a path to the 53-man roster, but perhaps he could stick around on the practice squad with Pittsburgh’s need to develop more inside linebackers.
My NFL Comp is Ty Summers.
Recommended for you