Drafted by Giants

The Giants selected Reese in the first round of the 2026 NFL Draft, fifth overall.

Reese (6-foot-4, 241 pounds) is a high-upside prospect who has not yet fully arrived, but the confirmed details on Reese to this point are highly encouraging. Although it's not perfectly clear yet how he'll apply at the NFL level, there is sound reason to suspect that Reese will be one of the more uniquely productive defenders in the league not long from now. Reese won't turn 21 until August 30, yet last year he consistently stood out in an Ohio State defense overrun with star-level talent. With 4.46 speed and freaky range, Reese shows an uncommon amount of upside in all phases of linebacker play, which almost gets held against him since pass rush is valued so much more than off-ball run defense in the front seven. That Reese looks obviously capable as an off-ball linebacker isn't to say that he can't develop into a straightforward 3-4 edge rusher for the Giants in due time, and it's worth keeping that in mind because Reese's positional ambiguity is sooner due to being good at too many things than it is specific doubt over his ability to do any given thing. With the raw materials Reese possesses there's very little that he can't do.