By Peter Cameron, BADGER STRIPES
Traditionally known for generating NFL running backs and backup quarterbacks, Badger football has produced a squad of successful professional linebackers in recent years.
As we head into the first week of the NFL playoffs, here’s a list of the most prominent Wisconsin linebackers in the league right now.
Zack Baun, New Orleans Saints
A free agent, he just completed the final year of a 4-year, $4.8-million contract, and is due for a large pay bump after a successful season as a linebacker in passing-down packages.
The 27-year-old from Brown Deer played for Wisconsin from 2015-2019, redshirting his freshman year.
Leo Chenal, Kansas City Chiefs
From little Grantsburg in Burnett County in northwestern Wisconsin, Chenal is now playing for the Kansas City Chiefs, where he won a Super Bowl ring last year in his rookie season.
After winning the Butkus Fitzgerald Linebacker of the Year award as a junior with the Badgers, he entered the draft, where the Chiefs selected him in the 3rd-round.
He’s in the second year of a 4-year, $5-million contract.
Chenal finished fifth on the Chiefs in tackles this season with 65.
Ryan Connelly, New Orleans Saints
Ryan Connelly, 28, from Eden Prairie in the Minneapolis suburbs just completed a 1-year, $370,800 reserve/future contract with New Orleans, according to sportrac. He is now a free agent.
He spent most of the previous season on the Saints’ practice squad.
The New York Giants made him a 5th-round pick in the 2019 draft.
T.J. Edwards, Chicago Bears
Photo by Tom Lynn/Wisconsin Athletic Communications
A lifelong Bears fan, T.J. Edwards, 28, finished the 2023 season 7th in the NFL in total tackles with 155 in his first season with Chicago. He also finished the 2022 season as a top-10 tackler, again at 7th, with 159, for Philadelphia.
His 159 tackles in 2022 was the second-most in a single season in Eagles history, trailing Bryon Evans’ 175 in 1992.
Edwards was signed as an undrafted free agent in 2019 by the Eagles after completing his eligibility at the University of Wisconsin. He played four years in Philadelphia before signing with his hometown Bears before the 2023 season.
His contract was for three years and $19.5 million, including a $4.5 million signing bonus, according to sportrac.
A quarterback in high school, Edwards is from Lake Villa in the Chicago suburbs. He was an All-American linebacker in his senior season at Wisconsin in 2018.
Nick Herbig, Pittsburgh Steelers
The native of Kauai, Hawaii played for UW from 2020-2022, and was named first-team All-Big Ten in his junior season. He left school a year early and was selected by the Steelers in the fourth round of the 2023 NFL Draft.
Herbig, 22, is in the first year of a 4-year, $4.5-million rookie contract with Pittsburgh, according to sportrac.
He played in all 17 games this season, recording 27 tackles, three sacks and five tackles for a loss.
Jack Sanborn, Chicago Bears
Also from the Chicago suburbs — Lake Zurich High School — Sanborn is playing alongside fellow FIB Edwards with the Bears.
He recorded 65 tackles in 2023, good for fifth on the team.
Sanborn signed as an undrafted free agent out of Wisconsin in 2022, and just finished the second year of a 3-year $2.6-million contract, according to sportrac.
His younger brother Bryan Sanborn just finished his redshirt freshman season at UW, playing mostly on special teams.
Andrew Van Ginkel, Miami Dolphins
Recognized by the long blond hair flowing out the back of his helmet, Van Ginkel is from Rock Valley, Iowa near Sioux Falls.
“Slim Thor” (as we call him here at Badger Stripes) started his college career at the University of South Dakota, spent a third year at Iowa Western Community College, then played his final two seasons for the Badgers.
He was drafted in the fifth round of the 2019 NFL draft by the Miami Dolphins.
Playing in all 17 games this season, he finished sixth on the team in tackles with 69. He also totaled six sacks.
But Van Ginkel suffered a foot injury and will miss the entire postseason, his coach Mike McDaniel announced after the teams final-week loss to Buffalo.
He just completed a 1-year, $2.6 million contract, according to sportrac, and looks to get a bigger deal in the offseason.
T.J. Watt, Pittsburgh Steelers
Former Badger and current Pittsburgh Steeler T.J. Watt led the NFL in sacks this year with 19.
The 30-year-old from Peewaukee just finished the second year of a monster, 4-year, $112-million contract that includes a $35 million signing bonus, according to sportrac.
After an injury-plagued 2022, he played all 17 games in the regular season. But a knee injury will keep him out of the Steelers playoff game this weekend at Buffalo.
Watt also led the league in sacks in 2021, when he won the NFL Defensive Player of the Year in 2021 and tied Michael Strahan’s NFL single-season sack record with 22.5, although it was the first year the NFL increased its season to 17 games.
He is the brother of former NFL defensive star J.J. Watt and former NFL fullback Derek Watt.
