Frankie Luvu went from top five to completely unranked. That’s a harsh drop for a guy who made Second-Team All-Pro just a year earlier. ESPN’s latest linebacker rankings didn’t even give him an honorable mention after he spent 2024 as the No. 5 off-ball linebacker in the league. The fall is steep, and it’s tied directly to a 2025 season that injuries basically ruined.
Luvu managed just 86 tackles and 3.0 sacks last year. That’s a long way from the 8.0 sacks and 110-plus tackles he posted in his breakout 2024 campaign. But the Commanders aren’t panicking. They’re betting the dip was about health, not decline. Entering the final year of his three-year, $31 million deal, Luvu has every reason to prove that theory right.
Why the rankings cratered
The obvious answer is production. Luvu didn’t just slip a few spots, he vanished from the conversation entirely. ESPN’s panel looked at his 2025 film and saw a linebacker who wasn’t the same explosive force he’d been the year before. The tape backs that up. He wasn’t flying into the backfield the same way. He wasn’t shedding blocks with the same pop.
But context matters. The Commanders dealt with injuries across the defense, and Luvu was playing through stuff that would’ve sidelined a lot of guys. He never made excuses publicly, but team sources have indicated he was dealing with a nagging issue that limited his burst. Washington believes a full offseason of recovery will bring back the version of Luvu that wrecked offenses in 2024.
A fresh start under new leadership
Daronte Jones takes over as defensive coordinator, and early indications are he wants Luvu playing off-ball again. That’s where Luvu does his best work — roaming, diagnosing, and attacking instead of getting stuck in traffic. The Commanders also drafted Sonny Styles in the first round, giving them a versatile chess piece at the second level. That should free Luvu up to do what he does best rather than having to cover for gaps in the scheme.
Luvu’s path here is worth remembering. He went undrafted in 2018, bounced through the Jets organization, then broke out with Carolina. Two straight 110-tackle seasons got him paid in Washington. Then he rewarded them with the best season of his career. There’s no reason to assume he can’t get back there, except that the NFL moves fast and memories are short.
He turns 30 in November. That’s not old for a linebacker, but it’s the age where questions start creeping in. Can he still cover ground the way he used to? Will the explosiveness return? The Commanders are betting yes, and the stakes are clear. Luvu is playing for his next contract. Another down year and he becomes a cautionary tale about paying for past production. A bounce-back season and he’s back in the conversation as one of the league’s best.
The rankings don’t matter much in June. What matters is whether Luvu can make the voters look silly by December.
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