Chiefs traded with the Steelers to select Oregon LB Jeffrey Bassa with the No. 156 overall pick in the 2025 NFL Draft.
Bassa (6’1/228) arrived in Eugene as a safety, but by the end of his freshman season had transitioned from a physical box safety to linebacker, starting seven games as a true freshman with 48 tackles and 14 stops as he learned his new position on the fly in 2021. After an adjustment period, Bassa flourished at MLB in 2023, creating 27 pressures and 31 stops while missing just 7.5% of his tackle attempts and earning a 77th percentile cover grade and Second Team All-Pac-12 recognition. Though he played in the same amount of games in 2024, Bassa’s snap count dropped by 134 snaps in addition to going from 27 pressures to 11, and 31 stops down to 18. His Combine testing was uneven, running an 83rd percentile 4.63 40-yard dash with a 38.5” vert (95th percentile), but his 1.67s 10-yard split (45th percentile) and 7.34s 3-cone (37th percentile) were uninspiring marks for a decent 6.83 RAS. While Bassa has sound coverage chops and has a field general demeanor, he’s a bit of a size “tweener” to play MLB at the next level and doesn’t have the closing speed to range from sideline-to-sideline.