I chalk this up to being in an underserved market and playing out ouf his natural position last season. Beason isn’t being seen on the national games as much as some of these others but I’d put him up against any of them. I can agree with Willis being the number 1 right now, but Beast is not that far behind in my book. You put him back in the middle and he is a field general. I just hope he sees this article and comes out this year to prove it wrong.

You can’t really include 3-4 OLBs as linebackers. They are pass rushers.

Beason is 6th if you exclude the pass rushers from this list.

Although Hali and Mayo are definitely on the rise, I’d take Beason and Willis any time over either player; Lewis and Urlacher would still be in that top 5 though, just a little something like this:
1a. Beast
1b. Willis (don’t even have to change the uni number)!
3. Lewis (Ray may be getting slower, but I dare you to find a better field General than him)
4. Urlacher (when healthy)
5. Woodley (I initially didn’t think much of him not knowing a whole lot about him, but I could see him succeeding as a 4-3 guy just as much as he is now in Pitt’s scheme)

Seriously, how the hell can Jon Clayton have Lawrence Timmons and Orakpo higher than Beason? That’s just stupid

per twitter

They ask me if I think I’ve arrived? I always say, the day I do is the day I stop getting better. I don’t like to read into who has the hype. Who’s considered the best…. Bc I realize they’re just enough doubters I have to prove wrong. Espn has me ranked 9th in the league. Appreciate you espn… You make it easy to get up and do it again and again. You just added fuel to the fire.

Thanks espn, you just got somebody’s head knocked off next season…