With the Panini Senior Bowl just weeks away, here is another look at one of the players who will be attending the All-Star game. I am currently focused on linebackers since the Bucs will need to do a lot of work at that position group either through free agency or in the draft, so this is the third report for that position group. Previous writeups on Sonny Styles and Owen Heinecke can be found here and here.

Background

Louis was a three-star recruit out of East Orange, NJ. He was the 28^th best player out of New Jersey in his recruiting class per 247 Sports. He had 118 tackles, including 32 for a loss as a high school senior while also playing some on offense where he totaled 375 yards from scrimmage and three touchdowns. His senior year his team won the state championship after going undefeated.

College Career

Louis was a two-year starter at Pitt. This past year he recorded 81 tackles, 8.5 for a loss, 3.0 sacks, two interceptions and three passes defended. Almost all of these were a step back from his 2024 marks. From Sports Reference.

Louis has remained at Pitt his entire collegiate career in an era where movement is common.

Scouting Report

I watched three games from the 2025 season (Boston College, Stanford, Miami).

Athleticism

Height – 6-1

Weight – 220 lbs.

Louis looks 215 on tape and doesn’t appear like he can add a ton to get to a playable weight at the NFL level. His speed is real (verified 21+ MPH in-game) and he can change direction with ease.

Fitting The Run

I am concerned about his size and how it plays at the NFL level. He doesn’t have much punch to his strikes and relies on dragging ball carriers to the ground. If he’s put in a 4^th-and-1 situation where he is going to meet the ball carrier in the hole he is going to struggle not giving up any ground to prevent the first down.

Arm length is going to be an issue that will lead to more missed tackles against a superior level of athletes in the NFL. He’s not afraid of contact but lacks the anchor to absorb pullers. If he can’t dip and side-step a climbing/pulling offensive lineman, then he’s dead on arrival. Just too often he is walled off or blocked out of his gap.

Pitt ILB Kyle Louis – Photo by: IMAGN Images Charles LeClaire

He has the speed to win to the edge against wide zone and toss plays and his best stops are when he has a head of steam leading up to contact. But he can also take some suspect angles to the ball and doesn’t always come in balanced leading to occasional overruns.

Coverage

Louis is comfortable matching up with backs who work vertically on wheel routes. He can run seams and deep crossers with wide receivers forcing high-difficulty throws. He has good ball skills with six interceptions in the last two seasons.

Kyle Louis (LB – Pitt) has six interceptions over the past two seasons. Looks comfortable in space and matched up on backs out of the backfield. Doesn’t panic when the ball is in the air. pic.twitter.com/84IZeEVd04

— Josh Queipo (@JoshQueipo_NFL) January 15, 2026

Willing to get his hands on players to re-route. But he is not fully adept at passing off routes and closing multiple windows in a rep. He has smooth hips which make his zone drops seamless and, paired with his plus speed, he can run the pole in Tampa-2.

His eyes are inconsistent and there are plays where he shows good feel for route progression, but others where he is late to respond to the full development around him.

Pass Rush

His small stature hurts him in muddied spaces where he can get overwhelmed by mass. When he has space to work with, he can use his athleticism to cross face on guards and dip under blocks giving him a clean path to the quarterback. When he blitzes from the edge plays his speed up, but he lacks any feeling for finding quick paths to the pocket.

Pitt ILB Kyle Louis – Photo by: IMAGN Images – Brett Davis

Often, he tried but failed to time up snaps leading to him having to freeze his momentum only to start back up late post-snap. His pressure rate was solid in 2025 at 21% (60^th percentile) but it was more a function of the system than his ability to win one-v-one.

Kyle Louis (Pitt LB) quick cross face for the fast pressure. Weaponizing his short area quickness. pic.twitter.com/wyPFNgEqg8

— Josh Queipo (@JoshQueipo_NFL) January 15, 2026

Best Traits

His speed and fluid hips make him an asset in space.

How Does He Fit The Bucs’ System?

Louis lacks the mass and pop to handle starting duties as a linebacker in the NFL. Tampa Bay’s defense asks their linebackers to play on the line of scrimmage often and that’s where his lack of size and physicality really become a detriment. He would struggle to detach from offensive linemen, and his speed would largely be negated in phone booths. But he could stick as a sub-package overhang dime linebacker who can match tight ends in pass-obvious situations and contribute on special teams.

He best profiles as a weakside linebacker that will leverage his speed in space as a point and shoot player.

Hear Kyle Speak

NFL Draft evaluations are as much about the person as the player. Teams want to understand the person as much as the player. How do they think? How do they interpret the game? Who are they as someone who must integrate into a locker room? We can’t see nearly as much of this as teams do in their in-person interviews, but this year I want to help all of us hear more from the players that we evaluate. With that in mind, here is a short podium Louis did at the beginning of the 2025 season for the ACC media day.

There isn’t a lot to takeaway from this exchange. That’s not Louis’ fault. The questions didn’t give him the best forum to get into the intricacies of how he sees the game. The question derived from his coach lauding his instincts on the field is of note as Louis finished in the 93^rd percentile for his position in impact play rate (forced fumbles, interceptions, sacks and passes defensed as a percentage of total snaps).