Usage / Role
100%
Featured defensive role
lowfeatured
Player Dossier
2023-2025Ohio State
Kayden McDonald
DL • 6'3" • 326 lbs • Suwanee, GA, USA
Ball-hunting defenderSplash play profile
Kayden McDonald shows a ball-hunting defender profile with 29.3 disruption score.
Impact Production
100
Top-tier box-score impact for a defensive lineman
lowelite
Reliability
100
Regular contributor with several takeover games
lowhigh
Star Power
92
Blue-chip, NFL-level ceiling
limitedstar
Career Arc
Value trend by season
Best season by Season Value: 2025 Postseason · Ohio State
2324242525
Snapshot
- Career Teams
- 1
- Unique Seasons
- 3
- Program Path
- Ohio State
- Peak Game
- Peak game by takeover score: Washington
Player Story
Kayden McDonald built his college career from 2023 through 2025 as a defensive lineman from Suwanee, GA wearing No. 98, spending time with Ohio State. The clearest part of Kayden McDonald's career was his defensive...
Read the story4★
- Committed To
- Ohio State
- Commit Date
- Jan 1, 2023
NFL Draft
- Draft Year
- 2026
- Selection
- Round 2 · Pick 4
- Overall
- No. 36
- NFL Team
- Houston Texans
Kayden McDonald, DL. Best season Best season by Season Value: 2025 Postseason · Ohio State. Kayden McDonald shows a ball-hunting defender profile with 29.3 disruption score.
Stat Footprint
Career production snapshot
- Tackles
- 85
- TFL
- 11
- Sacks
- 3
- QB hurries
- 3
- Passes defended
- 3
Quick Answers
Kayden McDonald quick answers
- Latest team and position
- Ohio State · DL
- Career Tackles
- 85
- Tracked sample
- 3 unique seasons · 5 entries · 26 games
- Best season
- 2025 Postseason · Ohio State
- Top game
- Washington
- Recruit profile
- 4-star · North Gwinnett · Ohio State
- High school pipeline
- North Gwinnett · 45 FBS recruits · 7 drafted players
- NFL Draft
- 2026 · Round 2 · Pick 4 · Houston Texans
- Latest roster
- No. 98 · Junior
- 2025 Tackles rank
- 65 tackles · DL 6th (top 1%) · Big Ten 48th (top 7%) · National 336th (top 6%)
Season Ledger
Crawlable season-by-season stats
| Season | Team | Games | Tackles | TFL | Sacks | QB Hur | PD | TD | Overall |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 Regular Season | Ohio State | 1 | 1 | 0.5 | 0 | - | 1 | 0 | 37.9 |
| 2024 Postseason | Ohio State | 11 | 2 | - | 0 | - | - | 0 | 17 |
| 2024 Regular Season | Ohio State | 11 | 17 | 1.5 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 17 |
| 2025 Postseason | Ohio State | 14 | 8 | 1 | 0 | - | 1 | 0 | 63 |
| 2025 Regular Season | Ohio State | 14 | 57 | 8 | 3 | 2 | - | 0 | 63 |
Related Context
Keep exploring Kayden McDonald
Kayden McDonald played DL for Ohio State. Across 3 tracked seasons, Kayden McDonald recorded 85 tackles. His top tracked season came in 2025 with Ohio State.
Player insights
Lead takeaway
Best season by value score: 2025 Postseason
Ohio State paired 15 primary output with 29.3 efficiency.
Supporting note
2025 Postseason role shape
impact-led usage with 29.3 efficiency.
Supporting note
Career value stayed steady
2025 Regular Season tracked close to the prior stop by season value score.
Supporting note
Peak game by takeover score: Washington
Win with backfield disruption leading the way. It landed in the 100th percentile of the selected season.
Analysis workspace
Season Workbench
Filter the strongest season sample, inspect game-level shape, and then drop into the full log without losing the story of the year.
Season Explorer
Understand the selected season before dropping into the full game log.
2025 Postseason · Ohio State
Games
14
Havoc Plays / G
1.1
Efficiency
29.3
Usage
8.7
Consistency
50.2
Best Game by takeover score
Washington
Hover a point or expand a game row to keep the active game context visible here.
Active game
Hover over a point
Hover or select a game to keep its context visible here without the page shifting around.
Game-by-Game Trend
Follow how the selected stat changes from one game to the next. Spikes mark standout outings, while dips show quieter weeks.
Chronological game order.
Game by game trend chart. Miami: 2. Texas: 0. Grambling: 1. Ohio: 2. Washington: 6. Minnesota: 1. Illinois: 0. Wisconsin: 0. Penn State: 0. Purdue: 1. UCLA: 1. Rutgers: 1. Michigan: 0. Indiana: 0
Volume vs Efficiency
Each dot is a game. Farther right means the player carried more of the workload, and higher means they were more efficient with those chances.
Low volumeHigh quality
High volumeHigh quality
Low volumeLower quality
High volumeLower quality
Volume on the x-axis, quality on the y-axis.
Volume versus efficiency scatter chart. Miami: 8 by 53.3. Texas: 8 by 33.3. Grambling: 3 by 22.5. Ohio: 3 by 32.5. Washington: 7 by 79.2. Minnesota: 2 by 18.3. Illinois: 3 by 12.5. Wisconsin: 3 by 12.5. Penn State: 8 by 33.3. Purdue: 4 by 26.7. UCLA: 3 by 22.5. Rutgers: 3 by 22.5. Michigan: 5 by 20.8. Indiana: 5 by 20.8
Split Comparison
Compare how this player performed across different situations. "Games" shows how many matchups are included in each split.
Wins1.1 · Games = 12 · +0.1 vs Losses
Losses1 · Games = 2 · -0.1 vs Wins
Game Log
Dense stat lines with inline explanations and season-linked highlights.
14 games
Featured metric
Havoc Plays
Top game by takeover score
Washington
Best efficiency game
79.2 vs Washington
| Result | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Thu 1/1 | vs MiamiSplash game | L 14-24 | 8 | 3 | — | 1 | 0 | — | 1 | — | — |
| Sun 12/7 | vs Indiana | L 10-13 | 5 | 3 | — | 0 | 0 | — | 0 | — | — |
| Sat 11/29 | @ Michigan | W 27-9 | 5 | 0 | — | 0 | 0 | — | 0 | — | — |
| Sat 11/22 | vs Rutgers | W 42-9 | 3 | 0 | — | 0 | 0 | — | 0 | — | — |
| Sun 11/16 | vs UCLA | W 48-10 | 3 | 1 | — | 1 | 0 | — | 0 | — | — |
| Sat 11/8 | @ Purdue | W 34-10 | 4 | 4 | — | 1 | 0 | — | 0 | — | — |
| Sat 11/1 | vs Penn State | W 38-14 | 8 | 4 | — | 0 | 0 | — | 0 | — | — |
| Sat 10/18 | @ Wisconsin | W 34-0 | 3 | 3 | — | 0 | 0 | — | 0 | — | — |
| Sat 10/11 | @ Illinois | W 34-16 | 3 | 1 | — | 0 | 0 | — | 0 | — | — |
| Sat 10/4 | vs Minnesota | W 42-3 | 2 | 2 | — | 1 | 0 | — | 0 | — | — |
| Sat 9/27 | @ Washington2+ sacks · Splash game | W 24-6 | 7 | 4 | — | 3 | 2 | — | 0 | — | — |
| Sat 9/13 | vs OhioSplash game | W 37-9 | 3 | 3 | — | 1 | 1 | — | 0 | — | — |
| Sat 9/6 | vs Grambling | W 70-0 | 3 | 2 | — | 1 | 0 | — | 0 | — | — |
| Sat 8/30 | vs Texas | W 14-7 | 8 | 1 | — | 0 | 0 | — | 0 | — | — |
Player Story
Kayden McDonald story
Kayden McDonald built his college career from 2023 through 2025 as a defensive lineman from Suwanee, GA wearing No. 98, spending time with Ohio State. The clearest part of Kayden McDonald's career was his defensive production: 85 tackles, 11 tackles for loss, 3 sacks, and 3 passes defended across 26 career games in the available record. That gives Kayden McDonald's career enough real context without stretching the story beyond the available production.
Career Arc
Track team changes, role shifts, and season-to-season movement.
- 1
Ohio State
2023-2025
Opening stop
Season Value Progression
20232024202420252025
| Season | Team | Primary | Efficiency | Usage | Delta |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 Regular Season | Ohio State | 1.5 | 19.2 | 2.7 | — |
| 2024 Postseason | Ohio State | 3.5 | 10.4 | 2.7 | 2 |
| 2024 Regular Season | Ohio State | 3.5 | 10.4 | 2.7 | 0 |
| 2025 Postseason | Ohio State | 15 | 29.3 | 8.7 | 11.5 |
| 2025 Regular Season | Ohio State | 15 | 29.3 | 8.7 | 0 |
Signature Performances
Top Games
#1 Featured game
@ No. 13 Washington
Week 5 · W 24-6 · Conference game · Ranked opponent
Win with backfield disruption leading the way.
6
Havoc Plays
93.1 takeover
6 disruption/tackle impact with 93.1 takeover score.
#2
vs No. 9 Miami
Week 1 · L 14-24 · Postseason · Ranked opponent
2
Havoc Plays
60.8 takeover
Loss with 2 impact plays across the defensive snap sheet.
2 disruption/tackle impact with 60.8 takeover score.
#3
@ Michigan State
Week 5 · W 38-7 · Conference game
1
Havoc Plays
59.4 takeover
Win with 1 impact plays across the defensive snap sheet.
1 disruption/tackle impact with 59.4 takeover score.
#4
vs Purdue
Week 11 · W 45-0 · Conference game
1
Havoc Plays
53.9 takeover
Win with 1 impact plays across the defensive snap sheet.
1 disruption/tackle impact with 53.9 takeover score.
#5
vs Western Michigan
Week 2 · W 56-0
1
Havoc Plays
48.6 takeover
Win with 1 impact plays across the defensive snap sheet.
1 disruption/tackle impact with 48.6 takeover score.
Top Seasons
#1 Season by Season Value
2025 Postseason · Ohio State
15 primary output · 29.3 efficiency · 8.7 usage
63
#2
2025 Regular Season · Ohio State
63
15 primary · 29.3 efficiency · 8.7 usage
#3
2023 Regular Season · Ohio State
37.9
1.5 primary · 19.2 efficiency · 2.7 usage
Milestones
2
Impact games
3
Splash games
0
10+ tackle games
Next best actions
Keep exploring Kayden McDonald
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