Levon Kirkland is a career quality starter — a linebacker whose body of work places Kirkland in the top quarter of all players at the position historically. The Knox model values sustained contribution over flash, and Kirkland's career arc reflects exactly that kind of reliable professional-grade performance.

MLBPHI#93ACT

Levon Kirkland

2× Pro Bowl1× All-ProTop 19% all-time linebackersIron ManTwo-Way Profile

Height6'1"

Weight275 lb

BornFeb 17, 1969

Age57

CollegeClemson See College Stats

Rookie yr1992

Draft1992 · Rd 2, Pick 38 · PIT

All-Time Rank & Honors

career ranks, postseason ranks, awards, title context

Pro Bowls

All-Pro

Archetype Intelligence

Iron ManExplore archetypes →

A high-end linebacker defined as much by exceptional availability — almost never missed time as by their on-field impact (top 20% all-time). Coaches and teammates could count on them being available.

Career Value · VORP

VORP 67 · #1686 · Above Average

Worth 67 points of value above a freely-available replacement linebacker — top 37% of all 4,642 ranked at the position. 4 of 4 seasons cleared the replacement bar, by +16.8 on average.See board →

Seasons above replacement

4 cleared

Beat replacement (adds to VORP) Below it — adds 0, never a debit

Replacement

the KC-H bar

→

Seasons over

cleared the bar

+16.8

Avg surplus

peak +24

4 seasons × ~16.8 surplus ≈ VORP 67

Combined Season Grid

The full season-by-season grids, joined on one timeline. Every selected stat family stays visible at once—no tab hopping.

3 grids split in one view

Season	Age	Team	G	GS	Defense													Receiving									Advanced (EPA)
Season	Age	Team	G	GS	Tkl	Solo	Ast	TFL	QBHits	Sk	Dis	Int	PD	FF	FR	TD	Sfty	Tgt	Rec	Yds	TD	Ctch%	Y/R	Y/Tgt	AirYd/T	1D	Pass EPA	Rush EPA	Rec EPA	Pass AirYd	Rec AirYd
1992	—	PIT	16	—	—	—	—	—	—	0.0	0.0	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
1993	—	PIT	16	—	—	—	—	—	—	1.0	1.0	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
1994	—	PIT	16	—	—	—	—	—	—	3.0	3.0	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
1995	—	PIT	16	—	—	—	—	—	—	1.0	1.0	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
1996	—	PIT	16	—	—	—	—	—	—	4.0	4.0	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
1997	—	PIT	16	—	—	—	—	—	—	5.0	5.0	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
1998	—	PIT	16	—	—	—	—	—	—	2.5	2.5	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
1999	—	PIT	16	—	95	73	22	12	2	2.0	16.0	1	7	4	2	0	0	1	0	0	0	0.0%	—	0.0	—	0	—	—	—	—	—
1999	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	-0.3	0	0
2000	—	PIT	16	—	62	41	21	5	0	0.0	5.0	1	4	0	1	0	0	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
2001	—	SEA	16	—	79	59	20	3	1	1.0	5.0	0	3	2	—	0	0	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
2002	—	PHI	16	—	69	48	21	4	0	0.0	4.0	0	6	2	1	0	0	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
Career		—	176	—	305	221	84	24	3	19.5	46.5	2	20	8	4	0	0	1	0	0	0	0.0%	—	0.0	—	0	—	—	-0.3	0	0

Career EPA-0.3··-0.3/season

Receiving

Season	Age	Team	G	GS	Tgt	Rec	Yds	TD	Ctch%	Y/R	Y/Tgt	AirYd/T	1D	VAL
1999	30	PIT	1	—	1	0	0	0	0.0%	—	0.0	—	0	—
Career			1		1	0	0	0	0.0%	—	0.0	—	0	93.7

Defense

Season	Age	Team	G	GS	Tkl	Solo	Ast	TFL	QBHits	Sk	Dis	Int	PD	FF	FR	TD	Sfty
1992	23	PIT	16	—	—	—	—	—	—	0.0	0.0	—	—	—	—	—	—
1993	24	PIT	16	—	—	—	—	—	—	1.0	1.0	—	—	—	—	—	—
1994	25	PIT	16	—	—	—	—	—	—	3.0	3.0	—	—	—	—	—	—
1995	26	PIT	16	—	—	—	—	—	—	1.0	1.0	—	—	—	—	—	—
1996	27	PIT	16	—	—	—	—	—	—	4.0	4.0	—	—	—	—	—	—
1997	28	PIT	16	—	—	—	—	—	—	5.0	5.0	—	—	—	—	—	—
1998	29	PIT	16	—	—	—	—	—	—	2.5	2.5	—	—	—	—	—	—
1999	30	PIT	16	—	95	73	22	12	2	2.0	16.0	1	7	4	2	0	0
2000	31	PIT	16	—	62	41	21	5	0	0.0	5.0	1	4	0	1	0	0
2001	32	SEA	16	—	79	59	20	3	1	1.0	5.0	0	3	2	—	0	0
2002	33	PHI	16	—	69	48	21	4	0	0.0	4.0	0	6	2	1	0	0
Career			176		305	221	84	24	3	—	—	2	20	8	4	0	0

Advanced (EPA)

Season	Age	Team	G	GS	Pass EPA	Rush EPA	Rec EPA	Pass AirYd	Rec AirYd
1999	30	—	—	—	—	—	-0.3	0	0
Career					—	—	—	0	0

KV-H Anatomy

KV-H 60 · Strong Starter

A strong starter career by KV-H: a remarkably steady profile that scores 60 of 100, era-normalized against tackles/g peers across 4 scored seasons, with a short career trimming the score.

Sustained

career value

×.6

Peak

best 3 seasons

×.4

×0.93

Longevity

career length

Blend 64.4 × longevity 0.93 = KV-H 60· confidence 100%

What builds the career mark of 64

On-field 43.9

Availability 20.1

On-field production Staying available

Season-by-season quality (era-relative tackles/g)

1999bestavg 64elite 702002

All-Time Standing

how this career measures against the all-time greats at the position

Depth

of 100

Reached 10% of the all-time Sacks leader — a rotational/depth all-time profile at the position.

10% of the all-time Sacks leader10

0 categories ≥25% of the all-time leader0

-0.29 EPA/season over 1 season50

A 0–100 scale where 100 = matched the all-time leaderat this position. Built only from visible encyclopedia data — career production vs. the all-time leader, plus efficiency (EPA) and comparable-player confidence — so it's a transparent context score, not a subjective rating. Tiers: Elite ≥ 85 · Strong ≥ 65 · Solid ≥ 45 · Depth < 45. Comparable-player confidence: 87%.

Career Aging Trajectory

vs. position group average · KV-H basis

Amber = this player (normalized to own peak). Indigo = average linebackers aging curve. Group peak age: 25. Source: StatVault KV-H era (1999+).

Postseason Career

2 playoff games

Defense

Tkl11Solo6Ast5

College Stats

ClemsonCollege listed; stat table pending import

College stats are not imported for this profile yet.

StatVault has the verified college attribution (Clemson), but no parsed college box-score table is present in this profile artifact. The section stays here so every profile has a consistent college-stats landing point without fabricating unavailable rows.

Reference Graph

Career teammates and draft class, derived from year-by-year rosters — every name is linked.

1992 Draft Class· this player went #38

#27John FinaOT #28Darryl WilliamsDB #29Ashley AmbroseCB #30Steve IsraelDB #31Carl PickensWR #33Marquez PopeS #36Jimmy SmithWR #37Darren WoodsonS #39Robert HarrisDT #41Phillippi SparksCB #44Courtney HawkinsWR #45Amp LeeRB #50Eddie RobinsonOLB #51Chuck SmithDE #53Tracy ScrogginsDE #54Shane DronettDT

Franchise Succession

the room, before and after

Levon inherited the Pittsburgh Steelers LB room from Hardy Nickerson (1987–1992), and handed it to Jason Gildon (1994–2003).

Hardy Nickerson 1987–1992Levon Kirkland 1992–2000Jason Gildon 1994–2003Carlos Emmons 1996–1999Earl Holmes 1996–2001Joey Porter

Similar Players

Statistical + physical similarity across every player in the database, position-relevant (0–100%).

Movementderived from season history

2002team change
Joined PHI (from SEA)
2002final season
Last recorded season with PHI
2001team change
Joined SEA (from PIT)
1992draft
Drafted by PIT — Round 2, Pick 38

Athletic & Unique Profile

verified measurements and curated source-tagged facts

6'1" / 275 lb

Frame

Knox

StatVault's proprietary player intelligence, informed by full career data. How Knox works →

Historical Knox · KV-H

Era-normalized career quality — z-scored against 4-season peers. See all →

peak 65

Season Report Cards· KV-H era-normalized per season

B+1999

B2000

B2001

B2002

Availability

Career durability — games played vs. scheduled, across 11 seasons.

100%

Era Translator

Tackles translated to the 2025NFL — each season's standing among its own-era peers, projected onto 2025's scoring environment. Modern-era (1999+) coverage.

Season	Actual Tackles	Tackles/G	→ 2025 Tackles	→ 2025 /G
1999	95	5.9	101+6	5.9
2000	62	3.9	58-4	3.4
2001	79	4.9	74-5	4.3
2002	69	4.3	59-10	3.5

Data: nflverse:players, nflverse:player_stats, nflverse:player_stats_def, nflverse:draft_picks, nflverse:advanced-epa (CC-BY 4.0), wikipedia:season-stats (CC-BY-SA, facts-only), nfl.com:official-stats (facts-only reference), espn.com:stats-api (games-played, facts-only reference), nfl.com:official-stats (games-played, facts-only reference) · multi-source verified via the StatVault Oracle · updated 6/18/2026

Career Value · VORP

67 career value over replacement — #1686 all-time of 4,642. 16.8/season above a replacement-level LB.

Draft OutcomeValue ↑

Pick #38 (Rd 2) · PIT · 1992 · +10.2 vs expected KV-H

60actual

49.8 expected · Δ+10.2

Fan Rating

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Levon Kirkland

All-Time Rank & Honors

Archetype Intelligence

Career Value · VORP

Combined Season Grid

Receiving

Defense

Advanced (EPA)

KV-H Anatomy

All-Time Standing

Career Aging Trajectory

Postseason Career

Defense

College Stats

Reference Graph

Top Teammates

1992 Draft Class· this player went #38

Franchise Succession

Similar Players

Movementderived from season history

Athletic & Unique Profile

Knox

Era Translator

Career Geography