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

LBMIN#0ACT

Van Waiters

Top 31% all-time linebackersReliable StarterTwo-Way Profile

Height6'4"

Weight240 lb

BornFeb 27, 1965

Age61

CollegeIndiana See College Stats

Rookie yr1988

Draft1988 · Rd 3, Pick 77 · CLE

Archetype Intelligence

Reliable StarterExplore archetypes →

A linebacker with a above-average career — the kind of consistent contributor every roster needs. Solid availability (exceptional availability — almost never missed time) added to their value.

Career Value · VORP

VORP 26 · #2856 · Role Player

Worth 26 points of value above a freely-available replacement linebacker — top 63% of all 4,642 ranked at the position. 5 of 5 seasons cleared the replacement bar, by +5.2 on average.See board →

Seasons above replacement

5 cleared

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

Replacement

the KC-H bar

→

Seasons over

cleared the bar

+5.2

Avg surplus

peak +10

5 seasons × ~5.2 surplus ≈ VORP 26

Combined Season Grid

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

2 grids split in one view

Season	Age	Team	G	GS	Defense													Receiving
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
1988	—	CLE	16	—	3	3	—	—	—	0.0	0.0	—	0	0	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
1989	—	CLE	16	—	33	20	—	—	—	0.0	0.0	—	7	0	—	—	—	—	1	14	1	—	14.0	—	—	—
1990	—	CLE	16	—	0	0	—	—	—	0.5	0.5	1	0	0	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
1991	—	CLE	16	—	41	0	—	—	—	1.5	1.5	—	2	2	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
1992	—	MIN	16	—	16	13	—	—	—	0.0	0.0	—	0	0	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
Career		—	80	—	93	36	—	—	—	2.0	2.0	1	9	2	0	—	—	0	1	14	1	—	14.0	—	—	—

Receiving

Season	Age	Team	G	GS	Tgt	Rec	Yds	TD	Ctch%	Y/R	Y/Tgt	AirYd/T	1D	VAL
1989	24	CLE	16	—	—	1	14	1	—	14.0	—	—	—	5.6
Career			16		0	1	14	1	—	14.0	—	—	—	29.6

Defense

Season	Age	Team	G	GS	Tkl	Solo	Ast	TFL	QBHits	Sk	Dis	Int	PD	FF	FR	TD	Sfty
1989	24	CLE	16	—	33	20	—	—	—	0.0	0.0	—	7	0	—	—	—
1988	23	CLE	16	—	3	3	—	—	—	0.0	0.0	—	0	0	—	—	—
1990	25	CLE	16	—	0	0	—	—	—	0.5	0.5	1	0	0	—	—	—
1991	26	CLE	16	—	41	0	—	—	—	1.5	1.5	—	2	2	—	—	—
1992	27	MIN	16	—	16	13	—	—	—	0.0	0.0	—	0	0	—	—	—
Career			80		93	36	—	—	—	—	—	1	9	2	0	—	—

KV-H Anatomy

KV-H 53 · Solid

A solid career by KV-H: a remarkably steady profile that scores 53 of 100, era-normalized against tackles/g peers across 5 scored seasons.

Sustained

career value

×.6

Peak

best 3 seasons

×.4

×1

Longevity

career length

Blend 52.8 × longevity 1 = KV-H 53· confidence 100%

What builds the career mark of 52

On-field 32

Availability 20

On-field production Staying available

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

1988bestavg 521992

All-Time Standing

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

Depth

of 100

Reached 1% of the all-time Sacks leader — a rotational/depth all-time profile at the position.

1% of the all-time Sacks leader1

0 categories ≥25% of the all-time leader0

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: 90%.

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+).

College Stats

IndianaCollege listed; stat table pending import

College stats are not imported for this profile yet.

StatVault has the verified college attribution (Indiana), 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.

1988 Draft Class· this player went #77

#65Bernard FordWR #66Mike OliphantRB #68Tom TupaP #72Greg MontgomeryP #73Ferrell EdmundsTE #74James HastyDB #75Tommy KaneWR #76Chris ChandlerQB #80Bill RomanowskiOLB #97Sammy MartinWR #101Kevin HarmonRB #102Barry HeltonP #105Jim ThorntonTE #109Jamie MorrisRB #110Charles DimryCB #112Greg ScalesTE

Franchise Succession

the room, before and after

Van opened the Cleveland Browns LB lineage the corpus knows, and handed it to Gerald Dixon (1993–1995).

Van Waiters 1988–1991Gerald Dixon 1993–1995Mike Caldwell 1993–1995Carl Banks 1994–1995Jamir Miller 1999–2001Wali Rainer 1999–2001

Similar Players

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

Movementderived from season history

1992team change
Joined MIN (from CLE)
1992final season
Last recorded season with MIN
1988draft
Drafted by CLE — Round 3, Pick 77

Athletic & Unique Profile

verified measurements and curated source-tagged facts

6'4" / 240 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 5-season peers. See all →

peak 54

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

C+1988

C+1989

C1990

C+1991

C+1992

Availability

Career durability — games played vs. scheduled, across 5 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
1988	3	0.2	20+17	1.2
1989	33	2.1	41+8	2.4
1990	0	0	12+12	0.7
1991	41	2.6	47+6	2.7
1992	16	1	25+9	1.5

Data: nflverse:draft_picks, nflverse:players, wikipedia:season-stats (CC-BY-SA, facts-only), nfl.com:official-stats (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

26 career value over replacement — #2856 all-time of 4,642. 5.2/season above a replacement-level LB.

Draft OutcomeValue ↑

Pick #77 (Rd 3) · CLE · 1988 · +13 vs expected KV-H

53actual

40 expected · Δ+13

Fan Rating

Rate Van Waiters — All-Time

Tap a star to rate

Explore More

Similar Players

Jeff Kopp

93% match

Marcus Buckley

92% match

James Folston

88% match

Rob Holmberg

88% match

John Fiala

87% match

Compare Van Waiters vs Player Report data error

Van Waiters

Archetype Intelligence

Career Value · VORP

Combined Season Grid

Receiving

Defense

KV-H Anatomy

All-Time Standing

Career Aging Trajectory

College Stats

Reference Graph

Top Teammates

1988 Draft Class· this player went #77

Franchise Succession

Similar Players

Movementderived from season history

Athletic & Unique Profile

Knox

Era Translator