Wednesday War Room: Projecting the 2026 Defensive backfield

 

Projected depth chart

• Boundary corner: Brandon Finney Jr. / Aaron Scott Jr.
• Field corner: Ify Obidegwu / Dorian Brew
• Nickel: Carl Williams IV / Na’Eem Offord
• Safety: Aaron Flowers / Trey McNutt
• Safety: Koi Perich / Peyton Woodyard

The Ducks have a lot of elite returning players, an elite safety transfer from Minnesota, a couple of additional intriguing transfers and a lot of elite depth in the redshirt freshmen and incoming true freshmen. I think the one thing we learned last year is that it is not always possible to be exact in projections. Not many people pegged Brandon Finney Jr. as a freshman All-American who played at a level high enough for a good part of the early season that he could have been an All-American without the freshman designation.

Trey McNutt coming back from injury could really shake things up and we still do not really know if any of the current crop of freshmen might pass up some of the experienced defensive backs on the roster. What we do know is that the Oregon defensive backfield is light years ahead of where it was just two seasons ago and might be even better this year than last with the talent and depth on the roster.

That is not a small claim when you look at what Oregon lost.

Dillon Thieneman leaves after one brilliant season in Eugene that looked exactly like what Oregon hoped it was getting. He finished with 96 tackles, 3.5 tackles for loss, a sack, two interceptions and five pass breakups and gave the Ducks the kind of stabilizing, playmaking presence every great secondary needs. Jadon Canady is gone too after a strong season at nickel that brought 39 tackles, two interceptions and six pass breakups. Theran Johnson added veteran steadiness and 19 tackles in his lone season with the Ducks, while Kingston Lopa, Daylen Austin and Sione Laulea all leave behind depth snaps and useful production.

That is real experience out the door. It is also exactly why this room is such a fascinating evaluation.

A couple of years ago, Oregon losing this much in the secondary would have meant a lot of anxious projecting and a lot of hope. This time it feels different. The Ducks are not rebuilding the room. They are reloading it with players who have already shown they can play winning football and with younger players who may be too talented to hold back for long.

It starts at corner with Finney, because that is where any honest conversation about this group has to begin.

Finney did not just have a promising freshman season. He had the kind of season that changes how a room is viewed. He started all 15 games, led Oregon with three interceptions and eight pass breakups and finished with 42 tackles, three tackles for loss, a sack, two forced fumbles and a fumble recovery. There were moments when he looked like one of the best corners in the conference, and there were stretches when he simply looked like one of Oregon’s best defenders regardless of age or position.

That kind of player changes the structure of everything around him. When one corner spot feels locked down by a rising star, the rest of the room can settle into more natural roles.

Obidegwu looks like the safest projection opposite Finney going into the season. He played in all 15 games last year, made 12 starts and finished with 24 tackles, six pass breakups and an interception. He does not have Finney’s breakout headlines, but his value is obvious. He played a lot, he held up, and he gave Oregon consistency on the outside. For a defense trying to remain aggressive and multiple, that matters.

What makes the corner room feel stronger than last year, though, is what sits behind those two.

Aaron Scott Jr. is exactly the type of player Oregon did not used to have sitting in reserve. He comes in from Ohio State with high-level pedigree, Power Four game experience and the profile of a player who could absolutely push his way into major snaps. Dorian Brew is another one. He did not appear in 2025, but his recruiting profile screamed future starter when he signed, and Oregon has the luxury of letting that talent develop instead of forcing the issue before it is ready. Then there is Na’Eem Offord, who may be the most interesting chess piece in the entire room. He played in all 15 games as a freshman, finished with 15 tackles and clearly began to look more comfortable as the season went on.

That brings us to nickel, which may be the most quietly important position in the whole group.

Canady handled that job well last season and replacing him is not about just finding another defensive back. Oregon needs someone who can cover, tackle, fit the run and hold up against the space and tempo of modern offenses. Carl Williams IV looks like the cleanest projection there. The Baylor transfer has actual STAR experience, which matters. He is not just a corner being asked to move inside. He has played the role before, started there before and produced there before. That makes him the most natural opening-day answer, and it lets Oregon keep more of its length and outside talent in place at corner.

Offord makes sense as the next name in that discussion because his talent is too obvious to ignore. If Oregon wants to put its best five defensive backs on the field, his name is going to come up quickly. He may begin behind Williams in a projection, but he feels like one of those players who could erase the gap in a hurry.

Safety is probably where the biggest questions are, mostly because replacing Dillon Thieneman is not a simple task.

Aaron Flowers is already a proven part of the solution. He started all 15 games last season, finished with 70 tackles, an interception, three pass breakups and two forced fumbles, and looked more and more comfortable as the year unfolded. He is not just a player with upside anymore. He is a returning starter with production, confidence and the kind of reliability that good defenses need on the back end.

Then there is Koi Perich, and that is where this room starts to feel dangerous.

Perich was one of the best portal additions Oregon could have made because he is not arriving as a projection. He is arriving as a proven Big Ten playmaker. At Minnesota, he made 82 tackles in 2025 and backed that up with three tackles for loss, a sack and an interception returned for a touchdown. The year before, as a freshman, he had 46 tackles and five interceptions. He has range, instincts, ball skills and the kind of natural feel that usually shows up in all the little moments that make a secondary better, whether that is taking the right angle, triggering downhill or getting hands on a football that looked open a second earlier.

If Oregon gets the version of Perich it should get, then the Ducks did not just replace production at safety. They upgraded the room’s flexibility.

Then there is McNutt, who might still have the highest ceiling of the bunch if he is fully healthy.

It is easy to forget how highly regarded he was because he missed 2025, but Oregon did not sign an ordinary recruit there. McNutt arrived as the highest-rated safety signee in program history. That kind of profile tends to show up eventually. Maybe he needs a little time coming back. Maybe Flowers and Perich hold the top line early. But it would be a mistake to treat McNutt like a mere depth piece. He has too much talent for that and too much range as a player to stay quiet if he is right physically.

Woodyard may not bring the same recruiting shine or mystery, but he brings something every good secondary needs, which is dependable depth that has already played meaningful snaps. He finished last year with 22 tackles and an interception and feels like the kind of player a staff can trust when the season gets heavy and the rotations get tested.

And that is really the larger point of the whole room. Oregon has moved past the stage where one or two departures at defensive back change the entire conversation. The Ducks now have talent at the top, answers in the middle and high-end youth at the back of the line.

That last part might be the most important.

Because some of the most gifted players in this room may not have to play much right away, and that is almost always the sign that a position group is in a healthy place.

Jett Washington fits that description. So does Xavier Lherisse. So does Davon Benjamin. Those are not names Oregon needs to force into the lineup in September, but they are exactly the kind of names that make coaches feel good about the future and make veterans feel pressure in practice. There is a difference between young depth and talented young depth. Oregon has the second kind now.

That matters because camp always changes something. Somebody always comes faster than expected. Somebody always looks too good to keep off the field. Last year, that player was Finney. This year it could be McNutt returning healthy. It could be Offord taking a real leap. It could be Scott or Brew pushing into the corner rotation. It could be one of the freshmen making a late summer case that cannot be ignored.

That is what makes this defensive backfield so compelling. The floor looks high because of players like Finney, Flowers, Perich, Obidegwu and Williams. The ceiling looks even higher because Oregon still has real blue-chip talent waiting to force its way into the picture.

For a long time, Oregon was trying to get the secondary to a place where it could survive the biggest games on the schedule. Now the Ducks are at a point where the defensive backfield might be one of the reasons they can win them.

If this room stays healthy, it has a chance to be more than just solid, more than just talented, and maybe even more than last year’s group in one important way. It may be the deepest secondary Dan Lanning has had at Oregon, which is another way of saying the standard in that room has changed.

And once that happens, the rest of the defense usually changes with it.