I may be missing something but I thought it was more that he played the third LB position - rover - that came off the field when we went nickel, which was fairly often. As opposed to being "benched" for poor play. There were times he felt like the most effective of our three starting LBs.
Either way I've no idea where first round projections are coming from. Kiser's fine, but I'm hoping for upgrades across the board as Kollie, Sneed and JT establish themselves as too good to come off the field. That would be one of the best things that could happen for our defense in '23.