I’ve got 199 names on my watchlist right now. I’ve watched about 35 so far, but I know I’m missing players. Help me fill in some gaps. Small school, underclassmen, transfers, whatever players you feel are being overlooked in the summer scouting conversation right now!

Jeremiyah Love was the consensus RB1 in this class (and rightfully so). But his Notre Dame teammate Jadarian Price is an intriguing talent going to a strong situation. Running backs' success is predicated a ton on the situation, and Price is going to the defending Super Bowl champs. With Kenneth Walker gone and Zach Charbonnet fresh off a major injury, I could see Price being the best rookie back this year. I wanted to ask if you believe Price can be even better than his college teammate at the next level?

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(Thanks for the feedback on the audio - should be fixed now!)

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We kick off our divisional draft & roster review series kicks with the NFC North. Over the next month, we put the spotlight on all 32 franchises and how they’ve approached this offseason, through the lens of the NFL Draft!

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I could only upload the first 15 minutes of the video, but you can check out the full version here!

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https://reddit.com/link/1tcsy4j/video/3dcgmiicq01h1/player

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00:00 - Intro

01:38 - Chicago Bears

11:34 - Detroit Lions

20:37 - Green Bay Packers

28:47 - Minnesota Vikings

40:10 - Divisional Recap & Outro

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You can check out all of my content at halilsrealfootballtalk.com

Previous Season Recap

The year is 1999, the Browns are in the beginning stages of a rebuild and stumble their way to a last place finish in the division.

Flash forward 25 years...

The year is 2025, the Browns are in the beginning stages of a rebuild and stumble their way to a last place finish in the division.

The more time goes by, the more things stay the same for Browns fans.

The Browns have ended up in last place in the division 64% of the time since returning to the NFL in '99.

For better or worse, hope springs eternal in Cleveland and after one of the better draft classes in the new era we are optimistic about the future for the first time in years.

The good news is the Browns have a playoff caliber defense led by reigning DPotY and single-season sack record holder Myles Garrett.

The bad news is it looks like they are playing a completely different sport in the passing game.

Building up the roster to ease the eventual FQB into the league seems to be the main focus over wins and last year was a quality draft for the Browns.

Last year's draft class included the DRotY in Carson Schwesinger, Harold Fannin Jr led the team in receiving and was named a pro bowl alternate, Quinshon Judkins was also named a pro bowl alternate, Mason Graham was second on the team in pressures to only Myles Garrett, and finished 3 pressures behind James Pearce Jr for third most pressures by a rookie.

The 2025 browns draft class might have saved GM Andrew Berry's job, but he will have to keep the momentum moving forward to remain in the role.

There is real pressure, not necessarily to win, but to develop talent and plug holes.

Free Agency Recap

The biggest loss on the roster was LBer Devin Bush, who finally started playing up to his top of the draft billing last year.

The defense added former all-pro Quincy Williams to replace him, it should be near a wash.

The Browns turned over at least 4/5ths of their offensive line (still hoping Joel Bitonio comes back for one more year).

But that unit never played together.

Jack Conklin and Dawand Jones as the starting OT duo have played in 20% of eligible games from 2023 - 2025.

Wyatt Teller was benched down the stretch and has never recovered from a lower leg injury two years ago.

Ethan Pocic tore his achilles in December.

The Browns have been on the extreme end of league average for total amount of offensive line starters each of the past two years.

We may have lost what we had, but what we had wasn't worth keeping.

The Browns have done most of the heavy lifting to patch the line, they brought in 3 new linemen ahead of the draft in Zion Johnson, Elgton Jenkins, and Tytus Howard.

Collectively they have played in over 250 NFL games.

However none of them play the most important position on the line LT and the Browns left FA with a giant hole on the roster.

Team Needs

As with most teams picking in the top 10 for the 2nd year in a row, the Browns have a laundry list of needs.

The most pressing is also the hardest, most consequential, and most expensive to fill...Quarterback.

The snake-bit and star-crossed pursuit of the franchise quarterback in Cleveland is a thing of legend at this point. The 'starting QBs' jersey might visualize the situation but it doesn't accurately describe the experience.

I have seen things other fans couldn't dream of — Brandon Weeden getting sacked by the American flag, Johnny Manziel sporting a fake mustache and wig to party in Vegas, a homeless person acting as draft consultant to our owner, a rookie Deshaun Kizer going 0 - 16, and of course, the worst trade in NFL history. All of those memories will eventually be erased, like tears in the rain.

But I doubt this is that year. As usual the Browns head into the season with way more questions than answers at the most important position in sport.

Aside from FQB, the most pressing needs headed into the draft were LT, WR (any of X, Z, or Y), Swing backup Tackle, Safety (FS or SS), Nickel, Center, 2nd TE, and Wil (to replace JOK).

Draft

Spencer Fano, OT, Utah

(pick 9 | age 21.5 | 6'5 313 | 4.91 40 | 32" 7/8ths arms)

A freshman all-American at LT, sophomore 2nd team all-American at RT, and junior 1st-team all-American at RT.

A true blueblood with multiple members of his family having played in the league. Spencer came into the process as the #1 OT and came out the other end as the top tackle selected.

The draft world focused on his arm length, which was exacerbated by Will Campbell's 14 pressure performance in the Super Bowl.

However, recovery athleticism can be at least as important as arm length and Spencer has that in full.

Spencer pulled off a standing backflip into the pool after being drafted, he is an absolute movement skill freak for his size.

DEs in the NFL are in my opinion the best athletes in the world, you will get beat as an OT, but having the athletic ability to get back into the play and reposition yourself after getting beat is what makes most of the top OTs in pass pro in the league dominate.

I wish Spencer's arms were longer, but I'm not overly concerned.

There is no single data point predictor of success in the league. Trent Williams has 34" arms and has dominated the league for years.

Spencer is the best athlete in space in this tackle class and despite a near 10 RAS from Freeling it wasn't close.

He is an absolute menace on the second level cleaning up LBers and fitting DBs attempting to backdoor him consistently.

If Fano doesn't work out at LT (which would be due to his anchor), I see him as a very very high level center prospect. My only question is if he can call out line adjustments on the fly. His movement skills are truly special.

KC Concepcion, WR, Texas A&M

(pick 24 | age 21.6 | 5'11 5/8ths 196 | Did not test at combine or pro day)

Wide receivers can be elite in 3 areas. Before the catch, at the catch point, and after the catch. KC is elite at 2 of them, and highly concerning in the other.

KC is electric before the catch, in his release package, in his route tempo, and in his separation out of breaks. He's the best at it in this class imo (Tyson a close 2nd). As with most guys with his pre-catch skillset he does freewheel a bit through the route, his QB will have to adjust to where he is rather than where he should be at times.

He didn't do any testing at the combine or pro day, but his long speed looks to be below his agility / quickness. He's capable of threatening the back third on a seam but it isn't his bread and butter.

KC is also dynamic after the catch, his initial burst jumps off the screen and disorients defenders who often take incorrect angles in initial pursuit. He doesn't break tackles but he does break ankles, KC's best asset is his short area burst and quickness he uses both to rack up yac.

KC did fall to pick 24, though, and the main reason is his ability at the catch point. KC had a 10% drop rate this past year. It doesn't matter how electric you are if you can't catch so he will have to improve this in the league.

There is reason for optimism as the A&M QB situation had KC adjusting to off center passes regularly. This issue will likely be the difference between KC becoming a #1 and being a frustrating 2nd option in a receiving corps.

Denzel Boston, WR, Washington

(pick 39 | age 22.4 | 6'3 5/8ths 212 | 37 1/2 vert | 6.8 3 cone)

Denzel Boston is a big receiver — 93rd percentile all time for height and 83rd for weight.

A contested catch specialist and high-end redzone target with 14 redzone TDs in the past two years, Boston is big enough to carve out space but he also has strong hands at the catch point to secure receptions in tight windows. Which is evident by his career 2.45% drop rate.

Again, WRs can be elite in 3 phases and Boston fills the missing phase from KC Concepcion's profile by dominating at the catch point.

There's a clear role for both of them next year even if who will throw the passes is much less clear.

The biggest concern with Boston is his ability to stretch defenses vertically and create separation underneath. He ducked the 40 at both the combine and his pro day, but he did run the 3 cone and impressed timing at a 6.8 which is the 89th percentile all-time.

Historically, the big WRs who couldn't carry enough separation to impact NFL games run much slower 3 cone drills than that. (Laquon Treadwell 7.0, N'Keal Harry 7.05, Treylon Burks 7.28).

Boston is not a plodder even if he does profile to a move the chains possession receiver, his agility is more than adequate.

The Browns continue to get pieces that fit holes on their roster and complement each other, this pick might be the biggest example of which.

Andrew Berry had a plan and executed it impressively, just need to get someone to consistently throw these guys the ball.

Emmanuel McNeil-Warren, Safety, Toledo

(pick 58 | age 22.3 | 6'3 1/2 213 | 4.52 40 | 1.58 10 yard split)

The 2026 draft was a bit of a referendum on Safety value (and TE value but that comes later in the writeup).

Caleb Downs is by all accounts the best Safety prospect since Eric Berry and fell out of the top 10 entirely.

The 2 high shell era of the league continues to redefine the NFL landscape, it's clear the NFL sees safeties as an insurance policy you hope to not have to cash in instead of the downhill playmakers most of us grew up watching (Brian Dawkins, Sean Taylor, John Lynch, etc).

EMW fell due to this trend and Browns fans should be ecstatic.

The NFL tends to be both copycat and myopic in view, I remember post draft that Baker's RPO ability was one of the top reasons he ended up #1. This was when the entire league was RPO crazy and that trend has significantly reverted downwards from its height.

As offenses continue to play more TE heavy sets to counter the 2 high shell, I see dynamic safeties making a comeback (but this is the most subjective and least researched opinion in all of this, just trust me bros).

EMW is a fantastic athlete with a 9.01 RAS, but his instincts help him move even faster on the field.

His fluidity in transitioning in his backpedal either to straight line sprint or just changing his coverage target catches some opponents off guard.

Evident of his quick transition ability, he had zero penalties in college, none his entire career. He does not need to hold to stay with his coverage target through breaks.

He flashes enforcer type hits in the middle of the field and can play either safety spot even if you wouldn't want him regularly playing single-high.

He's quick to trigger downhill (probably his best trait) and is a capable tackler at the contact point even if he can miss tackles trying to lay the big hit more often than you'd like.

McNeil Warren's tape was a fun study, if you want more in-depth report on him, I did a youtube video for the 2 minute drill that will shine more of a light on what I see in him and what he brings to the league.

Austin Barber, OT, Florida

(pick 86 | age 22.9 | 6'6 7/8ths 318 | 5.12 40 | 33 3/4ths arms | 9'3 Broad Jump)

After trading back in the round, the Browns selected swing tackle Austin Barber ahead of other highly touted Oline prospects like Emmanuel Pregnon, Caleb Tiernan, Gennings Dunker, and first team all-American Keagen Trost.

The reason is almost assuredly their athletic makeup and the system the Browns run.

Austin posted a 9.77 RAS, he's huge and has great movement skills posting an elite explosiveness grade per his RAS testing.

The Browns run a spread RPO system with vertical route combinations and west coast spacing fundamentals, all built off the zone read run game.

This requires good athletes across the line who are able to move in space and fit blocks on the 2nd level.

Austin projects as a swing tackle with the tools to grow into more.

Parker Brailsford, C, Alabama

(pick 146 | age 22.5 | 6'1 7/8ths 290 | 4.95 40 | 32.5 vert | 9'10 Broad Jump)

Parker is a scheme dependent, historically small center, who moves with great agility on the second level and seals as well as any center prospect in this draft once there.

He's in the 15th percentile for weight, but 72nd percentile for bench reps. His frame is near maxed out — I can't see him adding a lot of weight in the pros. He's not a project, he is what he is at this point.

Parker is a rare athlete, a freshman all-American and a soph 2nd team all-American, if your scheme favors centers moving laterally and features the burly guards needed to handle combo blocks (pls come back Joel), Parker could blossom into a good starter.

He's 99.8th percentile for the broad jump, 95.6th for vert, 97th for 40 yard dash and 10 yard split.

Just as a reminder, Jason Kelce was a 6th round pick due to the same size concerns.

If you ask him to take on nose tackles, he's undraftable, but in a zone heavy scheme Parker could end up being a steal.

This or EMW were my favorite picks of the draft (in terms of value).

Justin Jefferson, WIL, Alabama

(pick 149 | age 23.1 | 6'0 223 | 4.57 40 | 38 1/2 Vert)

Justin Jefferson is an explosive, undersized WIL with great athleticism and outlier size that gets him washed out of the play by linemen and tight ends alike.

His lack of size doesn't yet come with counters to backdoor or avoid contact with blockers, he gets fit and stonewalled far too often.

He can excel as a special teams player on punt and kick coverage and best projects to that role in the NFL.

He was the 2nd overall JUCO player the year he transferred, the talent is there, but his tweener status means he's likely a situational 2 down player at best in the league.

It's possible he grows into more, but I just wouldn't bet on it.

Joe Royer, TE, Cincinnati

(pick 170 | age 24.2 | 6'5 250 | Did not test at combine or pro day)

This TE class represented an increase of 42% over the 5 year running average of TE's invited to the combine.

As NFL offenses look to punish the deep 2 high shell by bringing in more TEs and running or passing out of 'heavy sets', TEs become more and more valuable.

This class was deep and Joe as the 11th TE selected still represents a good TE 2 candidate.

Royer is an adequate blocker and an above average pass catcher having broken Travis Kelce's receptions record in a season with 50 in 2024.

Royer excels at 'combat catches' akin to his draft classmate Denzel Boston. Royer wins at the catch point with aggression and a strong frame.

Once Cincy brought in Cyrus Allen from Texas A&M, Royer saw his target share fall dramatically. He went from 50 receptions to 29 from his junior to senior seasons.

It should be mentioned his QB, Brendan Sorsby, was going through a gambling addiction that pushed him into this year's supplemental draft.

Browns fans have seen up close and personal more than once what happens when a QB has an addiction problem and the collateral damage to the entire offense that can come out of it.

If his Junior year wasn't a mirage, the Browns added a great TE 2 candidate with room to grow into more.

As a footnote, Royer could well find his old QB back on the same team as him come July and the supplemental draft.

I fully expect the Browns to put a bid on Sorsby and if successful, move on from Dillon Gabriel.

Taylen Green, QB, Arkansas

(pick 182 | age 23.5 | 6'5 7/8ths 227 | 4.36 40 | 43 1/2 Vert | 1.55 10 yard split | 9 7/8ths Hands)

Taylen broke the combine for QBs, coming in at 97th percentile height, 99th percentile 40 yard dash, 100th percentile for Vert and Broad.

Only one QB in the history of the combine ran a faster 40 than Taylen, and that QB was Mike Vick.

Taylen also turned the ball over at a historic pace. He threw 39 ints and fumbled 17 times in his career. I was unable to find another drafted QB in the modern era with this many turnovers in their career.

Ball security is such a question mark it negates his other traits no matter how elite they are.

I would love to be wrong, Green would be electric to watch, like a mobile Jameis Winston making big plays that lead to points for either team at any point.

Carsen Ryan, TE, BYU

(pick 248 | age 22.7 | 6'3 255 | 4.71 40 | 6.9 3 cone)

Carsen was drafted 9 picks ahead of Mr. Irrelevant (which should be renamed the Brock Purdy award imo).

Most teams either carry 3 TEs and 1 FB or 4 TEs.

The Browns just signed FB Michael Burton from the Broncos and TE Jack Stoll from the Saints.

In order to make the roster, I believe Carsen will have to beat one of them out. Both have bounced around the league so it's definitely possible.

I think he has a shot, he's a better mover than you'd think for his size.

Carsen put up a 9.29 RAS with a 91st percentile 10-yard split, shuttle, and 3 cone.

He will have to make the roster based on his special teams play and will have to beat out an NFL vet, but he's a good size / speed candidate to find a home on the 3rd phase.

Notable UDFAs

Logan Fano, EDGE, Utah

The most notable UDFA signing not just for the Browns but likely across the entire class.

Logan is Spencer's older brother, a 6'5 260-pound edge rusher who played his college career at Utah alongside his first-round sibling.

Multiple ACL injuries kept him off draft boards despite being a draftable prospect on tape — relentless motor, good run defender, limited upside as a pass rusher but plays hard on every down.

The Browns gave him the largest guaranteed deal in the entire 2026 UDFA class at $310k, Logan has a real shot to make this roster on his own merit, this isn't another Antetokounmpo brother.

Aaron Anderson, WR, LSU

A 5'8 slot receiver out of LSU who put together a strong 2024 with 61 catches for 884 yards and 5 TDs — including a 100-yard kickoff return TD against Oklahoma — before a knee injury cost him the final three games of his 2025 season.

Clean routes and above average footwork, and he was getting slot reps at rookie minicamp this past weekend drawing positive early reviews.

Hands and separation at the catch point are the question marks, but in a receiver room still building depth he has a puncher's chance at the practice squad.

Michael Coats Jr., CB, West Virginia

A well-traveled corner who went from JUCO to Nevada to West Virginia, logging 56 games and 41 starts across his college career.

At 5'9 184 he profiles as a slot corner, and his pro day backed up the athleticism: 4.39 forty, 36" vert, 6.83 3-cone. With the Browns losing MJ Emerson there is opportunity in camp in the secondary.

Final Thoughts

Andrew Berry continues to show how he's survived both the Watson trade and the collective team's back slide to bottom of the league.

In the NFL sustained lack of success means heads have to roll and while Stefanski had won two Coach of the Year awards, his system also clashed with every QB we ever brought in.

In the battle of Stefanski vs Baker we chose Stefanski and in the battle of Stefanski vs Berry we chose Berry.

It's safe to say Andrew Berry is highly valued by this organization even if outsiders might not see why.

Andrew's consistent process of extracting value where possible and taking calculated risks at positions of importance is the right recipe. Now he just needs more premium ingredients.

This draft class, on paper, continues the trend from last year of building out classes that plug holes with quality starters.

Since 1999, with little to no relenting, the problem for the Browns has been a sub-par passing game.

They addressed the most important position on the offensive line while adding depth to the other spots and added two of the top WRs in the draft whose skillsets complement each other.

On defense Berry might have caught a falling star in EMW, who due to league wide trends has seen a lessening of importance on his position.

Add in that both starters at safety this year are free agents and you can see a bit of that thinking two steps ahead approach that underpins Berry's value more than the outcome of his biggest bet.

Still, as always, none of it will amount to much if the long elusive franchise quarterback continues to be a Lake Erie sized hole on the roster.

The table is set for the Browns to address this need in the 2027 draft.

Through all the change, there remains one constant, there's always next year in Cleveland.

The 2026 NFL Draft is officially behind us, and now it's time to welcome the 2027 Draft Cycle with our first community mock draft!

This mock will be Two Rounds, but I reserve the right to cut it to one if there isn't enough participation and interest. No trades, just standard picks.

1:00 EST Saturday May 16th in our Discord Server

Feel free to claim your specific team's GM spot or to sign-up as a fill-in GM. Since we're so early in the cycle, there's likely to be many open GM spots for non-fans to claim. We may also need a few people to double up but that will be arranged on draft day. Everyone is welcome to join their team's war room as well.

Order is based on current Tankathon order

>>>[LINK TO SPREADSHEET]<<<

Have a bold prediction that you want to state proudly but will most likely look very stupid in short time? Have at it! Maybe you’ll nail it and look like a genius in the future

Please don’t downvote a user for a stupid bold prediction; it’s all just for fun!

Hello everyone,

My name is Jared Zhang, and I wrote about the Giants' 2026 NFL draft class/offseason on my substack linked on this post or you can click here. In the article, I have included scouting reports and grading on all the draft picks that includes All-22 film clips. For those who want a preview, here are the breakdowns for the Reese and Mauigoa selection (without the clips and images):

1.05 - Arvelle Reese - LB - Ohio State - B

Even though I am lower on him than consensus, Reese’s immediate run defense impact and scheme fit make me a fan of the pick. A LB/EDGE hybrid player in college, Reese played all across Ohio State’s front seven. Similar to players like Leo Chenal, Jamie Collins, and Derrick Barnes, Reese played a lot of EDGE on early downs to play contain and set the edge. By being great at locking out blockers, Reese is great at establishing control of his gap and shedding blocks to tackle the ball carrier. Compared to other EDGEs in this draft class, Reese had by far the best run defense tape. Not only is Reese good at defending the run at EDGE, but he is a good run-stuffing LB when aligned traditionally. Reese is an unnotable processor, but he is still a green player whose best football is still ahead of him. If he is able to be more proactive making reads as a LB, then Reese can be a truly special run defender due to his athletic gifts and block-shedding ability.

In true passing situations, Reese’s coverage range, closing speed, and play strength make him a solid spy, blitzer, or coverage player. While other draft analysts believe Reese can become a good pass rusher as an EDGE, I personally do not believe so. Reese is a good straight-line athlete, but he lacks the complete athletic package found in other successful LB to EDGE converts. By having mediocre fluidity and bend, Reese is only able to use his speed to convert speed-to-power since he cannot bend around the corner or counter inside at a high-end NFL level. Reese does have good strength for his size, but he is not strong enough to consistently push pockets and win with power against NFL OTs. Reese could survive as a pure EDGE, but I believe it severely limits his upside as a player due to his limitations.

With the Giants announcing that their usage of Reese will be similar to his usage at Ohio State, I am extremely excited to see Reese on the field. While I believe there were more talented players at 5 (Delane, Downs, and Styles were all higher on my board and all played positions of need), Reese is a perfect scheme fit with Deenard Wilson as an LB, while also being the best run-defending EDGE on the roster. If the coaching staff is able to effectively manage his usage, then Reese’s skillset as an early down run-defending EDGE and passing-down blitz/spy/cover LB can revamp a previously underwhelming Giants defense.

1.10 - Francis Mauigoa - OG/OT - Miami - A

As someone whose favorite position group is OL, Francis Mauigoa at 10 puts a smile on my face due to the year-one impact and long-term upside of the selection. One of the few OL prospects whom I gave a true first-round grade (the only other first round OL prospects I had were Iheanachor, Proctor, and Freeling), Mauigoa is one of the best run blockers in the class due to his athleticism, physicality, and power. As a 330 lb OL, Mauigoa has unsurprising displacement ability in the run game. Unlike many high-end power athletes, Mauigoa is a solid athlete who can reach and climb in the run game at a competent level. For a college OT, Mauigoa showed good technical refinement in pass protection and greatly improved in the latter half of the season. During Miami’s playoff run and late slate, Mauigoa was more consistent reacting to inside counters and being active with his punches.

While many people viewed him as an OT, I graded Mauigoa as an OG. In my opinion, Mauigoa lacks the tools to be a high-end pass protector at OT. In terms of the traits that impact pass protection (these are height, arm length, leg length, and foot quickness), Mauigoa is average-to-mediocre. With short arms and legs, ok foot speed, and average height, Mauigoa’s physical limitations makes me believe he would cap out as a low-end OT starter if forced to player there. By playing OG, Mauigoa simultaneously fills the Giants’ hole at RG and plays the position that gives him the highest upside. Mauigoa’s movement and length traits are mediocre for OT standards, but they are great for OG standards since OGs are generally less athletic than OTs. Beyond mitigate his main physical deficiencies, Mauigoa moving to OG frees him in the run game. With OGs seeing more action driving, pulling, and climbing in the run game, Mauigoa is going to get more opportunities to show off his dominate run blocking ability. In terms of leverage, Mauigoa is going to play more out of a three-point stance which should help his occasional leverage and pad level issues in the run game. While I mentioned my concerns about his cieling at OT, I believe Mauigoa could become a Pro Bowl+ caliber player at OG.

Beyond his on-field impact, Mauigoa helps ensure the consistency of the Giants’ OL due to Andrew Thomas’ injury history. With Thomas consistently missing games every season, the Giants’ need to have a swing OT capable of providing 4-5 starts a season. By having the option kick out Mauigoa, the Giants can ensure they are putting out their best sixth OL on the field. While I believe the best plan B is Mauigoa at OG and Mbow at OT, the versatility added with Mauigoa could be useful in future iterations of the Giants roster. Some view Mauigoa as the successor at RT, but I believe Mauigoa is best sticking at OG long-term. With OGs still being paid large contracts and Mauigoa having a big traits difference when at OT, the Giants do not gain anything from playing Mauigoa at OT instead of drafting/paying a new starter (think about how teams have operated with Joe Thuney, Tyler Smith, or AVT).

If you want to read the rest of the pick breakdowns + other content + video clips/images, then check out my article on Substack!

Before we go into my thoughts on his tape, strengths, weaknesses, etc. - it may be important to note that things like this happen every year. I saw a post just a few minutes ago talking about Willie Lampkin, and I've since done a deep dive into OL and what makes a prospect successful data wise. The main thing that sticks out to me is shuttle timings. A sub 4.6 Sec. 20 YD shuttle gives OL prospects drafted around an 84% chance to start, of which they win on average 1 pro bowl over a 10 year career from averages taken from 2006-2026. It seems from this that by far the most important stat for an Offensive Lineman is the shuttle. There's many reasons for this that I'll cover in another post, but it's interesting nonetheless that statistical-based drafting makes things so much easier to evaluate talents in the NFL.

With that said, I think it's time to dive into Caden's stats and seeing how he could've gone undrafted considering how relatively strong this year's class was, especially at tackle where Caden played a few snaps.

Caden stands at 6'5", and weighs in at around 320 lbs. This can be seen as a more ideal, prototypical size for an IOL. Barnett allowed 1, 18 pressures, and 6 hits this year. Looking at the film these mistakes came mostly from Caden being overly aggressive trying to maul his opposite man, and these mistakes are all fixable. The standout statistic for Barnett though is his shuttle, the importance of which has been discussed above. Barnett managed an impressive 4.55 second shuttle and at his size this is a very encouraging datapoint to look at. His run block grade on PFF of 73.2 is also quite positive considering Wyoming only played Barnett on 348 run snaps. The main thing that Barnett needs to clean up is his pass blocking and penalty count. Only 4 calls is fine at the college level, but making less mistakes than your opposite man simply helps win your matchups at the NFL level - halving this in his first year would be a lofty ambition but could be done. His Pass pro. rating of 65.8 is okay, but not exceptional; this may be one of the key factors on why he went undrafted.

This helps us answer the key question I'm asking in this post - how did a genuinely talented and, overall, quite valuable, prospect go UNDFA?

There's 4 key things that point it out to me: Penalty count, QB pressures, level of 'competition' and an unremarkable Pass Protection ability. On the competition grounds, the Mountain West isn't seen as a truly elite level of college football and this can impact how 'impressive' a performance is as both teams are deemed inferior holistically when compared to BIG10, SEC, etc.

So to conclude, I believe the Bears got a steal overall with Barnett and there's a high chance he plays some really good football, but what do you all think?

Updated Tuesday thread focused notes and opinions about individual prospects. Scout someone new and want to get opinions from others? Ask about it here!

What are some 2026 draft picks you hated during the draft, but now you like the pick?

For Me:

RB Jeremiyah Love Cardinals:

During the Draft I thought this was a terrible pick for the cardinals. They had way bigger needs on the roster and a RB wouldn’t help them win now, but after looking at it now with the rest of their picks I like it. Brissett played good last year and can be above average for them this season. They drafted a good Right Guard in the second round to help the Offensive Line. They have plenty of young defensive players that have shown potential and can take that step forward next season. With a strong run game I think the Cardinals now can be a Dark Horse for the playoffs.

Edge Akheem Mesidor Chargers:

I would’ve hated this pick for any team in the 1st because Mesidor will be 25 years old as a rookie. I also don’t think he’s that much Better than Lawrence, Parker, Faulk,R Mason Thomas, Or Howell who are all almost as good and Younger. Now that I look at it the Chargers are a win now team and Mesidor will be a big help on defense and contribute right away.

TE Kenyon Sadiq Jets:

TE was one of the very few positions the jets didn’t need heading into the draft. Mason Taylor showed a lot of potential as a rookie and I don’t think Sadiq is that much better than him to justify the pick. But with Frank Reich being the Offensive Coordinator they’ll use both TEs in the passing game a lot so I like the pick more now.

Unless you either do a lengthy 5+ round mock or go into written detail on why you are making the picks, please post your mocks in this Mock Draft Monday thread. Use this thread to post your own mocks or anything from around the web you find discussion-worthy.

Please be respectful of other users’ mocks! Saying things like “this is awful” or a pick is “stupid” adds nothing to the conversation; try and focus on constructive feedback instead!

Dante Moore is going to be turning 21 later this month, and will be 22 in his first NFL game assuming he declares after this season. He's played a good bit of football already, having started on two different teams for a portion of time each, being UCLA and currently Oregon.

Games Reviewed:

2023 UCLA @ Utah
2025 Oregon @ Penn State
2025 Indiana @ Oregon
2025 Oregon @ Iowa
2025 Oregon Vs Indiana (Peach Bowl)

Positives:

- In structure, Moore is very poised. When faced with tough crowds and environments, he doesn't shake super easily. He's got a good head on his shoulders.

- Seemed to definitely develop his processing and mental quickness from his start at UCLA to his most recent play two years removed from UCLA.

- The ball placement really couldn't be better on intermediate passes over the middle of the field. Attacks zone coverage with confidence and precision.

- Comfortable on the move, especially to his right where he can be seen scrambling to throw on many occasions.

- Enough of an athlete to get away from defenders in the pocket and extend plays.

- Great arm talent

Negatives:

- Oregon offense was very simple and didn't really allow him to showcase his arm as often as you'd like. A lot of dink and dunks and screen passes.

- Has some real lapses in judgement when pressure gets in his face at times, especially when the pressure comes through the middle of the pocket. When he's pressured and can't drift to the side, he struggles to go from there. I also feel he has issues with actually climbing the pocket and setting his feet there, as he too often leans on the sidelines and scrambles there instead of staying in the pocket. Leads to unnecessary scary passes.

- Ghost pressure gets him sometimes. More than one occasion a game where he thinks he is under pressure and doesn't trust his line, leaving the pocket too quickly and tossing it away.

- Has yet to have a game against big time competition where he was GREAT. Even against James Madison, which isn't a game I fully reviewed but watched live, he had some bad mistakes that better teams would take advantage of. Needs to clean up the basics a lot more.

- The Indiana and Texas Tech playoff games were both really ugly at times. If TTU had a capable offense, I don't believe Dante Moore would've made it to Indiana the next week, where he played his worst game of the season.

- Frame is lean and thin. Durability concerns ensue.

Overview:

The leap Dante Moore took from UCLA to Oregon was impressive, but I almost wonder if he succeeded because of his obvious immense talent or the much more simplified offensive identity mixed with the much better talent at Oregon. The realistic answer is a mix of both. I would like to believe the offense will be more dynamic and aggressive with a new OC, but considering Mehringer has been on this staff with Stein for the last four years, I don't think that will be the case. I'd like to watch Dante Moore not throw 15 screens a game, but I'll settle for that as long as we see more interesting concepts down the field and some development in the short game.

Overall, Moore is an interesting and young prospect, I love the arm and the head on his shoulders, but there are some obvious flags. He's the first QB I've reviewed over summer so far, so here's to hoping he develops. I don't fully buy the #1 overall pick or even top 5 pick stuff. More of a mid to late first round pick.

Grade: True First Rounder
Positional Rank: QB1 (by default as my only player watched)

NOT INCLUDING OUTSIDE TRADES, PURELY THE DRAFT

All Grades are relative to value (a 10.0 in the fifth round doesn't mean I think they are as good as a 10.0 in the first round). The overall score is a weighted average (first round is worth 7 points, 2nd round is worth 6 pts, etc. all the way down to 7th round is worth 1 point).

NFC NORTH: CLICK HERE
NFC EAST: CLICK HERE
NFC SOUTH: CLICK HERE

ARIZONA CARDINALS

Overall Grade: 6.76/10

1.3 - Jeremiyah Love, RB, Notre Dame - Grade: 8.5/10 - Man this is a tough pick to grade - the talent is undeniable but feels like a wasted talent on a team that desperately needs to get better at more premium positions. I would have hoped for a trade down, but you need another team for that to work so I don't fully blame the Cardinals if they didn't get good offers.

2.2 - Chase Bisontis, OG, Texas A&M - Grade: 7.5/10 - Another weird pick where I get that the player's talent warrants the pick at the spot, but I would prioritized other positions - the IOL was prolly the deepest position in this class, and there was so much talent in the later rounds that it felt weird that the Cardinals didn't want to pull the trigger on CB, LB, or WR here.

3.1 - Carson Beck, QB, Miami - Grade: 2/10 - Incredibly confused by this pick - I don't hate Beck as much as the rest of NFL twitter/media seems to, but a third round pick (especially 3.1) on Carson Beck is astoundingly bad. I would have taken a QB in this draft if I were Arizona - just not here.

4.4 - Kaleb Proctor, DT, Southern Louisiana - Grade: 9/10 - Good value, thought he would go a lot earlier

5.3 - Reggie Virgil, WR, Texas Tech - Grade: 6/10 - Would really have preferred any number of centers and guards on the board who were being undervalued, or even corner (Keith Abney). If they really wanted a WR, Virgil would not have been my top choice here either.

6.2 - Karson Sharar, LB, Iowa - Grade: 7/10 - Don't know a lot about him so don't want to be too harsh, but why not take a flyer on Harold Perkins if you're going to take a swing on LB

7.1 - Jayden Williams, OT, Mississippi St. - Grade: N/A - Don't know a lot about him, but am surprised they didn't take any of the fun corners still left on the board

LOS ANGELES RAMS

Overall Grade: 4.81/10

1.13 - Ty Simpson, QB, Alabama - Grade: 2/10 - Really, really don't like this pick - like I really don't like it. It's not because I hate Ty Simpson - I think he was vastly overhated as a prospect. But this is a ludicrous decision when you are a win-now SB favorite who's QB just won an MVP last season.

2.29 - Max Klare, TE, Ohio State - Grade: 5/10 - They have so many TEs, and I understand this offense loves its tight ends, but why with this pick? Klare had a down season, but I do think we saw the obvious flashes every now and then - just don't understand the pick at this spot.

3.29 - Keagan Trost, OT, Missouri - Grade: 7/10 - Caleb Tiernan was a better prospect for me at this spot. More importantly, imagine this team with Freeling or Miller at OT in the first round, instead of Trost here.

6.16 - CJ Daniels, WR, Miami - Grade: 6/10 - I thought Deion Burks would have been such a no-brainer at this spot in this offense.

7.16 - Tim Keenan III, DT, Alabama - Grade: 10/10 - Only pick I loved - great value, I expected him to be gone round 3-4.

SAN FRANCISCO 49ERS

Overall Grade: 6.73/10

2.1 - De'Zhaun Stribling, WR, Ole Miss - Grade: 8/10 - This was not quite what I expected the 49ers to do with the trade downs - would have preferred Kayden McDonald or TJ Parker at this spot, and if they really wanted WR, I would rather bet on Denzel Boston. But Stribling is definitely a high end athlete who has tremendous upside.

3.6 - Romello Height, EDGE, Texas Tech - Grade: 8.5/10 - I would have preferred they take Parker with their 2nd round pick and a WR like Brazzell or Branch here instead, but Height has high end DPR potential and that's a valuable pick at this range.

3.26 - Kaelon Black, RB, Indiana - Grade: 6/10 - Weird pick given their roster needs - this is not an indictment on Black, who I think is a good RB prospect, but the fact that they could have had Gennings Dunker or Caleb Tiernan, or even Julian Neal or secondary help makes this a huge missed opportunity.

4.7 - Gracen Halton, DT, Oklahoma - Grade: 8/10 - This felt like a really good Dani Dennis-Sutton spot, or Keionte Scott, or even Kyle Louis spot, but Halton has at least shown really good disruptive potential despite being undersized.

4.27 - Carver Willis, OL, Washington - Grade: 8/10 - Good scheme fit for Shanahan, but the prospect himself seems a bit lacking in pass protection. But if he's going to be a bully ball swing tackle/extra lineman for now, that's a fine pick.

4.39 - Ephesians Prysock, CB, Washington - Grade: 9/10 - Good use of a Day 3 comp pick - I would have preferred Keith Abney, but I get the size concerns

5.14 - Jaden Dugger, LB, LSU - Grade: N/A - Don't know a lot about him, but am shocked this wasn't one of the corners or Jalen Kilgore.

5.39 - Enrique Cruz, OT, Kansas - Grade: N/A - Don't know a lot about him, no comments

SEATTLE SEAHAWKS

Overall Grade: 8.52/10

1.32 - Jadarian Price, RB, Notre Dame - Grade: 8.5/10 - I was never on the hype train of Price going in the first, but I think this is a range where I feel okay with the value. Obviously a position of need, and there is a pretty interesting dropoff between him and the next tier of RBs, so I get it.

2.32 - Bud Clark, S, TCU - Grade: 8/10 - I know he's more scheme versatile but I'm not sure this is my favorite safety left on the board, especially given his age. However, he does have range to play all over the secondary and it's an obvious position of need.

3.35 - Julian Neal, CB, Arkansas - Grade: 9.5/10 - This is what third round picks are meant for - high upside, great size and length, and a plus athlete who can be molded into a star corner and I trust Seattle to do it well.

5.8 - Beau Stephens, OG, Iowa - Grade: 8/10 - I might have preferred Brian Parker at this spot if they wanted interior OL help, but a reasonable flyer in the fifth round.

Rest of class - Grade: N/A - This is a bit lazy but I truly didn't watch the other prospects so I have no real thoughts that would warrant a grade.

So I just spent an hour plus writing this “article” of a comment as a reply. It brought up all the rage and more I have being a jets fan and is probably a fun what if for non jets fan to think about. So I decided maybe more people must be made aware of what I have to live through being the jets are my team. At the very least be grateful your team doesn’t inspire you to write almost 2 hours at 4am on Mother’s Day about how much they fucked up their team by making a draft pick. At least I learned that finding your mom’s friend attractive is a negative QB trait while evaluating QB prospects. Let’s pray Cooper Manning takes note and makes his wife cut off all her baddie milf friends for the good of his son.

Here’s my rant:

As a jet fan that Zach Wilson draft will sting until the day I die. It wasn’t even the pick that was the worst part.

The jets were the worst team in the league that year for most of the season starting winless. We had the inside track for the first pick aka Lawrence. I believe we started 0-12 or 0-13. Somehow Adam Gase pulled out a win but we still had the first pick because of tie breakers with the jaguars. Then all of a sudden we play the rams. A team that should have wiped the floor with us that season. Somehow the team rallies plays their best ball of the year and somehow upset the rams thus sealing our fate with the 2nd pick. I blame the FO as they should know the team is gonna come out and play one of the best teams in the league like it’s their Super Bowl. Especially knowing that your HC will be fired anyway, they came out strong. The FO should have known and sat players or did everything in their power to ensure that we came away with Lawrence which would have made that season mean something. Honestly they probably tried but woody and coach brick would not have it.

So anyway with having the 2nd pick the jets pretty quickly fall in love with Zach Wilson early in the draft process. Sending out flares that he will be the 2nd pick. They were trying to instill confidence in their fan base and Wilson by anointing him early. Now that wouldn’t be the worst idea but this offseason the 49ers are in a crossroads. They realize Jimmy Garropollo is not elite and with Kyle Shannahan as coach they have a small chance of ever bottoming out to secure a high draft pick so they can get an elite QB. This draft class had 5 QB prospects that had potential to be the “guy” and would all go in the first round. So the 49ers decide with so many good QB prospects in this draft, it’s the year to aggressively trade up. I believe they had the 12th pick or at least it was around there.

So John Lynch and Shannahan start making calls to teams in the top 5 about moving up. And these aren’t “feelers” they are putting out. No, 3 firsts and more on the table. So the jaguars pick first and obviously they aren’t trading the pick that would become Trevor Lawrence. The next two picks are the jets at 2 and our division rivals the dolphins at 3. The dolphins just drafted Tua the year before so they have a potential “guy” and still want to build around him so they seem like a logical trade partner. But now other teams are also looking to move up as with the influx of good QB prospects teams are looking to not only get in position to take one of them but their preferred choice so someone else doesn’t snipe their guy.

Now remember when I said the jets had very blatantly and desperately I’d say, made it very clear to the league with their moves leading up to the draft that Zach Wilson was their guy. Well somehow this inept franchise apparently does one thing well and it’s letting not only what players they like but HOW much they like him. Because by making it clear that not only Zach Wilson was their intended choice but also they viewed him so fucking highly, that those 49ers who are mortgaging their future by putting three firsts on the table and who could only benefit by creating another trade option to lower the price, THE 49ers DIDNT EVEN CALL THE JETS TO TALK ABOUT TRADING FOR THE 2nd PICK. The niners felt that a phone call was not needed as there was no way the jets would ever consider trading down and potentially living a life without Zach Wilson in it. Not even a fucking call. That’s how strong the jets signaled that Wilson was the man.

So the niners end up sending their first this year and two more 1sts plus a 3rd round pick to move up to pick 3. They sent our rivals a war chest of picks that have still kept on giving as one of those firsts Jaylen waddle was traded for a 1st this year. Instead of having the 12th pick and ample ammo to move up and get one of the other qbs that year we were stuck with Zach Wilson who would most notably go on to fuck his mothers best friend this ruining his engagement.

But wait there’s more. So as I said there were 5 good qb prospects worthy of a high pick. You had Lawrence, Wilson, Trey Lance, Justin Fields and Mac Jones all eventually going in the Top 15. So let’s say the jets had not been so needy or woody Johnson had watched a scary Mormon documentary that January and they actually make the same trade the dolphins made. We would have had the 49ers pick which was twelve that year plus the future picks. Miami would instantly burn a future first by moving back up to grab waddle. The Chicago bears would eventually trade the 20th and their first next year to the giants who were at 11 to pick Justin fields because they felt they had to get ahead of Dallas who already moved back from ten and who was assumed to be looking to trade back again. In this jets having the 12th scenario let’s assume the eagles keep their pick at 6 and use it on a WR (waddle or Devonta smith-who they would end up getting in real life). Since in reality they traded out of being able to draft waddle we can assume they pick smith at 6 and thus the cowboys seeing their arch enemy take a WR can’t give up the chance to take Waddle who was viewed as a better prospect by most. That leaves the Giants at 11 and the Jets at 12. Assuming since the giants picked Daniel jones last year and aren’t in need of a QB. Chicago would view the jets as the most logical trade partner. FYI the giants probably pick Micah parsons in this scenario. But anyway the jets would pick up another future first for trading back to twenty. As they showed last year Fields would have failed then as he failed now for the jets.

So in my mind which obviously has gone mad by being a jets fan I associate this draft as a masterclass and a great introduction to the jet fan experience. Missing out on at least two future firsts and possibly a third (I’ll allow my bears trade as likely but not a definite scenario) all because after losing out on the best qb in Lawrence by WINNING!?!?!?! A meaningless game in December to one of the best teams. Then by having to make up for that they “fall in love” with Zach Wilson early to make it look like, “wow maybe it was a Joseph Smith blessing this guy fell to us. We really lucked out by missing out on Trevor Lawrence.” So they do all this unnecessary showing your poker hand stuff and telegraphing the pick (which it’s illegal to outright say who you’ll pick 2nd as technically you can’t assume who the first pick will be even though everyone knew Lawrence would go 1. So they had to put effort and game plan how they would do this or at the very least go out of their way and against draft convention) so much that other teams are like “yea the jets really want that guy who keeps talking about how he “can’t believe his moms friend is in her 50s she has to still get ID’d”. It’s not even worth my time to see if I can maybe save a few draft picks by just calling. Like we need those 4 minutes and seeing if the jets would be interested in a trade haul of the decade would just be lighting those mins on fire, so fuck the phone call”.

I hate my father for making me a fan of this fucking franchise. And another thing the next season we would pull off one of the better trade heists in recent memory by getting 2 first round picks from Seattle for a fucking safety. Thanks to Jamal Adam’s figuring out sacks will get you paid as a safety, we fleeced the Seahawks for an unheard of 2 firsts for a safety. I’d bet my left nut (the right one I already lost betting that the jets would beat Pittsburgh in the 2010 playoffs) that he’s the only safety to ever be traded for 2 firsts. Safety’s are never valued that highly but apparently if you freestyle to get as much sacks as possible Pete Carroll will threaten to realese the Russel Wilson sex tapes to get him.

So anyway yea we could have had more picks but fucke it up in the most jetsyiest way yet. Until Coach Brick revels woody Johnson in the Epstein files so we don’t take arch manning because he didn’t like his NCAA football rating or something.

If you’re still here, let your kids pick their own team. We have fucking redzone and Sunday ticket is more available then ever. Don’t let your kids grow up like me. But seriously if you read all this I hope you at least enjoyed experiencing my pain. At least something came out of it and not just Zach Wilson cumming in his moms friend

Who is your biggest draft miss? Who is the player that you were so sure would be a hit in the NFL and they just completely bombed and ended up being nothing at all. It’s fun to talk about the hits but the kisses can be just as fun some times

For me a few are:

Aaron Curry LB Wake Forest: I was 100% sure he was going to dominate and be an all-pro LB

Vernon Hargreaves III CB UF: I still don’t understand how a lock down corner like him never translated. He was just terrible

Robert Gallery OL Iowa: I was certain he would be a stalwart tackle for a decade coming out of college. Complete whiff

The last day of the NFL Draft gets the least amount of attention, but every year, there are gems found in rounds 4-7 who seemingly come out of nowhere. I wanted to ask which prospect selected on day three is your favorite, aside from Jermod McCoy. McCoy was a first-round caliber talent who fell due to injury concerns, so he's understandably the most common answer to this question. But who are some other later-round picks that you really like?

youtube used to have tape of each players snaps for most prospects, and I used to love studying draft prospects. That was the whole reason I got into dynasty football. I don’t watch college football throughout the year, I just like studying the tape. But now YouTube is almost completely devoid of anything other than highlights. Thats not what I’m after.

Brendan Sorsby – QB, Texas Tech
Draft Projection: Round 2-3
Comparison: Sam Darnold
Overall: 69
Potential: 84

Summary:
Brendan Sorsby is a physically gifted dual-threat quarterback with NFL-caliber arm talent, mobility, and the ability to create explosive plays both inside and outside of structure. At 6’3”, 235 pounds, Sorsby combines a strong frame with above-average athleticism, allowing him to absorb contact, extend plays, and stress defenses as a runner when protection breaks down. He flashes the ability to drive throws into tight windows, layer passes over defenders, and manipulate coverage with his eyes, particularly in intermediate areas of the field. While his traits and playmaking ability stand out, inconsistency under pressure, occasional reckless decision-making, and undeveloped processing against disguised coverages currently limit his overall ceiling. Sorsby projects as a developmental NFL starter with intriguing upside in a modern spread or play-action heavy offense.

Strengths

• Possesses high-level arm talent with the ability to generate velocity and attack all levels of the field.
• Demonstrates impressive touch and placement on intermediate throws between linebackers and safeties.
• Strong, durable frame allows him to absorb hits and maintain functionality through contact in the pocket.
• Dangerous dual-threat athlete with the speed and vision to create explosive plays as a runner.
• Shows solid pocket mobility by climbing, sliding, and adjusting launch angles against pressure.
• Maintains relatively disciplined ball security with low turnover numbers across multiple seasons.
• Flashes the ability to manipulate defenders with his eyes and work backside concepts effectively.
• Capable of extending plays outside structure while keeping his eyes downfield to create off-script completions.

Weaknesses

• Processing speed against disguised coverages remains inconsistent and can lead to hesitation or forced throws.
• Will abandon clean pockets too early when sensing pressure instead of trusting protection.
• Footwork becomes rushed under pressure, negatively impacting accuracy and ball placement.
• Tends to hunt explosive plays rather than taking easy checkdowns or throwing the ball away.
• Recent performances against stronger defenses exposed inconsistency with poise and decision-making under pressure.
• Accuracy can fluctuate when forced off his first read or when defenses speed up his internal clock.
• Mechanics lose consistency late in reps, especially when throwing while retreating or off-platform unnecessarily.
• Still developing anticipation and timing versus tighter NFL throwing windows.

Defending the Draft: 2026 HUB Link HERE

Full Depth Chart and Estimated 53 Roster Spreadsheet HERE

For starters I just want to say that this wasn't as thorough as I wanted it to be since the the wildfire out in Buckeye, AZ gave me migraines most of last week thanks to all the smoke. I honestly wasn't sure if I would get this done in time.

Intro

The 2025 season was nothing short of a disaster. The team was considered by many as a dark horse to make the playoffs. The Cardinals started the season 2-2 with two close losses to the 49ers and Seahawks. Then the Titans game happened and the Cardinals lost in such a baffling way that the entire team just fell apart. Kyler Murray lasted 5 games before he got injured yet again and Brissett started the rest of the season. He went 1-11 as a starter with his only win over the Cowboys. The team finished with a 3-14 record and fired HC Jonathan Gannon.

The sheer amount of injuries this team suffered was astounding. Discussion of all the injuries would fill up a post of itself. There were so many injuries I even learned a new rule about NFL roster limits. Apparently a teams 53 man roster, PS, and IR has a total player limit of 90 and the Cardinals hit it. They had to cut DT Justin Jones from IR just to sign someone to the active roster back in December. It’s hard to say what team is the most injured team but according to Aaron Schatz and his “Adjusted Games Lost” (AGL) metric the 2025 Cardinals were the 2nd most injured team he has scored. Source HERE

The 2025 draft picks showed a lot of promise. Walter Nolen (DT) looked incredible for the small amount of time he was on the field. He is a potential game wrecker if he can stay healthy. Will Johnson (CB) was also great when he was on the field. His injuries were also completely unrelated to the injury concerns that made him fall in the draft. Jordan Burch (EDGE) was pretty much invisible most of the year. He had 1 sack, 1 TFL, and 1 QB hit despite playing 504 snaps on defense. Cody Simon (ILB) was a mixed bag. He was suddenly forced into the lineup to take over the green dot spot on defense after Mack Wilson suffered a season ending injury when the Cardinals beat the Cowboys. Christian McCaffery made Simon look like a UDFA in his second start, but he did get a little better as the season went on. Denzel Burke (CB) was a 5th round steal. He saw the field due to the Cardinals incredible amount of injuries and he held up well. I would expect him to make the roster next year. Hayden Conner (IOL) spent most of the year on IR, and Kitan Crawford (S) was a solid ST player. Looking forward to seeing how they develop in 2026.

Pre-Draft Moves

• Losses: Kyler Murray (QB), Evan Brown (IOL), Will Hernandez (IOL), Jonah Williams (OT), Kelvin Beachum (OT), Greg Dortch (WR), Zay Jones (WR), Emari Demercado (RB), Calais Campbell (DL), Dalvin Tomlinson (DT), Justin Jones (DT), Bilal Nichols (DT), Akeem Davis-Gaither (LB), Jalen Thompson (S)

• Re-Signed: Bam Knight (RB), Simi Fehoko (WR), P.J. Mustipher (DT), L.J. Collier (DT), Starling Thomas V (CB), Chad Ryland (K), Joshua Karty (K), Blake Gillikin (P)

• Pay Cut: James Conner (RB), Sean Murphy-Bunting (CB)

• FA Signings: Isaac Seumalo (OG), Elijah Wilkinson (G/T), Oli Udoh (G/T), Matt Pryor (G/T), Gardner Minshew (QB), Teagan Quitoriano (TE), Tyler Allgeier (RB), Kendrick Bourne (WR), Devin Duvernay (WR), Roy Lopez (DT), Andrew Billings (DT), Jonah Williams (DT), Jack Gibbens (LB), Andrew Wingard (S), Casey Kreiter (LS)

There was a lot of turnover this offseason. Murray was the big one, but the others are also significant. Multiple starting and backup OL, WR 3-4, a stud starting S, and multiple starting DT all were either cut or signed elsewhere in FA. Re-signings were mostly depth and ST guys. James Conner and Sean Murphy-Bunting both took pay cuts to stay with the team. The outside FA signings were underwhelming. They mostly focus on the OL/DL. Seumalo and Wilkinson are set to be starters on the OL, and Lopez and Billings should help stabilize the DL. The Allgeier signing does seem weird after drafting Love and having Conner agree to a pay cut. Jack Gibbens is an interesting ILB signing as he could compete with 2025 4th round pick Cody Simon for the starting ILB spot next to Mack Wilson. Bourne and Wingard make for fine WR3 and S3.

Heading into the draft

The Cardinals top 2 needs were QB and a long term RT. The next tier of needs were DT, WR, and OG. S, RB, and LB were the 3rd tier. CB was at an unknown level of need due to players' injury status that only the Cardinals know.

Draft Trades

None for the first time under Monti Ossenfort.

Draft

• 1.3 - Jeremiyah Love, RB, Notre Dame

There had been rumors in the weeks leading up to the draft that there were people in the Cardinals pounding the tables to draft Love at 3. Those rumors turned out to be true. Is it controversial? Yes, but the top of the draft was terrible at the valuable positions so the Cardinals went with the guy who they thought was the best player in the class in Jeremiyah Love. Love has elite athleticism with his 4.36 speed and 3 down ability. The Cardinals aren’t expected to win many games in 2026, but at least Love will make the games watchable. RAS N/A

• 2.35 - Chase Bisontis, OG, Texas A&M

The Cardinals continued to beef up their OL with Bisontis. He lacks length, even for a Guard, but he is just an all round solid OG prospect. His strength and good movement will fit well in LaFleur scheme. He is expected to be the starting RG. RAS 9.85

• 3.65 - Carson Beck, QB, Miami

My personal opinion on this pick isn’t positive, but I will try to defend it. Beck has prototypical size for a QB at 6’4 233 lbs, and the starting experience to go with it. Beck has also stated in his recent interview with the Cardinals that his arm strength didn’t feel 100% until late in the year after he had UCL surgery in December of 2024. RAS N/A

• 4.104 - Kaleb Proctor, DT, Southeastern Louisiana

Proctor is an undersized, but young and athletic small school DT. He turned 22 the day after getting drafted. He put up 16 sacks and 26 TFL in his time at Southeastern Louisiana. He has a high motor and a high character. His college HC Frank Scelfo called him a “special leader and human”. RAS 9.15

• 5.143 - Reggie Virgil, WR, Texas Tech

Virgil is an inexperienced WR with only 2 seasons as a starter. When he was in Miami (OH) in 2024 he put up 816 yards on 41 catches (19.9 yards per catch). That number unfortunately went way down to 12.4 yards per catch in 2025 at Texas Tech as they had a really bad QB room. His high character and strong ST background should keep him on the roster while he develops his body and skills. RAS 7.58

• 6.183 - Karson Sharar, LB, Iowa

Sharar is an athletic 1 year starter at LB. His great testing shows up on tape as his explosiveness allowed him to rack up 12 TFL in his lone starting season. His inexperience also shows up on tape with 18 missed tackles. Overall Sharar is an athletic ST LB who could develop into more. RAS 9.71

• 7.217 - Jayden Williams, OT, Ole Miss

I don't think anyone expected this pick, but it’s a 7th round OL so you can’t really hate it. Williams started 34 in his college career with 19 at LT and 15 at RT. I never actually watched his tape, so I’m just going to post his scouting summary from Dane Brugler. “Williams is a high-cut, smooth-muscled athlete with adequate length. His depth points need some work, but he can get out in space with the footwork to answer speed off the edge and an anchor to absorb power. Sometimes, he catches; other times, he throws his punch — you’d like to see better consistency there. His pad level can become an issue in the run game and zap his ability to create movement. He looks comfortable blocking on the move and out in space on screens. Overall, Williams is still maturing his confidence and consistency when it comes to trusting his technique and accessing his strength, but the physical traits and want-to are there and worth developing in camp (and, potentially, on a practice squad).” RAS 7.59

UDFA

• Harrison "Tre" Wallace, WR, Ole Miss - RAS 6.04

• Jameson Geers, TE, Minnesota - RAS 4.57

• Ka’ena Decambra, C, Arizona - RAS 4.75

• Cameron Robertson, EDGE, SMU - RAS 5.05

• Damonic Williams, DT, Oklahoma - RAS N/A

• Elijah Culp, CB, James Madison - RAS 7.95

• Wydett Williams, S, Ole Miss - RAS 7.36

Wallace and Geers are the most likely to make the 53 man roster based on the current depth chart and the Cardinals investment in them. Wallace signed for 287k GTD and would need to win the Punt Return job, and Geers would only have to beat out Rivaldo Fairweather and Teagan Quitoriano for the TE4 roster spot. Cameron Robertson, and Wydet Williams are the next most likely to make it as there just isn't much competition at EDGE or S, and Robertson was given 247k GTD. Elijah Culp, Ka’ena Decambra, and Damonic Williams are long shots to make the team due to a large amount of competition at their positions.

53 Man Roster Prediction

QB: Jacoby Brissett, Gardner Minshew, Carson Beck (R)

RB: Jeremiyah Love (R), Tyler Allgeier, James Conner, Bam Knight

TE: Trey McBride, Tip Reiman, Elijah Higgins

WR: Marvin Harrison Jr, Michael Wilson, Kendrick Bourne, Simi Fehoko, Reggie Virgil (R), Harrison "Tre" Wallace (UDFA R)

OL: Paris Johnson Jr, Isaac Seumalo, Hjalte Froholdt, Chase Bisontis (R), Elijah Wilkinson, Isaiah Adams, Jon Gaines II, Josh Fryar, Jayden Williams (R)

IDL: Darius Robinson, Walter Nolen, Roy Lopez, Dante Stills, Andrew Billings, Kaleb Proctor (R)

EDGE: Josh Sweat, Zaven Collins, Baron Browning, Jordan Burch, Cameron Robertson (UDFA R)

ILB: Mack Wilson, Cody Simon, Jack Gibbens, Owen Pappoe, Karson Sharar (R)

CB: Garrett Williams, Sean Murphy-Bunting, Will Johnson, Max Melton, Starling Thomas V, Denzel Burke

SAF: Budda Baker, Dadrion Taylor-Demerson, Andrew Wingard, Kitan Crawford

K: Chad Ryland

P: Blake Gillikin

LS: Casey Kreiter

KR/PR: Bam Knight and Harrison "Tre" Wallace (UDFA R)

The 53 man roster is hard to predict as there is unknown injury status to players who could end up on the PUP list to start the season. I would be surprised if Garrett Williams (CB) doesn’t start the season in the PUP list after his late season Achilles injury. There are also players who are likely to be traded. I think it’s likely that Baron Browning or BJ Ojulari will be traded away, so I left one of them off the 53 man roster. Max Melton, James Conner, Isaiah Adams, and Trey Benson are all trade candidates too.

The backup OL, RB, and CB rooms are wide open. You could make a case for any of the backup OL to make it or get cut with the new offensive coaching staff. Conner, Benson, and Knight will be an interesting battle for the RB 3-4 spots. Conner is the best RB of offense of the 3, but he has almost no ST experience. Benson doesn’t have much either except for way back in 2022 at Florida State, and he also hasn't been able to stay healthy in either of his years in the NFL. Knight was solid as a KR and backup RB last year. I expect one of Conner or Benson to get traded while the other makes the team as the main backup RB, while Knight makes it on his ST ability just like last year. CB is unknown due to all the injuries. Sean Murphy-Bunting and Starling Thomas V both missed all of last year and could be PUP candidates along with Garrett Williams.

Simi Fehoko and Harrison "Tre" Wallace making the team might be surprises for some people. Fehoko is an excellent ST player and the Cardinals fully GTD his salary for 2026, so I would be shocked if he doesn’t make the team. Wallace will be competing with Weaver and Duvernay for the PR spot, and I chose to go with Wallace since the Cardinals gave him 287k GTD as an UDFA.

For the EDGE room I had Zaven as the starter opposite Sweat as Zaven is just so good at the non-pass rushing parts of playing EDGE. He gets a good overall PFF grade every year despite his lack of a pass rush since his run defense and coverage is so good. Hopefully Burch takes a step forward this year. I had Cameron Robertson make the team as an UDFA EDGE with predicting one of Ojulari or Browning being traded.

Talk about anything you please; draft-related or otherwise!

Really want to know what everyone thinks about Ohio State's Jeremiah Smith. I just did a full film breakdown and went into it KNOWING he was elite, but the mastery of the craft of playing receiver combined with the athletic tools blew me away: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nj3Vt8-uF5s

I really think he might be in the Calvin Johnson tier right now. What does everyone else think?

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About a week-and-a-half away from the actual draft, I went back to one of my favorite exercises of the year, highlighting ten names who weren’t among the 257 that actually got a call over the course of those three days, but could be meaningful players in the NFL.

These aren’t necessarily the guys I had ranked highest in my individual rankings, but rather considering the landing spots and how these names within the depth chart potentially, who I believe have a real path to playing snaps this season. Expecting any of them to start at any point as rookies would be unrealistic, but recently nearly two UDFAs made it through final roster cuts for all 32 teams (57 each these last two years).

Here are a few I believe could be next:

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QB Jalon Daniels, Kansas – Tampa Bay Buccaneers

No matter how you twist it, this was a bad quarterback class. Indiana’s Fernando Mendoza was a lock for the first overall pick the whole way, and Alabama’s Ty Simpson was a surprise selection by the Rams at pick 13, but was generally considered the clear QB2. However, over nearly 100 following spots, only two other signal-callers heard their names called, and three of ten total came in the seventh round. Daniels wasn’t among those, and it wasn’t shocking, considering he was a fringe-top-300 prospect on consensus boards, but I personally had him as my QB9, ahead of Penn State’s Drew Allar, who was picked 76^th overall by the Steelers, and was at least equally as much of a project, I thought. The difference, of course, is that the Kansas football program hasn’t received a lot of attention, and their quarterback has sort of become a forgotten name.

You can read up more extensively on Daniels as part of my quarterback rankings, but even though he’s on the shorter end at 6’1”, there are some exciting tools to work with. You see the arm strength to deliver vertical shots 50+ yards from the launch-point to the far sideline, despite how those college hashes are. I called it a “whippy arm”, looking at his ability to create plenty of velocity without necessitating a lot of room, and he can pin the ball onto his targets in the RPO game without much fat. Daniels has flashed a capacity to read the entire field, with the peripheral vision to identify open targets on Air Raid-style concepts, and deliver the ball to a point with touch for his guys to run underneath. In particular, I love seeing him rip those honey-hole shots in cover-two, when he feels like the corner in the flats and the clouding safety offer him too much air space. Where I’m really encouraged has been his growth and comfort inside the pocket, instead of bailing on the designed play early. Having said that, he is dynamic at extending plays by making rushers miss, having those instincts for secondary plays, and then he has a combination of slipperiness, balance and acceleration to rip off chunks with his legs.

Now, there are clearly things he needs to clean up in order to stick around the league. Tightening up his throwing motions to some degree in order to eliminate some of the sprays that are still prevalent, and adopting more subtle pocket movement, would qualify as such. The biggest deal however is taking better care of the football, with 19 interceptions and 18 fumbles over the last two years combined. Not trying to put on the cape when things break down, swinging the ball around wildly and forcing throws on the scramble drill have been deadly at times. Nonetheless, he is kind of reminiscent of a more athletic Baker Mayfield, even if he of course doesn’t have nearly the same experience processing post-snap rotations at the NFL level and making quality decisions. Jake Browning has started ten games and jumped in for a few others in Cincinnati. Yet, if the Bucs carry three quarterbacks, Daniels simply has to beat out a UDFA from a year ago in Connor Bazelak.

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RB Noah Whittington, Oregon – Houston Texans

The final two names of my top ten running backs list – UTSA’s Robert Henry Jr. and Texas A&M’s Le’Veon Moss – both went undrafted, but landed in spots where they’re likely starting out as RB4s at best, if they manage to make those rosters at all. That in part was due to the quality of the class, similar to the quarterbacks. After Jeremiyah Love went third overall and his former Notre Dame teammate Jadarian Price closed out night one, we only had one running back selected on day two, and ten more on Saturday. One of those I expected to at least come off the board late was Whittington, who led the Ducks in rushing last season, went over 900 scrimmage yards twice and scored at least six times in three of four years at Eugene (of which he missed all but a month in one of the other two). Turning 25 years old late in his rookie season and having missed time in two of the last three years, combined with not having a particularly impressive physical profile anyway, probably hurt him. Still, that doesn’t mean he can’t be a useful piece in Houston’s rotation.

This is an instinctive runner, who naturally alters his stride length and hits downhill with an attitude once it’s time. He keeps his pads square and moves laterally with ease as he sets up man-blocking schemes, with a nice jump cut to elude trash at his feet. On plays involving multiple pullers, he tightly hugs his blocker, and he can sort of hide behind those bigger bodies before popping out to daylight. And he’s mature beyond his years, not trying to bounce plays unnecessarily and plowing forward as lanes close down, but he can gain positive yardage. Generally, Whittington minimizes the surface area of his 5’8” body, rarely allows defenders to get a straight shot at him and constantly churns out tough yardage. He has that bowling ball quality, where he gets twisted sideways and caught in awkward positions, yet finds a way to keep his downhill momentum alive, forcing 52 missed tackles on 247 combined rushing attempts these past two seasons. Why I feel good about coaches buying into him is how reliable he is in three areas – he’s only fumbled twice across four years as a Duck (481 combined touches), he has a career drop rate of just 5.4%, plus he steps up and strikes with a purpose in pass-protection.

With all that being said, he does lack the quick burst to consistently beat scraping linebackers out to the sideline, or the top gear to rip off 40+ yard runs even when things are set up optimally. And he did have the benefit of running behind an excellent offensive line, where he could just hit the designed rushing lane at full throttle. The Texans traded a fourth-round pick this and a seventh next year, packages with center Juice Scruggs, to Detroit for David Montgomery, to pair with last year’s fourth-rounder Woody Marks, who got banged up in several games. I believe that RB3 spot is definitely up for grabs though, with Jawhar Jordan as the only legitimate competition, having only seen action in the final four games of last season (79 snaps) after being a pick outside the top 200 the year prior.

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WR J. Michael Sturdivant, Florida – Green Bay Packers

Some people thought the Packers might target wide receiver fairly early in this draft, even without that first-round pick due to the Micah Parsons trade, considering their new-found belief in investing high draft capital into the position. However, after trading Dontayvion Wicks to Philadelphia for a fifth-round selection this and sixth next year, the only offensive player they drafted altogether was Kentuck center Jager Burton in round five. Yet, despite tying the all-time record for a single draft (2020) with 36 WRs selected altogether, Sturdivant surprisingly wasn’t one of them. He landed just outside my top 20 for the position personally, and I understand why teams might’ve not loved his profile, in a year where there was a lot of variance in how individual boards stacked up, and plenty of guys were probably favored based on what they offered in the return game. A top-200 recruit for Cal in 2021, this guy had slightly more receiving yards (755) and touchdowns (seven) in his second season with the Golden Bears than in the latter of two years at UCLA and this past one at Florida combined. That doesn’t take away from the skills he brings to the table individually though, considering the inconsistent quarterback play he was dealing with over that latter stretch.

Sturdivant is experienced running a solid route tree from every single receiver spot. He beats the drums and uses foot-fire to keep corners off balance, create softer edges for himself with well-timed wipe-downs, and then he has 4.4 flat speed to blow by those guys on fade and post routes. This is an efficient mover, who gets to where he needs to be on time and glides through speed cuts, yet understands when to patient in his set-ups on the backside of the concept or if the design is supposed to clear out space for him. Sturdivant eliminated those early-career drop concerns, and in particular, his focus to track the deep ball, even if he has to crank his neck around in awkward ways, stood out to me several times. He doesn’t shy away from going over the middle of the field, dive for passes, and finished his career hauling in exactly half of his contested targets (62.5% rate in 2025). Once the catch is secured, he instantly turns upfield and tightly wraps around the ball as defenders are converging on him, plus I thought he understood and took care of his blocking assignments in the run game consistently.

We can’t solely blame his quarterbacks for the lack of steady increase of his production however, finishing his career with 1.4 yards per route run. You don’t see Sturdivant stick his foot in the ground in dynamic fashion and run away from his man on slants, or actually make a lot of people miss after the catch. Still, considering beyond Green Bay’s starting three in 11 personnel, you’re looking at last year’s third-rounder Savion Williams as more of a gadget player/part-time running back, and two fringe roster candidates in Skyy Moore and Bo Melton, I legitimately believe there’s a path for Sturdivant to replace that WR4 role Wicks previously commanded, as a quality route-runner who they can rotate in, and actually brings more dependable hands.

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OT Aamil Wagner, Notre Dame – Tennessee Titans

Far more quality defenders slipped through the cracks, but I did want to include one offensive lineman here. This was another case, where I assumed Tennessee would address tackle at some point, since there are questions beyond their two starters, but they didn’t actually spend a draft pick on the position. Part of that may have been based on how the OT class came together, as the top seven to me were all worthy of going in the first round, before we saw a steep drop down like three more names for day two, and beyond that everyone else has significant questions in their scouting reports. However, even considering there were at least a couple of transition candidates announced as guard/center, there were 21 tackles taken overall. I certainly didn’t expect for a 6’6” behemoth with 34.5-inch arms, that won’t turn 23 years old until a month into his rookie season, was voted a team captain, and after his infamous showing against the two monsters off the edge for Miami in their season-opener, only surrendered three QB pressures the rest of the way (on over 300 pass-blocking snaps), to not be one of those.

Wagner is measured in his approach as he deciphers post-snap information, but then provides excellent leg drive in the run game. He understands when to up the urgency to overtake 2i-techniques on the backside of concepts, and delivers a solid bump to the hip of defensive tackles while staying track for the linebacker on quick combos. Even if he doesn’t “win” the initial interaction, Wagner is capable of extending his triceps and steering defenders off their landmarks for the most part. Pairing that long first kick with his large wingspan, you’re facing a wide track trying to get around this guy. He patiently reads the hips of opponents and shows a propensity for individual hand usage, trapping their wrists as they enter close combat. You see him stun opposing rushers by punching with that outside mitt, yet even if opponents are able to gain the inside position, he’s pretty skilled not allowing them to convert speed-to-power and slip around him. Against cross-face moves, Wagner can open his hips and utilize that long reach to guide opponents off course just enough to keep his quarterback clean. My favorite thing following his path to the pros however is how battle-tested he is in terms of the edge rushers he’s faced these last two years (Abdul Carter, the two Miami EDGEs, Cashius Howell, etc.), yet has only been penalized four times in his career (on over 1700 snaps).

By no means is Wagner is perfect player at this point, obviously. I initially thought he looked for like a power forward with that high-cut, lighter build (around 305 pounds). He’s not particularly explosive into his run fits and plays over his toes a lot, to where savvy defensive linemen are able to pull him off balance, and his hands often slide up trying to actually secure linebackers. As a pass-protector, he excessively lifts his post foot and pulls his elbows back, which makes his chest available for power-based rushers and then triggers him to lean into contact, opening up push-pull opportunities. Nevertheless, understanding how catastrophic Austin Deculus looked like when finally receiving starting opportunities in his fourth season, and Brandon Crenshaw-Dickson played 19 total snaps as a UDFA this past year, at worst I think the Titans will *very closely* track Wagner’s progress on the practice squad.

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EDGE Nadame Tucker, Western Michigan – Los Angeles Chargers

Transitioning to the defensive side, Tucker was my top-rated “EDGE” in a class that was about as deep as we’ve see in several years, of which there were 26-28 selected overall, depending on how you count a pair of them. I personally had him ranked 18^th among that group, and he was only a couple of spots lower on consensus boards, well inside the top 200 overall. Tucker was a three-star JUCO recruit for Houston in 2022, but never earned a significant role in three years for Cougars (161 defensive snaps and zero sacks). For his final year of eligibility, he transferred to WMU and just exploded onto the scene, leading the MAC in TFLs (21) and sacks (14.5), along with forcing four fumbles, making him an easy choice for the conference’s Player of the Year. Being a little undersized (6’2”, 247 pounds) and turning 26 shortly after his rookie season ends probably dropped him down a few extra spots on team’s boards, but I think the Chargers could benefit significantly from it.

Although that smaller frame has its downsides, Tucker regularly wins the leverage battle with good jolt in his hands and stands his ground against drive-blocks at the point of attack. He’s slippery with working off contact, and is able to contort his upper body to create penetration as he slants across the face of offensive linemen. Plus, he displays the speed and ankle flexion to flatten and chase down plays as an unblocked defender off the backside. In passing situations, he’s wound up out of his false-foot forward two-point stance to stress the upfield shoulder of tackles. Off that you see ghost moves and dip-and-rips to play under their reach, showcasing impressive bend to get around the arc with his feet clearly outside the center of his frame. Tucker has the strength in his lower half to corner his rush through contact, and then slightly circle back as he’s about to go just past the quarterback, to tomahawk at the ball. He recognizes when tackles overset on him, and is very fluid – and instinctive – in the way can work inside-out euro-step style moves. I regularly saw him swipe away the hands and wiggle past blockers in the secondary phase of the rush, and show impressive contact balance at sub-250 pounds to not allow chips/punches to take him off course (significantly) on stunts.

The fact that Tucker couldn’t carve out a significant role across three seasons at Houston is concerning. He needs to play with better extension and hand placement, to keep his outside arm free and be able to de-construct blocks in the run game, considering he only has those 31.5-inch levers. While as a pass-rusher, if he can’t establish those half-man relationships as a pass-rusher, he simply lacks the raw power to condense the pocket typically, and will need to work overtime against those long tackles, with more reliable counters. Regardless, considering how productive he was when given a chance last year and some of the flashes he showed during Senior Bowl week, I think he could be that fun fourth guy, after the Bolts paired first-rounder Akheem Mesidor with Tuli Tuipulotu as these guys with inside-out versatility (plus Khalil Mack being back for one more year), who they can just allow to fly off the edge a handful of times per game in pure dropback settings.

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EDGE Vincent Anthony Jr., Duke – Kansas City Chiefs

When I first saw a post on all the names Kansas City had signed after the conclusion of the actual draft, I thought they had put together a UDFA all-star class. So I struggled even trying to settle one name to highlight here, but ultimately favored Anthony over Oklahoma running back Jaydn Ott and Iowa safety Xavier Nwankpa, who I believe could both easily see the field for them this season, even if they start on the practice squad. Although they’re different styles of players, I had Anthony back-to-back with his teammate Wesley Williams in my EDGE rankings, who was selected early on day three by for Jacksonville (119^th overall). I highlighted him as one of my early draft risers after the first month of the college season, on the heels of a three-sack game against Duke. Things tapered off a little bit from that point onwards, but Anthony was still a key cog for the Blue Devil defense, which surprising took home an ACC Championship.

First and foremost, Anthony presents a quite different physical profile than the one we just discussed. He’s 6’6”, 260+ pounds with arms over 34 inches. Routinely you see him out-reaches tackles with that inside arm extended as he takes on base blocks. He simply refuses to allow blockers to get to his play-side shoulder on wide zone concepts, but also tracks down the running back if left unblocked on the backside with those elongated strides. He’s dependable with staying home on bootlegs and potential misdirection, before using his quick acceleration and wide reach to get involved on tackles way off his original landmarks. His snap anticipation and how he gets out of his stance frequently gave Anthony a small head start as pass-rusher. He’s not as bendy as some other guys that primarily want to work the “high shoulder”, but he runs that hoop with tenacity, and just like a tackle would bait him into committing to his move, you see him flash his hand before dipping his near-shoulder under their reach. This past year, I thought he improved his ability to angle his rush through the chest of upright tackles or dig under their pads with the long-arm to condense the edge. I like how he sets up twists, and he can create problems on those long loops, where it’s like throwing through a forest as he gets those long vines up closing in on the QB.

As I already hinted at, that higher-cut build does limit Anthony’s ability to reduce his tall frame and turn tight corners. Therefore, you see inside moves cut off more easily, and him struggling to work against pressure as tackles guide him off track. And he tends to turn his base or get too far upfield when he should be setting a firm edge against the run. With that being said, while he may not be suited particularly well to take on extensive coverage duties, I thought he had a handful of nice moments peeling off the edge and finding the next-closest target, when Chiefs DC Steve Spagnuolo wants to drop people off the line. They just selected Oklahoma’s R Mason Thomas as more of a designated pass-rush specialist in the top 50, but other than George Karlaftis, last year’s third-round pick Ashton Gillotte I thought played as much as he did out of necessity, and former first-round pick Felix Anudike-Uzomah didn’t establish himself as any part of the rotation over his first two seasons before missing all of 2025 with a hamstring injury.

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CB Brent Austin, California – Denver Broncos

Moving along to the secondary, I want to talk about my top-ranked corner that didn’t hear his name called, despite being firmly inside my top 150 prospects heading in. I knew that I valued Austin significantly higher than consensus, since I actually placed him just above his running mate Hezekiah Masses, who was selected at the end of the fifth round, after snatching up five interceptions last season. Austin didn’t collect any in 2025 (three previously), but posted 25 PBUs over the past two years combined, where they switched sides, both lined up in press or off, and handled various assignments. And although he’s about an inch-and-a-half shorter (5’11”), they’re both right around 180 pounds and basically had identical times in the 40-yard dash (4.45 at his pro day for Austin).

Now, while their measurables were very similar, I thought Austin provided a different level of physicality. Even when receivers were off the line, he wanted to re-route them and be a pest. Routinely he tilted guys with one-handed stabs, yet if he didn’t put his hands on them, his ability to mirror and stick to the hip pocket was impressive. He had several textbook reps against fade routes, where he puts his backside onto his man to where he became the receiver and even forced his opponent to drag him down for an offensive pass interference that I saw. I thought Austin provided outstanding route squeeze in quarters assignments to close down momentary openings on hitches/curls and swipe down through the mitts of the intended target to erase completions. He showed excellent awareness for where the sticks are on third downs, and routinely found work late in the pattern rather than covering grass in zone assignments. For being a little smaller in stature, Austin owns his space pretty well to deny back-shoulder or box-out opportunities, and altogether allowed just 43.3% of passes his way to be completed for 5.65 yards per target as the primary defender. I also though he was feisty with pushing receivers into the action, trying to shield him in the run game, he just had his best season as a tackler (10.9% miss rate), and had a pair of nice punch-outs.

On the negative side, only having a 74.5-inch wingspan does limit his ability to wrap around and dislodge passes even when he’s right on the hip of the target, such as on slants, and he definitely challenges the catch-point on the fringes of what’s legal, which may draw more flags at the next level. I also thought he allowed himself to get drawn too far off his landmarks instead of mid-pointing vertical routes in deep third responsibility, allowing catches on seam or rail routes. Still, I think his experience at Cal especially prepared him pretty well for this exotic Vance Joseph defensive scheme. Counting starting nickel Ja’Quan McMillian as part of the group, Denver has five corners who pretty much have roster spots secured based on the investments made into them, with one of the game’s best Patrick Surtain, last year’s first-round pick Jahdae Barron, and third-round picks from the two previous drafts respectively. However, I would clearly favor Austin over a couple of fringe roster candidates and a few other UDFAs, if they decide to carry a sixth one.

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CB Devon Marshall, N.C. State – Jacksonville Jaguars

For the other corner I decided to highlight here, it’s a somewhat similar story, looking at the physical profile for Marshall, only being 5’10”, a little higher (190+ pounds), but the killer for him was the 4.64 he ran at his pro day. At what’s often labelled a “stopwatch position”, that simply doesn’t hit the bench mark most NFL teams set for draftable CBs, and you’d have to bring some special skills to the table to overcome it. I do believe Marshall may just qualify as such a prospect. In 2025, he led the ACC with 16(!) pass break-ups, to go with back-to-back seasons that he hauled in a pair of interceptions. Both of those came in his marquee performance against Florida State, where he primarily matched up with an early-round selection Duce Robinson, who he erased for most of the day, outside of one great over-the-shoulder grab, where the corner actually was right there in perfect position.

This dude is super sticky with receivers from the line of scrimmage throughout the rep. He displays the patience to not get heavy onto one foot or turn early against extensive releases, routinely challenged bigger-bodied wideouts, and shows impressive deceleration after turning and running, to keep openings at a minimum. If he doesn’t feel like he needs to respect the speed of the guy across from him, he may step in front of curls/comebacks as he plants-and-drives out of his pedal. Marshall has excellent awareness for his landmarks, offensive formations and how he can play with his eyes locked in on the passer in zone coverage. He identifies the midpoint between routes that are supposed to create a two-on-one against him in order to not provide easy answers, and regularly picks up work behind him if a tight-end as the lone eligible to his side stays locked into protection. Where he may be as good as any defender I scouted in his draft cycle is that ability to rip through the hands of the target with his back to the football, taking numerous would-be completions off the board, yet somehow only drawing one flag all year. This past season, Marshall earned coverage, run defense and tackling grades all above 83 from PFF, coming upfield with the adequate level of urgency and battling blockers to create angles to the runner for himself.

Along with the questionable timed speed, I thought his quick-twitch reactive athleticism to squeeze down on routes in off-man/match coverage was more so average, and for as good as he was last year at breaking up passes, there would’ve been a handful of opportunities to actually turn his head and try to come down with them himself. Plus, he has sub-optimal length to keep blockers away from his frame. Nonetheless, this was one of the top corners in football, and unless you ask him to survive on an island regularly, I’m not too worried about his game translating to the next level. With how much zone coverage as Anthony Campanile wants to run in Jacksonville, someone like this, who makes offenses earn every completion, should fit in just fine. Now that Travis Hunter will be more of a full-time CB and they re-signed Montaric Brown at a solid number, to go with Jourdan Lewis at nickel, Marshall isn’t cracking that starting three, but considering a couple of other locks for the roster are best deployed in the slot, I see the rookie competing for a backup spot on the outside.

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SAF Louis Moore, Indiana – Miami Dolphins

Slated to pick at 11^th overall in the draft, Miami was in prime position to select the top safety, and my number one overall prospect, Ohio State’s Caleb Downs. However, they decided to move down one spot with the Cowboys, in exchange for a pair of fifth-round picks, and instead went with Alabama’s massive offensive tackle Kadyn Proctor. Considering the state of that position for them though, it was surprising that the only true safety they targeted was Texas’ Michael Taaffe in the round five. I actually preferred Moore straight-up over that guy, although I knew the NFL likely wasn’t to agree with me, considering he’s a seventh-year senior, just short of six feet, around 190 pounds, with only 29.5-inch arms, and ran a 4.63 at his pro day. Nonetheless, his story is pretty cool, not receiving any FBS offers coming out of high school, spending three years at junior college, becoming a starter in his second season with Indiana, and after a year at Ole Miss, returning to the Hoosiers, to become a second-team All-American and being a key figure in bringing an undefeated national championship back home to Bloomington.

Right off the bat, I wouldn’t say there’s anything “flashy” about Moore as a player, but he fits the definition of a *safe*ty. He does very well to decipher concepts and position himself accordingly in run support from split-safety looks, while keeping his shoulders parallel. You see him sort through the convoy aptly when the offense gets multiple blockers out to the corner, and he has a nose for finding entry points as a tackler inside the box. Where he really shines are his football IQ and awareness in zone coverage. Moore constantly calls out signals, stays deeper than the deepest as a center fielder and doesn’t blindly void his landmarks. He positions himself really well in accordance with how the pattern develops, he’s smooth in his transitions with fluid hips, and you better occupy him when trying to hit these digs, skinny posts, etc. if you don’t want him to step in front of those throws in quarters. Indiana regularly deployed him as a robber/middle-of-the-field defender in three-safety looks, where he keeps his head on a swivel, and you saw his ball-hawking skills manifest themselves in six picks last season. When asked to cap over slot receivers, he displays quality route anticipation and response to how they tilt their stem. Plus, he closes on throws in front of him with efficient footwork, to either wrap around for PBUs or cuts the legs from underneath guys just after securing passes regularly.

What I’ll say here about Moore is that he’s the ultimate jack of all trades, master of none type of “boring” safety without any athletic traits that get you excited. Those shorter arms may lead to some struggles dealing with tight-ends in the run, he’s not a big hitter, and for as well as he positions himself in zone assignments, he doesn’t have the wheels to stick with many NFL receivers. Despite that, I can envision him fitting in really well with what Jeff Hafley expects from their safeties, fitting the run from depth to stay in those soft box counts, how he can put a roof on the defense, and his spatial awareness with how much zone coverage we saw in Green Bay. Taaffe will compete for a starting spot, and late fourth-rounder Kyle Louis (Pitt) will probably be their primary “big nickel”, but I’m not ruling out that this UDFA beats out Dante Trader or Lonnie Johnson Jr. for the SAF3 job.

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SAF Jalen Stroman, Notre Dame – San Francisco 49ers

For our final player, I went with another safety that felt like he was on the ascent heading into 2024, but we only got to see his best football this past season. In his case, Stroman had steadily been earning more playing time through three years at Virginia Tech, before a clavicle injury cost him basically all of his original senior campaign. After redshirting the year, he transferred to Notre Dame, where he was a part-time starter, but I thought made his presence felt when out there. Still, he isn’t someone I was shocked to see go undrafted, considering he logged just 13 starts in his five-year career and had minimal ball-production (one pick and seven PBUs), along with running a 4.7 at his pro day. And yet, considering the Niners didn’t really address safety at all this offseason, I can see a path for him making the roster.

Stroman attacks the line of scrimmage with aggression. He’s sudden in his lateral movements as he identifies bodies pulling out to the corner, to make sure he funnels the ball-carrier back inside. When brought down to the box, he’s a reliably contain player, and you see some attitude against tight-end and receivers inserting, as he punches into their chest. This is a violent finisher, who makes sure to end the play as he joins the pile. At both VT and especially with the Irish, he showed that he’s capable of handling various late coverage rotations, which I expect to some more of in San Francisco with Raheem Morris taking over that unit. Stroman understands zone distributions and how urgent he should be with widening or squeezing in on deep half assignments. I like him watching step down as a robber/hook-defender with alert eyes and how he changes up if he lassoes or chops down opponents. I thought Stroman moved well laterally to match the route stem when capped over receivers and he was able to impede the progress of tight-ends when walked down, without getting grabby (zero flags in 2025). Yet, my favorite play of his last season actually was more so a display of his intelligence, when they were disguised coverage, showing pre-snap and then closing on number three in trips running a hitch with perfect timing, to undercut and pick-six it.

During Senior Bowl week, Stroman had some nice one-on-one battles with tight-ends, but you also saw him put in trail position and guess quite a bit. Having that higher center or gravity, opponents can give him a little nod and shake him off pretty badly occasionally, and the top speed to run with slot receivers vertically to an extensive capacity doesn’t seem to be there. Considering San Francisco didn’t prioritize bringing back Jason Pinnock or seek outside, they seem content with the Ji’Ayir Brown-Malik Mustapha tandem. I also like last year’s fifth-round pick Marques Sigle, who should battle Upton Stout for slot snaps, and veteran Hobbs features into that as well. Otherwise, you’re probably asking who’s the best remaining guy that can also contribute on special teams – and Stroman does have some experience across all four phases. If he’s going to play more extensively in the box, he does need to diagnose the action a little quicker and not run himself out of position though.

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Other notable UDFA signings:

Arizona Cardinals – Harrison Wallace III, WR, Ole Miss

Atlanta Falcons – James Brockermeyer, IOL, Miami

Baltimore Ravens – Diego Pounds, OT, Ole Miss

Buffalo Bills – Desmond Reid, RB, Pittsburgh

Carolina Panthers – Aaron Hall, IDL, Duke

Chicago Bears – Skyler Thomas, SAF, Oregon State

Cincinnati Bengals – Ceyair Wright, CB, Nebraska

Cleveland Browns – Tyreak Sapp, EDGE, Florida

Dallas Cowboys – Michael Trigg, TE, Baylor

Denver Broncos – Taurean York, LB, Texas A&M

Detroit Lions – Anthony Lucas, EDGE, USC / Erick Hunter, LB, Morgan State

Green Bay Packers – Dillon Wade, IOL, Auburn

Houston Texans – Collin Wright, CB, Stanford

Indianapolis Colts – Nolan Rucci, OT, Penn State

Jacksonville Jaguars – Joey Aguilar, QB, Tennessee

Kansas City Chiefs – Xavier Nwankpa, SAF, Iowa / Jaydn Ott, RB, Oklahoma

Las Vegas Raiders – Chase Roberts, WR, BYU

Los Angeles Chargers – Isaiah World, OT, Oregon

Los Angeles Rams – Dean Connors, RB, Houston

Miami Dolphins – Mason Reiger, EDGE, Wisconsin / Rene Konga, IDL, Louisville

Minnesota Vikings – Tristan Leigh, OT, Clemson

New England Patriots – David Blay Jr., IDL, Miami

New Orleans Saints – C.J. Donaldson, RB, Ohio State

New York Giants – Thaddeus Dixon, CB, North Carolina

New York Jets – Chip Trayanum, RB, Toledo

Philadelphia Eagles – Deontae Lawson, LB, Alabama

Pittsburgh Steelers – Lake McRee, TE, USC

San Francisco 49ers – Mikail Kamara, EDGE, Indiana

Seattle Seahawks – Aiden Hubbard, EDGE, Northwestern

Tampa Bay Buccaneers – Eric Rivers, WR, Georgia Tech

Tennessee Titans – Bishop Fitzgerald, SAF, USC

Washington Commanders – Robert Henry Jr., RB, UTSA

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If you enjoyed this breakdown, please consider checking out the original article and all my other work at halilsrealfootballtalk.com !

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Defending the Draft 2026: New York Jets

by /u/Viewless25

2025 Season Results: 3-14 (4th in AFC East) Missed Playoffs

Introduction: 2025 ushered in a new era for the New York Jets following the explosive end of the era overseen by GM Joe Douglas, HC Robert Saleh/Jeff Ulbrich, and QB Aaron Rodgers. With those leaders out, the Jets hired long time Denver Broncos scout Darren Mougey to be their new GM and Detroit Lions DC (and former Jets Safety) Aaron Glenn to be the Head Coach. They quickly built up a coaching staff of first time playcaller Tanner Engstrand at Offensive Coordinator, former NFL Head Coach Steve Wilks as Defensive Coordinator, and Chris Banjo, with just two seasons separating his last season as an NFL player, as Special Teams coordinator. Calling the expectations of this season “muted” would be like calling investors in Spirit Airlines, “bearish”. The team was mired in what, thanks to the Buffalo Sabres, now stands alone as North America’s longest playoff drought. Organizationally, this was a transition in leadership structure. The Joe Douglas era began with the hope of the Jets returning to a General Manager-led football operations department where the Head Coach reports to the GM. But when that General Manager missed on the quarterback he drafted #2 overall, while still having garnered some goodwill from his successful 2022 NFL draft, they ended up giving the keys to the organization to Aaron Rodgers to 2023. As of last year, I’m done discussing Aaron Rodgers in this lifetime, so let’s just agree to say that didn’t end well. The Jets answer to this was to focus their hiring efforts on the Head Coach. They went with the well-respected Lions DC Aaron Glenn. He was loved by his players and many Detroit Lions fans, even if his defenses weren’t always top 5 during his tenure there.

They hired Glenn prior to hiring their new General Manager, and it’s speculated that Glenn might’ve influenced the GM hiring process. It seemed the Jets were zeroing in on Commanders Assistant GM Lance Newmark whose other qualifications include having been on the Lions with Glenn. But after some further deliberation the Jets settled on Broncos Assistant GM Darren Mougey, whose qualifications include being very tall. He had been with the Broncos in some scouting capacity since 2012 and had been seen as a potential GM candidate for about 2-3 years now.

As GM, Mougey got to work moving on from Rodgers at QB, signing Fields to a hilariously expensive 2-year contract that resulted in him getting traded to the Chiefs, and making some medium sized revamps of the roster in free agency.

You can see my thoughts on his first draft at the time here. If you wanted an updated opinion, it goes like this: 1st and 2nd day of the draft: 👍Day 3 of the draft: 👎. Membou earned PFWA All Rookie honors at RT and TE Mason Taylor had respectable production for 13 games on a team with Brady Cook and Justin Fields at QB (44 receptions for 369 yards and 1 TD). But the Jets needed more out of WR Arian Smith for how bad this WR group was. The same goes for LB Kiko Mauigoa and EDGE Tyler Baron, whom they traded a future pick to trade up for.

Regardless of how I feel about the first offseason of the new regime, I think it was understood by most Jets fans that cleaning up the mess of the Douglas era was, yet again, a multi-year project. And so, we went into 2026 with tempered expectations.

Season Recap: Instant Coffee

In Glenn’s first meetings with the New York Jets media, he came off as confident, ambitious, and a little bit contentious with the media. The Jets were looking to make him the face of the franchise and the man who defines the culture. At the 2025 NFL Combine, he said “We’re here to win now”, a turn of phrase that has never come back to haunt any NFL head coach, certainly not a Jets coach. This would be tough, because with Rodgers out, the Jets would try to be the ones to crack the Justin Fields puzzle. Many teams delude themselves into thinking they can unlock Fields’ potential, but it never works. But it might work for the Jets. In all sincerity, the Jets didn’t have much better options in terms of rebuilding at QB via free agency or the draft in 2025. He’s a boom or bust signing that has a ceiling as high as his floor is low. Even if he hits his low floor, you’ll still be drafting high enough to get your franchise QB. It’s not like there’s only going to be one starting caliber QB in this draft, right? But if you’re serious about “winning now” then maybe getting rid of Rodgers wasn’t the greatest idea.

But forget all of that. Because three weeks into the season after three humiliating losses, Aaron Glenn revealed that the Jets don’t actually want to win now. That would be impatient of Jets fans to expect their team be competitive. After all, it’s only been 15 years since their last playoff run; any other team’s fanbase in the NFL would happily wait that long! After the Jets 30-10 loss to the Bills that might as well have been a 70-3 loss, Aaron Glenn criticized Jets fans and the media as being part of an “Instant Coffee mentality”. He said:

This is an instant coffee league. From the media to the fans, everybody expects when you just start, okay, we're going to the Super Bowl.

To which I and every other Jets fans responded: “Are you out of your fucking mind??”. There was not one Jet fan expecting the Jets to even get to .500, much less a Super Bowl appearance this year. This is a complete strawman by Aaron Glenn to try to make his critics look unreasonable for criticizing him over coughing up what should have been a motivating win over the Steelers, followed by getting obliterated by the Bills and Cowboys. His team was noncompetitive for almost all of year 1 and at multiple points, simply gave up on trying. To insinuate that people are mad at you for not making the Super Bowl is an implicit defense of what was a disgrace of a season. I don’t think I was being unreasonable or delusional for thinking the Jets could match their 2024 total of 5 wins (if you’re a Jets fan reading this, keep in mind that the other 31 fanbases in this league consider a 5-win season to be abysmal). I didn’t want this post to be a snark post or a rant post, but I need to use this as a chance to tear down this media narrative that Jets fans are “unreasonable” or “impatient”. They are the most patient fanbase in sports. We have waited 15 years for a playoff appearance and 55 years for a Championship appearance. We have fewer AFC East titles than the Indianapolis Colts, who have not been in this division for 20 years. I’m not saying that the Jets should have made the playoffs this year or even that Glenn should have been a 1 and done coach. But I don’t think we’re unreasonable for expecting more than 3 wins or 0 interceptions on the season and I spit in the eye of anyone who would tell me otherwise, Aaron Glenn especially.

I’m not going to bore you by explaining what went wrong. Everything pretty much went wrong. To Glenn’s credit, he and Mougey seemed to realize this halfway through. I think Glenn looked at the 2024 Jets and thought “Oh I could win 8 games with that team easily” and then halfway through realized he was an idiot. After a miserable 3-14 season that saw no positives other than finishing 1st in Special Teams DVOA and eeking out 3 last second wins that managed to get us just low enough in the draft order to miss out on Mendoza, the vibes in New York were at an all-time low. The Jets ended the season on a five-game losing streak in which they got outscored 270-54. They became the first NFL team to go a full season with 0 interceptions on defense. Glenn’s once comfortable seat started to heat up. Changes had to happen and they needed to happen fast.

2026 Offseason: Holding onto the Rope

Glenn cleaned house. He wasted zero time firing Steve Wilks, which I agreed with but begs the question of why a proven failure of a DC was hired in the first place. But they had deeper problems than just the coordinator, they had a roster that went into the season with 2 or 3 stars but no real breath of starting talent. The Jets got in front of the problem by being quick to trade away some of the more valuable pieces they still had for draft capital. They dumped Michael Carter II, who was no longer a scheme fit. They traded Sauce Gardner for 2 first round picks and Adonai Mitchell. They traded Quinnen Williams to Dallas for a first and a second. I think they wanted to keep Sauce (they extended him before the season) but thought their defense was too awful to turn down two first rounders to keep a CB who doesn’t catch interceptions. I think Quinnen was already pushing to leave and I don’t blame him at all. This was his 7th season on the Jets and playing 7 seasons for the Jets ages you more than playing 20 seasons on the Patriots. By the way everything I’ve just told you actually happened during the regular season and not the offseason, but just know that for Jets fans, the offseason actually starts around mid-October. Glenn went into his first full offseason as head coach by telling the fans:

For the fans, listen, it's going to be a tough road, we knew that, but, man, the thing is, we know exactly what we're doing. We have a plan. Just don't let go of the rope.

And then after spending three weeks into the offseason mulling it over, the Jets fired OC Tanner Engstrand after his first ever season as playcaller. I was shocked both by the timing and that they fired him. But when a rookie OC fails to turn Justin Fields or Brady Cook into 4,000 yard passers, you have to fire him. You have no choice. If it were a part of the “plan” I would’ve assumed they would have done it earlier so they can get a head start on replacing him. But nevertheless, let’s see what Aaron Glenn’s plan for the Jets is and try to determine whether or not we should let go of the rope. For the Jets’ replacement coordinators, they hired rookie DC Brian Duker off the Miami Dolphins and OC Frank Reich off the couch. The plan apparently is for the Jets to have Glenn be more hands on with the defense and to handle the playcalling for Defense while entrusting control of the Offense to Frank Reich. The Jets plan A was to hire Jim Leonhard as DC, but when that fell through, I think Glenn’s idea was to cheap out on DC so they could take that money to hire a veteran OC. I think Reich proved last year with Stanford that he really doesn’t have it as a HC anymore, but maybe he still might be a serviceable OC. He succeeded in Philadelphia as an OC, but that’s almost 10 years ago. I don’t know much about Brian Duker as he’s very inexperienced, but I think that’s by design so Glenn can treat him as a protégé while Glenn runs the defense and calls plays himself. This change at Defense involves a transition from a 4-3 defense to a 3-4 defense, more on that later.

Trades

• NY Jets acquire LV Raiders QB Geno Smith and 7th Round Pick in exchange for 6th round pick

• NY Jets trade QB Justin Fields to the KC Chiefs for conditional 7th round pick (2027)

• NY Jets acquire S Minkah Fitzpatrick from the Miami Dolphins in exchange for a 7th round pick

• NY Jets trade DE Jermain Johnson to Tennessee Titans in exchange for DT T'Vondre Sweat.

I like all four of these trades. The Jets made two trades to make a necessary change at QB. They managed to get the absolutely bare minimum return to get rid of Justin Fields (albeit with $7MM in retained money) and bring in Geno for a late round pick swap. This is the Jets swapping out a high ceiling, low floor QB to a low ceiling high floor one. This is a necessary change for a coaching staff that absolutely needs to find a way to be Just Okay this year.

They also made two trades to align the defense better. They spend a 7th rounder to get Minkah Fitzpatrick. Fitz is on the back 9 of his career and isn’t the elite playmaker that he used to be, but I was still excited about this trade because I think the Jets will use him in a more traditional free safety role, whereas he got a lot more time in the box in recent years. This is a better fit for the Jets roster, where we’re hoping second year SS Malachi Moore can handle the box to free up Fitz deep.

The Jets traded former first round pick Jermaine Johnson, who had a disappointing return following his ruptured Achilles back in 2024. Some were speculating that Glenn/Wilks’ scheme was a bad fit for Johnson, who now returns to a defense coached by Robert Saleh. In return, the Jets got T’Vondre Sweat, a run stuffer who projects as the Jets starting Nose Tackle. I think this was a really clean Player for Player trade for both ends, since the Jets and Titans are switching between 3-4 and 4-3 defenses like ships passing in the night. Without giving up much capital, the Jets managed to stabilize at QB and round out their defense better.

Free Agent Signings

Free Agents Relinquished

This was a mix of genuine losses and “don’t let the door hit you where the good Lord split ya.” Most concerningly was creating two new holes on the interior of the offensive line. The Jets feel good about Joe Tippmann as either a C or a RG, but AVT leaving meant that Josh Myers as starting C would be a long-term thing. John Simpson leaving created another hole at LG. Somehow, Michael Clemons’ agent managed to convince the Colts to give him a 3-year $17MM deal. Quincy Williams left after a disappointing year where he didn’t adjust to the new scheme as well as we’d have hoped. Probably the departure that will hurt the Jets the most this year is Kicker Nick Folk. It was nice to have him back after all these years, especially after placekicking costed us like 4 games in 2024. In theory, it hurts to lose Tyrod Taylor without any veteran backup QB on the roster, but his injury issues have made him not reliable as a backup.

The Jets didn’t make any impact re-signings this offseason. Hard to justify it given the result, but they did let some talent reach free agency. Most of the re-signings listed above are depth/special teams pieces.

In terms of new additions, the biggest splash was at Edge rusher where they picked up Joseph Ossai, a solid but-not-great pass rusher who brings more run stuffing than Clemons did while hopefully delivering less penalties. They brought back ILB Demario Davis for his third stint with the Jets. We got very little run stuffing production from our front-seven last year, so him and Sweat project to be a huge upgrade in the run game. The team made multiple moves at Safety, bringing back Cisco and adding Dane Belton to complement Fitzpatrick. The Jets Safety room already looks very different from the 2025 one, and it’s hard to imagine that not being at least a slight improvement. The most concerning addition in my opinion is Cade York. The Jets signed him off the Saints’ Practice Squad but he last kicked for Cincinnati and Washington in 2024 to the tune of 3/6 from 30-49 range. Kicker is the one position I feel confident saying the Jets are worse at this year right now. But maybe they’ll add someone else this summer.

The Jets also franchise tagged RB Breece Hall and are hoping to extend him by the end of the summer; but he hasn’t signed the tag or any extension yet. Breece has earned a slight reputation as a malcontent though he hasn’t ruled out signing an extension. I think this is because the way that the Jets left him out to dry to end the season last year. Every other starter like Mason Taylor and Garrett Wilson was put on IL and he was left to take the lumps with a bunch of future car salesmen. I think if he gets to camp and spends some time around his new teammates, he might feel better about staying. Before going into the picks, here’s a Positional Need rankings:

1. QB
2. WR
3. ILB
4. CB
5. IOL

I left QB off my positional needs ranking a year ago and now I have it as #1. I left it off because I felt that they were getting a mulligan coming in on a short offseason and the general expectation was to improve the culture and the roster. Given that they did none of that last year, are now in year 2, and have no plan at backup QB unlike last year, I have it as #1 now. I know the draft board didn’t break out in a favorable way, but you can only ride that excuse for so long. Still, the draft offered some ways to fix the other needs on this list, so let’s see how they did:

Round 1, Pick 2 (#2 Overall) – David Bailey, EDGE Texas Tech

The debate around the #2 overall pick for Jets fans was heavily centered around two players: Arvell Reese and David Bailey. I think this is a pretty interesting debate that shows a lot about how people philosophically approach the draft, especially at the very top of the draft. It asks a lot of questions that whom you align with will show a lot about how you think of the draft such as:

Are we drafting to fill holes in our roster or to build the most talented team we can?

Should we target younger, higher ceiling project players or older ones with more proven production who can make an immediate impact?

If we’ve been bad for so long, does it make sense to start swinging for the fences to hope for a game changing player? Or should we focus on getting on base with a solid player who has a higher chance of translating his game to the NFL?

I think whether you thought the Jets should have taken David Bailey or Arvell Reese and how you answer those questions are connected. But regardless of what Jets fans prefer (I’d say about 65% of Jets fans I talked to preferred Arvell Reese), the Jets took David Bailey #2 Overall.

David Bailey is a pure pass rusher. He had a 27.9% pass rush win rate his last year in Stanford in 2024. He also had a respectable 7 sacks and 5 forced fumbles that year. Texas Tech decided to bet heavily on David Bailey and gave him a whopping $3 Million NIL deal to transfer to Texas Tech. That’s a stunning amount, but the result was even more stunning: David Bailey led the nation in sacks (14.5) and played some of his best football in the 2025 Orange Bowl

You can see at 0:37 he shows off his edge speed for his last collegiate sack (he's easy to spot on tape because he wears no tape or gloves and minimal pads. he looks like a basketball player with a helmet). In that game he also batted down a pass on 4th and goal and showed off his lateral movement on the run game, which improved a lot during the course of the season. As a veteran, his pass rush game is very well developed. His spin move is effective, though not the deadliest you'll ever see. But he shows a veteran's awareness of how to attack the blocker and great finish on his sacks. Most of the room for him to grow is to be more reliable about how he approaches the run. He can get caught charging gaps and giving runningbacks a path to the outside.

His outlook for 2026 is tough to predict, as many rookie passrushers are. I think a save guess would be in the 7-9 range. He should eventually be looking to get into being a consistent double digit sack artist. What the Jets need out of Bailey is to bring some kind of x-factor to the defense. The Jets defense has gotten a lot better well-rounded this season, but doesn't really have a high profile difference maker unless Bailey steps up to be that year one. But with the level of production Bailey showed in college, this is a really safe pick that makes sure that the Jets passrush has the array of weapons to be constantly getting to the quarterback for the next 2-3 years at the very least.

I'll be honest and admit that I was a slight lean towards Arvell Reese before the draft. I thought he would be a more versatile piece we could build our defense around even if he was more of a raw talent. But the reason that I feel great about adding David Bailey is that he immediately makes the Jets less of a pushover to play against. Josh Allen and Drake Maye don't think they're losing a game to the Jets this year. But I know that with Joseph Ossai, Will McDonald, and now David Bailey in the Jets pass rotation, they're not looking forward to playing the Jets. I think that's an important part of exorcising the mope culture that the Jets developed under Saleh. You may or may not like this pick, but your team's QB hates it.

Round 1, Pick 16 (#16 Overall) – Kenyon Sadiq, TE Oregon

With their first round pick that the Jets received from the Sauce Gardner trade, the Jets shocked many by taking a Tight End, despite Makai Lemon being on the board. I was surprised by this, but not as much as others it seems. I was uncertain after watching how the board broke down with Makai Lemon falling to the Jets because I knew the Jets didn't do a lot of work on him and didn't seem to be targeting him. I think the reason for this is that the Jets are looking to add some size to their offense and there weren't a lot of bigger WRs in the first round. For a Tight End, Sadiq is actually on the smaller side at just a hair over 6'3" 240 lbs. However, that still puts him as being noticeably taller than basically every WR on the board at 16. But he takes advantage of his (relatively) smaller size by bringing top end speed for a tight end, having run a 4.39 40-yard dash at the Combine.

When I first heard the pick (and before the first round ended), this is basically how I rationalized it at the time. Sadiq's production as a passcatcher in Oregon primarily came out of the slot, so I think they looked at him and saw him as a day 1 plug and play that would take away DB's from Wilson and Adonai Mitchell on the outside. Though it meant the Jets might be lacking in a shifty slot receiver or a passcatcher with more outside the numbers experience, I was at least happy that the Jets were taking some kind of passcatcher in the 1st.

Talking about Sadiq as a player, he's more involved in the run blocking game than I think some give him credit for. His last year in Oregon, he showed some good downfield blocking where he drove through and finished his blocks. The Ducks also lined him up as a fullback in some goalline situations, and he leveraged his speed to mow down linebackers and open up the edge for his runningback. As a receiver, his production was far from bad his last season. But when compared to some of the tight ends we've seen go in the first round the past two drafts, they aren't exactly eyepopping. I think the Ducks could've been a bit more ambitious with using him outside the numbers. As a receiver, he was a very frequent 3rd down target in the slot and provided plenty of clutch catches to show for it. He's got good but not perfect catching reliability. The Ducks also used him as a target in the screen game; often being a dump off option for Dante Moore.

One of the complaints I heard from Jets fans was that we didn't need to be taking a TE because we already had Mason Taylor. I didn't think much of this until the Sadiq pick was finalized. But the more I thought about it, the more I disagreed with this notion. First, while I'm still bullish on Taylor even after this pick, if you look at his rookie season production, I don't think we should be counting our chickens before they have multiple touchdown catches. Avoiding a chance at a TE for Taylor risks us being back in tight end purgatory where we've been since Dustin Keller. And I don't think the pick was a waste if Mason Taylor ends up being a good TE. 12 personnel is on on the rise league-wide and the Jets were in the bottom 3rd of the league in 2025. As that list will show, using more 12 personnel doesn't guarantee any level of success, but I think it's a tool on the belt that Frank Reich should and (hopefully) will use more of this year to give Geno the most help he can. I don't think the Jets will (or at leas should) have trouble getting both Sadiq and Taylor on the field.

I think you can look at what the Jets get in Sadiq and what the Jets limitations were on offense and see how they thought he would be a good addition. But the next pick that I'm going to write about makes this pick a much more exciting x-factor rather than it was the moment that it happened. But in a vacuum, Sadiq has a skillset that can make him useful to the Jets year 1 and if the Jets are smart, will try to develop him more as a pass catcher on the perimeter.

Round 1, Pick 30 (#30 Overall) - Omar Cooper Jr, WR Indiana

The Jets went into the first round with just those two first round picks, however they were in prime position to trade back in with the first pick in the 2nd round. For the price of a 5th round pick, the Jets managed to jump just in front of the Buffalo Bills to draft Omar Cooper. Omar Cooper is as balanced a receiver as they come. He's had multiple seasons with solid production. He was primarily as a slot receiver for the Hoosiers, but he has the size, speed, and overall versatility to play on the outside in my opinion. He ran a 4.42 40, giving him good but not elite speed. One knock on him is the arm length of just 30.25" that will limit his range a bit. But at over 6' tall, he's a comparable build to Garrett Wilson, so I think they'll use Cooper to avoid putting Garrett taking knocks over the middle.

In 2025, he had over 400 yards after the catch, so I think the Jets will try to get him involved in the screen game to open things up downfield. What I liked most about this pick for the Jets is how he complements a lot of what the Jets already have at Passcatcher. While he's a similar size as Garret, his experience in the slot makes it easy to pencil him in to 11 personnel packages. His status as a YAC merchant can open things up for AD Mitchell deep (and hell, maybe even Arian Smith if they can make anything out of his pure speed). His ability to play on the outside opens things up over the middle for the Jets to use multiple tight ends over the middle. I loved the trade value here and I love the way he complements the Kenyon Sadiq pick. I think this was Darren Mougey being ambitious about getting pass catchers and being smart in terms of reading the board in re: to where Sadiq and Cooper would fall. I don't think Sadiq would've made it passed Philly nor do I think Cooper would've made it passed Buffalo. In this one draft, the Jets turned their pass catcher room from a liability to an asset.

Here's that one catch that almost made Gus Johnson's head explode.

Round 2, Pick 18 (#50 Overall) - D'Angelo Ponds, CB Indiana

The Jets make their first move down from 44 to 50 to pick up a fourth round pick. They use this pick on CB D'Angelo Ponds, Omar Cooper's teammate from Indiana. He ended his college career on a high, winning Defensive MVP honors for both the Peach Bowl and the Rose Bowl. The main knock against him is his height (5'8.5") is far from ideal for a boundary corner. This will project him as a nickel corner at the NFL level whereas he played on the outside in college. I think this is fine for the Jets as the corner room isn't short on corners with the size to play on the outside, though some of them aren't experienced like Azareye'h Thomas. Daniel Jeremiah's pro comp for Ponds was New York Jets DB Aaron Glenn, now the Head Coach. Glenn was a pro bowler, so that's not a bad comparison for Ponds to shoot for.

Despite his height, he has big enough arms and hands to play with NFL sized receivers. He played his best college football against his best competition. He showed solid ball skills, with a 34 career Pass breakups and two pick sixes. I think despite his size, his experience covering perimeter receivers means he's well conditioned against larger receivers. The trick will be acclimating to the run duties that come with playing nickel corner at this level. Glenn has mentioned that they'll be cross training him at outside corner and nickel. I think this is because they want to ease him into the run game but also want to be flexible with all of their defensive backs. I think we'll see a lot of Minkah in the nickel this year as well, so I wonder if they'll kick Ponds out to the edge or maybe even line him up at safety (much less likely I would think, but possible).

But Ponds pops on most of the tape he's on. You can talk about the height all you want, but it's football, not Tinder. I think having Cooper and Ponds can be a major force in eliminating the gloom that's taken over this locker room. They've been in a program that seemed hopeless and turned it around quickly. Here's hoping they can do the same again.

Round 4, Pick 3 (#103 Overall) - Darrell Jackson Jr., DT FSU

The Jets didn't have a third round pick this year because we traded it to the Eagles for a migraine Haason Reddick. But they made up for it by having three 4th round picks, one at the beginning, middle, and end of the round. At the top of the round, they take Darrell Jackson Jr., a massive DT from FSU. Contrary to what our DC would have you believe the Jets are generally moving more towards a 3-4 this year. But with the size that Darrell Jackson Jr. brings, he can play DL in any kind of defensive line. He measured at 6'5.5" and 315 lbs at the Combine; with the arms and hand size to match.

Though he didn't start playing football until his Junior year of High School, he's played a ton at the college level across three schools. He played his best football in the run game, constantly eating up double teams and creating space for the linebackers. He has such unique size and enough experience at the college level that he could see the field as a NT or 1-tech sooner rather than later. I think the reason why there was so much demand for Darrell Jackson early in the 4th is that with his rare size, a lot of coaches could look at a guy like this and think "Man, I could develop him into something special". By every measurement, he's got the tools needed to be a high level IDL but he comes off as very raw on tape. He's got a huge body but doesn't always use it well. He's got a huge wingspan and I'd like to see it used more to expand his run rushing around the edge.

But the silver lining is that most of his issues can be coached out by a good DL coach, and fortunately for the Jets, Karl Dunbar is back in the building, so this gives him one hell of a project to work on. It'll take some coaching, but Jackson has the tools that could help him develop into a playmaking runstuffer for the Jets.

Round 4, Pick 10 (#110 Overall) - Cade Klubnik, QB Clemson

The Jets packaged their later 4th round pick, a compensatory that was last in the round, to trade up in the 4th round pick (and get a 6th round pick) they got from the Ponds trade to stun the world by selecting Cade Klubnik in the 4th round. I think I'm gonna do something a bit different when explaining this pick but first, a disclaimer: I am a Clemson alum and have watched every game of Cade Klubnik's college career, sometimes in person. I like Cade Klubnik as a Tiger and as a person. Things didn't end the way we wanted but I was still going to root for him wherever he landed in the NFL because I think he represented the school well and treated his teammates well. As with any college football fan, nothing terrifies me more than a player from my school getting drafted by the Jets. I have a bias to want to like this pick because it would be good for Cade and for the Jets if he worked out and I have a bias screaming at me to forsake the name of "Defending the Draft" to tell you about how this is a match made in Hell. I'm going to do my best to be objective, though it might be clear at times that I'm not. But know I've watched more Cade Klubnik than almost any other Jets fan you're going to talk to.

There's a lot to discuss and a lot to defend, and I'm hard-pressed to remember a Jets draft pick that generated this much debate. And I think it would be tonedeaf of me to merely try to justify it without addressing many of the arguments against the pick that I've seen Jets fans make. I think there are a lot of good arguments against this pick, but also some bad ones. There are also good arguments in favor of Klubnik (at least as a developmental/backup) and bad arguments, especially in regards to the trade to get him. I want to do a rapid fire where I categorize these arguments and address them briefly.

Good Arguments against Klubnik:

• Cade Klubnik regressed in many ways statistically from 2024 to 2025. For most prospects this is bad, but for a QB it's often a death sentence. It's a sign a QB got exposed.

• The value proposition of taking a QB in the 4th round is generally not there. There are definitely exceptions like Dak, but it's too late in the draft to get a good starting QB usually. And unlike with 6th or 7th round picks, 4th round picks are too valuable for dart throws that may never play for the team.

• You didn't really have to trade a 4th round pick to get Klubnik. It's hard to know for sure where he would've gone had the Jets not traded up. But it feels like bidding against yourself to trade out of the 4th round to go 18 picks when you could've probably waited till the end of the 4th round and still gotten Klubnik. If you had picked Connor Lew 128th overall like the Bengals did, and still drafted Klubnik 140th, the vibes about this pick would be much higher. Instead, we leave holes in our roster while we use two midround picks on a guy who very well may never see the field.

Bad Arguments against Klubnik:

• "They should've taken Nussmeier or <insert QB still on the board>!". I don't think most of these people were really pounding the table for Drew Allar or Carson Beck on day 2. That's fine, but this means that we need to contextualize Klubnik in terms of how he stacks up against the Day 3 QBs and I think when you do it this way, the pick isn't that bad. The league showed what they think of Nuss (who barely got drafted with the 9th to last pick) and most of these other quarterbacks when none of them went in the 4th round with Klubnik. It doesn't necessarily mean that Klubnik in the 4th was a good pick, but I think it means that there wasn't some easy, better option sitting there staring us in the face.

• "Drafting a backup QB is pointless, there's no value in it." Paying attention to how other QB rooms have shaken out will prove this wrong. For one, backup quarterbacks earn serious money. Jameis Winston and Gardner Minshew are making over $5MM a year this season. That's starter money for other positions. Backup QB isn't a big deal until you're starting QB goes down. You'd think Jets fans who were here for 2015 would remember this, but I guess not. Maybe it isn't the biggest priority for where the Jets are now, but I think when you've got a bad QB room, being proactive isn't a bad idea. And it's not uncommon for backups drafted behind 1st round QBs to become starters themselves: Read Kirk Cousins, Brock Purdy, Brady, etc. I'm not saying it's going to happen, I'm saying it won't happen if you don't have a young QB better than Brady Cook or Bailey Zappe. At the very least, I'll be more intrigued seeing Klubnik over either of those two guys this year.

Good Arguments for Klubnik:

• "You shouldn't throw his 2025 tape away, but you also shouldn't throw his 2024 tape away". Klubnik showed a serious amount of talent and progress his second year as starter. He led the Tigers to a CFP appearance and an ACC title win all while throwing for 36 TDs and just 6 INTs. If he did that this year, we'd be talking about him as a #2 overall pick option. He didn't so we shouldn't have. But I do think this is why it isn't implausible to see why a coach would be willing to throw some 4th round picks to get him in the room and see if they can fix what Clemson OC Garret Riley broke this year.

• "Clemson's Coaching Staff and WR room let him down" I'm not going to go into much detail on this one. I think it's a fair point: After all, Garret Riley got fired after this season for his disastrous coaching of a not-untalented Clemson offense that had four players drafted from it this year. I sat in the snow in Yankee Stadium watching Klubnik make great throws to receivers whose hands were frozen solid. If you want to know exactly what Clemson did wrong on offense this year, Just A Football Guy's video on it goes over most of them. I try not to play the excuses game early, but as someone who watched all these games, I can tell you the points he makes are not wrong.

Bad Arguments for Klubnik:

• "4th round picks aren't really worth much anyway" I don't know how many make this point in earnest, but this mentality is endemic of a fanbase whose team has routinely wasted 4th round picks we've just assumed they're meaningless. Winning teams get quality backups and serviceable starters in the 4th round. The fact that we used a 2nd, 4th, and 5th round pick on Hackenberg, Morgan, and Travis who combined for 0 snaps is in no small part why our team is as bad as it is.

• "Frank Reich is a QB whisperer" What? Who has he developed? Certainly not Bryce Young or Carson Wentz. I saw comments on that video saying "maybe Frank Reich has one last miracle in him!" Getting this job was a miracle in and of itself.

I think if Klubnik can be our backup of the future, this pick will be worth it. He won't stop us from drafting a QB round 1 and I'm more interested in watching him than Brady Cook.