The Weaker 2026 Draft Class Has Some Gems

Let's talk a little bit about the draft class itself, Albert, because I think that lingers, and we've kind of alluded to it.

But it's interesting cause we've been talking about this.

Ever since the Jets went bananas at the trade deadline, and got rid of their two best defensive players.

The 2027 draft is where you wanna be.

This is not the 2027 draft.

And do you want me to give the people, well, let's give the people some names first, before we do that, I just want to set the table by saying this.

Brett Veach said the quiet part out loud at the combine, which is that of their 100 players on their preliminary big board in November.

Only 75 of them are in the draft.

OK.

There isn't a true top 100 in this draft, Albert.

I would, you're talking about guys who are eligible that, but, but went back, went back for which actually is like a pretty decent development, I'd say.

Like the kids have the option to go back now, and it makes sense for them to go back.

They probably shouldn't come out, right.

But at the same time, it, it, it, it provides every couple of years a few watered down classes just because, and GMs that I've talked to are like, hey, I got about 15 1st round grades on guys, and then that just starts to fall off a cliff.

I'm curious if in Indianapolis if that sentiment has changed or based on what you've heard.

Well, let's just start.

I, I want to start with this.

I think this piece of it.

The 27 piece if it's important because I think we're gonna be talking about it for the next two months, OK, so just to give people an idea.

I don't think, so this is a really good receiver draft this year is, right?

But you don't have Julio Jones.

So you've got a ton of versus, you're gonna be able to get good receivers in the 2nd and 3rd rounds.

You just don't have Julio Jones, Calvin Johnson.

Edge rusher, same thing.

Edge rushers, is a really good edge rusher class.

But you saw it with Ruben Bain, you know, you saw it with Arvel Reese who, you know, he's still got to develop into an edge, he's not an edge rusher right now, you know, he's kind of a hybrid.

So you know, like a really good edge rusher class, but you don't have Miles Garrett or Jadeveon Clowney or Julius Peppers, um, you know, so that's the sort of class it is.

That's the thing about 27 is 27 is that right?

You have Jeremiah Smith who is all who was, who was 100% in the Julio, AJ Green, Calvin Johnson.

He's in that category.

Yeah, at the edge rushers, you have Colin Simmons from Texas and you have Dylan Stewart from South Carolina.

Those guys are the erector set, defensive ends, you know what I mean?

Like the, again, like the, the, the Miles Garrett, Julius Peppers, like that type of defensive end.

Um, corner, you have, you know, Leonard Moore from Notre Dame, who's, you know, I, I think by all accounts gonna be, you know, a, I don't know if he's Pat Sartan, but like that level of prospect, you know, like that's how he's seen.

Great school and then the quarterback guy, so I was talking with McShay last week.

He rattled off 11 names, right.

I have them written down here.

Arch Manning, Dante Moore, Brendan Soarsby, Lenora Sellers, Trinidad Chambliss, Darian Mensa, Julian Sa, CJ Carr, Sam Levitt, Niko Iamalava, John Matier.

That's 11 names right now.

All those guys aren't gonna make it, but the fact that there are 11 guys that are being talked about in that in that conversation this early means there's a better chance that 4 or 5 do make it , right.

So anyway, so I think that's the backdrop for all of this where you're gonna see some teams moving picks into the next year.

I, I do think like this year's draft.

So, I think this is a good draft to have.

Picks from.

The low first round.

Through the third round, that's the sort of sense I get.

Like I think that's the sweet spot.

So you can find like a really good receiver, maybe 30 to 100 essentially, right?

I, I, I brought up the name Omar Cooper from Indiana, right?

I thought he was interesting because like, again, no one's gonna confuse him from with, with Julio Jones, but Um, could he be Aman Ras Saint Brown?

Could he be Puka Nua?

Well, yes.

So that's, that, that, that, that's the thing, that's like the sort of player you're looking at, um.

You know, I, I, I know with, um, the guy, you know, David Bailey from, from Texas Tech, who'll probably be a top 5 pick, right?

You know, he's not gonna be compared to Julius Peppers.

Could he be Nick Benito?

Absolutely, yes, he could be Nick Bonito, you know, so like that's what you're sort of talking about.

I think it always to me illustrates, and I think the running back, no matter your top running back in the class, to me, I think is a bellwether sometimes of all the top running back in this class is a fucking badass.

Sorry for my language there.

Yeah, I mean, for a guy who should have won a national championship at Notre Dame, um, in Jeremiah Love, but, um, yeah, I, I think that the running back, To me, and, and this isn't always true, like Saquon Barkley, for example, broke the mold.

Ezekiel Elliott broke the mold, but again, I think if we had to relitigate that draft, I, I, I, I would imagine we'd maybe have the Cowboys doing something else there.

But what I'm trying to say here is that won two rushing titles.

I mean, you know, that's the thing, you know, he did, but, well, let's just hold on one second, OK?

I think he was central to the development of Dak Prescott.

That was maybe his greatest value to, because Dak Prescott didn't have to be.

The focal point of that offense early in his career because of Zeke, you know, so if you're, if you were Jerry Jones, you would have same way Todd Gurley helped with Jared Goff's development.

You would have done him over Jalen Ramsey, Ronnie Stanley, De Forest Buckner.

That was a great draft, and that's the thing.

It's like, and that's the positional value question.

That's, that's something we're gonna be asking now, right?

So I used in my column this morning.

I use the example of the 2023 Lions.

OK.

You remember what they did in the draft that year, and how they got smoked for it.

Was that the year that they took uh Aiden Hutchinson?

Nope.

Jamir Gibbs and Jack Campbell in the first round got smoked.

Oh yes, who's gonna, who, who in the world would take a running back and an off-ball linebacker, right?

That's a waste of a first-round pick.

Those are wastes of first round picks, right?

And they got killed for it and um.

So, who they, they wind up with now a guy who's a 3-time Pro Bowler in Gibbs, and a guy who is 1st-team All-Pro in Jack Campbell.

And then in the 2nd round, they took a corner safety hybrid, again, not necessarily a premium position guy, and Brian Branch, and they took Sam LaPorta, the tight end.

They have 4 really good players.

And I think that's sort of the makeup of this year's class.

Now, like, it's interesting when you look back at it right now.

I'm gonna give you, they took, they took Gibbs at 12 and they took Campbell at 18.

I'm gonna give you the premium position players that were taking around those two, OK.

Lucas Van Ness, Will McDonald, Broderick Jones, Emmanuel Forbes, Christian Gonzalez, Deonte Banks, Jackson Smith and Jigba, Quentin Johnson, Johnston, Zay Flowers, Jordan Addison.

How many of those guys that I just named are better players than Gibbs and Campbell?

I, JSN, maybe Gonzalez, right, right.

Uh It's the right, they did, I mean, the Lions did the right thing.

So I think that that's gonna be the question for teams this year, right?

It's like, when Kenyon Siddiq is sitting for you there in the, in the teams, you just take them.

Even though maybe some people say you shouldn't take a tight end that high, right, if Jeremiah Love is sitting for you there at 4 or 5, do you take him over the edge rusher Sonny Styles, who blew up the combine, right, but he's an off-ball linebacker.

Do you take him in the top 10, or are you gonna fall back on the positional value and say we need to take the receiver or we need to take the edge rusher, you know, like I, I, there's a lot, I think there's gonna be a lot of interesting questions like that, you know, when you have guys like Love and Styles and Siddiq who are really good players, it all depends on one.

Yeah, it all depends on how you evaluate your own roster, how good you are at evaluating your own roster, and, and what kind of ability you have at forecasting things.

I don't have a problem taking running back.

What I was trying to say is, I think that based on how high Jeremiah Love goes in this draft, I think it is a bellwether to actual talent, how much talent is in the draft, because if a running back stands out that high and above, and Even after the sample size of like, hey, a lot of times it's, it's either slow to get off the ground or it complicates the development of your offense or whatever, and Jamir Gibbs is a different example, and I, I wanna rebuttal to that in a second, but I, I think that based on how high he goes, it will indicate to me exactly how frail the class is in general.

If you're willing to say, well, he's just so far and above one of the best players, and I'm not going to get equal value elsewhere, I, uh, that to me is how I will judge, at least how everybody else is looking at this class going into it, if that makes sense.

Yeah, yeah, but the Gibbs thing, it's like they did it right.

They did it right.

They had David Montgomery.

They had, you know, they had somebody else.

They put him in an unbelievable position.

The Cowboys did it right at the time.

They had an unbelievable offensive line.

The Giants didn't .

The Raiders didn't.

The Falcons didn't, even though, I mean, the Falcons, I mean, whatever.

Well, I guess the Falcons did.

They had Algier, and, uh, so, so I shouldn't put the Falcons into that category, but, um.

Yeah, I mean, I mean, to, it's so funny because I'm wondering what is going to happen to make us salivate over this class, because last year I thought.

The NFL kind of got bailed out because we had Cam Ward and then we had, we didn't know what we had in Jackson Dart yet, right?

So I don't think he was really as much a part of the conversation as he should have been.

It was like it was a very real question whether he was gonna go in the first round or not, like, and obviously he went near the bottom of the 1st round.

So, and by definition he was borderline anyway, but yeah, he wasn't.

I mean , I think at this point in the calendar people looked at him as a distant 3rd behind.

Behind, behind, uh, Cam and Shador, right, and that was the other thing is we had so much of our mental equity taken up by a 5th-round pick, an eventual 5th-round pick who may or may not even be the Browns' starting quarterback next year in Shaddo Sanders.

God, I can't believe I'm still saying those words.

Um, but I don't know what the NFL is going to do or we're going to do because we end up just tripping over ourselves anyway at this time of year.

It's like, what is going to be interesting to you in this class?

Is it whether Ty Simpson sneaks into the first round at this point?

I mean, you're already seeing Dan Orlovsky.

He came out and he said he liked Ty Simpson better than Fernando Mendoza, and oh God, here we go.

But I mean, is there a I don't quarterback question in this class or no ?

So I don't.

Who's gonna take Ty Simpson?

The Rams, the Rams, yeah, um.

I don't think the Steelers will because I think that's basically repeating what they did 4 years, right, um, Seattle, I, I just, I don't think like because I think most smart teams when they're, when they have a quarterback, when they, when they have a quarterback need, most smart teams I've talked to in these sorts of situations.

You'll look at two quarterback classes, right?

You'll look at this one and then you'll look at the next one, and you'll start to weigh, um, now, sometimes the class is so good, you don't need to do that.

Like 2 years ago, if you were the Patriots or the, or the Bears or the, or the, the, the Commanders, you're one of the top 3 picks like, yeah, like, you know, those 3 guys are, You know, potential number one overall picks in most seasons, in most years, so just take them.

But, I mean, I, I can tell you like, the Vikings and the Falcons and the, and the Broncos did look ahead.

And like, whoa, like that doesn't look like there's a lot in the 25 class, and they were right about that, right?

Like it doesn't look like there's gonna be a great opportunity to get one next year, so maybe we ought to just do it now.

Um, and I think this year, It's, that's gonna be part of the equation for everybody, right?

Like as if you are.

In the bottom half of the 1st round, and you need a quarterback, um, You're gonna look, you're gonna look at Arch Manning.

You're gonna look at, at, at, at, at Brendan Soarsby who's coming back from an injury at Texas Tech and is wildly talented.

If you look at Julian Sae who was, um, you know, he was a Heisman finalist at Ohio State.

Like, you know, look at CJ Carr who has all the tools and shows so much promise his first year starting at Notre Dame.

We're going into the natty this year, baby.

Lenora Sellers is Lenora Sellers bounced back, you know, because a lot of people looked at him that way, so.

I, I think that that's a factor too, and I, I just can't find very many people, Connor, that think Ty Simpson's a first-round talent.

I like, and maybe I will over the next, over the next couple months.

I, it, I'm just not seeing it right now.

You know, this draft needed, it needed the NCAA to deny Trinidad Chambliss another year.

Did, yeah, because he, he, he was coming off this white hot run and he's a little undersized, but like, is there a team that can talk it would be an interesting one because he'd have to, I mean, he just doesn't like, he doesn't have the size , you know, but anybody, uh, you don't need to be a scout to have watched him in the playoffs and like holy crap, you know what I mean?

Like this guy's a real playmaker, uh, before we go, just really quickly though, you said who would take Ty Simpson.

OK, I just wanna.

I want to start at pick 18.

And we just very quickly, yes or no, before we get out of here, OK?

Because You know, time to stir up a little shit, Albert, um, 18, time to get aggregated, baby.

OK, no, no, no, no, no, I'm gonna start at 16.

I'm gonna start at 16.

OK, yeah, yeah.

NFL insider colon, uh, you distracted me a second ago is Yahoo Sports is saying that I'm reporting that Max Crosby could be traded this week.

Um, I did have, I think, on that, uh, on that piece of my column, but I guess are they listening to this as we're taping it?

Is this AI?

What's going on, um.

It's 16, we have the Jets.

I say no.

What do you say?

Ty Simpson, 16.

No, I say no too, uh, Lions at 17 , that's a no for me, right?

No.

Vikings at 18.

No, took you a minute.

Uh, but I think they're like it's, it's sort of the same thing we talked about with the Steelers, right?

Like where are you, are you, I mean, did you do that two years ago with JJ McCarthy where you compromised in the physical skill set and, and it hasn't gone great.

Panthers at 19, the teams supposedly getting trade calls for Andy Dalton.

No, OK, uh, Cowboys at 20.

No, uh, Steelers.

Oh, all right , I, I think they're gonna, I, I only hesitate on that one because I think they're gonna start to put young quarterbacks in the hopper soon, and I don't know if they do it with a first round pick, I mean, but, I mean, like, for example, with Dallas.

You know, we spent a lot of time in Dallas.

Was Doug Nusmeyer, you know , who grew up in Dallas with Garrett Nussmeyer, and Garrett Nusmeyer is sort of one of those where it's like he had a tough last year, you know, I, I like, I, I, I'd say like with Dallas, like it's way more likely it's like Garrett Nusmeyer in the 3rd round than it is Ty Simpson in the 1st round, but I wouldn't totally rule out the idea that they put a young quarterback in the pipeline.

They do have those 2, uh, 1st round picks.

They have the extra one there from the, uh, from the Parsons trade.

OK, Steelers 21.

You're a, you're a no there.

I don't think so.

Chargers at 22.

I'm a no.

no.

Eagles at 23.

See, this is interesting too, right?

This is where I think we start, you know, this is where we start kind of, you know, and again I think it's more likely that the Eagles draft one in the 2nd or 3rd round, but I think they're taking a quarterback this year.

Yeah, I, I, I wouldn't, I, I think they're taking a quarterbacks somewhere this year.

Yeah, I'd agree with that .

They really like Tanner McKee too, which we've been over, um, they had some.

Interest in him and, you know, like, and, and didn't move on it because they like him that much.

So, um, yeah, I mean, I, I wouldn't totally rule out the Eagles taking one.

This seems high, but, um, you know, I think they'll probably take one somewhere.

Browns at 24.

Yeah, I think that like the Browns are gonna at least investigate it.

Like I think the Browns would be one.

I think the Browns were, uh, will at least turn over rocks on this.

And you know, again, like I think they're more likely to be one of those teams is pointing towards 24 or 27.

But, um, but yeah, I mean, I think you'd have to consider them as a team that would at least investigate it.

Bears at 25, no, right?

Bills at 26, no.

49ers at 27.

No, no.

All right, I don't think so.

All right, Texans at 28.

Mm.

We're thinking about it No, I don't think so.

I don't think so.

I think that has to be an offensive lineman, don't you?

I probably, right?

I mean, especially after what happened this morning.

Like, I, I, I, yeah, for those of you who don't know, the Texans traded Titus Howard to the Browns.

Uh, they're 2019 their best lineman, but yeah, yeah, they got some, uh, they got some work to do there.

Uh, Rams at 29 .

I think that's, I think the Rams are considered, yeah, I think the Rams, I think the Rams.

Um, there's some ties there between Ty Simpson and the Rams organization, and so I think that's at least an interesting one to consider.

Then we have the Broncos at 30, I would say no.

No.

Uh, the Patriots at 31, I would say no.

Um, Seattle at 32.

I know another one that I think they'll they they that there's a good chance they take one somewhere, but I just don't think it'll be there.

Jalen Milroe last year in the 3rd round.

They didn't take Jalen Milroe in the 3rd round , so I'm gonna say no.