2026 Mock Draft - I Call The Shots

Here is the first of my two annual mock drafts. This is the version where I tell you who I would pick if I was making the calls for every team. For this exercise I limited myself to only players whose tape I studied, which left me a little light on prospects at the back end. If I did a more thorough analysis the last ten picks would probably look very different, but I didn’t feel like it this year.

 

1) Las Vegas Raiders – Fernando Mendoza, QB, Indiana

Mendoza is an easy choice here. He wouldn’t be the top ranked quarterback in every year, but he’s the only quarterback in 2026 worth even considering this high. The Raiders have spent the past 20 years searching for a quarterback, and while I won’t go as far as to guarantee Mendoza is going to be that guy, he’s definitely on the safer side.

 

2) New York Jets – David Bailey, EDGE, Texas Tech

This is another easy choice. The Jets aren’t really in position to be picky about positional need, and fortunately they don’t have to. Bailey is the most explosive pass rusher of this class, and he combines this with a variety of moves to take advantage of any tackles who try to play things safe against his speed. He might be a little bit of an awkward fit opposite another undersized edge rusher in Will McDonald, but they’re both solid enough against the run to at least not be considered liabilities.

 

3) Arizona Cardinals – Rueben Bain, EDGE, Miami

This is where things get a little more interesting. Bain has his flaws, and the third pick feels a little high to take a risk on a prospect who doesn’t typically have the tools you’d want from a player this high. But Bain has enough weapons to make up for his short arms that I think he’ll find a way to becoming a high-level NFL player. He’s the best player left on the board at this point, and Arizona can use another pass rusher opposite Josh Sweat.

 

4) Tennessee Titans – Francis Mauigoa, OT/OG, Miami

Mauigoa probably isn’t the best player on the board right here, but he’s close enough that I’m willing to pull the trigger. Tennessee’s offense was so utterly devoid of talent last year that it was basically impossible to tell if Cam Ward is worth anything or not. They need to find a way to fix that, and while the bigger need is probably at receiver, I think the safety of Mauigoa as a prospect is enough to make up the difference. I’m open to where they would play him—I probably like him better as a tackle and JC Latham better as a guard—but his versatility will make their line better no matter where they put him.

 

5) New York Giants – Caleb Downs, S, Ohio State

This is high for a safety, but Downs is probably the best overall player in the class at any position. He’s one of the smartest players I’ve ever scouted, and he’ll give an immediate boost to a defense both with his own skills and with his ability to coordinate the others around him. The Giants have a lot of exciting pieces up front, and with a player like Downs in the secondary this could take the leap to being one of the best defenses in the league.

 

6) Cleveland Browns – KC Concepcion, WR, Texas A&M

There’s some risk to Concepcion, but he is easily the most explosive of the first round receiver prospects, and he has enough other tools to go with his speed to make me confident he’ll round into a very good receiver. The Browns still have no idea what they’re doing at quarterback, but whoever it is they are going to need something better than the ghost of Jerry Jeudy as their top target.

 

7) Washington Commanders – Jermod McCoy, CB, Tennessee

I can’t really comment on McCoy’s health, which may push him lower than this in the actual draft. But if he can return to the form he showed in 2024, he has the potential to become one of the best cornerbacks in the league. He has the physicality to eliminate a receiver before he can get into his route, and the closing speed and ball skills to produce game-changing plays when targeted. Washington basically couldn’t stop anyone from throwing on them last year, and while McCoy won’t fix every problem, he’s at least a very good start.

 

8) New Orleans Saints – Arvell Reese, LB/EDGE, Ohio State

The Saints have finally crawled out of the cap pit they dug, and the cost has been basically any young player showing promise. They need help at almost every position, so why not take a guy who might not have a position? I have no idea whether Reese can develop the pass rushing skills to be a star edge defender, but it’s hard to imagine someone with his combination of power, athleticism, and instincts not finding some way to be useful on an NFL field.

 

9) Kansas City Chiefs – Jordyn Tyson, WR, Arizona State

I had Makai Lemon higher on my receiver rankings, but I really like the fit for Tyson in Kansas City. He isn’t the most explosive athlete, but he is an incredible route runner who consistently creates separation on the boundary. The ideal scenario for him is to partner with a veteran quarterback who can get the ball out to hit the windows he creates, and you aren’t going to find a better destination in the top half of the draft.

 

10) New York Giants – Monroe Freeling, OT, Georgia

The Giants address defense with their first pick, and now they go offense with their second. They have a great left tackle in Andrew Thomas, but they still haven’t been able to figure out the other positions along the line. Freeling won’t solve all of their issues, but he’ll at least give them another piece to build on.

 

11) Miami Dolphins – Caleb Banks, DT, Florida

It’s tough to know what to do with a player like Banks. His tape is sensational, but he has enough injury issues that he may simply never make it in the NFL. Sending him to somewhere like Miami seems like the best fit. They are clearly playing the long game with their rebuild, and they can afford to take a chance on a talent like Banks. If he stays healthy, he is a star to build around. If he doesn’t, then all it really means is that they now might be four years away instead of three.

 

12) Dallas Cowboys – Sonny Styles, LB, Ohio State

Styles is another player who will bring stability to a defense that desperately needs it. He’s a phenomenal athlete, and a physical force that can choke off an opposing running game. He also has great instincts in coverage, and if he can continue to grow to attack NFL schemes, he has the potential to be one of the rare linebackers that genuinely changes how an offense has to attack.

 

13) Los Angeles Rams – Spencer Fano, OT/OG, Utah

Matthew Stafford has done a lot of work covering for an offensive line that is mostly just fine, but Stafford won’t be around forever. Whenever the Rams do move on at quarterback, it will be helpful to have a stronger foundation up front. It’s unclear where Fano will eventually wind up in the NFL, but he’s skilled and athletic enough that I’m confident he’ll become a valuable piece at guard even if he doesn’t have the length to make it at tackle.

 

14) Baltimore Ravens – Mansoor Delane, CB, LSU

This is mostly a value pick. The Ravens have some good players in the secondary, and they’ve spent their last two picks there on players who show early signs of promise. But the unit as a whole still struggled at times last year, in part due to lack of depth as injuries added up. Delane will help the depth immediately and will give them an option to move into the starting role after what will likely be Marlon Humphrey’s last year with the team.

 

15) Tampa Bay Buccaneers – Dillon Thieneman, S, Oregon

This was a weird one to try to figure out. The most glaring need for Tampa Bay is edge rusher, but there isn’t anyone with that kind of pass rushing juice worth taking here. So I’ll help them on the back end instead. Thieneman tested as a phenomenal athlete, and he can be a very good player in the right situation in the NFL. Drop him in deep coverage, let his speed and instincts rule in space, and don’t ask him to make too many crucial tackles. Putting him on the back end will open things up to let the Buccaneers move Antoine Winfield Jr around even more, getting one of their best defensive players more involved.

 

16) New York Jets – Makai Lemon, WR, USC

The Jets addressed their defense with their first pick, so now I’ll give them offense. Their two leading receivers last year were Garrett Wilson, who only played in 7 games, and Adonai Mitchell, who came over in a trade midseason. They need basic competence here, and basic competence is Lemon’s calling card. He’s not the most physically exciting talent, but he has a very good feel for finding open spots in coverage, and can create with the ball in his hands after he makes a catch.

 

17) Detroit Lions – Caleb Lomu, OT, Utah

Taylor Decker held down the left tackle position in Detroit for the past decade before his release this offseason. It sounds like the plan is to move Penei Sewell from the right side to the left, but that still leaves a hole to fill on the right side. The entire recent run of Lions success was built on a dominant offensive line, and their struggles a year ago were largely the result of backslide in that area. They desperately need an infusion of youth at the position, and Lomu has the potential to develop into another elite tackle.

 

18) Minnesota Vikings – Keldric Faulk, EDGE/DT, Auburn

After letting both Jonathan Allen and Javon Hargrave walk this offseason the Vikings basically have only one proven player on their defensive line. Faulk is a fascinating prospect with a ton of tools and a ton of holes in his game. But he is a phenomenal run defender, and he has the frame to put on weight and play more in the interior. The Vikings defense is a perfect fit for what he should be, a player who controls things on the interior, flashes occasionally with quickness as a pass rusher, and lets smaller, speedier guys try to get the corner on his outside.

 

19) Carolina Panthers – Jeremiyah Love, RB, Notre Dame

Love is an elite running back prospect who probably should have gone higher than this, but I didn’t see a great fit in the teams selecting above. Instead I’ll send him to Carolina, who could use another explosive skill player on their offense. Chuba Hubbard hasn’t performed at the level of an NFL starter, and Rico Dowdle left as a free agent this offseason. Love would immediately provide them with a weapon in both the run and pass game as they try to figure out if they can build a good offense around Bryce Young.

 

20) Dallas Cowboys – Colton Hood, CB, Tennessee

Both Cowboys picks should be spent on trying to address their defense. With the first I gave them a linebacker to help them in the running game. With the second I’m grabbing a cornerback to help on the outside. Hood is up and down as a player, but his best moments show the potential to grow into a very good player in man coverage.

 

21) Pittsburgh Steelers – Carnell Tate, WR, Ohio State

Pittsburgh traded for Michael Pittman this offseason, but that probably isn’t a long term solution at the receiver position. Tate is a well-rounded prospect who can contribute immediately as a deep threat and grow to be a solid piece of their passing attack. He has good hands and a good feel for coverage, the sort of player that will be very helpful if they ever decide to try to find a young quarterback.

 

22) Los Angeles Chargers – Olaivavega Ioane, OG, Penn State

The offensive line basically sank the Chargers season in 2025. Getting Rashawn Slater and Joe Alt back healthy will be a huge boost, but they still have gaping holes on the interior. Ioane isn’t going to blow you away with what he does on the field, but he’s a reliable high-floor option for a team that needs an immediate impact player.

 

23) Philadelphia Eagles – Denzel Boston, WR, Washington

AJ Brown may or may not be traded this offseason, but it’s clear that one way or another his time in Philadelphia is drawing to a close. Boston isn’t going to replace everything Brown is, but he can be a good complement across from the speed and grace of Devonta Smith. He’s a big, physical ball-winner who can bail a quarterback out of a bad situation and create plays in the red zone. I have a few concerns about if he has the burst to succeed in the NFL, and his refusal to run the forty only makes me worry more. But his tape is excellent, and I think it’s worth the gamble at this point.

 

24) Cleveland Browns – Emmanuel McNeil-Warren, S, Toledo

This is where the draft begins to get tricky. It’s a thin class this year, and I’m going to have to take some players in the first round who really shouldn’t be there. McNeil-Warren is right on the border. He’s a good athlete who flies all over the field and can make explosive, violent plays. But he’s also a little shaky reading plays, and doesn’t have much experience playing against NFL caliber athletes. That said, he’s the best option for a Browns team that is in position to take a few gambles.

 

25) Chicago Bears – Cashius Howell, EDGE, Texas A&M

I don’t love the fit for Howell in Chicago’s defense, but his pass rush juice makes him difficult to pass up at this point. He might be too small to hold up consistently as an edge presence in the NFL, but if the Bears can find a way to surround him with players that can cover for his weaknesses, his quickness and flexibility will make him a threat to every quarterback they face.

 

26) Buffalo Bills – Aveion Terrell, CB, Clemson

The Bills took a cornerback in the first round a year ago, but Maxwell Hairston didn’t do much as a rookie (partially due to injury), and even if he takes a leap the Bills could still use some help in the secondary. Taron Johnson gave them a weapon out of the slot for the past few years, but he’s in Las Vegas now, so Terrell will have an opportunity to contribute immediately. There are some concerns about him—he ran a terrible forty that may or may not have been impacted by a hamstring injury—but there are enough good moments on tape to take a shot here.

 

27) San Francisco 49ers – Kadyn Proctor, OT, Alabama

The 49ers have gotten by with basically one good lineman for several years, but Trent Williams is 38 years old, and eventually the weakness will come back to bite them. Proctor isn’t the best fit for what they want to do schematically, but he has size and athleticism that is difficult to pass up at this point. If he can harness his gifts, he can be a physically overwhelming presence that reshapes an offense.

 

28) Houston Texans – Blake Miller, OT, Clemson

This is where I start feeling really desperate with these picks. Miller is a great athlete, but his tape is sloppy, and taking him is gambling on the coaching staff being able to correct the holes in his technique. This isn’t great for a team that needs offensive line help right now, but that’s the downside with picking this late in the first round.

 

29) Kansas City Chiefs – Kayden McDonald, DT, Ohio State

McDonald is an overwhelming force in the middle of the defensive line. You simply can’t run between the tackles with him on the field, and the value he brings there is enough to make up for his lack of juice as a pass rusher. Placing him beside Chris Jones should take some of the burden off of the veteran, letting him focus more of his attention to getting after the quarterback.

 

30) Miami Dolphins – Omar Cooper, WR, Indiana

The Dolphins went for a home run with their first pick, now they try just to make contact with their second. Cooper isn’t the biggest or most explosive receiver, but he does a good job creating separation and plays bigger than his frame. Pretty much any position is on the table here, and Cooper will be a solid piece of whatever their offense is going forward.

 

31) New England Patriots – Kenyon Sadiq, TE, Oregon

The Patriots have to get someone for Drake Maye to throw to, and at this point Sadiq is the best option on the board. He isn’t the sort of route runner we’ve seen from top tight end prospects over the past few years, but he has the ability to separate down the seam that will pair perfectly with Maye’s ability to stand in the pocket and fire lasers down the field.

 

32) Seattle Seahawks – Brandon Cisse, CB, South Carolina

I mentioned Miami and Cleveland as two teams that can afford to take a risk on boom-or-bust players because their rosters are so bad that a draft miss won’t cost them much. Seattle comes from the opposite direction but arrives in the same place. Their roster is loaded with talent, so even if Cisse can’t develop his raw athleticism, this defense will still be a nightmare to go against. And if he does figure things out, it could become impossible to throw the ball on them at all.

2026 Quarterback Prospects

 

As I do most years I am ending my draft breakdowns with the quarterbacks. This year I regret that decision. This might not be the worst quarterback class I’ve seen, but it is probably the most boring. I only broke down five players, and only two of them would I have any real interest in as long-term investments. The rest are just kind of bland, not chaotic enough to be fun and not competent enough to justify putting onto an NFL field.

(The two who could have spiced this up are Taylan Green and Cole Payton, two players who tested as freakish athletes but who I couldn’t find enough tape to do a full breakdown for. But I watched enough to convince me I wasn’t really missing out on anything.)

 

Fernando Mendoza, QB, Indiana

Mendoza is the top quarterback in the class, and the only one I’d give better than even odds of becoming a long term NFL starter. He’s going to go first overall, and that won’t be too much of a reach, even if he doesn’t touch the same highs as some top overall picks we’ve seen. He’s just a solid, well-rounded quarterback who does a lot of stuff well and has room to grow in the NFL.

Mendoza’s physical tools are impressive. He is 6-5 and 236 pounds, and he runs well enough to be a genuine threat that defenses have to worry about. He combines this sturdy frame with an arm that—while not quite at the level we’ve seen from players like Caleb Williams and Drake Maye in recent years—is strong enough to create opportunities at all levels of the field. He can launch the ball between a safety and a cornerback on a deep route, and he can fire lasers to the perimeter that defenders have no hopes of ever reaching.

Throwing to the perimeter is what Mendoza does best. He gets the ball out with good timing and rhythm, and it rarely ends up anywhere other than where he wants it. He is extremely accurate working to both sidelines, which makes him absolutely lethal on back shoulder throws. Pair him with a receiver with good ball skills and a couple times a game they’ll create a first down even when the defense is set up to stop it.

The best thing about Mendoza is that there really aren’t any bad parts to his game. He doesn’t throw with a lot of anticipation for windows over the middle, but he also doesn’t put the ball into harm’s way. The offense he ran was very simplified, leaning on a lot of one-read plays and RPOs, but when he was asked to execute more complex stuff he mostly looked good doing so. There are reasons for concern based off of sample size, and it may take a while to get fully in the rhythm of working through his reads at NFL speed. But I think he has enough of a base to figure that out over his first couple seasons.

If there is one real concern I have with Mendoza it’s about how he handles pressure. At Indiana he was basically never under pressure, thanks to the scheme and a very good offensive line. When he did face pressure, the results could be a little mixed. He made plenty of good plays and did a good job avoiding sacks, but there were also a couple times I saw that he didn’t feel backside pressure and got stripped as he was winding up to throw. He doesn’t do a lot outside of structure, and every now and then he’ll try to pull off a throw that’s ambitious even for his arm, on one occasion I saw leading to an underthrown ball and an ugly pick-six.

These are situations he is going to face more in the NFL, and it will be up to him to adjust. He’s not at a level where he looks outright panicked under pressure, but it’s a potential issue that could keep him from living up to his potential. But it’s also something he could figure out, and in the long run I think he will. He may not make the sort of splash plays that separate the true top tier of NFL quarterbacks, but I expect he’ll be a reliable starter for the next decade.

 

Ty Simpson, QB, Alabama

There are a lot of red flags with Simpson. He’s on the smaller side for a quarterback, and his physical tools are merely average. He only started a single year at Alabama after spending three seasons on the bench. And his performance really tailed off as the season went along and he got into the meat of the schedule. Whether this was due to some nagging injury or a loss in confidence, by the end of the year he’d fallen from someone being in the conversation for a top five pick to someone who might not even make the first round.

These are all reasons for concern, and players with this sort of profile very rarely succeed in the NFL. And yet, I can’t help liking what I see from Simpson. There are the pieces of a good quarterback here, and after Mendoza he’s the only player from this class I think has a real shot of developing into a starter.

Three or four times a game Simpson will throw a ball that makes you sit up in your seat. He’s a very smart player who progresses through his reads well, and he is always looking to make the most of his opportunities down the field. He has an incredible feel for space over the middle of the field, holding the ball to wait for his receiver to clear into an open window and anticipating gaps in the defense to lead his target to where he has the best chance of making the catch. He’s able to alter the trajectory of his ball to clear underneath defenders, and he rarely gets fooled by a coverage.

Unfortunately, there are plenty of bad plays to go along with the good. The biggest issue for Simpson is accuracy, especially to the outside part of the field. He can make all the throws he needs to, but periodically the ball will fly off target. It’s usually still catchable, but it makes life harder for his receivers and takes away some plays that should be automatic.

Against pressure I’d describe him as inconsistent. He makes some very nice plays maneuvering in the pocket to wait for a throwing window to open, but he’ll also create some major losses trying to go into hero mode, scrambling backwards hoping to extend a play that is truly dead. He’s good at avoiding throwing interceptions, but he can be reckless carrying the football. When he does escape the pocket though, he is creative out of structure and can make good plays either throwing on the run or tucking the ball and taking it himself.

More than any other quarterback I can remember I wish Simpson had stayed for another year of college. Because there’s an NFL starter in here, but it will take some work to unlock it, work I’m not sure he’ll get a chance to do in the NFL. The common wisdom is to let a quarterback learn from the sideline, but Simpson has already spent years watching other people play football. He needs to play football himself, and he needs to do it in a place where his inconsistencies won’t get people fired.

And even if it does pan out, the upside for Simpson is still limited. He might be able to creep into the top ten of quarterbacks, but he’ll never be someone defenses are truly scared of. It’s difficult to know how to value a player like this. I’d probably feel best about him at the end of the first round, but teams selecting there will either not be able to give him the reps he needs or else not give him the leash to work through his mistakes. I think the best fits may actually be at the top of the second round, teams that need a quarterback but also won’t put him under too much pressure to succeed right away. In a couple years, as talent gets built around him, Simpson can be the quarterback of a good NFL team. It will just require luck and some patience.

 

Garrett Nussmeier, QB, LSU

The best case you can make for Nussmeier is that you should just ignore everything that has happened in the past year. He reportedly suffered a core injury during the offseason that hampered him the entire year, and it is believable watching him on film. In 2025 he was an extremely vanilla quarterback, executing the simplest parts of the offense and doing nothing beyond that. He picked who he wanted to throw to before the snap, and he generally threw it there, focusing on short, safe passes at the expense of trying anything down the field that might strain his injury.

Based only on his 2025 film, I’m not sure I’d even consider Nussmeier draftable. But I went back and watched a few of his games from 2024, and that’s where things get a little bit interesting. There are a lot of similarities between 2024 Nussmeier and 2025 Simpson. Both slightly undersized quarterbacks, but both with stronger arms than you’d expect. Both first year starters with some questionable decisionmaking, especially managing the pocket. And both capable of some incredible throws down the field, the sort of plays that force you to think long and hard about whether there’s something here worth investing in.

For Nussmeier his best throws also come working over the middle. He has good anticipation for windows and good feel for throwing with touch, able to layer balls over defenders to drop into the perfect place for the receiver. He throws very good deep sideline routes as well, and the back ends of defenses always have to be on alert.

There are enough other issues that I would still have Nussmeier comfortably below Simpson even if I completely ignore the most recent season. His aggression down the field often crosses the line into recklessness, and even in his “good” year he threw 12 interceptions (compared to only 5 for Simpson). He offers basically nothing as an athlete, and he is inconsistent throwing on the run, somehow seeming to be far better when moving to his left than to his right. His mechanics are fine in the ordinary course of play but break down quickly under pressure, and he frequently tries to throw the ball while fading away, leading to risky throws that rarely goes where he wants them.

Just based on his 2024 tape, I would consider Nussmeier worth about a fourth round pick. Most likely to be a long-term backup, but maybe with the upside to develop into a functional bottom-half starter. I’m mostly willing to give him the injury excuse for 2025, given it robbed him of basically all the things he does well. But it still makes me a little nervous, so I’d probably bump him down a round to play it safe.

 

Carson Beck, QB, Miami

If all you’re looking for is a backup quarterback, Beck isn’t a bad option. He’s got good enough size and good enough arm strength to play in the NFL, while not excelling enough in either to justify calling him a developmental prospect. He has plenty of experience with three years starting at a high level in college, and he knows how to execute the basic parts of an offense. His mechanics are clean, and his process is quick. The ball comes out on time on routine routes, and most of the time he puts it in a good spot as well. If you bring him in to run a simplified scheme with a good supporting cast, he can probably win some games as an NFL quarterback.

When things get messy around Beck though, there isn’t much he can do. He isn’t great about sensing pressure around him in the pocket, and even when he does feel it he is held back by a lack of athleticism. He doesn’t bring much to the table as a scrambler, and even when he tries to maneuver in the pocket he often doesn’t have the flexibility to adjust while keeping a solid throwing base beneath him. He’s smart enough to get to second and third reads, but his stiffness holds him back here as well, and his mechanics and accuracy degrade as he works across the field.

The other thing we have to talk about with Beck is the interceptions. In his three years as a starter he threw 30 picks, a problem that did not get any better with more experience. And the interceptions come in all sorts of flavors. Sometimes he misses a coverage rotation and throws it straight to a defender. Sometimes he fades away from pressure and leaves a ball floating over the middle of the field. And sometimes he makes all the correct decisions and simply misses with his target. He has a tendency to leave balls behind his receivers coming across the middle of the field, a lack of anticipation that makes it difficult to hit tight windows and robs his teammates of opportunities to pick up yards after the catch even when he does hit them.

Basically, I see no scenario where Beck is a long-term starter in the NFL. His best plays simply aren’t good enough to live with his worst plays, and he isn’t worth the time it would take to develop him into what best case scenario might be the 20^th best quarterback in the league. But he also probably won’t wash out of the league in a hurry either. Keep him on the bench, give him a spot start here and there, and he can execute enough of a basic offense to keep a season from totally collapsing when a starter goes down. Your mileage may vary on how you value a player like this, but to me it’s about a fifth or a sixth round pick.

 

Drew Allar, QB, Penn State

Allar is the pie-in-the-sky project quarterback of this year’s class. He has good size to go along with the strongest arm of any quarterback I looked at this year, and he makes use of all his tools in flashes on the field. He can fire balls into tight windows, and he can make throws from awkward platforms that other quarterbacks wouldn’t (or at least shouldn’t) dare attempt. He isn’t the fastest player in the world, but he has enough speed to pose a threat as a runner, combined with his big frame that makes him a headache to try to tackle.

All of these tools will convince someone he’s worth trying to develop into a starter, but I just don’t see it. There are way too many flaws that need to be fixed for him to even be a capable NFL backup. He struggles to get to any receiver past his first option, and even when he tries to get to a second or third read he’s usually slow enough to miss any window that was there. His mechanics fall apart as he goes through his progression, and even when they’re good he can be wildly inaccurate.

I’m not averse to project quarterbacks, but I’m less forgiving for someone like Allar than I would be for someone with less experience or coming from a smaller school. He was the top recruit coming out of high school, had years of the best private coaches on the market, then spent four years at a premier college working with multiple different offensive staffs whose number one goal was to turn him into a good quarterback. Drafting him is betting that your coaches can do what all of these previous coaches failed to do. Sometimes some people just can’t be taught. I probably wouldn’t even bother spending a draft pick on Allar, no matter how impressive he looks throwing a football in shorts.

2026 Offensive Line Prospects

 

Francis Mauigoa, OT, Miami

Mauigoa’s game is built around power. As a run blocker he has the ability to blast people backwards off the ball, either driving them into the second level or collapsing the entire half of the line to open a massive hole behind him. He’s an old fashioned right tackle, the sort of player you tilt your entire running game to power behind on a regular basis. He has enough athleticism to pull off a handful of reach blocks, though can sometimes struggle to move his feet around to truly seal a defender off from a play if forced to work too far laterally. He’s better at the point of attack than on the backside, but he’s good enough at both to be a consistent plus in the running game.

The story is similar in pass protection. He isn’t the quickest or twitchiest athlete, but his technique is clean and his strength allows him to get away with things other tackles can’t. He’s a very patient player, mostly just sitting back and waiting for a pass rusher to come to him. This means that he never gets out of balance, and is always in position to react to whatever move is thrown at him. He can sometimes be a bit slow to react to inside moves, but even when a defender is able to get an edge on him he has the upper body strength to keep them from powering through, able to stick out a single arm to stop them in their tracks before they can reach the quarterback.

There are things to clean up in pass protection. Mauigoa’s patience can occasionally stray into passivity, as he’ll hold his arms back and let pass rushers attack into his chest. Most of the time his 329 frame has no problem absorbing the contact, but against good pass rushers he can sometimes lose leverage and be knocked back. He has a strong punch when he deploys it but doesn’t use it often enough. It’s a delicate line between too passive and too aggressive, and most of the time Mauigoa pulls it off, but in the NFL I think he would benefit from leaning more towards the aggression side.

I don’t necessarily see a top tier NFL tackle in Mauigoa, but I see a solid player who can be counted on for years at the position, with enough surety that I’d be willing to take him in the top ten. I would be mildly intrigued if a team wanted to move him to guard, where I think he does have the potential to be one of the best in the league, but I think he’s got enough athleticism that he’ll stick on the outside long term.

 

Monroe Freeling, OT, Georgia

Freeling is the high-risk, high-reward player in this year’s offensive line class. As a physical prospect he is spectacular, standing 6-7 and weighing 315 pounds with nearly 35 inch arms. He tested above the 90^th percentile in both the forty yard dash and the vertical leap, and that athleticism shows up on the field. He makes impressive reach blocks in the running game, and he shows incredible quickness in pass protection, able to recover from basically any situation to find his way back into the path of the pass rusher.

The issue with Freeling is that he needs too lean on this recovery ability a bit too often. His technique is very raw, and too often he will be caught leaning too far forward, missing with his punch and having to flail around to try to keep up with a pass rusher. Most of the time his raw athleticism is enough to keep the defender from pressuring the quarterback, but the margins are always thinner in the NFL, and I think he’ll struggle early on.

Freeling only started for a single year in college, and he showed improvement over the course of that season, so taking him is a gamble on that improvement continuing. Because if it does, he has the potential to be one of the best in the league. He’s strong enough to get movement in the running game, and when he does land his punch it’s enough to knock even strong pass rushers backwards. There’s more of his athleticism to harness as well, if he can get better about keeping his feet moving to sustain a block through the course of the play. There’s enough risk of failure here that I’d be reluctant to spend a top ten pick on him, but enough upside that I would be willing to take the gamble over some of the safer players on the list below.

 

Spencer Fano, OT/OG, Utah

There are two Utah tackles likely to go in the first round this year, and I see the two of them as having very similar value, despite being very different players. Fano is the technician of the two, a fairly polished player who is somewhat limited by his physical tools. In his case, the issue is mostly length. He’s 6-5 and 311 pounds, which is good enough for a tackle but still a little less than ideal. The bigger issue is his arm length. At only 32 inches they are below the typical threshold for a tackle, a problem that seems to pop up with at least one lineman each year.

And it is a problem for Fano. He struggles to win when he tries to use his arms, not getting much disruption with his punch on defenders and too often taking contact into his chest. He doesn’t get driven backwards into the quarterback, but he can be knocked off balance to set up the next move. He struggles some to close down the edge against speed rushes, and he isn’t great at sustaining blocks, at times letting defenders slide outside the frame of his body and having no option but to grab hold and hang on for dear life.

This is unfortunate, because all the other parts of Fano’s game are awesome. He tested as a top tier athlete, and while I think that slightly overstates his performance on the field, he is still capable of movement that very few linemen are. He dances with ease to mirror pass rushers across from him, and he can pull off aggressive reach blocks to open things up in the running game. He’s also able to drive defenders off the ball, opening massive holes as a point of attack blocker. At times Utah would even flip the sides of their two lineman so they could run directly behind Fano, not caring that they were telling the defense exactly where the ball was going because they could count on him to win on pure physical force.

Everything I described about Fano makes it seem like he’d make an awesome guard, and I think that is probably where he will play most of his career in the NFL. But his quickness is enough that I would be tempted to give him a chance at tackle, in the event he is one of the rare athletes who is good enough to overcome his shortcomings. With practice I think he can develop enough technique to be at least average with his arms, which combined with his quickness could make him an above average starting tackle. Either way, as a project tackle or a high-upside guard, I see his value as comfortably in the middle of the first round.

 

Caleb Lomu, OT, Utah

Lomu is another tackle who looks great on paper but is still figuring some stuff out on the field. He doesn’t quite have the length of Freeling, but he has what he needs to succeed at tackle in the NFL, to go along with elite level athletic testing. On the field I think his athleticism falls more into the camp of “very good” rather than elite, which is enough to knock him a rung below Freeling, even if he’s closer to being a finished product.

Lomu generally plays with good technique and balance. He can be a little passive on his drops at times and not give himself the space needed to adjust to the pass rush, but this is easily corrected with coaching. When he does take the proper angles, he has the physicality to stop rushers dead in their tracks and the lateral agility to keep in front of all but the quickest rushers. At times he can play a little high, which leads to some ugly losses when defenders attack into his chest, but most of the time he is able to anchor and absorb contact before it can become a problem.

The biggest flaw I see with Lomu is that he seems just a little stiff as an athlete. He can cover a lot of ground moving laterally, but he struggles at times to swing his hips around to seal a defender off from a play. This can cause issues in the running game, where defenders are able to slide off his contact to either make a tackle or draw a holding penalty. This is a flaw that can be mostly smoothed over, and Lomu has enough upside to make him worth a pick in the middle of the first round. I think ultimately he’ll settle in as a middle-tier starter, a valuable player if not an exciting one.

 

Olaivavega Ioane, OG, Penn State

If you’re looking for a guard I think I’d prefer a couple of the names higher on the list converting from tackle, but I wouldn’t blame you if you’d want the safer option of someone who has spent years playing the position. And Ioane is about as safe as they come. He isn’t extraordinary at anything, but he’s very good at pretty much everything. He gets some movement off the line of scrimmage but doesn’t blow anyone backwards. He can keep up with most pass rushers on the interior but can occasionally lose to quickness. He’s a well-rounded, plug and play NFL starter who will be among the better guards in the league for a long time, if not ever the best.

If there’s one part of Ioane’s game that really shines it’s his ability to move in space. He is a fantastic puller, able to get to the hole with ease and then turn up to make plays on anyone in the hole. He has very fluid hips that allow him to flip around and seal defenders away from the play on a consistent basis. This helps cover for what is probably the biggest weakness of his game, which is a struggle to sustain blocks. When a defender is able to keep him square Ioane has trouble stopping them from sliding to the side as the play develops. He needs to use his body to cut them off from the play, and fortunately he has the footspeed to make this happen most of the time.

Ioane has some things to clean up as all young players do—he plays high at times and can get knocked backwards by initial contact in pass protection, which will be harder to recover from in the NFL—but he’s closer to ready than almost anyone else on this list. He’s worth a selection in the top twenty, and for the right team could probably justify jumping a couple of the players I have above him.

 

Kadyn Proctor, OT, Alabama

Proctor is the behemoth of this year’s offensive line class. He is 6-6 and 352 pounds, and he carries that size well on the field. He is a good athlete who is able to make plays in space, and it is basically impossible to move him backwards. Every pass rusher that tries to attack his chest is simply swallowed by his bulk, never getting more than a couple inches of backwards movement before grinding to a halt.

When discussing a couple players above I mentioned issues sustaining blocks once they get their hands on a defender. That isn’t an issue for Proctor. When he gets his hands on an opponent in either the run or the passing game, the play is basically over. His upper body is incredibly strong, and he is able to grip a defender and hold him inside his frame, in complete control as he moves his feet to seal him away from the ball.

The issue comes in everything before he gets his hands on the defender. Proctor is a good athlete in a linear way, able to cover ground well whether it’s hitting his drops in pass protection or coming around as a puller or heading to the second level. But he struggles to change direction once his initial move has been made, and quicker defenders are frequently able to dance past him. Better technique might clean some of this up, but I think it’s mostly a physical shortcoming that will stick with him in the NFL.

A move to guard might help, but I would also like to see more from him in the running game. He never gets as much displacement as I’d expect from someone with his size and strength. I think his height works against him a bit, as he can play high and have issues getting beneath a defender enough to shove him backwards. He’s still good enough as a run blocker for that to be a plus of his game, but he isn’t the sort of weapon you’d expect just looking at him on paper.

Proctor’s physical tools give him a lot of advantages, but they also hold him back in ways as well. I think this will be the case at whatever position he plays, keeping him from ever being more than a pretty good player. This makes him better suited as a pick near the end of the first round after the players with higher upside are off the board.

 

Blake Miller, OT, Clemson

Miller is another player with all the physical tools you could want from a tackle. He has the height and weight and long arms, and he tested as a phenomenal athlete. That athleticism shows up on the field where he is a fluid mover who covers ground with ease. He has excellent recovery ability and is typically able to find a way to make a block work even if he’s beaten on initial contact.

The problem with Miller is that he relies far too much on this recovery ability, because he is beaten on initial contact too often. Above I discussed some linemen who struggled with power and others who struggle with quickness. Miller struggles with both. He plays with wide hands that leave his chest open to getting bowled over by power rushes. He also will get caught leaning too far forward, leaving him stumbling against air when a quicker defender is able to step to the side to get around him.

Miller’s technique is a mess, and I don’t think he can play in the NFL until he has a significant amount of development and also likely some work in the weight room. There are enough good plays on his tape to make me think he can develop down the road, and his athletic potential gives him good upside if he puts things together. But that’s a gamble that will only pay off two or three years down the road, and even with his gifts he’s not the sort of player I’d want to take until day two.

2026 Defensive Front Prospects

 

This is the longest of my draft previews, because this is the deepest and most interesting group of players in the draft. I had to lump together a lot of different positions into this analysis because quite a few players on this list seem to straddle traditional position designations. There is a lot of potential here, but also a lot of risk. Which is what makes the draft so much fun.

 

David Bailey, EDGE, Texas Tech

Bailey is going to put the quarterback on the ground. He led college football with 14.5 sacks a year ago, and he is going to be among the top sack-producers in the NFL. He is an explosive athlete with a wide assortment of moves, the sort of player who can beat an opposing tackle in three different ways on back-to-back-to-back plays. He can fire off the ball and come screaming around the corner. He has a lethal spin move that basically can’t be stopped by a single blocker. And he is utterly relentless, never getting stuck on blocks and always working to find his way into the pocket to bring the quarterback down.

Bailey is an elite pass rusher and well worth a top five pick, and there are only a couple things that hold him back from joining the elite tier of edge defenders I’ve scouted (Myles Garrett, Chase Young, the Bosas). He’s a bit on the small side at only 6-3 and 251 pounds, not enough to prevent him from being one of the best in the league, but enough to keep him from being utterly unstoppable. He can occasionally get good push going through a blocker’s chest, but he is more adept at going around contact than through it. He plays with good technique and leverage as a run defender, and I think he's better than he gets credit for, but the stronger linemen in the NFL might be able to push him around a little.

I do think there is room to grow in Bailey’s game, and he is more than just the safest edge prospect in the class. He does some nice subtle work with his hands, but there’s more technique he can develop to keep blockers from cutting off his path. It’s very difficult for anyone to lay a hand on him, but when they do he can get widened off his path. I think he has the frame to add more muscle, which should help him cut the corner sharper when he does explode past a tackle’s initial set. As he is now, Bailey looks like a reliable double-digit sack producer, with the potential to grow to someone consistently competing for the league lead.

 

Rueben Bain, EDGE, Miami

I have to start by talking about the arms. One of the most-discussed topics of the draft season is the length of Bain’s arms, and with good reason. Measuring less than 31 inches at the Combine, his arms aren’t just shorter than average. They are historically short, the sort of thing that we almost never see from an NFL edge rusher, much less one in the conversation to be a first round pick.

How much does arm length matter? Well, it definitely matters some. Edge rushers use their arms for all sorts of things. They’re used to create a buffer between themselves and a blocker. They’re used to establish leverage when going for a bull rush. And they’re used to make tackles, as the best linemen are able to close off gaps on either side simply by sticking out their arms and grabbing a ball carrier as they try to escape past.

All of these are issues that show up on Bain’s tape. He can get incredible drive into a blocker’s chest when he goes for a bull rush, but he can also be stopped dead in his tracks when the opposing lineman sticks out his hands to cushion the blow. He holds his ground extremely well in the running game, but he can struggle to separate from blocks to bring a ball carrier down. When a lineman gets his hands on Bain, there isn’t much he can do.

The arm length is an issue. And the tape is good enough that I am mostly willing to look past it. Bain was the best player in college football at any position last year, the sort of destructive force that regularly took over games and gave nightmares to quarterbacks, linemen, and coaches.

He makes up for his shortcomings with an assortment of traits that I would best describe as eccentric. He has a broad frame and a powerful build, but he is also lightning quick laterally and his incredible bend around the corner. His hand technique can best be described as brute force, an aggressive and violent array of swipes that make up for their lack of diversity with simple overwhelming power. If you can get your hands on Bain, you can block him, but most of the time anyone who tries finds their own arms swatted away as Bain races past into the backfield.

It’s hard to know how to value a player like this. It’s possible that his game is varied enough to make his physical shortcomings mostly irrelevant, in which case he has the upside to be one of the best in the league. It’s also possible that more gifted and more skilled linemen in the NFL will know how to counter his attacks, leaving him consistently frustrated. I would put better odds on the former than the latter, and in the end I think he’ll settle in as a player who dominates most of the time, who will then disappear two or three games a year when facing an elite blocker who knows how to take advantage of his flaws. All in all, still a player I’d happily spend a top ten pick on, and could maybe even justify taking him in the top five.

 

Caleb Banks, DT, Florida

Banks is another tricky evaluation, for different reasons. As a physical specimen he is overwhelming, 6-6 and 327 pounds with 35 inch arms. He ran a 5.04 forty and had a 32 inch vertical leap and a 114 inch broad jump, all numbers that would have been impressive even if he was 20 pounds lighter. He is a rare caliber of athlete, the sort who even if his tape was terrible you’d still be tempted to take a chance on in the hope he could put things together.

And the thing is, his tape is pretty good, if a little incomplete. He is an explosive and violent player, who alternatives shooting through a gap into the backfield with tossing aside blockers as if they aren’t 300 pound men. He is quicker than anyone his size has any right to be, and he has a variety of hand moves to give himself an edge. He utilizes these tools more as a run defender than a pass rusher, but he shows enough flashes getting after the quarterback that I think he can grow into something there, even if it’s still a work in progress.

The one bizarre hole in his game is a complete inability to tackle. Two or three times a game he will explode into the backfield and have a clean shot at bringing a running back down for a big loss, and most of these end with him stumbling past with his arms empty. I think in some ways his height can work against him, as he struggles to bend and change directions. (It’s also sometimes an issue when he tries to hold up against a double team, where he can play too high and get moved back a little.) The tackling issues obviously aren’t great, but they bother me less from a lineman than they did when breaking down a safety with similar issues last week. Even when Banks misses a tackle, there are typically plenty of other people around to make up for it, and his disruption in the backfield is usually enough to ruin a play even if he doesn’t bring the ball carrier down.

The other thing we have to discuss with Banks is health. He played only three games his final season in college because of a foot injury, a problem he reaggravated working out at the Combine. For someone this big repeated foot issues are a major red flag, the sort of thing that can sink a career before it begins. Once again, I can’t really weigh in on a player’s health or how it impacts his future. Without the injury problems, I would absolutely spend a top ten pick on Banks. But I also understand why many people have him falling out of the first round.

 

Arvell Reese, LB/EDGE, Ohio State

In a year of difficult evaluations, Reese might be the most difficult. He is a freakish athlete, with incredible speed and impressive length. Get him in open space and he is an absolute terror, able to chase down any ball carrier and almost never missing a tackle. As an athlete the potential is through the roof. The question with him is what position he plays, and how that impacts his value.

The most valuable thing that Reese does is put the quarterback on the ground. He is a bit small for a traditional edge rusher, but his athletic tools are enough to make up for any lack of size, with the explosiveness to tear into the backfield and the quickness to dance around blockers. A lot of people see him in the model of players like Micah Parsons and Abdul Carter, who made similar transitions from linebacker to pass rusher and are now among the most dangerous players in the league. (Yes, Carter is dangerous, don’t let some bad sack luck as a rookie fool you.)

Reese has the tools to be an elite pass rusher, and he shows enough moments of harnessing them on tape to make me think there’s something there. But he is still extremely inexperienced at the position, and when you watch the tape in totality it can be a little underwhelming. He doesn’t really do anything with his hands, and he doesn’t come with any consistent pass rush plan.

As an edge rusher Reese is mostly still a project with extremely high upside. At linebacker the path is much clearer, if potentially lower in value. He is simply an awesome player as an off-ball linebacker, with great instincts that combine with incredible closing speed and violence to make it almost impossible to run with him in the box. He scrapes with ease through traffic, he has the speed to chase down plays to either sideline, and the power to explode into blockers and send much larger men flailing backwards to plug up any hole.

The question becomes how valuable a player like this can be, and whether it is worth spending a top ten selection on one. Because there are absolutely linebackers in the NFL worth that can have this value, but only because of what they bring to the table in pass coverage. Reese is still figuring things out in this part of his game. He has the athleticism to be an elite cover linebacker, and he has a handful of plays each game where he shuts down a receiver trying to run past him in the middle of the field. But there are also plays where he just kind of drifts aimlessly in coverage, the sort of lapses that NFL quarterbacks will feast on.

So what do you do with Reese? Do you try to transition him to edge in the hope he can live up to his highest possible outcome? Do you stick him at linebacker and let him develop his instincts in coverage? Or do you try to work some middle ground, bouncing him between the two positions as he did at Ohio State and risking that he never becomes truly elite at either? I honestly don’t know, and for that reason I’d be reluctant to take him until we got out of the top ten.

 

Sonny Styles, LB, Ohio State

The two Ohio State linebackers are fascinating side-by-side comparisons. They’re basically the same size, they ran the exact same 40 time, and they were used fairly interchangeably in Ohio State’s defense. Everything I said about Reese as a run defender can basically be copied and pasted for Styles. He reads plays well, he covers ground in a hurry, and he fills holes with violence. In this part of the game, he’s everything you want from a linebacker.

Where Styles really differentiates himself from Reese is in coverage. He’s a former safety who has all the instincts and recognition of that position, which he utilizes to shut down receivers in both man and zone coverage. He is flexible enough to adjust his zone drops as the routes develop in front of him, and he does a great job reading the quarterback’s eyes to anticipate a throw. If he can carry over these skills from college to the NFL, he has the potential to develop into one of the rare linebackers that can completely reshape how an offense is forced to attack simply by shutting down the middle part of the field.

I’m pretty sure that these skills will translate, and Styles is one of the rare linebackers I can talk myself into spending a top ten selection on. But linebacker coverage responsibilities are one of the things that have the biggest gap between college and pro, and I’ve been burned enough by incredible athletes who never figured it out that I’m still a little skittish. Styles and Reese could be listed in any order here, and ultimately it just comes down to what you want. If you’re looking to gamble on someone with pass rushing upside, grab Reese. If you want a pure linebacker, take Styles.

 

Keldric Faulk, DT/EDGE, Auburn

Most people seem to be treating Faulk as an edge, but I don’t think that makes sense. He just doesn’t have the explosiveness or the bend to win as a pass rusher coming around the edge. NFL tackles will be able to attack him without fear of him racing past them, and protection schemes will be comfortable leaving him on an island, allowing them to send extra blockers to shore up other spots on the line. He's still extremely young, and the physical tools are there, but it would take a massive leap for him to become even average here.

The lack of pass rush juice is unfortunate, because Faulk is a genuinely incredible run defender. He has good size at 6-6 and 276 pounds, to go along with 34 inch arms that he uses to their full potential. He plays with excellent leverage, establishing control into a blocker’s chest to keep from ever being moved backwards. He then has enough technique with his hands to shed the block at will, allowing him to range to either side to close off two gaps at once.

His skill as a run defender is enough to get him onto the field, but you need to pose at least some pass rushing threat to be more than an average edge defender, and I think Faulk has a better chance of developing this if he switches position. He bounced around on Auburn’s front, and while he wasn’t a consistent threat as an interior rusher, he at least showed signs to make me think he has potential to grow in that area. He’s incredibly quick in tight spaces, and the same length and hand usage that make him so lethal as a run defender occasionally let him tear nearly untouched into the backfield and land right in the quarterback’s lap.

I think the best path forward would be for Faulk to add another 10 to 20 pounds and focus most of his time playing on the interior. The best fit would be as an end in a 3-4 scheme, with a nose tackle to one side to swallow up double teams and a more explosive edge on the other to draw attention in pass protection. In the right situation, he has the tools to develop into a superstar, with the fallback of being a rotation piece on first and second down to choke off a running game. But there’s enough uncertainty about the position change, as well as the lack of scheme versatility, that I still wouldn’t take the chance until later in the first round.

 

Cashius Howell, EDGE, Texas A&M

Remember all the time I spent talking about how short Bain’s arms are? Well Howell’s are somehow even shorter. That’s where the similarities between their games end, though. Where Bain has adapted to his lack of length by developing powerful swats to keep himself clean, Howell has built a game based around speed and elusiveness. If a lineman gets his hands on him, there really isn’t much he can do. So he does everything in his power to keep away from those hands.

Howell’s first step is explosive, and from there he can attack an opposing tackle from either direction in space. He can come screaming around the edge, bending to get beneath the blocker’s punch and cutting a sharp corner in towards the quarterback. He has remarkable flexibility, which allows him to attack while being turned sideways to minimize the amount of area a blocker can strike. He can also attack the inside, either sharply cutting back across the tackle’s face or spinning to get a clean lane towards the quarterback. He has incredible closing speed once he has an avenue, which makes him absolutely lethal on stunts, looping back inside and arriving in the quarterback’s lap before he even knows what’s happening.

Howell used these tools to wreak havoc on the weakest competition he faced, but he struggled some against tackles of the caliber he’s going to face in the NFL. His pass rushing technique still isn’t super advanced, and to succeed long term he’s probably going to have to do at least something with his hands. He shows signs of being able to use his shorter frame to get good leverage and turn that into a bull rush, but he will need to add play strength without sacrificing his explosiveness or flexibility.

Howell is a solid enough player against the run, able to hold his ground as a point of attack defender and keep blockers from widening him too much on the edge. He isn’t really able to separate from blocks at that point, meaning he needs a teammate to come and clean up the mess, but he at least won’t be a liability getting blown off the ball. The other thing that adds value is that he’s pretty good dropping into coverage, able to turn and run and make plays on the ball in the air. If you’re a team running the right scheme—a 3-4 defense that uses a lot of creative blitz packages—I think his versatility and potential for growth is worth a gamble at the end of the first round.

 

Kayden McDonald, DT, Ohio State

If you want someone who is just going to eat up space in the middle of your defensive line, McDonald is your guy. At 326 pounds he just absorbs blockers, basically impossible for a single offensive lineman to move off his spot. He typically plays with excellent leverage getting into a blocker’s chest and taking control with his hands, but even when he doesn’t he has the pure mass to sink his hips and hold his ground. Occasionally double teams can move him back a little bit, but he’s typically able to anchor and hold his ground from there, while the linebackers behind him take advantage of the space to scrape and make the play.

McDonald is great at absorbing blockers, but what really makes him special is his ability to make a play on the ball when it comes near him. He regularly tosses aside blockers, and from there he has the flexibility to keep his balance and twist to bring down a running back. He has the ability to completely destroy running plays on his own, and opposing offenses often don’t even bother trying to run into the middle gaps.

The question with a player like McDonald is how much he brings in pass rush, and how much you value a player that doesn’t offer much in that part of the game. He can occasionally compress the pocket with bull rushes, though he doesn’t have many plays where he simply overpowers someone and throws him back into the quarterback’s lap. I think he shows potential to develop more skill as a pass rusher if he can harness his ability to shed blockers in the same way he does in the running game, but it’s very much still a work in progress. And I don’t think he has the quickness to ever be anything more than a pure power rusher, which limits him as well. He’s still a very useful player, but more of a situational one. I wouldn’t be averse to grabbing him at the tail end of the first round, but I’d feel better about it in the second.

 

Akheem Mesidor, EDGE, Miami

Mesidor is another edge rusher who isn’t great at rushing from the edge. He has a bit more burst and bend than Faulk, but he is still comfortably below what I would hope for from a potential first round pick. Like Faulk he has the quickness to win on interior rushes, but unlike Faulk he doesn’t have the size to make me think he can play there on a regular basis.

Mesidor is solid against the run, though not the sort of dominant force that would be enough to get him on the field if he can’t generate pressure. He holds up well against double teams but can get widened some when trying to squeeze the corner from the edge. His hands are good but not great, and he gets caught on blocks a little more than I’d like. He’s a good athlete though, and he can make some plays chasing the ball down from behind.

Mesidor is one of the oldest players in the class at 25 years old, suggesting he probably has less room to grow. I think he’s at least an NFL rotation player, with the potential to grow into an average starter, but nothing more than that. On the whole he adds up as a prospect with a low ceiling and a reliable floor, the sort of player I likely wouldn’t take until the middle of day two.

 

Peter Woods, DT, Clemson

Woods is a bit of a tweener. Not big enough to be a space eating nose tackle, and not explosive enough to be a high-level disruptor. He has some good strength and technique with his hands, and he can make some nice plays holding his ground in the running game, but he doesn’t have the power to absorb double teams or the speed to penetrate deep into the backfield. He’s quick in tight spaces, but he doesn’t utilize that quickness to the extent he should be able to, leaving him as just kind of a bland and inoffensive presence in the middle of the defense. I think he’ll develop into a functional starter in the NFL, but he doesn’t have the sort of upside I’d want from a player before the latter half of the second round.

Woods’s tape is defined by its inconsistency. He can make some really nice plays scraping laterally to close down a rushing lane, but he will also sometimes let his feet stop and get sealed too easily away from a play. He can get good leverage and hold his ground against a downhill attack, but he can also get in trouble trying to dance sideways and run away to abandon his gap. He can make some nice plays to split double teams, but he can also be caught completely blindsided and knocked backwards off the line of scrimmage.

I can live with inconsistency in younger players, taking a chance that they can continue to develop and iron out their weak plays. The problem with Woods is that his best plays aren’t that impressive either. He doesn’t bring much to the table as a pass rusher, spending most of his time just trying to run around the blocker in front of him. This can be an effective tool, if its alternated with a power move to leave blockers uncertain how to approach each play. But Woods never shows any sign of being able to compress the pocket, so opposing linemen are comfortable sitting back on their heels and letting him dance in front of them posing no threat to the quarterback.