NFL Draft

Top 10 quarterbacks of the 2026 NFL Draft:

We’ve reached the final piece of my annual positional draft rankings series, and of course it’s the one that gets discussed the most – quarterbacks. Unfortunately, I can’t say that we’ve saved the best for last here, as this group certainly doesn’t match up to 2024 or really even last year – in large part because so many young passers we expected to come out actually decided to go back to college – but there are some interesting discussions to be had.

I believe we have one quarterback that is worthy of being the first guy off the board in many drafts. Then I personally have a two-man tier in the second round, before we get to a pretty substantial drop-off. There may only be two or three other names that ultimately make it inside my personal top 100, and then, I ended up with a couple of likely surprises to close out this list.

Let’s get into it one more time:

 

Continue reading →

Standard
NFL Draft

Top 10 safeties of the 2026 NFL Draft:

For the final time in my positional draft rankings series, we’re looking at the defensive side of the ball with safeties. Just like how we discussed earlier in the week with the tight-ends, I was more than pleasantly surprised with the depth of this class, beyond the trio frequently coming up in first-round mock drafts.

I do believe that all three of those guys are worthy of having their names called on night one, but then my entire top ten will be inside my top 100 overall prospects, and there are plenty of useful guys beyond that point, even if it may be in more of niche role, and/or they’ll need to earn their stripes on special teams first. Miami’s Keionte Scott was already part of the corner rankings. And as always, please keep in mind that these rankings don’t reflect potential injury or off-field concerns, which I simply don’t have all the information on.

This is what my list looks like:

 

Continue reading →

Standard
NFL Draft

Top 10 tight-ends of the 2026 NFL Draft:

We’ve already discussed running backs and wide receivers. Now it’s time to complete our skill-position group with the tight-ends. This is a position that continuously morphs as the demands of them change over time. Generally, you differentiate between the more traditional “Y”, attached to the hip of the offensive tackle and heavily involved in your run-blocking schemes, and the more movement-based “F”, who often times is more like an oversized wide receiver. I will talk about which roles these guys are capable of filing and where they may not still grow at the next level.

Although we don’t quite have a duo at the top like last year with Colston Loveland and Tyler Warren, who already look like two of the best tight-ends in the NFL, my number one is just one notch down from those guys. After that, I don’t believe there’s another player I’d consider until the middle of day two, but then we get to a pretty strong cluster of names after that, to where my entire top ten is worthy of being selected within the first four rounds, and there’s enough depth to where we should likely beat last year’s total number of guys drafted altogether (16).

This is how they stack up for me:

 

Continue reading →

Standard
NFL Draft

My guys of the 2026 NFL Draft:

Less than three weeks away from the NFL Draft, it’s time for the annual “my guys” episodes, where I highlight one prospect for each position group, who I like significantly better than where they’re currently ranked on consensus boards.

Standard
NFL Draft

Top 10 interior defensive linemen of the 2026 NFL Draft:

We’re closing out our two-week venture into the trenches, as part of the annual positional draft breakdown series, with all interior defensive linemen. In this group, I include I include everything from a true zero-technique head-up over the center all the way out to a 4-/5-technique over the center. With how versatile front alignments have become, even though I incorporated what players are best suited to play as, and some as more defined in the roles they’ll be put into, most of them will be asked to wear different hats.

Right off the bat, I was pretty underwhelmed with this group. There’s a player atop the list who could’ve been a top-15 pick if he wasn’t still dealing with a lingering injury, but another name that was discussed in that range last summer has massively fallen off and there are hold-ups I have with most names beyond that point as well. Altogether, eight of the first ten names are all in the 30-to-100 range.

Once again, these grades do not reflect potential injury or off-field concerns, which is particularly important to point out for this crop of prospects. Let’s talk about them:

 

Continue reading →

Standard
NFL Draft

Top 10 interior offensive linemen of the 2026 NFL Draft:

We‘re already officially past the mid-way point of our positional draft rankings series, and after discussing offensive tackles and edge defenders last week, we’re moving to the interior, starting with the offensive side of the ball yet again. This is a group that started to grow on me the more I started to watch, although I did find it funny how many undersized centers and big guards with some movement restrictions there were, to cap the ceiling overall.

There’s one legitimate top 15 pick headlining the class. After that, there are more names I’d have be willing to target early in the second round, before the get to an extensive list of names in contention to have their names called some time over the rest of day two. Altogether, I can get to a number in the high 20s that I’d consider potential rotational players with developmental upside.

Let’s get into it:

 

Continue reading →

Standard
NFL Draft

Top 10 edge defenders of the 2026 NFL Draft:

After breaking down the offensive tackle class earlier in the week, we flip things around and look at the guys that’ll be coming off the edge against them, as part of the positional draft rankings series. This includes guys that I project to primarily line up anywhere from a five- to a nine-technique. Ohio State’s Arvell Reese and Michigan’s Jaishawn Barham already were listed among the (off-ball) linebackers.

With Reese not being part of this group for me, even if he may ultimately be deployed on the edge, we may not have that premier, clean prospect atop the ranks, but number one will be a top-five overall prospect in the class for me. I do see a bit of a drop-off to the next name and then an even bigger one to the handful that come after. However, ultimately I would be fine with the entire top 10 coming off the board within the first 50 picks, and even the two guys that just missed the cut for me, could easily go at the end of the second round. Plus, then there are probably around 30 total guys that I’d deem “draftable”.

This is how the class stacks up for me:

 

Continue reading →

Standard
Uncategorized

Top 10 offensive tackles of the 2026 NFL Draft:

We’ve arrived at the big boy portion of this positional draft breakdown series, where we’ll start with the offensive tackles before transitioning to edge defenders and then moving on to the interior of the trenches next week. For clarity’s sake – you will find names like Iowa’s Gennings Dunker and Duke’s Brian Parker II among the “IOL” list. And I don’t take (current) injury or other concerns into account for these rankings, since I don’t have all the information, while individual teams will alter their boards based on scheme fit/guidelines.

Although we don’t have this one perfectly clean OT prospect in the class, I believe the top seven names are all worthy of going in the first round. After that, I see a steep drop-off, to where I wouldn’t touch anyone else until the third round. In fact, despite there being a few interesting developmental options, with a couple of massive guys that present certain flaws, outside of this top ten, I would only consider an investment either very late on day two or early on day three.

This is what it looks like:

 

Continue reading →

Standard
NFL Draft

Top 10 cornerbacks of the 2026 NFL Draft

After taking a look at a deep wide receiver class earlier this week, we’re taking at the looks that are going to cover them – the corners. This group includes what you’d categorize as boundary, field-side and slot guys (nickels). As a quick note, you will find Arizona’s Treydan Stukes on the safety list.

As always, my rankings are all based personal evaluations, not taking current injuries or potential off-field concerns into account, since I don’t have insights into medical reports and similar information. And of course, since I’m not working for a specific team, these projections don’t take scheme fit or certain benchmarks into account.

While one of them missed the entire 2025 season with injury, based on the tape alone, we have two top 15-level prospects, another one firmly inside the first round on my end and a couple of others I could easily sneak in late. The top eight names may all end up being among the first 50 players selected, and then there are several intriguing guys, who may lack some refinement but offer certain qualities teams may want to invest solid draft capital into.

This is how they stack up for me:

 

Continue reading →

Standard
NFL Draft

Top 10 wide receivers of the 2026 NFL Draft:

We enter week two of our positional draft rankings series, and already I had to push the release of this iteration back, because of sheer number of draftable wide receivers in this class. I will have watched 35-40 guys when this comes out, and I still feel like I should run through a few more names.

Once again, all these rankings are based on my personal evaluations, not taking current injuries or any potential off-field issues into account, considering I don’t have insights into medical reports and other such information. And of course, since I’m not operating for a singular team, these projections don’t scheme fit or team-specific guidelines/benchmarks into account.

Although we don’t have that true number one receiver who has checked all the boxes in the pre-draft process, my number one guy has top ten ability, there are four other names with first-round grades, and even beyond the 13 total that I’ll discuss here, including three that I listed as “just missed the cut”, there are prospects worthy of hearing their names called on day two.

This is how they stack up for me:

 

Continue reading →

Standard