2026 NFL Draft Grades: 10 Massive Steals You Missed!
The 2026 NFL Draft delivered some absolute shocks! On this episode of Stacking the Box: The No Huddle Show, Tommy Jaggi and Marcus Mosher break down the 10 biggest steals that will redefine the league.
Video Transcript
Tommy Jacka of Fancied here with NFL expert Marcus Mosier as we still recap, an interesting 2026 NFL draft.
Last time we talked about the winners and losers of the draft.
If you missed that show, make sure you go check it out.
Stack in the Box YouTube channel or wherever you get your podcasts.
Today, Marcus, we are going to talk about the biggest draft steals.
And there are a handful of guys who We had no idea they were gonna be going this late in the draft, this much further after expected.
What can we expect in these players, uh, should be a fun exercise today.
Yeah, this is always one of my favorite parts of the draft is kind of going back and reevaluating how we thought of these players before the draft, and now with their team fits , where they fell, uh, it should be a lot of fun.
Yeah, and obviously, there's the consensus board.
There's a lot of different things we can go off of, mock draft simulators, whatever you want to use.
Uh, and then we, we take the advice of experts, but sometimes they're just not aligned, it seems with how the NFL feels about some of these players.
And we'll talk about why we think these players could be steals in the NFL.
And let's start, uh.
We're gonna go in, in kind of order and whence they fell in the draft markets.
And we'll start with CJ Allen, the, uh, the notable linebacker from Georgia who, when he was getting first-round, but, but admittedly, you and I are like, OK, this feels a little bit rich.
He's never particularly graded out super well.
He's kind of has average size, pretty good closing speed, but not really a coverage guy.
But you can talk me into CJ Allen at pick 53 every day of the week.
He ends up going to the Indianapolis Colts, which I think is gonna be a really good fit for him.
Uh, I think he's gonna do a lot of good things there.
Why did he fall so far and why do you think this is a steal?
First of all, I mean, I agree with everything you said, like, we don't hate players, we just hate sometimes where they're being mocked, and when, you know, when we were seeing mocks of him going into the top 20, it just felt rich for an undersized linebacker, um, that was a little bit beat up at Georgia.
I thought, you know, this is more of a 2nd round prospect, but to go at 53, you know, at the bottom end.
Of round two.
Like I, I think this is a phenomenal value for the Colts.
They needed a starting inside linebacker.
CJ Allen is incredibly young, he's productive, uh, he was, you know, team captain, uh, there in Athens for multiple seasons.
I think this is, this is where you should take a player like CJ Allen, and I'm thrilled for him.
This is a, a great, great fit with a really good defensive line in front of him.
I think the Colts are getting a day one starting linebacker at pick 53.
Yeah, a guy that was once talked about is going maybe in the 20s, falls to the middle of the 2nd round.
And so I think he's going to be an impact player right away from them.
Uh, it's going to be a guy who can make a difference, especially on early downs.
Uh, we'll see what he offers in terms of the coverage ability, and I think he's a guy that can probably excel in zone.
I don't know how he's going to do in man situations, but regardless, you're, you're.
Talking about really good value here in one of our, our first big steals in this draft.
Yeah, and I think with Lou Emarino, their defensive coordinator, he, he's just a perfect fit fit.
Think about like Logan Wilson, who was there in Cincinnati under uh Lou 5 or 6 years ago, uh, Jermaine Pratt had a really good season last year in Indianapolis.
He's just more athletic than those guys, and I think, I think you need a guy that can line everybody up, that can make tackles, that can be a force in the run game.
He can do that for you.
All right, Marcus, let's talk about another guy who fell just a few picks later than this.
And again, a guy that was drawing first-round buzz, talked about in connection with the Steelers and some teams in the middle of the 1st round.
A guy who was really good, uh, all three of these past seasons at Toledo, uh, and had.
He had a chance to transfer to Alabama, I believe.
Emmanuel McNeil Warren, the safety who is long , 63, 6'3 safety, long wingspan, rangy, can make plays near the line of scrimmage.
You can put him in the box.
He's got ball production, he takes good angles, he's a good tackler.
Like, what are we doing here?
I understand this is, he comes from the MAC conference, but pick 58, I mean, you talk about one of the best steals of all of day one and two combined.
Yeah, we just see that safeties fall every year.
That doesn't, doesn't really mean he's the 58th best player in the draft.
We had Caleb Downs go to 11, he was 4th on the big board.
Dylan Tieneman, a lot of people thought he could have went, you know, inside the top 12, he goes 25th, and Emmanuel McNeil Warren had 1st round buzz, he falls all the way to the back end of round two.
I don't think it has anything to do with his talent, because he is an awesome player.
The NFL just doesn't value safeties that way.
But I think in a Mike Rutenberg's defense where they're gonna use a lot of single high, he can play both that true free safety or in the box.
He's rangy, and he's now in a defense that has a bunch of talent that already had a really good secondary.
To me, this is like the perfect fit.
You, you stay home in Ohio.
I love the Browns picking up Emmanuel McNeil Warren in round two.
It's honestly maybe my favorite pick in the entire draft.
Yeah, it's one of mine too, and with the Browns just going off of like Mel Kiper's board in this draft, it's like, oh, Spencer Fono, you're still there, and then I, I. Casey Concepcion, and then Denzel Boston, and then you top it off with Emmanuel McNeil Warren, and we talked about how they got Tayling Green in the 6th round, throw a dart at him.
I, I really like the, the, especially the value against the consensus, but a lot of the guys they draft are just really good football players.
McNeil Warren fits that bill.
A guy that, even when you factor in positional value, which is truly why he fell, like it's just the value of the safety position, and the fact that two safeties had already been taken.
Uh, teams didn't need, uh, they didn't want to go that route that early in the draft, but Brown's picking up the pieces with some excellent value of McNeil Warren, who went twice as high, uh, or twice as low as where he should have gone, probably in this draft based on talent alone.
Let's talk about, we'll go from one Emmanuel to the next, and Emmanuel McNeil Warren to Emmanuel Pregnon of the Jaguars.
I don't love the Jaguars draft and they were short on capital, but Pregnon.
Even though he was a what, a 5 or 6 year player at Oregon, older prospect, uh, I think he turns 25 this season.
He was really good last year.
And, and the fact that you're able to get a starting caliber plug and play guard with the number 88 overall pick, like, I mean, I, I would sign up for that any day of the week.
This is a player in a position, Marcus, by the way, that can still last a long time in the NFL.
I don't think anybody would bat an eye if Pregnon is a 10-year NFL player, even coming in as an older prospect, because guards and tackles and interior offensive linemen particularly, they can, they can last a long time, and he's a good athlete with a a Beautiful size profile for the position at an 88.4 PFF grade last year.
I just think he does a lot of things really well, and I don't think that even when you factor in his age and kind of that he was a one-hit wonder, uh, in college that he should have been on the board at pick 88.
Yeah, 41st on the consensus board, and honestly, I thought that was a little high for all the reasons you just mentioned, right?
He didn't really break out until that final year.
He's an older player.
But you're talking about at pick 88, like yeah, that's at the end of the 3rd round, we see far worse players getting drafted in that range.
We see tight ends who had like single digit catches for their careers getting drafted at that range, even in Jacksonville.
But that's why I think the Pregnant selection is really good.
Now, maybe he doesn't turn into that 10-year starter.
That's OK, you're drafting him at pick 88, you, you're not really expecting that.
What you want is for him to come in, compete for a starting guard job, and give you more depth at the position.
I think at 41, it's a reach at 88, it's a massive, massive steal.
So, didn't love everything that James Gladstone did this year with Jacksonville.
I did like this pick here at 88.
Yeah, I do, and, and Marcus, what's kind of odd is, I don't think the two are kind of aligned yet, that that where guards are being drafted, and how they're being paid.
They're starting to get guru bucks.
And yet we're not valuing them very high, for whatever reason yet.
I, I wonder when that's gonna catch up.
Like, I look at a guy like Jalen Farmer out of Kentucky who went 113 overall, and he certainly has starting level traits for the position now .
Maybe he's just a low level or mid-level starter, but if you can get a starter in round four on the offensive line, and a guy who's got strength and length and I mean, I, I don't know when that's gonna, the, the cycle is gonna gonna catch up, but the NFL is telling you what they think of guards who are proven by paying them a ton of money, but yet the guards that are unproven coming into the draft, guys that could be kind of that next in line, they're still not valued at all.
Yeah, I think they would just rather pay for certainty, right?
And they don't really want to draft positions early.
That don't have a lot of value, and that's why even someone like Vega Ina, who a lot of people thought was a top 10 player in this class, he goes 14 to Baltimore.
You actually saw two teams draft offensive tackles ahead of Vega, who they're gonna now move them to guard, and it's really because if it doesn't work out at guard or if you have an injury at tackle, you can always kick these guys out to tackle.
You can't really do that with Vega, you can't really do that with Emmanuel Pregnant.
So, the guys that are guards only.
We'll probably always see their value decrease, and that's why I like someone like Jennings Dunker, who we're gonna talk about right now, who is a right tackle at Iowa.
I think his best spot is going to be probably left guard in the NFL, but you're also talking about somebody that, hey, if injuries hit, or you get into a game, and your right tackle goes down with a hamstring injury, you could slide him out there, he can give you value.
This is somebody who has been a multi-year starter.
He was pretty good at the Senior Bowl, he's a very good athlete.
You just don't get very many of these Big 10 versatile athletic offensive linemen inside the, you know, you know, outside, excuse me, outside of the top 50, very often.
I love this dunker pick.
Yeah, it, it's , this is so odd to me, Marcus.
How does the, the most noticeable guy in this draft with the flowing red mullet, and a guy that we, we once thought about, OK, uh, more to talked about, overrated, somehow becomes extremely underrated.
Pick 96 is a steal for the Steelers, and I'm not saying that because I'm a Steelers fan.
I really.
I like this pick a lot because he does have tackle flexibility, but sometimes the best guards in the NFL are guys who played tackle in college, because if you can handle yourself at tackle, and you've got the size and strength profile to kick inside to guard, which I think Jennings Dunker does.
I love his fit at guard.
I think he'll slide in at left guard for the Steelers, probably earned the job right from the gate as a rookie.
Despite being the 96th pick in the draft, I don't know how we swung so far the other way on Dunker.
I'm, I'm still trying to make sense of it.
A guy who collectively over the past two seasons has a 90 PFF grade, Marcus.
Uh, he's 6'5, 320, with an 83 inch wingspan, and he's got power to his game.
He's got certainly quick enough feet for a guard.
He moves up to a 96th percentile athlete.
When you kick him inside, he's 22 years old, will be 23 this season.
He's played in the Big 10.
I, I, I'm having a hard time making sense of it because he was so good at the Senior Bowl too.
I, I think it's most people probably don't believe he's got the feet to play at tackle, so he's gonna have to be a guard, um.
But again, that's OK. Let me ask you, why don't more teams think futuristically here and say, can I see, why don't I take this tackle and move him to guard ?
Like, why does, why do you have to have a guard to guard?
Are they too worried about the transition in a little bit?
Yeah, it's some of that happens, especially once you get into, you know, day 2 and day 3 of the draft.
What the guys like Francis Moy Noah and Kane Proctor, they're just such big physical and athletic freaks that you feel like they can handle it.
I think Dunker can as well, uh, but again, a lot of these guys that are.
Dunker is a good testing athlete.
I wanna be clear, but I don't think you necessarily always see the quickness out on the field in the kick slide, yeah, yeah, and, and that's, that's why I think he's gonna play guard in the NFL, but I'm telling you, even at 96, if all he ever becomes is a swing offensive lineman, a swing guard, a swing tackle, you're still getting a lot of value because those guys in free agency are going for 10 to $12 million a year.
So I think worst case scenario, Pittsburgh got a high-level backup.
But I think they got a day one starter, at least somebody who's gonna compete for a job right away.
I think they did too, and I know that that this guy is a better prospect, but Graham Barton is the guy that played some left tackle in college.
He has kind of moved around the offensive line.
We knew though that he was going to be an interior lineman in the NFL.
I think, I mean, you go back to an example, again, extreme example cause he's a Hall of Famer, but Zach Martin, your Dallas Cowboys, like he played tackle at Notre Dame.
Didn't quite have the size profile that you wanted there, and so he kicked inside and was awesome.
I think more teams need to be looking at tackles in college that can go inside.
You can, you can get better as a tackle going from a guard.
You can never be a guard, like we just talked about with Pregnant , that goes out to tackle.
You just don't have the skill set for that, and if you're a guard in the NFL or you're a guard in college, you're gonna be a guard in the NFL.
You're a tackle in college, you could be a guard in the NFL.
Yeah, I'm totally agree.
Uh, let's talk about another guy here, the fastest player of the draft, lightning in a bottle.
That's Brendan Thompson going to the Chargers at pick 105.
Now, I wasn't particularly surprised to see him slide a little bit in the draft.
To get into the 100s though, when you are this fast, this explosive, definitely a steal, I think.
And, and what are they getting with him?
And, and by the way, love the fit with, with Mike McDaniel now and you get a guy that you can just get him in space and get him the football.
Yeah, so by the consensus board, it's not really a steal, he was 109 overall, he gets picked at 105, it's technically a little bit of a reach, but the reason why we're calling it the steal is because he landed in the best possible situation for him, and this is a a player that Mike McDaniel personally vouched for.
He was, he was talking to the, the head coach, obviously Jim Harbaugh, in the front office all week long about trying to figure out a way to get Brendan Thompson.
And Tommy, I think it just, it, it fits so well.
I will not be surprised at all if Brendan Thompson has a role right away in this offense.
They need somebody with his speed and quickness.
Uh, you've got Ladd McConkie, they've moved on from Keenan Allen.
Quentin Johnson is still up and down.
Trey Harris is a blocking outside receiver.
Thompson and the McDaniel offense is gonna use a lot of over routes and a lot of underneath stuff where you can get him the ball on the move.
Sometimes the steal is just about landing in the right situation.
I think Brendan Thompson, you know, on day 3 of the draft, this is, this is the best possible outcome for him.
Yeah, I mean, get this guy in drags and slants and let Mike McDaniel do his thing by getting the ball to his fastest players, which is what he's done his whole coaching career so far.
I, I think that there's an avenue where Thompson becomes a really pivotal piece of that offense, even early in his career, despite being picked in the 100s, which is not common when we talk about guys uh being picked this late.
Super explosive player , really, really good football player.
And if he was a little bit bigger, I mean, I'm saying.
1.5 taller and 15 pounds heavier.
I mean, we're talking about a guy that maybe would have been picked, like in closer to the 50 range.
Oh, I mean, he's, he, we've seen.
We've seen a guy like Xavier Worthy, who I liked a little bit better, just to be clear, go at pick 27 to the Chiefs, and there's not a 100 or, you know, an 80 spot difference between these two players.
Functionally, what they're gonna do for your offense is about the same.
They're both incredibly quick.
The only difference was Brendan Thompson was more productive in the SEC than what XXavier Worthy was.
So, uh, I don't expect Thompson to be a number one receiver or anything like that.
I just think he's gonna fill a role that's gonna be incredibly valuable with Justin Herbert at quarterback.
Yeah, I agree.
Uh, let's talk about Keyonte Scott, another player who was tremendous during the 2025 season.
Great run defender, a little shaky in coverage at times, but I, I do think he's coming off a really good season.
The big thing with, with Scott Marcus was kind of like it was with the Key Mezador where this guy will be 25 before the start of his rookie season.
I think in training camp, he'll turn 25 years old.
He's an old prospect, extremely physical though, and kind of fits what a lot of teams are looking for as that nickel defender.
We were talking about him as a potential 2nd round pick just a while ago, maybe falling into the 3rd round.
Now we're saying pick 116.
I mean, this is a steal for the Buccaneers.
Yeah, you shouldn't draft 25-year-olds, you know, instead of the top 50, like, generally that that shouldn't be what you do.
But outside of the top 100, yeah, absolutely.
Like I think Keyonte Scott is gonna be a starter right away for Todd Bowles, and what does Bowles want from his slot guys?
Tackle, blitz, help in the run game.
I mean Keyonte Scott did that better than any other slot defender in this year's class, and yeah, he has some problems in coverage.
He also makes a lot of plays as well, so don't forget about that.
phenomenal athlete, it's got good size, round 4 is a perfect spot to take a slot defender like this.
I expect him to be really good out of the gate for top bus.
Yeah, I mean, just from the, the pure, I mean, what you're getting as a run defender in itself, I think is worth a 3rd, 4th round pick.
And so, uh, anything that gives you more than that is gonna be excellent.
Keyonte Scott, you said mentioned, really good athlete.
I mean, this guy has sub 4-4 speed.
You can see that closing speed is absolutely.
Absolutely phenomenal.
And so, uh, I'm really big fan of this pick.
I didn't like the idea of him going in the 2nd round, but he didn't, and he went much later than that, and so I was, I was on board anywhere after that.
It's very much like the CG Allen discussion we had when we're hearing about him inside the top, you know, 20 for Allen, didn't love it.
53, phenomenal.
Same with Scott.
If he would have went at, you know , 45, you and I would have both been like, you know, that's, it's a little rich for a slot corner that's gonna be this old.
But on day 3, if you can get a starting player in your secondary, absolutely.
That's why I said we don't hate players, we just hate where they're being mocked.
Yeah, and this guy, you think you're gonna get the return on his value very early in his NFL career.
Uh, let's talk about another one, Marcus, who kind of slid in the draft, kind of stuck between positions, uh, in a bad way, and, and I think that scared teams off a little bit.
But a guy who is so fluid, like one of the most fluid movers at the linebacker position, if you call him that, some, some might view him as a safety, and maybe, I don't know, where the Dolphins intend to use him, but Kyle Lewis just was phenomenal at the Senior Bowl.
I don't know if I've ever witnessed a linebacker in the true open field, one on one, linebacker versus running backs.
I, he just hit pocket every time.
I mean, the hit fluidity, and then you saw that change of direction at the combine too, graded out really well, graded out super well, over 90 grade in coverage uh at Pitt this past season.
Make it make sense.
I, I know he's maybe a niche roll guy and maybe a nickel defender, but why not?
I mean, you're talking pick 138.
How did he not go a round or two sooner?
I mean, I love this for Miami, you already have a really good linebacker in Jordan Brooks, you draft Jacob Rodriguez in round 2, and then you turn around and grab Kyle Lewis on day 3, and This makes perfect sense.
Maybe he's not a full-time linebacker that you want on early downs, but you bring him in in passing situations, and you let him cover, or you as a rookie, you let him play on special teams as you develop a role.
I'm really excited to see what Jeff Halley uh does with him, because I, this is just too good of a football player.
All he did at Pitt was fill up the stat sheet, he played multiple positions, you mentioned the Senior Bowl.
I, I, I've never seen.
A linebacker covered like that in one on one, he is so good in space, and now with where he's drafted at pick 138, you don't feel like you have to get him on the field for 80, 85% of the plays.
You put him on the field in situations that are advantageous for him, let him use his athleticism, let him use, you know, his willingness to fly to the football.
I think this is a phenomenal value, even if he's just a nickel linebacker, Miami is gonna get their returns here.
Yeah, I mean, this is a top 65, 75 player in the class, I think, and he was sitting there for what seemed like hours, just the top player on the board.
Like, when is somebody going to take this guy who at the very least can be a good coverage linebacker or even a safety if you want to go that route with them, huge fan of Kyle Lewis's tape, and I think that uh offers, he's gonna offer a lot.
Uh, let's talk about another guy, Marcus, who I didn't see this slide coming either.
Keith Abney.
I mean, a cornerback who just turned 21 years old.
He had 6 interceptions, came out as a true junior, 5 of those picks came over the last 2 seasons.
I think he's a guy who could either be a nickel defender for you, or maybe you can play him on the outside a little bit undersized, but you wouldn't have thought that that would cause him to fall this far in the draft.
100 157, and Keith Abney again was another guy we talked about in that second round range, or that range with the trade in Stokes, and even like just past like the Colton Hood range, and he goes to pick 157.
Like, I did watch a few cut-ups, a few games on Keith Abney.
I thought the tape was pretty respectable, and he graded out pretty well, uh , on top of it.
Do you understand why haven't you fell this far in the draft?
No, it's probably just because the NFL is going a little bit away from these somewhat smaller, uh, Nickelbacks.
He's under 5'10, he's 187 pounds.
We're starting to see more of a transition to these, you know, 6'2, 6'3 guys in the, you know, the Nicky Mwari situation, so there's just not a big need for them.
Uh, but his tape is really good.
I think he's incredibly smart.
He's gonna play and run, uh, you know, coverage.
I think he can play press coverage as well.
Also, I don't know if you saw the, the highlights of him rollerblading, a national, uh nationally regarded as like one of the best teenage rollerblading, uh, kids in America.
It was unbelievable.
It's, you should watch, it's on YouTube.
It's unbelievable.
Uh, but I think Abby, yeah, here at this spot in the draft, you know, in round 5 for Detroit.
Considering all of the injuries they had in their secondary last year, and some of the guys that they were playing, like this, this just makes so much sense.
I know, I agree.
I mean that this is one of the best pound for pound steals right there.
I, I'm gonna talk about a guy that you are not particularly fond of, Marcus, at least in terms of, well, in terms of the transition between the NFL.
So Harold Perkins Jr. a guy who is undeniably one of the most impactful defenders in college football 23 years back, 4 years back.
And when this guy came in as a freshman sophomore, had 26 TFLs in his 1st 2 seasons as a, as 1718, 19 year old, whatever he was, super young, still young, even though he had to come out as a senior.
I just don't know what to do with them.
But when we're talking pick 215, I don't care what to do with him.
If he just ends up being a special teamer, that's fine.
Maybe turn him into a safety.
He's 6'1, 223 with short arms and small hands.
I, I, I think that you can blitz them off the edge, you can do some creative things.
If you find the right coordinator who wants to get him involved, I don't know if that will be with the Falcons, but I'm interested to see, can this guy do anything because he was so talented, so talented in college.
Yeah, I think the top 100 buzz just never made sense, but again, you're picking in the 200s, just take traits, and this guy's got unbelievable athleticism.
We should mention, Atlanta has got a somewhat similar off-ball linebacker edge in Jalen Walker.
Now, Walker's a little bit bigger, a little bit taller, but that's somebody that they move around and maybe Perkins just becomes the primary backup for Jalen Walker, again, a guy that they wanna be really creative with.
He's only 21 years old, he's played in a bunch of big games, he can help out in special teams.
I think he's going to make it in the league.
It's just what can his role be, you know, in year 2, year 3, year 4, we'll see.
Yeah, and even a year removed from that ACL injury, Perkins ran a 4.38 at his workout.
And so it's like, he's still got speed, he's still got explosion.
Find somewhere where you can put this guy, see where he sticks, try him out a few different things.
Uh, but I'm very intrigued at least by getting Perkins at, at a pick 215.
I think that's good value.
Eventually, uh, even if he just returns special teams value there.
And then we got one more, Marcus here.
A guy that I know that you like is Dion Burks.
And I did like Burks too.
I mean, you put on this tape and we, we talked about before how there are some Zay Flowers-like comps to his game in terms of the size profile, the way that he wins and gets open.
I did not see him fall into pick 254.
I mean, this guy nearly fell out of the NFL draft entirely.
What was the reason behind that?
Uh, there's some injury stuff there, he just needs to show that he can stay healthy, but he is way more talented than 1/7 round pick, and one of the reasons why I wanted to talk about him today, he just ended up in a really good situation.
We've got the Colts that have the top two receivers are Alec Pierce and Josh Downs, and then there's not a lot beyond that after trading Michael Pittman, they have Nick Westbrook Akina, it's Ashton Doolin, Laquan Treadwell going on year, I believe, 11 now with the Colts, that's unbelievable.
Anthony Gold, uh, Coleman, Coleman Owen, like, there's just not a lot of competition for him to be like the 4th or 5th receiver, and You got, you need a guy that can run routes, that can play on the outside, they can play in the slot, they can help in the return game.
I think Dion Brooks is gonna make that roster and have a role right away in Shane Stein's offense.
Yeah, he was a guy I would, I would have considered in round 5 or round 6, so getting him at the tail end of the draft, good value there, we'll see what he returns.
All right.
This was the Stack in the Box podcast.
It premieres every Tuesday and Thursday evening.
Be sure to check it out.
You can follow Marcus's work on X at Marcus_Moser.
You can follow me on X at Tommy Jaggay.
You can download the Stacking the Box podcast wherever you get your podcast.
Also check us out on YouTube.
You can follow my written content on Still Curtain.com.
Marcus has written content on the F-cited NFL Network .
Be sure to check out Fancied.com for all your daily sports news and opinions.
Check out the awesome post-draft content they have dropping, uh, over there on Fancied.com.
And thanks again for listening to the Stack in the Box podcast.
