Last-minute thoughts before 2026 NFL Draft
With the 2026 NFL Draft just a day away, Nicole Auerbach and Joshua Perry offer their final thoughts on the class.
Video Transcript
I do wanna get some final NFL draft thoughts.
So, I don't know if everyone listening is listening before the draft begins, but we'll try to keep it a little bit evergreen about our big story lines heading in to the first round and multiple rounds of this year's NFL draft.
we know Fernando Mendoza is gonna go number one to the, to the Las Vegas Raiders.
That has been telegraphed everywhere.
But we've talked so much, and we did with Connor Rogers.
You can find our NFL draft preview shows on this feed as well, in the offense show.
The, the, the number one conversation is about this quarterback class, and about after Fernando, what happens?
And, and you know, Bruce Feldman did an anonymous, piece with personnel from the NFL, and they said like it drops off a cliff after Mendoza.
because there's a lot of questions about Ty Simpson.
There's questions about these other quarterbacks.
But Ty Simpson i- should be QB2.
The question is, Joshua, do you think QB2 gets taken in the first round?
It's a wonderful question, and I think the answer is yes.
And I think that there are a couple of teams that could see trade down scenarios to snag him toward the end of the first round.
I also think that there are some, trade up scenarios to get back in the first round.
I'll give you one that makes a lot of sense to me.
Seattle Seahawks won the Super Bowl.
They're picking last in the first round.
Does a team look at Seattle and say, "You only have four picks in this draft," and try to trade their second round pick to get back into the first?
You know, a package of, of picks to get back into the first to take Ty Simpson.
I think that would make a lot of sense.
If you're Seattle, I think you would value having more picks in this draft.
I also think there's this idea too of, of teams that have historically selected at the end of the first round, like if, what's, what's the difference in value between that player and, and picking, somewhere in the second round?
Not a ton of value difference, but if you're, if you're looking at Ty Simpson, you might value having a fifth round option on him as a first round pick.
And so those are the scenarios that I'm looking at.
Like, are, are teams gonna, you know, if you're Pittsburgh, for example.
Like, you think he might be your quarterback of the future.
Maybe you don't take him, I think they're selecting somewhere, you know, 21 or something like that.
Maybe you don't take him there.
Do you try to slide back and see, you know, can you get a couple more picks and then go ahead and select him at the end of the first round?
If you're Seattle, are you actively calling teams and saying, "We wanna get out of this 32nd pick.
Who, who wants to take it?"
And is one of those teams somebody who's a suitor for a guy like Ty Simpson?
So I do think it ends up happening.
I, I like him- But right But you're saying like right at the end?
I think it's- Right at the end I think it's gonna be late in the first round.
I like him as a player a ton.
his size worries me.
He lost a ton of weight throughout the year and is dealing with injuries.
He's not a, a big dude.
But I do think his, his evaluation's so incomplete because that offensive line just wasn't that good, and they could not run the football, and there was some inconsistent wide receiver play.
And it reverted kind of to hero ball with him toward the end of the year where he was like, "I feel like I'm the only guy who can make this offense go."
and I'm curious, does somebody see maybe a little bit more of a developmental guy, but they see the, the top end of the play?
It's a great point about what we saw from him the back half of the year because at the midway point, he's a Heisman front runner.
Yeah.
And then he starts to get injured and the run game completely goes away.
it, it had been inconsistent, and then it just becomes like a non-factor, and it does become all Ty Simpson's arm as the option.
And it, it also I- it's your point about the incomplete evaluation.
It's also just not that much.
Mm-hmm.
You don't have that many starts- Yeah to analyze, to look at.
Like, you don't have him the year before with a better run game.
You don't have him the year before with different receivers.
Like, you don't have a ton to look at there, and I think that's what's gonna be really interesting.
because I do think you see a development.
You see the upside.
You see all of that.
and so who is looking for adding that to their quarterback room?
Which is obviously a very different circumstance than when you've seen first round quarterbacks taken in the past who have to go right away- Yes or who end up starting like week three, like really early in their career.
I think that's a different circumstance.
It feels like in round one I mean, the last few years we've seen a ton of edge guys.
That's a position that is super valuable in, in the NFL right now, as well as college.
And receivers, right?
Like that's- Yes those are gonna be the positions that we're gonna hear repeatedly, right?
When we hear Thursday night.
Oh yeah.
edge is, is a group that I think is coveted.
And I'll say this, the more I think about edge rushers and how they impact the game, the more I feel like their value is a little bit bloated.
Now, these guys go ahead and get your money.
Like, do what you gotta do, but I've watched Myles Garrett be Myles Garrett, and it has not helped the Cleveland Browns.
T.J. Watt really hasn't affected winning all that much for the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Like, they're a winning franchise certainly, but they're not making any noise in the playoffs.
And you can kinda go down the list to Maxx Crosby, who was phenomenal and really wasn't affecting winning, for Vegas.
So to me, I, I do think there might be a little bit of a referendum coming here on the value of edge rushers, and it might be shifting more toward the interior guys, which are some really good ones, in this draft.
But guys who, take double teams in the run game, free up linebackers, and can also rush from the interior I think are gonna become the, the premium players.
But you'll see a run on edge rushers in this first round.
And then the wide receiver group.
Like, there are the, the top three guys that everybody has been talking about-Um, in this group, and then you see, like, an Omar Cooper who is rising up the boards, and you see a, a Denzel Boston who now is a guy who's getting a, a ton of hype.
s- you know, some mocks have him going in the mid-teens, where he was a guy who was kind of a fringe first rounder coming into this thing.
you know, you got the Casey Conception, and there are some questions about him, maybe consistency over the middle, the physicality of the game, but people like what he can do.
and he's a guy who wants to, to go to work right now.
So, outside of the Tysons and the Carnell Tates and the Mekhi Lemons of the world, I think there are probably three or four other guys that you could see go in the first round of this draft.
I'm gonna put you on the spot, 'cause again, people will be able to tell if this happens or not.
Does Jordan Tyson go number one?
Is he the top receiver taken?
Ooh, this is a- Not number one overall.
Right Is he just the, the first receiver?
The wide receiver one.
Also.
I think that the injuries are gonna scare people, and I know that there are some people who have talked themselves into the fact that, like, he's healthy and the injuries aren't gonna be a thing.
I think there are other people who are like, "Uh, this is something that, that is going to be a non-starter for us."
I think his upside is, is higher than Carnell Tate's.
I think Carnell Tate comes in right away and is gonna give you what you need, like, consistently.
so I think teams are really gonna value that.
I think if Carnell was a little bit faster and a little bit bigger, it'd be a different conversation.
He's obviously not.
but he has every, every skill, and he doesn't have the injury baggage, so, I'm thinking it's gonna be Carnell, but the, the Tyson hype, like, the last week has really gone crazy.
Yeah, it has.
It has.
I'm gonna put you on the spot again.
You're the Jets.
You have pick number two.
Ton of great defensive players available.
I have seen a lot of people mocking Arval Reece to the Jets here, but you could also make a case for David Bailey, and I, I don't necessarily think you're wrong with either one.
Who would you take if you're the Jets at two?
Yeah, the, David Bailey, it almost seems like he's not getting enough, of the conversation for how much he's actually being mocked number two overall to the Jets, and the thing about him is he is an edge rusher.
He's pure edge rusher.
He is phenomenal.
We saw his athletic traits on display at the combine.
You look at the tape, he's got a lot of moves in his bag, and that's what he has done.
And I think people who like him like the fact that they know what his position is, and they know what he's going to do, which is rush the passer.
If you're in on Arval Reece, you're in on elite upside, like a guy who is an athletic freak of nature and could become a, an all-pro, a couple years into his career, and a ball of clay that you can really mold to be your kind of pass rusher.
But he's also floating around a little bit of the, is he an off-ball linebacker?
Is he an edge rusher?
And then even he admitted that he didn't really, like, work on edge rushing in practice.
Like, they had him playing linebacker in practice at Ohio State.
For me, I think it's Arval, because I believe that you can put him at the edge position and y- early on you can train him up, he can go out there, he can, he can wreck the game for you.
If that doesn't work out, you still have a legit, legit off-ball linebacker who can cover sideline to sideline, who still has a lot of learning to do in his game there, but ultimately can be an impact player for you.
So I think I'm going a little bit of upside here and I'm taking Arval Reece.
Yeah, I think David Bailey, to the way that you're describing it, like, is probably plug and play right away- Yes at what they want right there.
He's more of a sure hit of an edge rusher.
I think- Yes if you're going with Arval, you're like, "We think he's gonna do it."
You've got more versatility to play with.
Yeah, and, and there's the upside.
Yes.
I think, I think all of that makes sense.
one more Buckeye question for you.
Caleb Downs.
Yes.
We've had this conversation a lot over the last couple of months about how, you know, okay, people used to say, "Don't take a running back in round one," you know.
Get someone cheaper, use them.
Now you're seeing people being like, "Okay, Jeremiah Love could go as high as four- Right because great elite running backs are absolutely worth having.
So how do you square a safety like Caleb Downs and that positional value versus the opportunity to have Caleb Downs on your team?
How high could he go?
What do, what do you think the conversation's gonna be like with him, where maybe if he played a different position, surefire top 10, but this is gonna have someone to take, like, "No, he's just one of the absolute best players available in this draft."
So it's an, an interesting thing.
I talked about the referendum on positional value in terms of, like, wh- which positions people see as valuable.
I think there is a, a referendum that's also happening because of the makeup of this draft.
The, the typical premium positions are not top-heavy in this draft.
So now people are really having to evaluate, like, what do you do in that scenario?
And I think that there are front offices that have come to the conclusion, which I've held for a little while now, that positional value in the draft is not that big of a deal, and the example that I'm gonna give you is for running back, Jeremiah Love.
You, you see some of the running back contracts that are out there now where guys are, are making 12, 14, $15 million a year.
We'll see a $20 million a year running back here in the next few years.
Jeremiah Love's a discount.
That is a discount in the top five if he ends up being the running back that everybody thinks he is.
If he can have a, a Jahmyr Gibbs or a Bijan Robinson-type impact early in his career, that's a discount over a guy who makes $15 million a year, because that's not what he's gonna make.
Likewise, for a Caleb Downs, if you think that he's plug-and-play, a Pro Bowl caliber rookie, that's a discount over what you're paying for that type of safety in free agency as a veteran.
So I think some, some organizations have come to the conclusion that, yeah, if we want him at five, we're gonna take him at five.
If we want him at seven, we're gonna take him at seven, and so on and so forth.
And so I, I think you could see him go as high as five.
I would be shocked-If he makes it out of the top 10, the scenario that a lot of the people are talking about is the Cowboys.
It feels like it would be a great fit for him.
I think they're at 12 right now.
They could probably make a trade with somebody to get into the top 10 if they feel like they could go and get him right there.
but I, I really don't see him making it out of the top 10, and I don't think it's an unwise decision because if you believe that he's gonna come in and be an impact right away, he's playing on a discount his whole rookie deal.
All right, before we go, I wanna let us talk about a couple of our favorite college guys that we're excited to see go.
Some of them are mocked pretty high, some of them maybe less so.
I'll give you a couple of the guys that I'm super excited for their career in the pros.
you know I love Kenyon Sadiq, all season at Oregon.
I think he's just such a freak athletically.
and I think it creates different opportunities of the way that a team is gonna wanna use the tight end position.
So I think, you know, I've seen him mocked as high as, you know, like top 15-ish.
I think he's gonna be awesome at the next level.
I think that, you know, a guy like Jahdarien Price is someone- that I'm keeping an eye on.
Yes.
He was very much overshadowed at Notre Dame.
I mean, you, we talked about that running room, running back room together as arguably the best in the country.
kind of the thunder to the Jeremiah Love lightning, and I just think he's got everything that people want.
And both of those running backs were used in the pass game too, so I think that creates some opportunities as well.
But I just think he is, he's reliable, he's got better speed than you realize, because again, you're kinda comparing him to Jeremiah Love, who is just kind of, like, moving at a fast-forward pace- when everyone else is in normal speed.
so I really like him, and I'm excited to see where he goes.
R. Mason Thomas.
Yeah.
I mean, we saw him completely wreck games at Oklahoma.
Yes.
and again, there's a lot of edge guys, there's a lot of defensive linemen that are getting a ton of buzz.
but like, God, I mean, he is just unbelievable.
And, we also, like, it's just funny, like, he's got the R and the Mason Thomas.
Like, it just creates this like, like this, this heavy hitter, and it sounds that way when you talk about R. Mason Thomas kind of getting a sack or whatever it might be.
But he lives in the backfield.
Yes.
so I'm excited to see him.
So those are just a couple of mine.
JP, who you got?
So R. Mason Thomas, is an intriguing one to me, just to piggyback off of that, because the size is the biggest knock on him.
Like, that's the whole reason why he is not, a, a premium player in this draft.
But I feel like, I don't know, man, just I, I talked to him at the combine.
Feels like a guy who's gonna come in and work and do all the right things.
I think he understands, like, the, the weaknesses in his game based off of his size, and knows how to overcome them.
So I'm excited to see what he can do.
I'll give you a couple linebackers and then one player to think about.
So, Jake Goldade from Cincinnati is a linebacker that I really like.
he played, he played flex out in space, he played sam on the ball, and he played the Mike.
So he's got versatility.
I've seen him in person.
Broad shoulders, thick arms, thick linebacker neck.
Like, little bit of a bigger dude, which I think the bigger backer is back in vogue because of the resurgence of the running back in the NFL.
I think he's a guy who is gonna be a really good value pickup for a team and can play for a long time in the league.
I feel similar about, Jacob Rodriguez, who- was one of the best players in college football.
And it's so funny, every year we have those guys who are like that, and then there's just not a lot of, of draft buzz because the, the measurables aren't where they need to be, or the athleticism, or whatever the, the case is.
Flip on the tape.
Flip on the tape and watch the guy.
He's aggressive, he's physical, he can run, he can take the football away.
That's, that's forcing fumbles and that's interceptions.
And that's a trait that I value because that translates to the NFL.
So excited about him.
And then we talked about the quarterback class and the top two guys right off the top.
One guy who really interests me, and this is gonna make your skin crawl, Nicole, Drew Aller.
And I'm, I'm not saying anything, the, take him high in the second round, whatever.
Like, late day two or on day three.
But this is a guy who's coming off of injury.
He had a couple different offensive coordinators, and I think his last one did him zero favors.
Zero favors in terms of how he called the play, plays, and how he was coached, what that system was.
Outside of Tyler Warren, I feel like the pass catchers were not impressive.
And he, he looks like an NFL quarterback.
If he goes to a place where he can watch football and learn football and practice football for two or three seasons, I am genuinely curious to see what type of player he can become.
I think this might, the best thing for him might have been what happened last year.
Not injuries, like, never wanna see that, but just things not working out might give him the opportunity to develop in the NFL that he needs.
He is gonna be a fascinating one, because he looks the part.
Mm-hmm.
Like, he, he looks like he's got everything there, and obviously his college career had, you know, some, some bad interceptions, games- Yeah, clutch moments where he didn't complete a pass- Right to someone who can catch passes.
Like, the, or, or wide receiver, technically.
I mean, there's just a lot there.
but I do think that someone will fall in love with the pieces, how he looks, the upside there with Drew Aller.
So that one's gonna be an interesting one.
And the last one I'll give you is Jennings Dunker.
Yeah.
He is the one who just totally broke through from the Senior Bowl through the combine.
The hair.
Yes.
our, our friend Adam Rittenberg had a great piece where, like, they went to Culver's.
so, like, he's just the quintessential offensive lineman.
Comes from Iowa, you know he's gonna be solid.
his technique's gonna be good.
He's gonna play.
But he's got a big personality, he's goofy.
you kinda get to know the individual lineman a little bit more- Yes as they go through this process.
the stash, the hair, all of it, it's perfect.
So- I agree can't wait to see where he goes.
He's, and he's gonna be a good player, I think, too, in the league.
But he's an interesting bird.
Yes, absolutely.
so we'll leave you there with that.
Those are some of the college players that we've really enjoyed.
it's gonna be fun to watch all of them get that call.
I love that moment where it's just this thing that everyone's been dreaming about forever, and they get that call and they get to go get drafted by an NFL team-
