Simms' draft DT rankings: McDonald on top
Chris Simms discusses his top defensive tackle prospects on the 2026 NFL Draft, breaking down the games of Ohio State's Kayden McDonald, Georgia's Christen Miller and more.
Video Transcript
The draft is coming in only nine days.
Nine- That's the ring for me in Pittsburgh times.
Nine times.
Yeah.
And there are the five guys on the defensive tackle draft rankings for Chris Simms, leading with Ohio State's Kayden McDonald, all alone, all by himself- Yeah in tier one.
You, you know the nine times thing?
You know where that's from?
You got that one?
Yeah, it's, Ferris Bueller.
Okay.
Ferris Bueller.
I just wanted to make sure.
Rooney.
All right.
Principal Rooney.
Yeah, exactly.
yeah, this is an in- this is a group that I feel like has not got a lot of talk.
And the one thing when I got done studying it, and I went, "Man, there's more talent here at this defensive tackle position than maybe the mainstream media or the draft pundits are really talking about."
This could be kind of o- You know, you always look at some things, and I'm almost done with my offensive line, which I think the offensive linemen are gonna disrupt the first round too, and that's, you know, we always have that, "Whoa, I can't believe this receiver or this DB's on the board in the 20s or at the start of the second round."
And it's like, why every year?
Because, well, the NFL's been laying in the weeds going, "Hey, that big freaking dude over there, we like him and we need big people, so shh.
And there's only so many in the draft" So that's how it goes.
And I just feel like this is one of those where, yeah, Kayden McDonald, people haven't been talking about him.
They talk about him as a first-rounder.
He came on our combine, right?
And he said he, he was He told us, "I'm, I'm invited to the draft."
And we were like, "What?
The, the combine just started."
And, well, b- because everybody in football had already seen enough of him to go, "We'd take him if he's there.
We'd take him if he's there."
So they invited him right away.
He's phenomenal football player.
People keep talking about, like, yeah, he's a first-rounder.
I wanna go, "Well, he's more than a first-rounder.
He's a top 15 pick."
I mean, if the Kansas City Chifs- Chiefs picked him at number nine, Mike, I'd go, "Yeah, okay, I get it."
He's not getting the hype he should, I think because he was such a foregone conclusion.
Not only is he a good run stuffer, he's an F the play up guy too, Mike.
I mean, he can do it all that way.
I mean, when I watch him, I go, "Damn, it's Derek Brown-ish."
It's a l- maybe a lesser version of Jaylen Carter, but I was really blown away by him and would be shocked if he doesn't go in the top 15. wow.
Well- Yeah and I remember that now.
He, he, we, he was one of the first interviews we did that day.
Exactly, yeah.
And yeah, he, we asked him, "Are you just, hypothetically, would you go to the draft?"
"Oh, I'm, I'm already invited."
"I'm already going."
It's like, whoa.
Yeah.
Whoa.
Yeah.
Yeah.
That, that's only for- I'll be there the elite few.
That's for the ones that know that, like, it, it, the NFL's called, and people have been like, "Oh, yeah, yeah, duh, definitely.
Yeah, first rounder.
Yeah, definitely a first rounder.
He might be a top 12, top 15 pick."
So they just go, "Okay, that's one's in the bag.
Let's get him there."
Now, the other guys behind him are interesting too.
Christian Miller, D tackle from Georgia, maybe plays harder than anybody, 6'4", 321, long arms, versatility up front.
Like, again, everybody's trying to get big.
Everybody's trying to be, you know, the, the Seahawks with great D tackles.
The, the Patriots are a big football team.
We know the Eagles, the Lions, who we've talked about, right?
I mean, we saw the Chiefs all these years with Chris Jones type of player in the middle.
So yeah, this is the kind of guy Christian Miller's phenomenal football player.
Another guy where I'd go, "It's slam dunk top 25 pick here," and he's just not quite getting the hype he deserves.
This second tier of guys between Christian Miller, we talked to Caleb Banks, the next guy on my list, number three on my list from Florida.
Gigantic human being who had a injury, a foot injury, came back and played at the end of the year.
But another guy where I'd go, "Oh, a- as long as they're okay with the, the medical stuff," I mean, there's no doubt he's a first-round pick.
He, 6'6", 330 pounds, and moves the way he does.
He does Chris Jones type of stuff.
So it's an interesting group, along with my man Dom Orange, okay, where they call Big Citrus.
What a name.
Big Citrus is his u- nickname.
Isn't that amazing?
a- and he is a phenomenal football player.
A little bit shorter than the other guys, 6'2" and change, but in the 320s, extremely athletic, can move around.
You can't move him 'cause he's got a little bit of a lower center of gravity.
I mean, yeah, Mike.
So I just, I think this is a group that, could throw some curve balls at us on day one of the draft that night, on Thursday night, because yeah, I think more of these guys are gonna go, and more of these offensive linemen are gonna go than maybe some of the media are, are predicting right now.
Yeah.
You gotta call Dom Orange Big Citrus because there's only one Big Dom.
Exactly, right.
There cannot be two.
I was thinking about you yesterday when I was talking about him on my pod.
There cannot be two Big Doms.
No.
No, exactly right.
No way.
You know?
No way.
But, but again- No, no I think you look at football right now, you know, we've been talking about this for two years.
It's no surprise.
It's a copycat league.
The league has seen, you know, teams like Philly and the 49ers and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers win the Super Bowl with big football teams.
We're watching, oh, the Seattle Seahawks last year.
What do they have?
Oh, that's right.
They got two top 20 picks at defensive tackle.
They got, Leonard Williams and Byron Murphy, who came out of the womb swole.
So y- you're seeing, I think, a more of an emphasis on these type of people.
And, and you know, it's nothing new that you haven't known.
Really good football teams are usually really good in the middle of their defense, as in the Eagles have two superstar D tackles.
And we saw the Niners with two superstar D tackles.
We saw the Rams with maybe the best D tackle ever.
We saw the Bucs with Vita Vea in his prime.
So I think that speaks to the value of that position, and, I think there's only so many people on earth that are this big that can move this way, and they're gonna be more valued by the NFL than people realize.
And this is one of the great dichotomies of the draft, because so many football fans are attracted to the idea of their team drafting- Yeah a future fantasy football player.
Exactly.
Sex appeal, speed, touchdowns.
Somebody who's gonna create sizzle.
Yeah, exactly.
Receiver, running back, receiver, running back.
Get me somebody whose jersey I'm gonna wanna buy immediately.
Get me a new quarterback.
And when they draft a center, it's like, "Oh."
Yeah.
"Oh."
'Cause you don't appreciate in that moment.
You want something to excite you in that moment.
A center, a defensive tackle, a guard, a tackle, defensive end, they're not gonna excite you.
Now, a great pass rusher could, but, m- you know, for a lot of fans, they just feel kind of flat.
Yeah.
And a lot of them are gonna say, "Who is that guy?"
Yeah, exactly right.
It's so funny when they show the cutaways- Mm-hmm to the fans, and they'll have all the fans in all the different garb from all the different teams, and they mention someone fairly obscure.
Yeah, and then you see people and they're- And everyone's like, "Yeah, that guy."
"Who is that guy?"
Yeah, so, it's just the way it goes.
But that, that's how you build your team.
Yes.
That's how you create the infrastructure necessary to allow the quarterback, the receiver, and the running back to do their thing.
