The 2026 Draft Thread - 1st Round - 7th overall

I think Love will be gone by the time Dallas picks. I am guessing their pick is in the mid to high teens and the Green Bay pick is the 20's. Obviously they could also trade up. Love does play a non-premium position so there is a chance he lasts to the mid to high teens, but I think in this draft people where the only three bluechip quality prospects as of right now are Reese, Downs, and Love, some team will snap him up before then.
Dallas is on a heater right now, which is good for us in the long run.
 
Dallas is on a heater right now, which is good for us in the long run.

We’ve got some serious work to do to deal with their offensive weapons (Lamb, Pickens, Ferguson). I continue to have no idea how they can be compliant with the salary cap. 🤷🏻‍♂️
 
We’ve got some serious work to do to deal with their offensive weapons (Lamb, Pickens, Ferguson). I continue to have no idea how they can be compliant with the salary cap. 🤷🏻‍♂️
Pickens is a ticking time bomb. He's behaving because it's a contract year. He'll go full Terrell Owens. They'll rework the cap, give him a huge deal, and not field a legitimate contender. This is also a Good Dak year; every other year is Bad/Injured Dak year.

They will never be a real contender under Jones. From what I understand, Stephen is worse.
 
Pickens is a ticking time bomb. He's behaving because it's a contract year. He'll go full Terrell Owens. They'll rework the cap, give him a huge deal, and not field a legitimate contender. This is also a Good Dak year; every other year is Bad/Injured Dak year.

They will never be a real contender under Jones. From what I understand, Stephen is worse.

That is all TBD though history is on that side.

Current reality is that we are not now able to deploy comparable talent at WR & TE.
 
We’ve got some serious work to do to deal with their offensive weapons (Lamb, Pickens, Ferguson). I continue to have no idea how they can be compliant with the salary cap. 🤷🏻‍♂️
The Jake Ferguson thing is very frustrating. He isn't really anything great but can do everything pretty good. There are lots of these type mid round can do everything TE's, we have just not drafted any of them.
 
The Jake Ferguson thing is very frustrating. He isn't really anything great but can do everything pretty good. There are lots of these type mid round can do everything TE's, we have just not drafted any of them.

I think they thought they did.
 
Just watched Keldric Faulk, couldn't find much so my opinion is a work in progress, I need to watch more.

Love him against the run, sheds blocks and hustles to stop the run. As a pass rusher, meh, IMO average bend, mostly bull rushes or tries to run around the O lineman in an arc -- not much as to counters and pass rushing moves from what I can see.

He's young, 20 years old, raw, and a good dude from what I've read but on first blush he doesn't scream top 10 pick to me.
 
That is all TBD though history is on that side.

Current reality is that we are not now able to deploy comparable talent at WR & TE.
That's all well and good--but they've had great receivers/TEs in the past and haven't seen the NGCCG in 30+ years. Jones loves his stars, but hasn't built an overall winner since Jimmy Johnson hit on just about every draft pick from the Hershel Walker deal. I'll still take our next 5-6 years over theirs.
 
Monangai who I equated stylistically in the last draft season to Skattebo is coming on strong.

To me J. Love runs violently like a Skattebo-Monangai type but with the breakaway-homerun ability of T. Henderson.





 
Monangai who I equated stylistically in the last draft season to Skattebo is coming on strong.

To me J. Love runs violently like a Skattebo-Monangai type but with the breakaway-homerun ability of T. Henderson.
And that's why it is hard to bite on an early first round RB when those guys were 4th and 7th rounders
 
Monangai who I equated stylistically in the last draft season to Skattebo is coming on strong.

To me J. Love runs violently like a Skattebo-Monangai type but with the breakaway-homerun ability of T. Henderson.






He's a good back.

As usual though, you can't divorce a player from scheme, fit, and other personnel. You have a strong OL in the Bears that has solid run blocking. You have an HC/OC who knows the importance of rushing the ball. It's not rocket science. We just don't have the same philosophy brewing here. Situationally, our playcalling has way more cases where the decision tree points to "pass."

As a result of this, I think AP has leaned in there. We get more OL with an emphasis on their pass blocking. We draft a RB very late. I would predict that we go WR early next year, but of course, I am sure draft position will weigh into it. If they are in position to get a WR early, I would bet that will have some weight behind it rather than pure BPA.

Personally, I am not sure I agree with much of it from a "Let's build what I see as a Super Bowl winner" but I totally get it from the perspective of "Let's build a team around what will make Kliff Kingsbury as successful as possible with his scheme." Just my thoughts.
 
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The Jake Ferguson thing is very frustrating. He isn't really anything great but can do everything pretty good. There are lots of these type mid round can do everything TE's, we have just not drafted any of them.

Remember that he got the role after they let another mid round jack of all trades master of none TE in Dalton Schultz leave in FA.
 
Remember that he got the role after they let another mid round jack of all trades master of none TE in Dalton Schultz leave in FA.
Yup and they have Spoon maker, a 2023 late 2nd right behind him
 
I doubt he will last to the early third -- but if they trade down he's on my radar. Explosive. Only issue with him is a bit too many drops

 
Max Klare, TE. Watched him some in real time as to his Ohio State games. Went back and watched two games when he played at Purdue.

Love this guy, I am guessing he's lost in the sauce because of all the talent at Ohio State. But at Purdue he was featured including playing some X. They lined him up everywhere.

PFF has him going in the third round. I don't get that. I was Ok with Sinnott in the draft years back but my red flag about him was seperation skills, he wasn't a natrual at it like for example Laporta who I loved before the draft. This dude isn't quite Laporta on that front but not a mile off. He's a natural seperator. Really good with the ball in his hands. Soft hands. only 2% drops.

He adjusts his routes when the QB is under duress and is scrambling -- something you don't always see from WRs let aone TEs.

He blocks well, with some nastiness, he locks into his blocks which I love versus just getting in the way of his target which a lot of TEs do and at times is a people mover and hustles where he does it on the 2nd level so is a weapon for the run game. I noticed Trevor from PFF questioned his blocking skills albiet his overall blocking score from PFF is very good. From what I saw I agree with PFF's overall score at least from the 2 games I watched.

Really good player. His athleticism flashes to me as much as Loveland did last draft season so I don't get why he doesn't get similar hype.

 

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