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

Love I think is my top want also. It would give us 3 blue chip offensive players, or 4 if you want to count Terry, but would also just change the way defenses would have to play us. As great as he is as a runner, I was checking out RB passing stats and they were eye popping. McCaffrey 102 catches for 924 yards. Bijan 79 catches for 820 yards. Gibbs 77 catches for 616 yards. Imagine adding that kind of potential dynamic pass catcher to the offense. I was watching a YouTube draft thing about him, and he essentially has better stats as a whole than Jeanty, Robinson and Gibbs had. Tied for top YPC. Tied for top yards per route run.

Also, I haven’t watched Delane, but I saw a YouTube segment on him today and his stats are crazy. Allowed only 13 receptions all year. No WR had more than 1 reception against him. Had as many pass deflections as 1st downs allowed, at 7. Why is he not getting more buzz?
 
Dlts20 said:
I actually think that he is. I blame a lot of his downfall on crappie play calling from Kliff where for like an 8 game stretch we seemingly ran it straight up the gut every play and our interior got manhandled on most of those plays. There was no variety, no deception, no misdirection, and it was pretty much always out of the gun. Change that and I think that he would have looked a lot better.
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I just think this is what we do as fans… when players do good not great things, we look to everything except the player himself to explain why it wasn’t as good as thought to have been.

Really talented players just find a way to show their talent and the scheme, playcalling, and supporting cast doesn’t keep them from doing it. JCM isn’t that guy at least at first and second blush.
 
this is from a McShay email so I have no link to it.

This Draft’s Three Elite Players​

​
The consensus among GMs I spoke to is that Notre Dame RB Jeremiyah Love, Ohio State DS Caleb Downs, and Ohio State LB Sonny Styles are the three best players in the 2026 NFL draft.​
Each of those guys plays a non-premium position, which these GMs also noted. Because of this, I’m told that coordinators will play an even greater role than normal in the decision-making of organizations drafting in the top 10 than they normally would. If you’re going to take an elite football player at one of those spots, you’d better have a plan that helps them maximize their impact.​
One name I was surprised to learn (according to those conversations) wasn’t considered in the elite group is Arvell Reese. Instead, he’s been grouped with two other top edge rushers (David Bailey and Rueben Bain Jr.) that league sources like but don’t consider blue-chip prospects.​
Here’s what I’ve been told on each of them:​
  • Reese is an athletic cyborg, but you have to have a detailed plan for his development. Otherwise, you’re going to be really disappointed in what you’re getting from that high of a pick. I also heard from multiple people how much better Reese looks coming forward than he does turning to cover. So if it doesn’t work out like you hope at edge rusher, what will you really end up with?
  • Bailey has been outstanding as a pass rusher in college, but teams have concerns about some redirection tightness and how that will limit his effectiveness rushing the passer in the NFL. One source expressed concern that Bailey “can’t really defend the run.”
  • Bain is thought of as a bulldozer, a great run defender, a tone-setter, and one powerful SOB. But the short arms (30 7/8 inches) are a red flag that legitimately concerns teams. I’ve said it a million times but it bears repeating: GMs hate bad outliers.
Those notes may sound harsh, but it’s critical to keep them in the proper context. Each of these guys are still considered top prospects in this draft and teams really do like them (as well as the second tier of edge rushers), but none of them have the blue-chip pedigree that Myles Garrett, Chase Young, or the Bosa brothers did coming out of college.​
The point that keeps being made is how difficult it would be to pass up on a potential Hall of Fame player for a really good (but flawed) edge rusher because of the premium on the position. As one personnel executive once told me, “When there’s no clear-cut elite talents at premium positions at the top of draft, don’t reach for those positions.”​
To sum it up, we’re looking at a draft where a running back, linebacker, safety, and guard might be the four highest-graded players. That’s wild. And it will lead to a lot of really interesting conversations over the next two months about “staying true to our board” vs. “premium positions deserve premium picks.” Everyone is saying the right thing in February, but something tells me we won’t see the combination of Love, Styles, Downs, and Penn State’s Olaivavega Ioane—in any order—rounding out the top five after the Raiders select Mendoza with the first pick on April 23.​
​
 
Anselmheifer said:
Love I think is my top want also. It would give us 3 blue chip offensive players, or 4 if you want to count Terry, but would also just change the way defenses would have to play us. As great as he is as a runner, I was checking out RB passing stats and they were eye popping. McCaffrey 102 catches for 924 yards. Bijan 79 catches for 820 yards. Gibbs 77 catches for 616 yards. Imagine adding that kind of potential dynamic pass catcher to the offense. I was watching a YouTube draft thing about him, and he essentially has better stats as a whole than Jeanty, Robinson and Gibbs had. Tied for top YPC. Tied for top yards per route run.

Also, I haven’t watched Delane, but I saw a YouTube segment on him today and his stats are crazy. Allowed only 13 receptions all year. No WR had more than 1 reception against him. Had as many pass deflections as 1st downs allowed, at 7. Why is he not getting more buzz?
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Of the players that I am guessing will be at 7: Love, Downs, Bain - maybe Tate -- tough call for me aside from ruling out Bain.

I really dig Love, Downs, and Tate. For me with Tate, it depends on what he runs today. If he runs in the 4'4s, I think he'd be the guy for me if it falls to 7. If not maybe Love by a hair over Downs but its super close for me.

Pretoday's combine. My guess is 50% chance Tate is there at 7. About 65% chance Downs and Love will be there at 7.
 
DWinzit said:
I am still a big Malachi Fields fan if we don't go WR in the 1st round at 71
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I got to get to watching him, his seperation numbers were a red flag for me, but support of him from people I respect here and some other draftniks like McShay compels me to dive it soon.

I am getting the WR feeds, every rep from youtube/just the tape but they haven't put up Fields, yet.
 
skinsinparadise said:
Of the players that I am guessing will be at 7: Love, Downs, Bain - maybe Tate -- tough call for me aside from ruling out Bain.

I really dig Love, Downs, and Tate. For me with Tate, it depends on what he runs today. If he runs in the 4'4s, I think he'd be the guy for me if it falls to 7. If not maybe Love by a hair over Downs but its super close for me.

Pretoday's combine. My guess is 50% chance Tate is there at 7. About 65% chance Downs and Love will be there at 7.
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Agreed. With the emergence of Styles, who I think will go before our pick now, there’s a better chance now that Downs or Tate falls to us. Downs has been my number one for a while, but I have to admit his lack of size is a slight worry. I think he has fallen behind Love for me now. Ill be plenty happy either way or with Tate.
 
KDawg said:
I don’t know that you should feel that way. They’re all high potential players who do a lot of the little things right.

Downs is not a “wow” you guy. He just doesn’t pop. Watched some OSU games live during the season and he doesn’t pop there, either. But when you watch he’s always around the ball. He may not make the tackle but when the camera pans 2 is right in the area. That’s a positive trait and speaks to his diagnosis ability.

Reese was an animal early in the season. The way he disappeared really makes me wonder if he had some injury or they shifted his schematic responsibility because the difference was so vast. If early season Reese was the guarantee he’s a top 5 pick. But if late season Reese was a guarantee he’s probably back half of the first. That has to be something front offices do their homework on, but I’m going to look at him as the early season guy until someone with inside knowledge reports something credible as to the second half of the season decline.

Styles is just raw. He’s all over the field. Sideline to sideline. Can line up as an edge, can drop as a safety, can read and react in the box. He has all the tools to be great, but he was a safety playing linebacker. With time he will be a linebacker playing linebacker. A few instances where he turned to scrape over and he looked almost surprised there was an OL at level 2 and he didn’t block destruct with active hands. Those things stood out at times. But then he does the same thing and gets hands on and gets off the block, which is big to me as it shows he is learning.

I started watching Notre Dame O last night and I’m going to post about those guys soon.
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Well that's why out of the guys you did talk about, I would only want Styles if your assessment is correct because of the high upside when you knock knock off the rawness but unfortunately, a lot of guys also stay raw forever.

As far Downs, again I was a huge Sean Taylor fan at the U and wanted us to take him no matter where we were picking because I've never seen anyone in college history around the ball as much as him. You say that Downs too is always around the ball but unlike Taylor, he doesn't pop. I guess that Downs is just close to the ball but not actually involved in the play?

Reese has potential and I guess it's not unheard of a drop-off in the NFL but when you have I think it was 6 sacks in the first 6 games and none the rest of the year, I don't trust you. He has the potential but we can't afford to miss.

All of these guys had mad talent around them too so I am sure that made things a lot easier. With all of that being said, and no disrespect to you but I would also need to watch for myself because opinions can very. We see that on this board already about most of these guys.
 
Dlts20 said:
Well that's why out of the guys you did talk about, I would only want Styles if your assessment is correct because of the high upside when you knock knock off the rawness but unfortunately, a lot of guys also stay raw forever.

As far Downs, again I was a huge Sean Taylor fan at the U and wanted us to take him no matter where we were picking because I've never seen anyone in college history around the ball as much as him. You say that Downs too is always around the ball but unlike Taylor, he doesn't pop. I guess that Downs is just close to the ball but not actually involved in the play?

Reese has potential and I guess it's not unheard of a drop-off in the NFL but when you have I think it was 6 sacks in the first 6 games and none the rest of the year, I don't trust you. He has the potential but we can't afford to miss.

All of these guys had mad talent around them too so I am sure that made things a lot easier. With all of that being said, and no disrespect to you but I would also need to watch for myself because opinions can very. We see that on this board already about most of these guys.
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Why aren’t you watching for yourself?

I don’t even know how you participate in these conversations having not watched any of them.
 
Boone said:
I just think this is what we do as fans… when players do good not great things, we look to everything except the player himself to explain why it wasn’t as good as thought to have been.

Really talented players just find a way to show their talent and the scheme, playcalling, and supporting cast doesn’t keep them from doing it. JCM isn’t that guy at least at first and second blush.
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True but I also think some of it is maybe unreasonable expectations. He won ROW 4 times, had 900 total yards, averaged 4.6ypc which is way more than the FAs we are talking about replacing him with, 8 TDs which again is more than them, and he did all of this in a limited role. His yac and TDs are more than what those guys had in most of their seasons and this is the worst version of him. People have went from overeating him to now underrating what he did
 
KDawg said:
Why aren’t you watching for yourself?

I don’t even know how you participate in these conversations having not watched any of them.
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I just said no offense yet you clearly took offense like I knew that you would which is why I said that in the first place. Stop being sensitive.

I have watched all of these guyd but there is a difference between watching games and breaking down film so my opinion is just like everyone else in this thread, including yours before you did the extra work of breaking down film. I don't get what's so hard for you to understand.

You have your opinion. Someone else may watch the same exact thing as you and come away with a different opinion or maybe the same also. I don't get bothered when someone feels different than me, nor should you. That was a weird response, fr
 
Dlts20 said:
I just said no offense yet you clearly took offense like I knew that you would which is why I said that in the first place. Stop being sensitive.

I have watched all of these guyd but there is a difference between watching games and breaking down film so my opinion is just like everyone else in this thread, including yours before you did the extra work of breaking down film. I don't get what's so hard for you to understand.

You have your opinion. Someone else may watch the same exact thing as you and come away with a different opinion or maybe the same also. I don't get bothered when someone feels different than me, nor should you. That was a weird response, fr
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A couple of things… I don’t care what someone on the internet says about my opinion on football. I promise. No offense was taken. You didn’t even say anything to take offense to, so where is that coming from?

I’ve broken down the film a few times. I’ve even posted it here. This was a full watch of the unit, not just the player.

Saying you need to watch it yourself left me curious why you have such a strong opinion without having watched. Now with context I understand you’ve done cursory watches and not deep dives. Makes sense.

I don’t know what fr means but, fr, my brother in Hog.
 
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