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

[skinsinparadise]

I'll add as i posted on the FA thread IMHO, Jerome Ford is a better back than Croskey-Merritt. Not because I don't like Croskey-Merritt -- I like him, look at my posting history on that third draft day, I pushed over and over to take him. He hasn't disappointed me. But he wasn't a pass catcher in college or known for pass protection. He's an old rookie espeically for RB. I wondered if he'd evolve on those fronts in the pros. He didn't. But he's still a good running back. But he's not a versatile RB -- and that limits him.

Croskey-Merritt I like as a runner by a little over Ford. But Ford is a good pass catcher. And that balance IMO makes him closer to a #1 IMO than Croskey-Merritt. But ideally, I want a different #1 back.

 

[Voice_of_Reason]

Reframing.

I think BIll is a legitimate running back. Love has the chance to be a superstar.

(Just a little tired of the Bill bashing.)

I haven’t really seen any Bill bashing. I think he had a great year for a 7th round rookie.

But if you’re being objective, he has a HUGE step forward to to take before he can be a full time starter. He needs to get much better as a pass protector and better in the pass game as a receiver.

Right now, when he’s on the field, you almost have to give him the ball.

I like Bill. I think he can develop. But he’s nowhere near “there” yet and that’s why they went out and got White and might draft Love.

 

[RedWolf]

I really don't think there's a chance that Love falls to 7, less than 5%? I think he is going in the top 5. We need to start focusing on other possibilities

 

[Dlts20]

Croskey-Merrit who is about to turn 25, I might feel differently if he was 21, is likely not going to evolve into a multi dimensional weapon. He's a good RB but one dimensional. He's not what the typical #1 back looks like skill wise. Good for a rotation, but not the dude you want to be your lead back. It was no accident that Ekeler to the surprise of some started as the lead back this past year even though he hasn't been a lead back for years -- but the dude can pass protect and catch.

This isn't the 80s and 90s or early 2000s anymore. If a back isn't a pass catching threat and or pass protector -- he's not a typical #1 unless he's really special like an Adrian Peterson.

Some might recall when Peterson was let go, and some thought it made no sense. Jay talked about this on a podcast once which is ideally you don't want a one dimensional running back for two reasons: 1. A multi dimensional back can be a great tool on screens, dump offs, wheel routes, etc. 2. You don't want to telegraph that the play is going to be a run.

Washington Football Team releases veteran RB Adrian Peterson

The Washington Football Team has released veteran running back Adrian Peterson, the team announced Friday.

www.espn.com

Still, it was a surprising move considering Peterson had mostly worked all summer with the starters and was praised for his power runs and leadership. But the coaches often mentioned versatility. It has become even more important at this position, given the lack of proven talent and depth at tight end and wide receiver. Washington wants an element of surprise to boost its offense.

The team wants to use a lot of two-running-back sets and wants the backs to be multithreats. It drafted Antonio Gibson in the third round; he had played mostly wide receiver at Memphis, but Washington will use him as a running back who can align all over in the passing game. The team signed veteran Peyton Barber and has been pleased with how he can contribute as both a runner and pass-catcher.

I will say that I think receiving is extremely subjective and deprnds on so many different things from scheme, to QB, and more. There are only a couple of backs who are doing some real different types of receiving. Nearly everyone else is doing screens and dump offs. More receptions to me doesn't make you a better receiver. You may have played with a more conservative coach, a check down level QB, an inexperienced QB, or a lack of talent at the skill positions.

From what I saw of him in college and from what we saw as a rookie, there was nothing that led me to believe that he can't catch the ball. He did well with every single opportunity and some of them were real looking receiving plays, not just basic dump offs.

Teams like the Jets have crappie QB play with conservative coaches that dump the ball off a lot. Even guys like Alex Smith check it down a lot. I have seen nothing from Bill to say that he can't be active in the past game or get the same amount 9fl receptions as these other guys who literally only catch screens and dump offs.

He even makes a couple of good receiving plays in this video and looks like he has some lead back capabilities to me.

 

[Conn]

I will say that I think receiving is extremely subjective and deprnds on so many different things from scheme, to QB, and more. There are only a couple of backs who are doing some real different types of receiving. Nearly everyone else is doing screens and dump offs. More receptions to me doesn't make you a better receiver. You may have played with a more conservative coach, a check down level QB, an inexperienced QB, or a lack of talent at the skill positions.

From the highlights I saw of him in college and from what we saw as a rookie, there was nothing that led me to believe that he can't catch the ball. He did well with every single opportunity and some of them were real looking receiving plays, not just basic dump offs.

Teams like the Jets have crappie QB play with conservative coaches that dump the ball off a lot. Even guys like Alex Smith check it down a lot. I have seen nothing from Bill to say that he can't be active in the past game or get the same amount 9fl receptions as these other guys who literally only catch screens and dump offs

He can improve as a receiver, but the main issue with Bill and what keeps him off the field on passing downs (and what makes us predictable when he IS on the field) is that he’s a very poor pass protector. He can’t be trusted to keep Jayden alive back there. That can improve but that’s why some of us think he needs time to develop. At a position that doesn’t have a super long shelf life, where age is the cliff and he’ll be 25 as a second year player.

He can still become a good, more well-rounded player but he’s not there yet, and banking on it when our franchise QB’s health and development are on the line would be reckless.

 

[Dlts20]

He can improve as a receiver, but the main issue with Bill and what keeps him off the field on passing downs (and what makes us predictable when he IS on the field) is that he’s a very poor pass protector. He can’t be trusted to keep Jayden alive back there. That can improve but that’s why some of us think he needs time to develop. At a position that doesn’t have a super long shelf life, where age is the cliff and he’ll be 25 as a second year player.

He can’t still become a good, more well-rounded player but he’s not there yet, and banking on it when our franchise QB’s health and development are on the line would be reckless.

That's what you have a 3rd down back in White for and I feel like he can improve.

 

[Voice_of_Reason]

That's what you have a 3rd down back in White for and I feel like he can improve.

But you want to be able to throw on first and second down and have your back protect or be involved in the passing game.

Bill struggles with that. So if you put him in on first downs you’re telegraphing you’re handing him the ball and everybody knows it.

 

[Conn]

That's what you have a 3rd down back in White for and I feel like he can improve.

Which means when JCM is on the field we’re telegraphing. That’s a problem. It’s why Mark Ingram had a rough start to his career only being able to carry the ball the first couple years. And that was with Sean Payton at the wheel coaching him. Ingram eventually became more well-rounded and having him on the field was less of a giveaway. But it hurt his efficiency for multiple years even though he was an immensely talented pure rusher.

 

[skinsinparadise]

I will say that I think receiving is extremely subjective and deprnds on so many different things from scheme, to QB, and more. There are only a couple of backs who are doing some real different types of receiving. Nearly everyone else is doing screens and dump offs. More receptions to me doesn't make you a better receiver. You may have played with a more conservative coach, a check down level QB, an inexperienced QB, or a lack of talent at the skill positions.

From what I saw of him in college and from what we saw as a rookie, there was nothing that led me to believe that he can't catch the ball. He did well with every single opportunity and some of them were real looking receiving plays, not just basic dump offs.

Teams like the Jets have crappie QB play with conservative coaches that dump the ball off a lot. Even guys like Alex Smith check it down a lot. I have seen nothing from Bill to say that he can't be active in the past game or get the same amount 9fl receptions as these other guys who literally only catch screens and dump offs.

He even makes a couple of good receiving plays in this video and looks like he has some lead back capabilities to me.

I watched everything I can find on youtube on Croskey-Merritt, mostly New Mexico games before the draft. I lol by a mile pined for him the most on the day three draft thread last year. I am very familiar with the player.

They didn't use him much as a pass catcher, 7 receptions in New Mexico, he looked fine on those receptions, but there is more to being a pass catcher than catching what's being thrown to you. A running back doesn't have to be some refined route runner but there is still some art to it. Among other things you often need to be in the right spot for a hot route for example. Ditto for screens, wheels, swing, flat routes. Choice routes, etc. There is a major mental and timing aspect to it. And some are better at it than others. And like anything repeititon helps. The fact that he's an old rookie and has very little reps as a pass catcher doesn't help him.

If you are practiced on that count in college, makes it easier to do so in the pros. He wasn't. Also pass protection take some art to it too. Identify the blitzer, understand the protection scheme, know the pass rushing habits of the blitzer, etc.

He had training camp to work on all of this. I've probably watched over the years at least 30 training camp practices. It's given a lot of attention in the practices I watched. And you can see the RBs who were smooth on this count. Going way back I recall commenting on ES, Chris Thompson is going to kill it in passing downs that season because they ran so many plays through him and he looked so smooth.

I didn't zero in on Croskey-Merritt on the one practice I watched last year. But I know enough from watching many training camps that they for sure worked on the passing game with him -- and if he were a natural at it and it came easy to him, they wouldn't have been shy to try him with the live bullets during the games.

 

[Dlts20]

But you want to be able to throw on first and second down and have your back protect or be involved in the passing game.

Bill struggles with that. So if you put him in on first downs you’re telegraphing you’re handing him the ball and everybody knows it.

Which means when JCM is on the field we’re telegraphing. That’s a problem. It’s why Mark Ingram had a rough start to his career only being able to carry the ball the first couple years. And that was with Sean Payton at the wheel coaching him. Ingram eventually became more well-rounded and having him on the field was less of a giveaway. But it hurt his efficiency for multiple years even though he was an immensely talented pure rusher.

Backs aren't always blocking. There's play action, there's chipping, and I really think the narrative on his blocking has just been totally blown out of proportion. Most of our problems were from lineman and panicking quarterbacks who took off running when it was needed.

He didn't even play that much and he ran it a lot so please stop like he was just a complete liability that was the focus of conversion every game. He wasn't. His blocking was in no way our issue last year so stop acting like he's playing defense like Luka or something

 

[Voice_of_Reason]

Backs aren't always blocking. There's play action, there's chipping, and I really think the narrative on his blocking has just been totally blown out of proportion. Most of our problems were from lineman and panicking quarterbacks who took off running when it was needed.

He didn't even play that much and he ran it a lot so please stop like he was just a complete liability that was the focus of conversion every game. He wasn't. His blocking was in no way our issue last year so stop acting like he's playing defense like Luka or something

Kliff even said he was a liability when he don’t have the ball in his hands.

It’s why he wasn’t on the field more.

Again, I like him as a runner. He basically missed an entire season of college. He could really improve this off season.

But he was a liability when he didn’t have the ball in his hands and the coach even said so.

 

[Conn]

Backs aren't always blocking. There's play action, there's chipping, and I really think the narrative on his blocking has just been totally blown out of proportion. Most of our problems were from lineman and panicking quarterbacks who took off running when it was needed.

He didn't even play that much and he ran it a lot so please stop like he was just a complete liability that was the focus of conversion every game. He wasn't. His blocking was in no way our issue last year so stop acting like he's playing defense like Luka or something

You can tell they don’t believe in his ability to do it because they didn’t trust him much with it. He was our most explosive player on offense last year and they rarely let him flex his ability on passing downs, other than some dump offs where his stop-start ability could be shown off. But again, he missed his chips at times and didn’t get many opportunities as the season went on. Having him in on passing downs wasn’t best for this offense last year and unless he’s grown a lot, won’t be what’s best this season either. White will help a ton with that in obvious passing situations and on 3rd and longs. But it limits how unpredictable we can be if our RB usage gives away our intent.

No one is saying JCM was the “problem” with our offense last year. Doesn’t mean we can’t acknowledge an obvious glaring hole in his game. It’s not personal.

You’re getting very defensive, there’s no need. He can improve on it, but it’s a huge gap in his game. That, and his vision. When he sees it and just goes, he’s explosive as hell. But he doesn’t always find the ideal rushing lane and is even more rare to see him hit the ideal cutback lane. Something else we could see improve, despite it usually being a baked-in trait, given his lack of snaps his final year of college. He’s a bit old to still be developing, but he could be. And we’d benefit.

But there’s no reason we can’t be happy with what JCM brings to our roster either way. Great 7th round pick. He’s not an RB1 in this league right now, and probably won’t ever be elite. He’s going to be peaking the next three years of his rookie contract, his 25-27 age seasons, and I can’t wait to see the long TD runs over the coming years he’s on the roster.

I really don’t get the almost indignity from some fans that we didn’t get gifted a stud RB1 in the 7th. It’s really cool that he can bring what he does to our offense, and any growth from here is found money. But it would be foolish to bank on it if we can avoid it.

 

[Voice_of_Reason]

One other thing regarding Bill: keep in mind he missed an entire season due to the eligibility issues.

You’re going to be rusty after that and he was moving from college to the pros.

His game is incomplete. But that’s fine. He’s a 7th round player who performed above and beyond what you would expect a 7th rounder to perform especially after essentially sitting out a year.

But he’s not Walter Peyton. Heck, he’s not even Alfred Morris.

He has the chance to grow and develop. He’s ahead of where you would think he would be.

I’m personally thrilled with the pick and what he did. But not going to count on him being more than a backup just yet.

 

[Chris]

He was a 7th rounder because he missed all but 1 game in his last year.

 

[Dlts20]

You can tell they don’t believe in his ability to do it because they didn’t trust him much with it. He was our most explosive player on offense last year and they rarely let him flex his ability on passing downs, other than some dump offs where his stop-start ability could be shown off. But again, he missed his chips at times and didn’t get many opportunities as the season went on. Having him in on passing downs wasn’t best for this offense last year and unless he’s grown a lot, won’t be what’s best this season either. White will help a ton with that in obvious passing situations and on 3rd and longs. But it limits how unpredictable we can be if our RB usage gives away our intent.

No one is saying JCM was the “problem” with our offense last year. Doesn’t mean we can’t acknowledge an obvious glaring hole in his game. It’s not personal.

You’re getting very defensive, there’s no need. He can improve on it, but it’s a huge gap in his game. That, and his vision. When he sees it and just goes, he’s explosive as hell. But he doesn’t always find the ideal rushing lane and is even more rare to see him hit the ideal cutback lane. Something else we could see improve, despite it usually being a baked-in trait, given his lack of snaps his final year of college. He’s a bit old to still be developing, but he could be. And we’d benefit.

But there’s no reason we can’t be happy with what JCM brings to our roster either way. Great 7th round pick. He’s not an RB1 in this league right now, and probably won’t ever be elite. He’s going to be peaking the next three years of his rookie contract, his 25-27 age seasons, and I can’t wait to see the long TD runs over the coming years he’s on the roster.

I really don’t get the almost indignity from some fans that we didn’t get gifted a stud RB1 in the 7th. It’s really cool that he can bring what he does to our offense, and any growth from here is found money. But it would be foolish to bank on it if we can avoid it.

I never disagreed with that. I've always said that he was a rookie and it's a known fact that most of them come in as poor blockers and have to improve. That is a pretty normal thing but people are speaking like it's abnormal or that it was downright blatantly atrocious.

I'm not defensive. If you notice, I usually like the post of the people going against me because I respect you guys opinion and it's OK to disagree or debate. I feel that people are expecting too much and not acknowledging that 900 total yards in a limited role with 4.6ypc and 4 ROW awards is really impressive. I just see him in an improved system with better receivers, him capable of being a 1200 plus yard back. That's all I'm saying

 

[KDawg]

He was a 7th rounder because he missed all but 1 game in his last year.

Meanwhile, McCoy missed an entire year and is going to be a first rounder at corner.

Willis McGahee, a RB, tore every ligament in his leg and was still drafted in the first round.

If he was such an incredible talent he would have been drafted higher.

He had holes in his game and he fell to a 7th with those holes and the injury.

 

[DogofWar1]

I've checked my crystal ball and it says Bill would have been a late 3rd rounder if he'd played his final year.

 

[Dlts20]

Meanwhile, McCoy missed an entire year and is going to be a first rounder at corner.

Willis McGahee, a RB, tore every ligament in his leg and was still drafted in the first round.

If he was such an incredible talent he would have been drafted higher.

He had holes in his game and he fell to a 7th with those holes and the injury.

Yet when he played among the best in the Shrine game, he was the talk of the practices and won the MVP award.....

 

[KDawg]

Yet when he played among the best in the Shrine game, he was the talk of the practices and won the MVP award.....

And was drafted… in the 7th round.

 

[Dlts20]

And was drafted… in the 7th round.

So was Purdy. Brady in the 6th. People do get things wrong, you know? He literally won more ROW than anyone drafted in front of him, just like he out played them in the Shrine. I love an underdog. Bill is a fighter.

He was drafted in the 7th round because of his one game season, his age, and his background of spending so much time at Alabama State. I like the perseverance.