2026 NFL Draft Impressions / Changes

[DWinzit]

Gulbin -- feels like a gap, power style center. And Kaytron Allen also feels like a gap instead of zone style runner. He had the best gap PFF grade in this group -- 90 plus grade.

So lol maybe there will be some duo, power running in the mix. I guess not team is pure zone or pure gap.

Yes, I mean if we were to run gap I could see him surpassing Allegretti fairly quickly if he grasped calls well.

Based on method man post, it would not be a far out possibility.

 

[DWinzit]

I didn't dislike Malachi Fields. I saw him as a medium-high floor, low ceiling WR. To me Antonio is a high floor-medium celing.

I am not one to live and die with analyitcs at WR. But one of the most telling is seperation scores. And Fields had one of the worst -- i watched every game of his and you can see it IMO, he's not the best seperator. He reminds me of Noah Brown in that he's a feisty WR who for a dude who isn't fast, is decent as a deep thread and has good hands. I'd be shocked if he ends up great, surprised if he ends up good -- but also shocked if he's a bust. To me he's a 4th WR type rotational and should last in the league for some time as that.

But IMHO its not that close. I'd easily go Antonio over Fields. But will see.

Listening to Logan he said he didn't see Hurst getting much of separation ad said he was similar to Fields in separating

He also said Antonio brings a novel addition to the WR room in the way he moves and runs routes. Love that!

 

[method man]

Listening to Logan he said he didn't see Hurst getting much of separation ad said he was similar to Fields in separating

He also said Antonio brings a novel addition to the WR room in the way he moves and runs routes. Love that!

I think Logan criticized Hurst’s start/stop, which ultimately leads to difficulty in separating. He ultimately avoided the agility testing because he probably knew his scores wouldn’t be good

 

[DWinzit]

I think Logan criticized Hurst’s start/stop, which ultimately leads to difficulty in separating. He ultimately avoided the agility testing because he probably knew his scores wouldn’t be good

Yes you are correct. Thank goodness he wasn't our believed best option. Hurst received lots of latte accolades that seem to be way overblown if the dude will never be open.

 

[skinsinparadise]

Listening to Logan he said he didn't see Hurst getting much of separation ad said he was similar to Fields in separating

He also said Antonio brings a novel addition to the WR room in the way he moves and runs routes. Love that!

Yeah watched an interview saying its not even close as to Williams versus some of the other options at WR from him as to seperation-route running.

The odd thing for me is that style of WR seemed to catch the people who cover the team off guard.

It caught me off guard too but for a different reason -- the guys that seemed linked to this team outside the first round were these boom-bust upside WRs.

But for me personally I kept stressing Bernard and Antonio Williams because they were so polished. My runner up was Sarratt albiet he's not the best seperator.

I didn't think they can afford a project for 2026, that doesn't help Jayden. Plus as others kept pointing out, like method man so many 3rd rounders bust. In other words, the boom-bust guys are more likely to bust.

I wanted a dude that can hit the ground running, who was unlikely to bust and contribute now. To me the pool was super shallow outside of the first on that front - 2 guys IMO -- Bernard and A. Williams.

Also, I hated that there was so much talk about slot being covered and we just needed Z. Slot is McCaffrey and Lane -- those are wildcards. It's kind of ironically the equivalent of LB is taken care of even though they had no proven Middle LB, green dot guy. So Styles to me covered a real need.

One of the reporters, I think it was Keim said there was a guy (said post draft) they wanted at WR if he fell to them at 71, in others words he was super high on their list. And I get it. I don't think IMHO there was anoother high floor WR left in that draft. You can argue maybe Sarratt but he is not the seperator like Antonio and doesn't have as high of a floor IMO.

 

[skinsinparadise]

Yes, I mean if we were to run gap I could see him surpassing Allegretti fairly quickly if he grasped calls well.

Based on method man post, it would not be a far out possibility.

'
My draft magazine, ranked Gulbin as the 4th best center, and rated him the smartest of this class. And said Team Captain type.

If so, it flows with what Keim has hinted in his podcasts about Biadaz -- they don't like his protection calls, and wanted a more vocal personality-leader at that spot.

 

[Anselmheifer]

'
My draft magazine, ranked Gulbin as the 4th best center, and rated him the smartest of this class. And said Team Captain type.

If so, it flows with what Keim has hinted in his podcasts about Biadaz -- they don't like his protection calls, and wanted a more vocal personality-leader at that spot.

I love a physical mauler on OL, and it looks like he can really anchor against power. Like everybody else, I worry about scheme fit. Do you know how much the center has to pull in a Ben Johnson style offense? I wonder if he can be more effective at that than I think. I saw some clips of him climbing to the second level effectively in his highlights. I don’t think I saw him pulling to the outside…

Regarding Williams, couldn’t be happier. I also really did not want another 3rd round project. I would rather have drafted CB or center and signed a FA receiver. Getting a guy that can generate some quick wins is a major coup. It might sound ridiculous, but I think Williams might replace a little bit of what we lost with Ertz. Quick wins on the inside and a target that can route guys up and get open consistently. I’m excited about Chig, but he’s a different flavor.

 

[Commander Wraith]

Yeah watched an interview saying its not even close as to Williams versus some of the other options at WR from him as to seperation-route running.

The odd thing for me is that style of WR seemed to catch the people who cover the team off guard.

It caught me off guard too but for a different reason -- the guys that seemed linked to this team outside the first round were these boom-bust upside WRs.

But for me personally I kept stressing Bernard and Antonio Williams because they were so polished. My runner up was Sarratt albiet he's not the best seperator.

I didn't they can afford a project for 2026, that doesn't help Jayden. Plus as others kept pointing out, like method man so many 3rd rounders bust. In other words, the boom-bust guys are more likely to bust.

I wanted a dude that can hit the ground running, who was unlikely to bust and contribute now. To me the pool was super shallow outside of the first on that front - 2 guys IMO -- Bernard and A. Williams.

Also, I hated that there was so much talk about slot being covered and we just needed Z. Slot is McCaffrey and Lane -- those are wildcards. It's kind of ironically the equivalent of LB is taken care of even though they had no proven Middle LB, green dot guy. So Styles to me covered a real need.

One of the reporters, I think it was Keim said there was a guy (said post draft) they wanted at WR if he fell to them at 71, in others words he was super high on their list. And I get it. I don't think IMHO there was anoother high floor WR left in that draft. You can argue maybe Sarratt but he is not the seperator like Antonio and doesn't have as high of a floor IMO.

I’ve been saying for a while I was hoping they’d draft an “easy button” type of receiver for Jayden - a guy that could separate with consistency, but as you alluded to, I was kind of thinking they were targeting a “downfield threat”, “explosive playmaker” type… so like you, I’m pretty thrilled they took Williams.

Interesting to see them move away from the RAS monsters in general, and more towards guys who have higher floors than ceilings (aside from Styles, but he checks both boxes). Wonder what the impetus was?

Perhaps the most obvious answer is they were following what Blough wanted - guys who could contribute immediately.

Of course, it could be a preservation thing too - this year has to be successful for this staff to stick around.

Also seems possible it was a self-scouting correction, or an organization philosophy - take high upside guys to develop early in their tenure, and then settle in with guys who have higher floors.

 

[skinsinparadise]

I’ve been saying for a while I was hoping they’d draft an “easy button” type of receiver for Jayden - a guy that could separate with consistency, but as you alluded to, I was kind of thinking they were targeting a “downfield threat”, “explosive playmaker” type… so like you, I’m pretty thrilled they took Williams.

Interesting to see them move away from the RAS monsters in general, and more towards guys who have higher floors than ceilings (aside from Styles, but he checks both boxes). Wonder what the impetus was?

Perhaps the most obvious answer is they were following what Blough wanted - guys who could contribute immediately.

Of course, it could be a preservation thing too - this year has to be successful for this staff to stick around.

Also seems possible it was a self-scouting correction, or an organization philosophy - take high upside guys to develop early in their tenure, and then settle in with guys who have higher floors.

I was listenting to Grant Paulsen really push the point about RAS. Antonio ran a 4.41, with the best shuttle time among the WRs I charted, and had a 39.5 vertical to me that's plenty of an athlete -- but yeah not the freak that Hurst, Lance are athletically.

Jospeh really good athlete, the only thing that kept him from a real high RAS was his weight, otherwise he was very good at name that metric, and has freaky length.

But yeah their 6th-7th rounders aren't big athletes.

 

[skinsinparadise]

Below the Dolphins wow. The same team that had to beat Washington in overtime with Washington putting out a skeleton crew -- and Miami dismantled their team in the off season with Washington spending a ton to beef it up.

Not much respect from the national media, they sort of reflect some of this teams disgruntled fans seeing 2024 as the mirage not 2025. Sheehan's has talked about this some, the odd lack of respect from the national media where aren't giving this team any break for the injuries last season.

Some exceptions to this like Mel Kiper and Kay Adams and even Skip Bayless.

 

[BayouBrave86]

I’m fine with the disrespect. If this team can stay relatively healthy, they should return to the playoffs. I expect this defense to create a lot of short fields for the offense.

 

[HTTR]

Just recency bias I think. I’d love to see us ranked higher, and I agree we deserve to be. But I get it… We sucked last year and need to earn our way back up the charts by proving 2025 was the fluke, not 2024.

 

[Anselmheifer]

Regarding what I would have done differently in the draft, there isn’t a lot. It’s a little hard because I did t really learn that much about a lot of the day 3 guys, so it’s retrospect and leaning on data from the usual sources, rather than having my own strong opinion.

But, there definitely wasn’t a better choice than Styles at 7. No brainer.

Love the Antonio Williams pick in the 3rd. We absolutely needed WR production THIS YEAR, and I think he will bring that and give us a guy that can separate quickly and be reliably open for Jayden.

My first reaction to the Joseph pick in the 5th was, “who”? But learning more about him, it looks like he has a lot of tools, and was expected to go way earlier. I wish he’d had more production, but then he wouldn’t have been available in the 5th.

In the 6th, I guess I feel kind of meh about Allen and Gulbin, but looking at team needs, production, where others had the players rated, I don’t dislike the picks. And it’s the 6th round. I don’t really have anyone I would have put before them.

In the 7th, did we need to draft Kaliakmanis? Could we have gotten him in free agency? But, apparently the team really liked him, nesting with him at least twice and bringing him in for a 30 visit. And I can see the benefit of grooming a younger guy to be your number 2 when Mariota moves on.

I can’t help but think that we may regret passing on Uar Bernard. 21 or 22 years old. He’s 6’4.5” and 306 pounds. Ran a 4.63 at that weight, which is obscene/unheard of, and also had a very of 39” and a broad jump of just under 11 feet. And fucking of course, Philly grabbed him in the 7th. He could easily be the next Jordan Mailata for them, and it’s going to make me sick if that comes to fruition. I would have found a way to grab and try to develop him.

 

[skinsinparadise]

Keim among others were consistent on this. Styles was #1 aling with Love. They though didn't expect either to fall.

They never fully recovered comment from the fan is hilarious, so shell shocked that they refused to take another CB. It's like if this girl won't marry me, I'll be a monk, no women will ever be right for me.

 

[Anselmheifer]

Keim among others were consistent on this. Styles was #1 aling with Love. They though didn't expect either to fall.

They never fully recovered comment from the fan is hilarious, so shell shocked that they refused to take another CB. It's like if this girl won't marry me, I'll be a monk, no women will ever be right for me.

I don’t think the link is working?

 

[skinsinparadise]

I don’t think the link is working?

Maybe he took it down. A fan said the Chiefs screwed up their plans by taking Delane and Washington was so shaken by it that they didn't take another corner thorough the rest of the draft.

Keim responded that they liked Styles over Delane. But if Styles didn't fall, it would have been Delane or Downs.

 

[HTTR]

Maybe he took it down. A fan said the Chiefs screwed up their plans by taking Delane and Washington was so shaken by it that they didn't take another corner thorough the rest of the draft.

Keim responded that they liked Styles over Delane. But if Styles didn't fall, it would have been Delane or Downs.

Haha yes AP must have been devastated when one of the top two or three players on his board fell to us at seven!

 

[BayouBrave86]

My take is Mansoor and Love were the plans all along because they were the most realistic to drop to us. Styles was the clear favorite but no one really anticipated him dropping. And then he did…the first round worked PERFECTLY for us. Love stays out of New York and goes out to Arizona. Also don’t think Reese is going to be that great for the Giants either.

 

[Anselmheifer]

My take is Mansoor and Love were the plans all along because they were the most realistic to drop to us. Styles was the clear favorite but no one really anticipated him dropping. And then he did…the first round worked PERFECTLY for us. Love stays out of New York and goes out to Arizona. Also don’t think Reese is going to be that great for the Giants either.

God. I was sooooooo relieved to see Love not go to a division rival.

 

[Riggo44]

It's really how they finished last season for the most part. Absolutely no insight