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

Ah gotcha.

But Tate is definitely better than everyone but Terry, though that isn't saying much. His QB isn't doing him many favors tonight, but Bain/Mesidor are having a real good night too, Ohio only having 14 points is a testament to how good the Miami defense is.
 
There are worse ideas than Bain in the 1st and Mesidor in the 3rd if teams get scared of Mesidor's age.
 
Reese is moving down my board as well. Hate to bash players for one bad game. But this game means everything. And this vaunted defense has been pedestrian imo.
 
To be fair, the knock against Ohio State has always been that they don't play anyone.

That's been true for 30 years now. I remember one streak where they lost 8 bowl games in a row to SEC teams. They would schedule pansies all season, and then get spanked.
 
Reese is moving down my board as well. Hate to bash players for one bad game. But this game means everything. And this vaunted defense has been pedestrian imo.
They just mentioned that teams with byes are 0-5, which raises the question, how much of this is "systemic" in that teams just need to keep playing to win and when they stop they get "cold."
 
Amazing team this season, and a huge turnaround over the last few years.
Been a looooong ride.

Still a long way to go with the Beck Bowl likely coming next week.
 
Been a looooong ride.

Still a long way to go with the Beck Bowl likely coming next week.
They've got a very tough road ahead, but they're playing great ball. They look real.

I would love to see Miami and Indiana.
 
From a draft perspective…

Tate isn’t as good as I thought.

Smith is legit but not in this class.

Downs is everything we thought.

Styles will be a good pro and has a high upside but not quite NFL ready.

Reese is a non factor.

Bain is a top 5 guy.

Mesidor is a top 3 round guy.

Keonte Scott is the real deal.

Fletcher is a pro.

Beck should be drafted, but late.

CJ Daniels is a late round steal.
 
It could go the other way, too.

Sirianni might be thinking he effed up and that the Commanders will be out for blood and so he is deciding to hide his players to protect them from injury. Probably not, but maybe.
Given who WAS will be running out for this game, that's like a human worrying about a worker ant being "out for blood" after having its ant hill kicked over...
 
Given who WAS will be running out for this game, that's like a human worrying about a worker ant being "out for blood" after having its ant hill kicked over...
Fair, but Sirianni probably thinks everyone is like he is and so though I can't see Quinn calling a bounty game and urging his players to injure his opponent's players I can imagine Sirianni being afraid of it.
 
I am not a one game should paint the draft kind of guy. But judging based on that one and collapsing my prior opinion into it.

A. Bain. As I've said prior, he's my favorite as to purely watching games -- crazy motor and wicked bend for a dude his size. Last night ditto. It doesn't change that he would be a unicorn if he's an elite pass rusher in the NFL, you don't really have 30 inch arm killer pass rushers. In the NFL the dudes are longer, the best of the best, then some of the typical college tackles. And Bain is so much about bull rushing and rip moves, hand swats, etc -- I don't know how that translates with short arms versus long armed tackles. It's not just Brugler who said talking to scouts he's polarizing and some have him in the 2nd round. McShay has said the same exact thing. Some here believe that they know he will kill it in the NFL and he will indeed be the unicorn. I don't know one way or another. It reminds me some of the Forbes debate where PFF among others said 165 pound guys don't succeed in the NFL -- the comeback to that was well Forbes killed it in college he will kill it in the NFL, of course he will be the exception, etc.

B. Downs -- was really good, two forced fumbles, was everywhere, probably their best defender

C. Styles -- mostly good too but not as good as Downs, he tackles a bit high, finally missed a tackle today, I don't love the high tackling but he's around the ball

D. Tate -- wasn't much of a factor, their QB was under duress and went to his go to WR, J. Smith. That's cool. It doesn't make me out on Tate. He's stiill high on my list.

I like Tate and Tyson. Some draftniks have Tate higher some have Tyson, they are generally neck and neck.

As far as the post that Tyson is easily the better Wr. I don't see that. But taking the opinion part out of it. Tate has Tyson beat on every metric just about: contested catch rate (by a mile), YPC (by a mile), yards, TDs, drop rate, YAC, its basically a clean sweep for Tate.
 
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As far as Reese, I am now going to dive in more. Previously, he seemed untouhable unless you are picking top 3. Now it feels like he can drop to 7.

I am not a prisoner of one game. But he's been more low key production wise now multiple games in a row.
 
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Very true. But a far better piece of clay to work with as a pass rusher who can already absolutely dominate an edge. The guy is an anchor on the edge. An unstoppable wall. I guess my design of defense is different. I want DE's that can secure the edge while athletic LB's make tackles. The ability to collapse the edge on passing downs is a bonus. Which Faulk also does well. He just needs to be coached up on pass rushing moves. His DC is DJ Durkin. He loves the 3-3-5. So Faulk has not really been asked to be a true DE in that system. Of course drafting is all about projection. I would much prefer to pick a player with elite NFL size and strength over a smaller tweener. Although Quinn seems to love tweeners himself.

I have to get more games on youtube for all these players, not much right now, including on Faulk. But the main reason Faulk doesn't hit me is he looks stiff to me, not much bend.

The reason why I said yesterday I can be talked into Bain much easier than Faulk is you got the production and bend from him -- you see the traits, I just wonder about length.

From what I've watched of Faulk I don't see the typical pass rushing traits. But like I said, I've also not found much to watch, my opinion can change on all these players once I have more games to go through.

Yeah for me I am not primarily wanting a run stopping DE and the pass rush is the gravy-bonus. To me the pass rush is paramount. Actually last night was a great example, Ohio State's offense was stymied because they were under duress. That's what I want.
 
As far as Reese, I am not going to dive in more. Previously, he seemed untouhable unless you are picking top 3. Now it feels like he can drop to 7.

I am not a prisoner of one game. But he's been more low key production wise now multiple games in a row.
I missed the game but it does sound like Reese somewhat disappeared again, yes two big games in a row. His stock could drop to us if at 7.

Wondering if Downs stock out of our reach is we are struck at 7.

Also sounds as though Styles was at least okay so I am guessing he didn't hurt his stock.

I didn't read in the thread anything on T Mauigoa, did he have a stellar game that stymied OSs pass rushers? Hoping his stock rises
 

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