The 2026 Draft Thread - Day 2

[clskinsfan]

It looks like Klubnik was trying to get Williams new teeth at times.

They were college roommates too.

 

[heisenberg]

This is Thor Nystrom level analysis though.

“These folks did great because the are picking guys who I like! Clearly my board is right and I’m going to grade teams higher who take players I have rated higher at lower slots, and say teams who do the opposite suck and reached for picks.

I have no idea who this guy is or if he’s right but it’s the exact type of schlock I can’t stand.

Isn't that inevitable though?

We all have varying opinions, it stands to reason you're going to grade people based on who they take that matches your opinions.

 

[Voice_of_Reason]

Yet you read it, commented on it, and posted it here. 🤷🏻‍♂️

I can’t help myself. It drives me crazy.

 

[skinsinparadise]

I watched some more full games of Williams. A couple from '25 and a couple from '24.

First off, I'm convinced he owed Klubnik money. It looks like Klubnik was trying to get Williams new teeth at times. Though Klubnik was also running for his life

TThoughts:

-Williams get open

-I don't think he's a great fit on the outside, but I do think using him wide with slot rules/motions/route packages can absolutely work. So I'm not against him at Z, but I don't want him as a traditional Z. Has to be used like Atwell. But I think he is a slot receiver and it shouldn't be overthought or toyed with.

-When he catches the ball without having to contort his body, he is a YAC machine. But a lot of catches he had to reach back for/catch in significant areas of traffic. So his YAC was more limited than it would have been.

-Runs a varied and diverse route tree.

-Runs really good routes

-High point receiver.

-Not afraid of working in the middle of the field.

-Pretty good at the deep ball, but wasn't asked to do that often.

-People think Wesco is a better receiver, but Clemson preferred Williams statistically. To be fair to Wesco, I haven't studied him or watched him near enough to actually say. But at worst Williams was WR2 on Clemson in 2025. But Wesco missed 5 games. Williams 3. But in 2024, Williams was 100% the top guy on the team. Led the team in receptions and yards and TD by a significant margin.

-Clemson used him a lot on RPO hitches

-He looks much smaller than he is.

-I don't think he's a great blocker.

-Has some concentration drops and sometimes when a guy is barreling down on a quick hitter he doesn't get the ball secured fast enough and it gets jarred loose.

-Could use some work on his release package off the LoS. He dances too much, in my opinion. But, like Smith said, maybe Blough likes that? It does create space at times so it may be a positive long run.

-I've heard Santana Moss comparisons in Commander circles - I don't see Moss. I see Ladd McConkey a little bit. I see Jamison Crowder a little bit. I don't see Santana.

-Don't think he's a contested catch guy, but has strong enough hands that at times can pull one in in traffic. His super power is not being in traffic to find out, though.

Final Thoughts:

-I think he's going to have some concentration drops and struggle at times against NFL competition in the slot. But he is a significant upgrade to our slot position, a day one starter, immediate contributor, and I think he will continue to develop and be a really solid addition to our receiving corps. He is not a project like Lane and McCaffrey. He is ready to go right now. Just because he has things to work on does not mean he cannot be a high end contributor. I do worry some about durability, but his injury history is mostly missed games from 2023. He missed the first 2 in 2025 and played through injury, so that toughness is a big time positive. I wouldn't be surprised if he, at worst, is a 50/500/3 slot receiver for us in year one if he is healthy. I could see higher, but I don't want to set the bar too high for the young man.

Good pick. He makes us better.

Been some time since I watched him and I'll rewatch soon. Don't want to do it now because lol I want to watch some new guys they can take today.

I saw the McShay McConkey comps from McShay who was one of my favs in that draft -- see it a little but not a ton -- he's not the YAC-physical player that McConkey is

I think he's an above average blocker for this class, but depends on the game, sometimes he will just shove the player in front of him but doesn't put much power behind the shove but he isn't lazy with it like some players in this class.

He's ok with contested catches, ok with YAC -- not great but Ok on that front.

He cleaned up the drops this year, had one of the lowest drop rates in this class, just 1.8%

His super power is quick seperation, quick outs, shallow crossers, slants, curls, hitches, screens.

My excitement about him isn't that I see a secret superstar. It's that he's unusually polished for a college WR and already IMO more polished than Lane, McCaffrey.

I get all the concern from some about third round bust WRs -- and I can see why because a lot of them are projects. This dude isn't a project IMO.

 

[bowhunter]

My excitement about him isn't that I see a secret superstar. It's that he's unusually polished for a college WR and already IMO more polished than Lane, McCaffrey.

I get all the concern from some about third round bust WRs -- and I can see why because a lot of them are projects. This dude isn't a project IMO.

Not complaining about the pick, and I know you researched and have a high impression of Williams, but I do have a question and value the feedback.
Apparently AW has been deemed as a "day one starter" "high floor" kind of guy. But for the past 10 months it seems we collectively have bemoaned that we had no blue chip/elite guys and had a roster full of "c" level guys, lacking a talent that made opposing coordinators scheme around. Do you feel that this is a low risk/low reward guy, and we passed on higher ceilings? Terry was a 3rd round pick that developed into our WR1, yet I am reading some of our responses that Williams is the kind of guy who would get labeled as replaceable once his rookie contract expires. Did we play it safe here?

 

[Conn]

This is Thor Nystrom level analysis though.

“These folks did great because the are picking guys who I like! Clearly my board is right and I’m going to grade teams higher who take players I have rated higher at lower slots, and say teams who do the opposite suck and reached for picks.

I have no idea who this guy is or if he’s right but it’s the exact type of schlock I can’t stand.

And do you like our drafts more when they align with what your research tells you, in the moment with limited information, is good value and good process? Acknowledging of course that we can’t know outcomes, you still have preferences and things that you think are smart vs. not smart based on ideas you formed going into the draft from absorbing info from various sources.

Yeah, people who make a living watching tape and doing rankings have their own opinions. They are gonna prefer the drafts that line up with their opinions, on draft weekend. I don’t think that’s schlock unless the person has demonstrably bad opinions over a long period of time. You feel that way about Thor, probably fairly. This dude I posted is a guy I see in the conversations each year, but don’t have a strong opinion about the worth of his opinion either way.

You have a weird relationship with the media/social media folks who cover the draft considering that’s where all our info comes from in the first place throughout the pre-draft process. Not specific people (of course we have some we trust more than others), but just the general draft industry. It’s good enough to generally educate us with a swath of opinions before the draft, but not good enough to consider opinions after the draft?

People here like drafts that align with their own values as well. It’s natural. You probably feel the same way.

Your yearly “draft grades are stupid” crusade just really doesn’t make sense to me, since they are based on perceived value, not whether the NFL teams are going to be right or not (which no one can know). Perceived value can only be graded based on pre-draft evaluations and rankings. Again, normal. Individual people are wrong all the time, but huge reaches against the consensus mega-mock big boards almost never work out. Even internet scouts, when you toss them all together in their hundreds and thousands of rankings and mocks, overall are pretty surprisingly good at this. Directionally accurate, as I like to say. Busts and steals happen all the time, but again big reaches against non-NFL consensus rarely work out. So grading drafts based on a combination of perceived value, roster-building theory, and scheme fit makes complete sense to me as long as we acknowledge that they’re for entertainment and cannot actually predict success or failure—just draft weekend value. Which is directionally accurate over a huge sample size over many years, despite the unknowable busts and steals that emerge over time.

 

[skinsinparadise]

Thor destroyed Rivera's draft, the one with the trade down for Dotson, Robinson, Cole Turner, etc. It didn't feel good at the time because as fans you want to enjoy the spoils of victory on draft day in theory.

But alas Thor ended up right.

I get the idea of being turned off to draftniks that come off defintitve. But its a business to them -- they get paid to give takes and grade teams on their takes when the draft is over.

 

[Commander Wraith]

Luke I think is more likely to be able to play outside. He has a path to relevance there IF he’s going to develop at all. And Lane as stud punt returner/backup slot/4-wide body isn’t the worst outcome for a 4th round WR pick even if it’s not an ideal outcome (he was not a 3rd rounder as people were saying last night, but still not ideal)

I’ve had this thought about Luke for a while now. I get he played slot in college, but he’s decently sized, pretty athletic, solid hands, and did well in contested catch situations. While needing a longer runway due to the transition, my guess is that playing qb gives him an edge in terms of knowing what needs to be done, he just has to learn (more) about how to do it. Who knows if he gets there. If he caps out as a solid, versatile backup that contributes (along with KRs), maybe less than you’d want ideally from a 3rd rounder, yet it’s valuable… and I do think he there’s room for growth beyond that.

Nothing to back this up, but I could see McCaffrey being the guy Quinn had front of mind when talking about making sure receivers were getting training at all (multiple?) spots.

As for how the room stands now - yes, we could absolutely use another quality guy, but I could see Williams getting a fair few snaps in 12 and 21 with Dyami, Luke, Burks, and Lane subbing in, and then AW moving to the slot in 11. Okonkwo and White can get moved around as sort of chess pieces - inside, outside, opposite a bunch formation and in the backfield. Seeing the upside for sure. Gonna be down to Blough putting these pieces together and the competition (hopefully) pulling the best out of these guys.

 

[skinsinparadise]

Not complaining about the pick, and I know you researched and have a high impression of Williams, but I do have a question and value the feedback.
Apparently AW has been deemed as a "day one starter" "high floor" kind of guy. But for the past 10 months it seems we collectively have bemoaned that we had no blue chip/elite guys and had a roster full of "c" level guys, lacking a talent that made opposing coordinators scheme around. Do you feel that this is a low risk/low reward guy, and we passed on higher ceilings? Terry was a 3rd round pick that developed into our WR1, yet I am reading some of our responses that Williams is the kind of guy who would get labeled as replaceable once his rookie contract expires. Did we play it safe here?

A. If you aren't taking a WR in the first round it becomes more of a crap shoot especially in the third round where the hit rate is lousy

B. The siutation specifically at WR IMO is dire. You can argue Burks, McCaffrey, Lane, Van Jefferson, Dyami are either one dimensional or projects

C. If you take a boom-bust WR or one dimensional WR in the third -- you likely are getting a bust, or just another one dimensional player to add to the room of one dimensional players.

For me, I don't want a crap WR room which we are flirting with. We can't afford a project who doesn't help much this year or ends up busting.

So in Washington Commanders-Redskins terms give me a rich man's Jamison Crowder. A dude who can hit the ground running. High floor -- very unlikely to be a bust. To give Jayden at least one other reliable WR aside from Terry.

I don't think Williams is a secret superstar. But he has a higher ceiling for example than someone like Crowder. He's bigger, faster than Crowder with more 2nd-3rd level potential.

So for me, its not that I am ruling out he can be another St. Brown or name a kick ass slot WR. It wouldn't shock me if he ends up great but that's a hard call for me. What doesn't seem a hard call is that he ends up being a good reliable player for Jayden -- and we need IMO more than anything on this team.

 

[heisenberg]

But for the past 10 months it seems we collectively have bemoaned that we had no blue chip/elite guys and had a roster full of "c" level guys, lacking a talent that made opposing coordinators scheme around.

I think that was more of an argument being made for sticking and picking in the top 7 rather than trade down.

Thats where most of those guys come from and we got one with that kind of potential.

The third round is a different situation, if you can get a high floor guy at a position of extreme need its the perfect place to do so.

 

[Rick Astley]

My grandparents came from Holland to Michigan, aunt lives in Holland, MI now. Love that area.

And I do like this pick. I see him having a big impact from the start. Between this and Chig I see the passing game improvements already without any FA additions, which are sure to come. If, and this is a big if, they sign Aiyuk and he is anything like he has been the past the receiving options just improved by a good bit.

Rachaad White is going to help quite a bit in the passing game as well. He has 50+ catches in 3 out of 4 NFL seasons, including 64 in 2023. Definitely adds an element the offense hasn’t had recently at RB (Ekeler would have if he’d stayed healthy).

 

[skinsinparadise]

I think that was more of an argument being made for sticking and picking in the top 7 rather than trade down.

Thats where most of those guys come from and we got one with that kind of potential.

The third round is a different situation, if you can get a high floor guy at a position of extreme need its the perfect place to do so.

Yeah that's exactly why I was so jazzed they took him. It's not because I thought they got the next Justin Jefferson but because they got a rare high floor WR in that spot -- not easy to find high floor WRs in that range

 

[skinsinparadise]

Catching up on McShay's podcast. Him and Muench thought Antonio Williams was a great pick and would start right away.

McShay -- loves this pick, underrated, sudden. Great route runner. Decent YAC player. Touts his 1.8% drop rate. "I think he comes in to Washington and he's starting right away"

They go even though Clemson has more talented WRs, but he was their best WR. He is should an important part of their offense, their security blanket.

I think he will be one of the best things that ever happened to Jayden Daniels.

 

[Faithful Fan]

Rachaad White is going to help quite a bit in the passing game as well. He has 50+ catches in 3 out of 4 NFL seasons, including 64 in 2023. Definitely adds an element the offense hasn’t had recently at RB (Ekeler would have if he’d stayed healthy).

I agree Ekeler was missed after his injury last year, hopefully White is good in that role.

 

[DogofWar1]

One small thing with Williams and Styles, both are 21, will be turning 22 this year. Sometimes its fine to select guys who are nearly 23 or 23 going on 24 if they're just that talented and polished, but it sure is nice to not have to think about how they'll be 30 halfway through their 2nd contract. Can get a full 4 year 2nd deal done before either turns 30.

 

[GibbsSkins]

Great coversation on Williams! Changing it a bit, who do we want who will be there when we pick in 5th? We also have 2 6ths. We obviously need a CB, may be a C among other needs. Any good players out there that are overlooked or sleepers? We have 4 picks after 4th, wish we had a 4th, but we got Tunsil so all good there.

 

[KDawg]

Great coversation on Williams! Changing it a bit, who do we want who will be there when we pick in 5th? We also have 2 6ths. We obviously need a CB, may be a C among other needs. Any good players out there that are overlooked or sleepers? We have 4 picks after 4th, wish we had a 4th, but we got Tunsil so all good there.

Check the day 3 thread

 

[GibbsSkins]

Check the day 3 thread

Oh, forgot about that. Thanks!

 

[Voice_of_Reason]

I just listened to JP‘s podcast. He and Mitch really panned the pick. It feels like they were a little bit out of an island on that one. Has anybody else come out very strongly against this pick?

 

[burgold]

I just listened to JP‘s podcast. He and Mitch really panned the pick. It feels like they were a little bit out of an island on that one. Has anybody else come out very strongly against this pick?

and today, JP posted that he was one of the biggest steals in the draft on Twitter.