The 2026 Draft Thread - Day 3

Anselmheifer said:
Wouldn’t mind this at all in the late rounds. Also, 10.75 inch hands?! Athletic testing numbers are good. 4.62 40, 10’3” broad jump, 1.6 ten yard split. 6’6” with 32.75 inch arms and 245 pounds seems like a rich man’s version of all of the other developmental tight ends we brought in tha never turned out. Watched about 60 seconds of a highlight video and it was meh, but it was 60 seconds and we are talking about the late rounds. We at least need some sort of backup receiving tight end.

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Tight ends are tough to watch in highlights unless they are insane burners, vertical threats or dudes who run over guys. But on just watch the tape on youtube I can watch every play, and this dude is a really fluid mover. I look for that with tight ends because they often look stiff
 
Is Eli a Y TE? I think that’s what we need as Bates is the only Y TE on the roster. Thinking about 2027, Bates could be a cut candidate. He wasn’t particularly good last year
 
method man said:
Is Eli a Y TE? I think that’s what we need as Bates is the only Y TE on the roster. Thinking about 2027, Bates could be a cut candidate. He wasn’t particularly good last year
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Did his blocking fall off last year? It was such a nightmare season that if it did, I just didn’t notice. But I was definitely still under the impression that he was a top blocking TE

(Either way we could still use a real well-rounded Y TE to complement Chig. Bates even at his best is a third TE/extra OL)
 
Conn said:
Did his blocking fall off last year? It was such a nightmare season that if it did, I just didn’t notice. But I was definitely still under the impression that he was a top blocking TE

(Either way we could still use a real well-rounded Y TE to complement Chig. Bates even at his best is a third TE/extra OL)
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Yep. Was probably due to the groin injury but Suter rated him low, even as a blocker, when he was doing his grades week to week on Sheehan's pod
 
method man said:
Is Eli a Y TE? I think that’s what we need as Bates is the only Y TE on the roster. Thinking about 2027, Bates could be a cut candidate. He wasn’t particularly good last year
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Definitely a Y, played in line plenty, good (not great) move blocker, you see him on some of Love's big runs.

I think he's a better prospect than Sinnott, and I don't mean this in the hindsight way of Sinnott has been meh in the pros, but this is me remembering the college Sinnott.

And don't get me wrong, I am not blown away by Raridon. He's no Laporta. He's not a top 2 round prospect. But I'd say from the mid 3rd range through the 4th he's a good get.

He's a better seperator than Sinnott, he can stretch the field better than Sinnott., better with contested catches. Is a decent move blocker like Sinnott but Sinnott is better at it. And the college Sinnott was the better YAC player IMO.

Simply put he's more in the tradiional role TE comparred to Sinnott. I can see why this team interviewed him because he's different than Sinnott in particular. More than half his yards were deep yards -- #1 in this class on that front.

To me he has a high floor. So of the tight end version of Bernard -- not great at one thing but above average across the board.

He really has only played for one year, so between that and his past injuries I expect to drop in the draft -- but for that reason I think you get the dude on a discount.
 
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I don't agree that he's a great blocker, but he's a well rounded TE with upside

 
I've mentioned Ott before. Sometimes GMs when they pull off in ther mind a draft Jedi trick (ala Croskey-Merritt last year) go back to that same well.

If its not Love in the first and they fish later in the draft, Ott fits that Croskey-Merritt sequel. You are getting him low because of him missing last season mostly.

And he arguably would fit the RB rotation well because he has good hands.





 
Agree. I've mentioned the same. The way this dude moves, and can block. Can play Y but also have the traits to be an F TE. He has almost zero buzz. I get his stats are meh but like Cosell said that was about usage.

 
skinsinparadise said:
Agree. I've mentioned the same. The way this dude moves, and can block. Can play Y but also have the traits to be an F TE. He has almost zero buzz. I get his stats are meh but like Cosell said that was about usage.

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If we can move back in the 3rd and pick up an extra 4th or 5th, I would so love to come away with a TE, post safety and center in rounds 3-5.

Even if we don’t, given we pick toward the top of the 6th, I’d imagine, given the depth of each of these classes, we may still get a better prospect at one of these 3 positions than we’d typically get at that pick
 
All in favour of a day 3 kicker, would say the same for QB as well to be honest.
 
DWinzit said:
He does although he'd have a hell of uphill battle coming from such a small school

6'1.5" 251 LB/Edge 7th round dev player

Look at his verticle on display below...yes #11
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But I thought

White Men Cant Jump Basketball GIF
 
ES1974 said:
All in favour of a day 3 kicker, would say the same for QB as well to be honest.
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I wouldn’t mind using a 6th or 7th as that are lottery picks. Not sure I’d use anything higher. The issue with drafting a kicker is it is not a position you can give a struggling guy time to develop. I much prefer finding Moody competition from the UFL
 
method man said:
I wouldn’t mind using a 6th or 7th as that are lottery picks. Not sure I’d use anything higher. The issue with drafting a kicker is it is not a position you can give a struggling guy time to develop. I much prefer finding Moody competition from the UFL
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Agree with 6th or 7th.

Pending pick #7, kind of hopefully we might drift back from #71 to bank an extra pick or so, which would help the above approach.
 
method man said:
I'm probably not moving back from #71 to pick up an extra 6th or 7th. Not worth it. I'm targeting an extra 3rd, 4th or high 5th
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Same, I’m moving back from #71 to get an extra 3/4 so that I can use our later picks as above. We mean the same thing, I think.
 
Do the (relatively recent) PS rule changes at all open up the possibility of carrying a developing kicker on the active roster? I only ask because of the risk of that young kicker getting plucked from the PS when a team’s starter goes down.
 
I've talked about him previously. Not a ton of footage to watch but found some, this dude has speed and can actually track the deep ball well.

 
We held a local pro-day for 37 prospects recently. Some odd position numbers here. 5 safeties but just 2 corners. Reasonable numbers of DT, Edge, and LB. But the 5 safeties to just 2 corners sticks out. On Offense it's more sparse except for 4 WR.

Sounds like depth hunting for safeties is a plan on Day 3.
 
Watched a little Heidenreich, just highlights.

Similar metrics to McCaffrey RB-WR hybrid. More of a Wr. Watching highlights, looks like he has soft hands. Visted the team recently with the local day they just did.

 
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