2026 NFL Draft thread
VikingDude
Posts: 1,558 ✭✭✭
Next up on the schedule is the draft; here is the draft order:
1 Las Vegas Raiders
2 New York Jets
3 Arizona Cardinals
4 Tennessee Titans
5 New York Giants
6 Cleveland Browns
7 Washington Commanders
8 New Orleans Saints
9 Kansas City Chiefs
10 Cincinnati Bengals
11 Miami Dolphins
12 Dallas Cowboys
13 Los Angeles Rams (from Atlanta)
14 Baltimore Ravens
15 Tampa Bay Buccaneers
16 New York Jets (from Indianapolis)
17 Detroit Lions
18 Minnesota Vikings
19 Carolina Panthers
20 Dallas Cowboys (from Green Bay)
21 Pittsburgh Steelers
22 Los Angeles Chargers
23 Philadelphia Eagles
24 Cleveland Browns (from Jacksonville)
25 Chicago Bears
26 Buffalo Bills
27 San Francisco 49ers
28 Houston Texans
29 Los Angeles Rams
30 Denver Broncos
31 New England Patriots
32 Seattle Seahawks
Comments
here ya go VikingDude...
🔌🏈🔌🏈🔌🏈...
Thank you GroceryRackPack. Although we don't need every position, I'd like to see us start with a Safety for sure or OL.
The curious question at this time of year for me is always the same: How can a team annually draft in the Top 10 and not improve?? The only thing that makes sense to me is the Management.
"Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety," --- Benjamin Franklin
again this draft my wish is OL first and foremost.
I think NE has either 10 or 11 picks this draft. hopefully a few will be contributers this season.
George Brett, Roger Clemens and Tommy Brady.
They absolutely need OL, hopefully this will be addressed
Not too excited about the Vikings picking 18th.
With the GM gone, perhaps we'll pick a player who will be a solid starter for several years. They last 3 years have produced almost nothing via the draft other than Darrisaw. Hope he can get back on the field.
KOC is an idiot. Hope they let Brian Flores decide, he seems to be the smartest person they have.
Joe... if I'm a GM... I am looking at who the Jets, Raiders, and Browns are drafting and planning my next 5 years around that. There's a good chance those guys will become available so long as these organizations continue to fail at developing the talent they draft. For all the top-tier-top-price talent out there still, there are impact players who were highly regarded coming out of college who just didn't click with their teams. What used to be draft and develop is now draft and then at the first sign of adversity point fingers and draft again.
There should only be one first round QB this draft but we all know teams will do something stupid with the others.
The good news for Pats fans is theres a lot of elite Edges that teams will take ahead of them and enough OL that they should be able to get an OL that starts right away with their pick without trading up
Fire AJ Preller
Cashman was a Jets pick, he's a tackling machine. Van Ginkel came from the Dolphins, he's a big play guy. Greenard looks like a stud, he is a former Texan. Harrison Smith is about the only starter that we drafted and he's OLD!
The Vikings have done one thing remarkably well, got players in free agency. The defense is built almost entirely on Free agents.
We all saw how Darnold played, and Daniel Jones was having a great year until he got hurt. Two more guys we had that we didn't draft.
If the center we got from the Colts, Ryan Kelly can't recover from his concussions, our second biggest need is a top center. If left Tackle Darrisaw cant' recover from knee surgery, (he was supposed to be back last year, but only played 100% of offensive snaps 5 games last year) that will be our primary need. Rookie left tackles are hit and miss and good veterans are expensive.
McCarthy needs to continue to develop and he needs good pass blocking to get better. his last 5 games he had 7 TD passes and 2 INT with a 64% completion percentage. Vikings went 5-0.
And Mcarthy also had 12 picks in 10 games and Jefferson has already said he would have rather had Darnold as a QB. Not a great situation but this also isnt the year to fix it
Fire AJ Preller
you guys might find this interesting
especially you @JoeBanzai
https://www.sportsbettingdime.com/news/nfl/kyler-murray-next-team-odds-heavy-favorite-not-cardinals/
Yeah, WE ALL KNOW McCarthy struggled and his offensive line was obliterated with injuries. He showed TREMENDOUS improvement the final 1/3 of the season with a little better protection even with the starting left tackle and center on IR.
Who gives a rats a$$ what Jefferson thinks? He's making MILLIONS and he just signed a contract. He's not going anywhere.
Darnold is gone. I said we should franchise him or sign Jones for a year, but that didn't happen. Move on. They got rid of their GM because of that, I assume.
You will be eating your words if the Vikings fix the offensive line, as the Vikings will win the division next year if they can give McCarthy more time.
No no no no no ten thousand times NO!
My sports fanatic buddy in Arizona would be happy to see Murray get traded. He's hurt all the time and very inconsistent.
McCarthy's improvement in the last 5 games was very encouraging.
That said, he needs to stay healthy.
EVERY Vikings QB has been injured behind that line. Cousins, Wentz and McCarthy.
The defense has been #5 & #7 in points given up the last two years.
Get the offense going and the team is going to be GOOD! The skill position players are outstanding.
FIX THE O LINE!
PLEASE!
GO VIKINGS!
make it 10,001
And ditto for Tua Tagovailoa
McCarthy's last 4 games;
4 wins 0 losses.
Passer rating 100.4.
Completion % 64.3.
5 TD's 2 INT, one of those INT's went off the receivers hands and into the defenders.
Almost getting good enough to be at that next level so the Vikings can move on from him and start over like they love doing at the QB position
I would be at least a little worried my top 3 WR in the league is starting to show signs of disgruntlement.
Ill give you the tip of the hat if McCarthy actually turns into something that hes never been before.
You mentioned in another post about his last five games and improvement and those stats are4 very misleading when you look at the games. His last 5 were GB, Washington, Dallas, Giants,. GTB
His stats in those games
GB 12-19 with 0 TDs, 2 INTs, 35 rushing yards with 0 TDs and a fumble
Washington16-23 163 yards, 3 TDs 12 rushing yards. Thats the game thats propping up the clumping
Dallas 15-24 250 yards (only two games over 200 yards) 2 TDs, 1 INT, 15 yards rushing 1 TD
Giants 9-14 108 yards 0 TDs, 1 INT, 25 yards rushing 1 fumble
GB 14-23 182 yards 0 TDs, 7 yards rushing
Again ill be the first to congratulate you if he ever actually gets good, but he has one of if not the best WR core and those stat lines are what hes done every year even going back to HS. .
Fire AJ Preller
You're right, he was not playing good defenses (except for Green Bay). I mentioned this last year BEFORE those games and McCarthy played well. I would have been worried if he played badly against poor defenses.
Look back at Caleb Williams' performance in his first year. He played really well against bad defenses and not so well against good teams. He got a LOT better in his second year with experience and an improved offensive line.
JJ played OK against a good Packers team, the defense really had a good game that day.
The biggest question in my mind is keeping him on the field.
I also think you're over rating Jefferson's "disgruntlement", he's one of the top compensated players in the league and he gets a LOT of love from the fans here. He's not Stephon Diggs..............thank God!
Not signing Dan Jones was just STUPID, I get that they didn't want to franchise Darnold because of the money, but Jones would have been cheap. He obviously figured the Vikings were going to start McCarthy no matter what and he moved on.
I think this is going to be the make or break year for JJ. I don't think the Vikings can pay a veteran top QB and they aren't going to get anything picking 18th. The guy from Arizona would just be stupid, he's hurt more than JJ and makes a TON of money.
Aaron Rodgers for a year? I doubt that.
We'll see what they do.
GO VIKINGS!
I dont think the Jeffersin thing is a huge issue for now. I do think its something to keep an eye on though while hes still in his prime. He had better stats in 2023 when he only played like 9 or 10 games.
Im not a huge Williams fans but to be fair to him hem he did start right away and his rookie season was better. McCarthy had the chance to learn for a year. Granted it was an injury and I dont know what he did with that time.
Theres a lot to like about the team I just dont think hes one of them
Fire AJ Preller
I've always thought that if I was a GM, my goal would be a Grade A offensive line and decent skill positions. A top notch OL makes life easier for all facets of the offensive game plan.
(disclaimer: I've always thought that "skill positions" was a misnomer; there is a lot of skill required to play OL)
I can’t understand that our resident Viking supporter continues to plead for McCarthy to be some form of franchise QB. To my thinking, the Vikings are in the same boat as half the NFL, with a QB who shows he’s good enough to win but not good enough to do much more than keep his team around .500.
"Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety," --- Benjamin Franklin
PLEADING?
Doesn't EVERYONE want their favorite team to succeed? What's so hard to understand?
What I don't understand is the geniuses here that say he sucks and will never be any good when MULTIPLE Hall of Fame quarterbacks struggled their first year (or more) before "figuring it out".
The guy has looked horrible at times, and fabulous at times.
I have said over and over again; he needs to stay healthy (so far he has not) and he needs an offensive line that can give him a reasonable amount of time to throw the ball. Then and only then will we know what we have.
I ALSO don't believe you need a so called "franchise" quarterback to win a Super Bowl. I really like Sam Darnold, but I don't know if I would call him a "Franchise" quarterback. I have said MULTIPLE TIMES that I would have franchised Darnold, or signed Jones, and NOT installed McCarthy as the starter so soon.
Who's YOUR favorite team? How about I take stupid shots at your quarterback?
My team is the Cleveland Browns and if you get stuck about shots I'll help you out!!! I just am not a believer to any degree in McCarthy.
"Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety," --- Benjamin Franklin
🙂
if you have followed this forum closely over the past few years, then you know i'm a Murray fan. but you also know by closely following this forum that realism takes precedence over my fandom. your friend in Arizona speaks the truth -- he's hurt a lot and is wildly inconsistent. he's shown glimpses of stardom, but he's also shown glimpses of being a total bust. i think the Cardinals' organization sucks, and initially i didn't think they were hiring the right coaches to max out Murray's potential. but going from Kingsbury to Gannon didn't change anything. on top of that, they gave him weapons -- a good runner in Conner, and receivers like Harrison and McBride, who may be the best tight end in the league. yet the offense was a hard watch when Murray was in the game. then out of nowhere he gets hurt (again), and mysteriously he didn't play again the rest of the reason. it was absolutely a "soft" benching. and when Jacoby Brissett (of all people) replaced him, the offense executed at a higher level. it didn't result in wins, because the team sucks, but the O absolutely looked better. wasn't a good omen for Kyler.
Arizona is very much done with him, and he'll be gone soon. if i'm a team like the Jets, i'd absolutely take a shot on him. but then again, we're talking about a desperate team that will go out with the fugliest chick imaginable at this point. they just want a date. someone, anyone.
can Murray turn it around? sure he can. he's only 28 and has a special range of abilities. even though he's short, he throws a good ball and is very accurate. my biggest fear would be a decline in his mobility due to all of the injuries, and his movement is a huge part of his skill set.
my gut says he won't turn it around and it'll be a mistake for whichever team adds him, but then again Sam Darnold just won a ring on his 5th team and looked good doing so.
only one way to find out!
Browns fan. I would feel bad ripping your team and any of your players. Been awhile since you won the division.
Well, as I said McCarthy has looked horrible and then he does something wonderful, so I don't know what to think.
Vikings wasted the Cousins years with poor pass blocking, Now they better protect the young guy.
Still too early to tell for me, but yes, I do hope he improves and becomes a solid player.
Vikings have gotten rid of 2 Quarterbacks that went on to win a Super Bowl and a 3rd (Rich Gannon) who got his team there while winning NFL MVP.
Vikings also have got to be the only team to have BOTH starting quarterbacks in the same Super Bowl (after the 2002 season).
This DOES have to be some kind of record.
Chambliss as of now the courts have granted Chambliss another year of eligibility so go ahead and at least for now take another QB out of this weak QB draft class
Fire AJ Preller
I'm guessing the Bills would be a likely landing spot for Tyreek Hill
I might be in a minority here but the draft is more exciting than the actual season for me.
Is there a GoFundMe setup for Mendoza yet?
I don't think he will be able to play much this upcoming season?
As far as his LCL surgery he will likely be healthy by the start of the season if rehab goes well. Its 6-12 months and given his physical condition and that pro athletes get way better medical care than we would recovery is usually on the short side of time frames.
As for his pending suspension itll probably be like 4 games like Rice got for racing and Ravens Rice got initially until the video came out.
Now whether or not a team will want to put up with him is a different story.
Fire AJ Preller
Combine starts this week. I usually don't pay much attention to it but sometimes fun to see the OL do their sprints.
While its funny I will never understand what the point of it is and even scouts have no answer. The lineman is going to get outrun every time by the guy with the ball if he has to run 40 yards. Same with the 60 in baseball, something went significantly wrong if youre running that far in a straight line.
Fire AJ Preller
Sprint speed is a key indicator for power and coordination. Technically speaking you can infer quite a bit from it. It’s probably funny to but it’s not meaningless simply because it’s not game-relevant for the position.
Theres no value to a lineman running 40 yards in shorts and a tee shirt. Theres no value in a baseball player running 60 yards in a straight line.
Sprint speed isnt 40 or 60 yards unless youre trying to be on a track and field team and football is played with helmets and pads and people in the way. Linemen have rules about how far they can go down field anyways.
So yes it is funny because its worthless and should be 3-5 yards max in pads and for baseball should be home to second where you have to take the turn around first.
Fire AJ Preller
Several years ago the Vikings picked Matt Kalil 4th overall partly because of his great time in the "shuttle run".
That didn't work out too well.
if the combine was a true indicator, Mike Mamula would've been better than Bruce Smith
And Jim Drunkenmiller would be better than Tom. Brady
remember about 15-20 years ago when Al Davis was obsessed with speed? he regularly reached for guys in the 1st primarily because they could blaze.....4.3 or faster.
none of them amounted to frosted pop tarts
I'm not trying to argue that the distance is a factor or that this is the best way of getting at the estimates I mentioned or that it ends up being all that interesting for any particular player/ position. The herculean demonstrations of athleticism are likely rooted in the bias of status-quo. If sprint speed tends to be of a low-correlation to success at any particular position(s) then it seems like the obvious step is to start assessing the things which actually matter as far as making good personnel decisions. I would assume teams do this stuff - whatever it may be - when they evaluate players and the draft combine is simply for the pageantry of it all.
I get the purpose for the owners to get another TV product they can see but Ill never understand how can improve their draft stock from it. The years of game tape somehow dont matter because they look good in a Planet Fitness
At least make them wear their pads
Fire AJ Preller
I think a fun job would be scoring the Wonderlic tests
it would've been fun to score Vince Young's
and speaking of Wonderlic scores, the dude who had the second-highest in NFL history (49 out of 50) was.....
4.85 @ 313
https://www.facebook.com/share/r/18LFSmndNr/
remember Tony Mandarich the "incredible bulk" and the 1989 draft? a 320 pound lineman who ran a 4.65 40? packers chose him number 2 overall because of his great combine.
ahead of HOFers Barry sanders, Deion Sanders, Derrick Thomas and steve atwater...
George Brett, Roger Clemens and Tommy Brady.
Imagine being a team to miss in the 1989 draft lol
I know. can you imagine the Packers possible offense. they could have drafted Barry Sanders and then 3 years later get Brett Favre. it could have changed the way the NFL played out in the decade of the 90s. would Steve Young have won that SB? Would Dallas have won 3 out of 4 years? Would Elway have ended his career with 2 SB's?
Sanders and Favre would have been the best 1-2 punch in the 90s!
Instead they got Tony Mandarich...
George Brett, Roger Clemens and Tommy Brady.