2026 NFL Draft

Leonardfan

Leonardfan

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Initial 2026 NFL draft watch list based off the Senior Bowl watch list. Some notable omissions have been noticed right off the top of my head as always seems to be the case. I will adjust this list in the next few days to add additional players. I will also review the Shrine Top 1000 and players off that list.

* denotes Shrine Bowl watchlist
** completely ignored by both the Senior Bowl and Shrine

Quarterback
Cade Klubnik Clemson
Drew Allar Penn St
Garrett Nussmeier LSU
Fernando Mendoza Indiana
Sam Leavitt ASU
Carson Beck Miami
John Mateer Oklahoma
Sawyer Robertson BYU
Haynes King Ga Tech
Luke Altmyer Illinois
Mark Gronowski Iowa
Miller Moss Louisville
Behren Morton Texas Tech
Maverick Mcivor WKU
Blake Shapen Miss St


Running Back
Eli Heidenreich Navy
RB Cash Jones UGA *
Dean Connors Houston *

Wide Receiver
Chase Roberts BYU
Max Tomczak Youngstown State
Kaden Wetjen Iowa *
Logan Loya **
Joseph Manjack TCU *
Flynn Schiele Colorado School of Mines *
Reggie Retzlaff Colorado State - Pueblo *
Daniel Sobkowicz Illinois St
Liam Clifford PSU**


Tight End
Lake McCree USC
John Michael Gyllenborg Wyoming
Joe Royer Cincinatti
Tanner Koziol Houston
Lawson Luckie UGA
Joshua Cuevas Alabama
Bauer Sharp LSU
Jack Velling Michigan State
Max Clare Ohio St
Luke Hasz LSU
Sam Roush Stanford
Miles Kitselman Tennessee

Interior Offensive Line
Jake Slaughter Florida
Jaren Kump Utah
Mason Randolph Boise St
Logan Jones Iowa
Samuel Hecht KSU
Josh Braun Kentucky
James Brockermeyer Miami
Connor Tollison Missouri

Offensive Tackle
Trey Zuhn Texas A&M
Garrett Digiorgio UCLA
Kage Casey Boise State
Riley Mahlman Wisconsin
Blake Miller Clemson
Austin Barber Florida
Ryan Mosesso UMASS
Gennings Dunker Iowa
Caleb Tiernan Northwestern
Alex Harkey Oregon
Joe Persi Pitt

Defensive Line
Jake Golday Cincinnati
Max Llewellyn Iowa
Aaron Graves Iowa (not listed on Senior Bowl watch list)
Jack Pyburn LSU
Aidan Hubbard Northwestern
Eric O'Neill Rutgers (still need to confirm his ethnic background)
Ethan Burke Texas
Ethan Hurkett Iowa *
Bradley Weaver Rutgers*
Fisher Camac UVA*
Ben Bell Va Tech*
Jordan van den Berg *Ga Tech

Linebacker
Lander Barton Utah
Jason Henderson ODU
Jack Kelly BYU
Wade Woodaz Clemson
Aiden Fisher Indiana
Whit Weeks LSU
Bryce Boettcher Oregon (also a standout baseball prospect along with being a top 5 LB in the country)
Marco Notarainni Boise St*
Jordan Kwiatkowski CMU*
Logan Kopp NDSU*
Mac Uihlein Northwestern *
Yannis Karlaftist Northwesteern*
Dominic DeLuca PSU**



Defensive Back
Dillon Thieneman Oregon
Michael Taafe Texas
Cole Wisniewski Texas Tech*
Preston Zachman Wisconsin*
Rex Connors UC Davis*
Nick Andersen Wake Forest *
Tate Hallock WMU *
Tanner Wall BYU *
Ty Bartrum Harvard *
Silas Walters * Miami OH
 
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Excellent work, Leo. I'm sure you know your longtime (Twitter/X) nemesis has moved on to Oklahoma, where he will be the GM. I suppose he's no longer associated with the Senior Bowl?

soonersports.com

Jim Nagy - General Manager for Football - Football Support Staff - University of Oklahoma

Jim Nagy
soonersports.com soonersports.com


Also, looking at the early mock drafts, seems as if all the "elite" OT prospects are Polynesian. At least, according to the "experts". But a LT from Northwestern is making some noise, first round?

draftwire.usatoday.com

Northwestern OT Caleb Tiernan moving up NFL Draft boards

A former 4-star recruit, the Livonia, MI native chose NU over the Big Ten's big 3 from the former East division: Ohio State, Michigan and Penn State
draftwire.usatoday.com
 
A tackle to remember is Bryce George, 6-5 315 D2 All-American for national champion Ferris State, who is projected to start at LT for Iowa.
 
Leonardfan said:
https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/46320659/poll-sellers-edges-nussmeier-qb1-upcoming-nfl-draft

Sure it's early in the season but this poll is a fine illustration of what is wrong the NFL scouts.
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The Seller's hype is beyond absurd in my opinion. Here is a blurb about him from an ESPN article published early in the summer.
"Where he excels: Sellers is a toolsy, explosive dual-threat passer who completed 65.6% of his passes for 2,534 yards and 18 touchdowns. On the ground, he rushed for 674 yards and seven touchdowns last season. He can easily throw to every level of the field and his compact, strong frame makes him a game changer on designed QB runs. Sellers' unique strength and vision in the pocket allows him to make plays in unfavorable situations. Many of his top highlights last season were the result of him avoiding and shaking off tacklers. His raw ability, tools, youth (he's 20 years old) and projected ascension are selling points teams are willing to bet on early in the draft.


Where he needs work: The offense Sellers ran last season was a simplistic mixture of mesh concepts, pre-snap reads and an occasional go route. He threw 27.4% of his passes at or behind the line of scrimmage, which ranked 92nd in the FBS. Along with increasing his understanding and advancement of concepts, Sellers needs to take better care of the ball. He had 11 fumbles (six lost) last season. He also needs to make decisions quicker -- his 3.06-second average time to throw was the 11th-slowest in the country."

Has Sellers done anything to show that he has improved on his weaknesses this season? I definitely don't think so. He still takes tons and tons of sacks and I think has had a few fumbles too. I find it funny that so many NFL scouts only focus on athletic intangibles while completely ignoring the mental intangibles. If you are a college QB and cannot run a full offense you will likely not magically figure it out at the NFL level LOL. Additionally, I struggle to see reaction time dramatically improving in the NFL where defenses are even more skilled and quicker.
 
What are your thoughts about the white running back from Iowa State? He is productive and has good NFL size.
 
Warhawk_46 said:
What are your thoughts about the white running back from Iowa State? He is productive and has good NFL size.
Click to expand...
Carson Hansen has a good combination of size and speed. NFL scouts need more to justify their biased opinions of white athletes. Watching Yacamelli for Wisconsin ( he finally had a carry), I feel the same. Yac has a bit more speed, but he can’t even get regular carries in college. At least Hansen splits carries. I wish Yac would transfer. He has another year (maybe two) of eligibility. Hansen is a junior but so his stable mate.
I just hate seeing our guys with 4 stars not getting chances. Doll/Cabana, for example.......
 
Rocky B said:
Carson Hansen has a good combination of size and speed. NFL scouts need more to justify their biased opinions of white athletes. Watching Yacamelli for Wisconsin ( he finally had a carry), I feel the same. Yac has a bit more speed, but he can’t even get regular carries in college. At least Hansen splits carries. I wish Yac would transfer. He has another year (maybe two) of eligibility. Hansen is a junior but so his stable mate.
I just hate seeing our guys with 4 stars not getting chances. Doll/Cabana, for example.......
Click to expand...
Weird observation and I think it is too vague to call a trend but non-service academy White running backs seem to get the most opportunities with not the most White friendly teams. ASU was hardly white friendly with Cam last year, Samson Evans was not with many Whites at EMU and neither was Cody Schrader at Mizzou. Even Shipley and Carson Steele played for only slightly above average Clemson and UCLA teams in terms of starters. Of course, you do have players like CMC who played for some very White Stanford teams. Has anyone else noticed this?
 
Rocky B said:
Carson Hansen has a good combination of size and speed. NFL scouts need more to justify their biased opinions of white athletes. Watching Yacamelli for Wisconsin ( he finally had a carry), I feel the same. Yac has a bit more speed, but he can’t even get regular carries in college. At least Hansen splits carries. I wish Yac would transfer. He has another year (maybe two) of eligibility. Hansen is a junior but so his stable mate.
I just hate seeing our guys with 4 stars not getting chances. Doll/Cabana, for example.......
Click to expand...
KnowTheScore said:
Weird observation and I think it is too vague to call a trend but non-service academy White running backs seem to get the most opportunities with not the most White friendly teams. ASU was hardly white friendly with Cam last year, Samson Evans was not with many Whites at EMU and neither was Cody Schrader at Mizzou. Even Shipley and Carson Steele played for only slightly above average Clemson and UCLA teams in terms of starters. Of course, you do have players like CMC who played for some very White Stanford teams. Has anyone else noticed this?
Click to expand...
Someone mentioned a couple years ago that sometimes it’s the black coaches that will have white skill position players more.. Lots of white coaches are afraid of playing white guys over black guys and being called racist.
 
Rocky B said:
Someone mentioned a couple years ago that sometimes it’s the black coaches that will have white skill position players more.. Lots of white coaches are afraid of playing white guys over black guys and being called racist.
Click to expand...
I’ve noticed that and pointed it out. I have no idea why but I’ve noticed it on all levels of football.

I don’t know, typically black coaches are younger and less traditional. The guys who often really perpetuate the anti white narrative are the boomer plantation master coaches. I don’t know why or how that stereotype exists, but if there’s a coach who refuses to play whites, and loves blacks, there’s a good chance it’s an older white coach.
 
Rocky B said:
Someone mentioned a couple years ago that sometimes it’s the black coaches that will have white skill position players more.. Lots of white coaches are afraid of playing white guys over black guys and being called racist.
Click to expand...
Is it fear of being called racist or is it simply a disdain for White players and their athletic ability? Anecdotes like Bobby Bowden howling with laughter at the idea of playing a White running back and Bill Cowher saying he can't have a White guy leading his team in rushing come to mind. I know it's good to be charitable and think White coaches are adhering to the caste system out of fear and not malice, but a sizable chunk of them have just straight up guzzled the caste Kool-Aid with glee even when they have good reason to question it. Look at a guy like Jack Del Rio. He himself was a solid player in the NFL with 128 starts and a Pro Bowl season under his belt. Yet he continually purged White players from his rosters wherever he went during his time as a HC. How could a White guy who was a good athlete in his own right be so uncharitable to White athletes? That goes beyond fear. That's a man who willingly and enthusiastically adheres to the caste system for his own twisted reasons.
 
Rocky B said:
Carson Hansen has a good combination of size and speed. NFL scouts need more to justify their biased opinions of white athletes. Watching Yacamelli for Wisconsin ( he finally had a carry), I feel the same. Yac has a bit more speed, but he can’t even get regular carries in college. At least Hansen splits carries. I wish Yac would transfer. He has another year (maybe two) of eligibility. Hansen is a junior but so his stable mate.
I just hate seeing our guys with 4 stars not getting chances. Doll/Cabana, for example.......
Click to expand...
Cade is especially frustrating because the blacks backs in front of him are clearly below average running back.
 
footballenthusiast said:
Is it fear of being called racist or is it simply a disdain for White players and their athletic ability? Anecdotes like Bobby Bowden howling with laughter at the idea of playing a White running back and Bill Cowher saying he can't have a White guy leading his team in rushing come to mind. I know it's good to be charitable and think White coaches are adhering to the caste system out of fear and not malice, but a sizable chunk of them have just straight up guzzled the caste Kool-Aid with glee even when they have good reason to question it. Look at a guy like Jack Del Rio. He himself was a solid player in the NFL with 128 starts and a Pro Bowl season under his belt. Yet he continually purged White players from his rosters wherever he went during his time as a HC. How could a White guy who was a good athlete in his own right be so uncharitable to White athletes? That goes beyond fear. That's a man who willingly and enthusiastically adheres to the caste system for his own twisted reasons.
Click to expand...
Liberal pathogen. Never in the history of the world has an a race been so adamantly against itself. It’s disgusting and it allows makes me question white greatness. How could a historically dominant race be reduced to the current pathetic state so quickly? A few decades time has completely unraveled centuries of greatness.
 
Warhawk_46 said:
What are your thoughts about the white running back from Iowa State? He is productive and has good NFL size.
Click to expand...
I hate to say it, but watching him this season he seems a bit heavy footed. Slow to make his cuts. He has great speed once he breaks into the open, but it takes him too long to hit the hole. I'm afraid it may cost him. I hope I'm wrong. To be fair, it seems Sama gets the guard pulling sweeps. Carsen has to go between tackles almost exclusively. I believe if Carsen could get out in space it would be beneficial to his style.
 
Warhawk_46 said:
Liberal pathogen. Never in the history of the world has an a race been so adamantly against itself. It’s disgusting and it allows makes me question white greatness. How could a historically dominant race be reduced to the current pathetic state so quickly? A few decades time has completely unraveled centuries of greatness.
Click to expand...
The amount of self-loathing and self-doubt that resides in the minds of White people is genuinely disheartening. If I'm not mistaken I think it was Carolina Speed who said that many White athletes are afraid to compete with blacks. And even Jason Sehorn said the lack of White players in the skill positions was a "confidence issue". Yes, the caste system is a terrible thing in a vacuum but what really makes it so damaging is its self-perpetuating nature and the downstream effects it has. Once you get it into your head that you're innately inferior, it's hard to break out of that mindset regardless of your abilities. You'll be constantly doubting yourself and lacking in confidence. You start loathing yourself because of it. Then it becomes a part of your worldview and is distilled to others when you interact with them. Voila, the pathogenic seed of self-loathing and self-doubt is continuously planted in the minds of those it comes into contact with. This seed has found its way into the minds of many White athletes and White people in general.
 
Field Yates pushing the agenda as well. Can't stand these guys. Glad I can take out my BQDS on them directly via twitter!

I put in bold the predictable caste speak for the magical upsider Sellers. It's the same slop logic applied to Justin Fields, Trey Lance, Anthony Richardson etc. The fact he defends Sellers after not living up to the hype bestowed upon him by the exact same media talking heads tells you all you need to know.

He praises Mendoza for the actual traits a QB needs but then uses the qualifier that he is the best thrower. Yates is lazy and has not done any sort of deep dive into Mendoza to understand his background, previous career at Cal and his upward trajectory through three years as a starter. Not to mention his intangibles and leadership ability. Those of course are not "upside" because we all know upside means running a 4.5 40 while being black at the QB position is what upside means.

As the media begins once again crafting the QB agenda for the year players like Carson Beck, Sawyer Robertson and even Garrett Nussmeier are being downplayed or gatekept from the conversation. Sure it is early in the season but the same predictable narrative is playing out once again.



https://www.on3.com/pro/news/field-...ects-lanorris-sellers-john-mateer-dante-moore


The 2025 college football season is kicking into full gear with Week 5 rapidly approaching. However, it’s never to early to look at some of the most intriguing NFL Draft prospects in the upcoming cycle.

Recently, Field Yates and Mel Kiper Jr. revealed their top five quarterbacks for the 2026 NFL Draft. Most of their lists contained the same names, but in different orders. Yates explained his reasoning behind his selections on a recent episode of First Draft. The only difference, aside from the order, was that Yates omitted LSU’s Garrett Nussmeier.


With a ton of season to go, here’s how Yates’ list shakes up. Him and Kiper Jr. agreed on the same QB1.

1. LaNorris Sellers, South Carolina​

Sellers began to creep up draft boards during the offseason following a strong finish to his redshirt freshman season. He’s still regarded as the top QB, as both Yates and Kiper Jr. agreed that Sellers is the top prospect at the position.

Despite dealing with injuries through the early portion of the season, Sellers has still impressed. He’s thrown for 733 yards, four touchdowns and an interception to this point. He’s added another touchdown on the ground, but taking 12 sacks have adjusted his rushing totals to just 17 yards on the season.

‘When we’re projecting, I think part of the exercise is establishing who may have the highest ceiling out of the players in this class,” Yates said. “LaNorris Sellers, who’s been playing through pain and South Carolina, has now lost back to back games. … There is still so so much potential in this player, and he’s young, so he’s my No. 1 quarterback as well, but the field is starting to narrow behind him.”

2. John Mateer, Oklahoma​

Bad news hit Norman on Tuesday when it was revealed that Sooners QB John Mateer injured his hand against Auburn during Week 4. He led OU to a 4-0 start and is ranked the No. 7 team in the country at the time of his absence.
Despite suffering the injury during the game, Mateer stayed in the game. He even completed 24 of his 36 passing attempts for 271 yards and a touchdown. He scored another on the ground in the 24-17 win. Many considered Mateer an early Heisman favorite before his injury. Now, he’ll focus toward recovery qw the 2026 NFL Draft cycle approaches.

“Did I think about John Mateer at No. 1? Just for a second,” Yates admitted. “… He, at least, is on the honorable mention for the best quarterback in the class right now.


3. Fernando Mendoza, Indiana​

Fernando Mendoza has played himself into a top NFL quarterback prospect so far during his first year at Indiana. Mendoza has nearly 1,000 passing yards to go with 14 touchdowns and no interceptions through four games.

Transferring in from Cal, Mendoza has the opportunity to lead the Hoosiers to its second consecutive College Football Playoff appearance. There’s a lot of season to be played, including games against Oregon and Penn State down the stretch, for him to prove himself to any doubters still remaining.

“There’s some of Fernando Mendoza’s game that reminds me of Sam Darnold,” Yates said. “He throws absolute darts. I mean, the accuracy, the ball placement, the velocity, even the trajectory of the football was brilliant. This past Saturday night, he was carving up Illinois. Couldn’t be more impressed. Just standing in the pocket and throwing, if that were the only criteria we were evaluating, the best pure thrower to me is Fernando Mendoza.”


4. Dante Moore, Oregon​

Oregon has yet to be challenged so far during its early season slate. Dante Moore has been a big reason for that success.

Through four games, the Ducks QB has completed 74.7% (71-95) of his throws for 962 yards, 11 touchdowns and one interception. He’s added 87 yards on the ground and has only taken one sack this season.

“He has been remarkable against teams that are nobody’s on the Oregon schedule so far — Oklahoma State and Oregon State — who they bludgeoned, are programs that are just like they’re a shadow of what they were in recent years,” Yates said. “… That being said, Dante Moore (has) excellent downfield accuracy. Very, very smooth throw of the football. We saw some with his legs this past weekend as well.”


5. Drew Allar, Penn State​

Allar had the option to turn pro at the end of last season after leading Penn State to a national semifinal appearance. Instead, he returned and is looking to lead the Nittany Lions to its first national championship since the 1980s.

Penn State didn’t play a Power Four conference opponent during its non-conference schedule. Their schedule will pick up in a big way, however, against Dante Moore and the Oregon Ducks on Saturday.

“If you looked at Drew Allar, it’s like how every once in a while you’ll see a graphic where it’s like, build the ideal quarterback. … A lot of the physical traits you love, right? 6-foot-5, 225 pounds. Ball really just floats off his hand,” Yates said. “There’s a lot to like about Drew Allar. I want to see it in action. … I do think he has a massive opportunity to kind of stamp his case the strongest he ever has stamped it that he deserves to be in that conversation for the first five picks in the draft.”
 
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All those guys make me sick with their black quarterback agenda
 
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