2026 NFL Draft Gameday Thread

[JAAM]

View attachment 8053

Zesty af but I wouldn’t mind Lemon lol

 

[Ellicottraven]

I say our first two picks are Rueben Bain Jr., and Keylan Rutledge... I'm dying on that hill.

 

[RavensMania]

This draft is so weird because the roster has more holes than it has typically had in the last 4 or 5 years. In my opinion. And some of those holes are hard, like C which isn't as straightforward as other OL spots. Then it's a really bad top end talent year. Feels like a lot of limbo to me.

Needs between draft and FA
C
OG
WR
TE
TE again
RB
DL
EDGE
ILB
CB
S

We lost a ton of players that had substantial roles on the team and weren't able to replace many of them.

 

[JAAM]

I say our first two picks are Rueben Bain Jr., and Keylan Rutledge... I'm dying on that hill.

Me likey

 

[All_black_everything]

Show me the kenyon sadiq receiving highlight that isnt just him running in a straight line
Show me the kenyon sadiq block highlight that will translate to a NFL DL at 240lbs

if you draft this dude in the 1st round, he'd better be elite at something other than running in a straight line

I did see one! It was in or near the red zone at the top of his stem he hit a rocker step and got open but that’s all I can remember. I do remember wondering why he didn’t do it more often but you’re just gonna have to trust me because I ain’t going to look for it lol

 

[RavensDraftDay]

One name who intrigues me is Jermod McCoy. Apparently he has a degenerative knee issue, but I wonder what the longterm outlook is? Todd Gurley lasted six years. Myles Jack listed eight. I think if he didn't have the ACL and knee, he'd be the best corner in the draft. Would you take the best corner in the draft at 14 if you knew you'd only have him for 6 to 8 years?

 

[All_black_everything]

Hi all, I found this site ahead of the draft. I thought this would be a fun place to hangout for the draft. I'm really excited.

I hope the Ravens don't pick Sadiq. I've seen people suggesting he'd basically be a bigger wide receiver, but if he were a wide receiver, he'd play that. He doesn't have the lateral agility or quickness and Oregon did a great job of just scheming him open and manufacturing touches. There's a reason he didn't do any agility drills at the combine. I will say that he's a really willing blocker, but he's maxed out size wise. He's never going to be a Rob Gronkowski no matter how hard he tries.

Probably an unpopular opinion, but I think Bain Jr. is a bit of a trap. I think he's got a lot to love in his profile and game, but there are some real risks. He's explosive, strong, and bendy and he is relentless. But, for as disruptive as he is, he doesn't close super well. I know people might also try to write off the arm length, but that's literally 1 percentile in the NFL. It'd be fairly unprecedented to see an edge have his measurables and make it work. He's the guy I wouldn't be surprised if he busted or was a 10+ sack guy. Great traits and motor, but also some real risk with him.

I see KC Concepcion is a popular name here and I don't like it. He's amazing against man coverage, but he has a pretty drastic drop off against zone. That's a tough pill to swallow when you know the league plays zone on 75% of snaps. Plus, having Lamar Jackson means teams want to play less man and not have their backs turned to him for fear of him running. I know people will say that his feel for zone can be taught, but we're talking about a three year college starter and someone who played football since he was five. I just don't think it's easy to teach or he'd have picked it up along the way. N'Keal Harry was a similar guy in college. Great against man, but saw a significant drop off against zone. The list of guys who have that profile isn't encouraging. Also, for being a guy who uncovers well from man coverage and is fast, he's surprisingly bad on deep balls. He has a ridiculously high covered rate deep and has a pretty horrendous deep ball conversion rate.

Overall, I'd really like a guard or center. I've seen it become a hot button issue over interior lineman and the fifth year option, but if you get an All Pro, ala Quentin Nelson, you're happy to pick that fifth year option up. Are any of these guys going to be an All Pro? I don't know. The draft class isn't amazing. But I don't think the fifth year option is a blanket reason to not draft an interior lineman.

Welcome bro! Just a heads up don’t post any spoilers in the draft chat or you’ll be blocked/suspended from the site. Enjoy!

 

[Sooky]

I’m cool with whatever happens tonight. Can’t do nothing but trust the new coaching staff and their vision.

This is the energy I need to have. I remember being pissed about the Lamar pick thinking we still had a small window to take advantage of with Flacco. I also remember feeling hyped about the idea of Perriman and watching his highlights for a straight week after the pick.

Crazy they talk about being unpredictable, because their last few picks have basically been consensus.

 

[RavensDraftDay]

Welcome bro! Just a heads up don’t post any spoilers in the draft chat or you’ll be blocked/suspended from the site. Enjoy!

Understood! I like being surprised just like everyone else!

 

[rossihunter2]

The only thing Sadiq has is his athleticism. I do have a lot of concerns about him, especially at 14 but in 1st round alone. I can see what people would like in him, but I'm not in love with him as a prospect for us on Day 1. I'd take him on Day 2. But I also think generally the talent from 10-50 is about the same. This Draft is really kinda meh. I don't think it is 2013, but it is bad in its own way. Feels like the 2nd Round is VERY VERY long. and then we have a very long 3rd round and then we enter Day 3, which feels kinda flat talent-wise where everyone is kind of the same.

my grade tiers look like this in terms of volume (pending a couple of last minute rewatches that i have planned):

GRADE	EXPECTED VOLUME	2026
Top 10	10	6 (in a typical year, i'd be hoping to get one of these guys at 14
1st Round	20	12
Late 1st/Early 2nd	35	27 (in a typical year, i'd be hoping to get one of these guys at 45)
2nd Round	55	49
Late 2nd/Early 3rd	75	74 - we should expect one of these players at pick 80 most years (including this one)
3rd Round	100	103
4th Round	130	147
5th Round	160	175
Draftable	200	206

based on this, i would say that i have more day 2 grades than typical, but that's majorly offset (at least until you get to the early 3rd round) by fewer 1st round and top 10 grades than usual

I would hope that most of the players we draft in this class would come from the top 147 (or at least the top 175) given how deep this early 3rd - 4th round group is

comparing the middle of this class to last year, i think it's much thicker

 

[Simba]

Just doing a stroll through the draft history and while I do think we end up better off when we draft players we "universally" love, it's not that disparate from the opposite.

Plenty of guys that we loved that ended up being dogs. Plenty of guys we loved that didn't do a thing.

Also plenty of guys we hated that ended up playing really well. And also plenty of guys we hated that were terrible.

Even externally, there are guys we've hated that we did not pick that have gone on to do great things elsewhere.

All of that is to say is, it doesn't look like there's any real correlation. Probably batting a little higher on the love/love side but I think we've just got to trust them, because they're right more often than they're wrong with the early picks.

 

[rossihunter2]

Come on, Rossie, I understand you don't like him, but the criticism is exaggerated.
21 years old, 6'3", 240 lbs, runs a 4.39 sprint, 10" hands, you can line him up along the line, he's versatile, good at screens and quick passes (short or medium range). What linebacker or safety can consistently withstand a freak like that? He has time to improve with training. It's not as bad to draft him as some people think

i dont think anyone would care about him if he ran a 4.55
he doesnt run like a 4.39 guy on tape - and he can't decelerate on tape which is really how you get open as a receiver running that fast, and he doesnt win routes with physicality which is how most TEs win their routes

all a LB has to do is bump him in his route (and he doesnt have the wiggle to avoid the contact) and suddenly the windows that were wide open in college are slammed shut

if im wrong about sadiq, so be it, but i'd rather another team take that risk

 

[Argentina Raven]

Personally, except for Hamilton (who I didn't expect to fall), I don't like most of the Ravens' draft picks. Luckily, some of them arrive as free agents later on.
I liked Travis Jones, I liked Kolar.

Last year I liked Egbuka, Simmons, or Campbell for the first round, for example.

This year I like Woods, Delane, and Bain

 

[rossihunter2]

bad way. I should have clarified that......

ah well, as you can see, i'm already freaking out about possibly drafting Kenyon Sadiq

he's probably the only guy i'd freak out about

there's a bunch of potential guys i'd be underwhelmed by, but i think sadiq is the only (imaginable) option i'd lose my shit over

 

[RavensMania]

@JoeyFlex5 are you going to take a nap at 8pm tonight?

 

[rossihunter2]

We won’t hear from rossi for a while if we pick Sadiq

the opposite - i wont be shutting up about sadiq until he's good

 

[rossihunter2]

He better stick around and flip out like any self-respecting member of this group would.

ive taken tomorrow off work for this
im not going anywhere

 

[rmcjacket23]

The arbitrary trade value chart that seems to roughly track with every trade for the past 30 years yes. Given that it seems to be the thing every single team has followed then you can basically gauge the value of each trade based on it and a 1st and a 2nd is an overpay so a 3rd would have to come back and then a few late round swaps to even out the value.

I think its bold to say the snap counts wont be affected. Trey will probably be in on every single passing down because of the gap in skill between him and the others. That means one less spot for them to rotate into. Therefore the snaps that came from that position that are going to him, he has to not only do that production, but then surpass it by 10 to get to 40 sacks which again is possible but difficult considering he is 2 years older and coming off an injury.

I am also fascinated that Hendrickson will make about 45m if you cut after 2 years and Bain is 4 years 30m so 15m less which to me is a safer bet. I would also mention, in the same vein as the previous paragraph, that if you stay at 14 you owe about 23m so you really are talking about 7m in additional risk over 4 years compared to Treys 45m. That is also ignoring that you could certainly find a trade partner for the last 2 years of that which would save about 17m out of the 30m. So in terms of financial commitment Trey is the far bigger risk. Now you are right that if Bain is bad then the draft pick value is lost but that is true of every single player you could pick. Of the names generally being mocked (I see the TE and G being the main ones) Bain is by far the player with the highest all pro potential the positional value is far higher. So its a higher value prospect, at a higher value position, at one of the Ravens 2 major needs.

Funnily enough I have seen a few pieces that show if your goal is to get starters you tend not to fair that well in the second round as most second round picks are "first round talent but..." which makes them more boom or bust. If you are looking for starters the 3rd is often a good place to look. They wont blow you away but they will be solid starters.

1. Who told you that it tracks with every trade for the past 30 years? Is there any documentation that actually supports that? You do realize that there's no less than a half dozen trade value charts out there that "fans" reference, and every single one is different. Draftek has one. Walter football has one. Over the Cap has one. Which one is the gospel, so that I can show you what the draft trade value chart thinks is "fair value" vs what a team in real time actually paid.
2. Of course Trey will be in on every passing down. But that's like 50-60% of the snaps. Teams run the ball too. Van Noy and Jones combined played almost 900 snaps last year. I'd expect the D to be on the field less of course, but who's playing those snaps? Today, that would be Hendrickson, Green, Robinson, mostly, plus whoever they add. Him needing 10 purely just assumes that nobody else improves.
3. The financial risk is bigger for Trey, though he obviously already has a track record of NFL production, whereas Bain doesn't. It makes sense to get Bain if you don't have to give up much else other than 14 to get him. If you have to give up 45, the risk becomes even more massive.
I also don't think edge pass rusher is one of the top two biggest needs on the Ravens roster today. I'm not sure its any higher than 4th or 5th, to be honest.

 

[rossihunter2]

Just doing a stroll through the draft history and while I do think we end up better off when we draft players we "universally" love, it's not that disparate from the opposite.

Plenty of guys that we loved that ended up being dogs. Plenty of guys we loved that didn't do a thing.

Also plenty of guys we hated that ended up playing really well. And also plenty of guys we hated that were terrible.

Even externally, there are guys we've hated that we did not pick that have gone on to do great things elsewhere.

All of that is to say is, it doesn't look like there's any real correlation. Probably batting a little higher on the love/love side but I think we've just got to trust them, because they're right more often than they're wrong with the early picks.

for sure, the missing context though is why people hated the pick
sometimes it's the player
and other times, it's because of who else was available that we passed on

in recent times, who do you think are the most hated at the time Ravens 1st round picks?
Marlon Humphrey?
Hayden Hurst?
Odafe Oweh?

 

[rmcjacket23]

for sure, the missing context though is why people hated the pick
sometimes it's the player
and other times, it's because of who else was available that we passed on

in recent times, who do you think are the most hated at the time Ravens 1st round picks?
Marlon Humphrey?
Hayden Hurst?
Odafe Oweh?

Hurst and Queen were two picks I simply didn't understand (in the Lamar era).