My Ridiculously Early Start on a 2026 Pats Big Board

[mayoclinic]

From Todd McShay:



Good stuff on Arvell Reese. He and Caleb Downs are #1-2 for me because they allow the defense to be so versatile. Rueben Bain much less versatile, but just a monster.

They also talk about how much depth there is in college football. I think the NIL/portal system is making a difference. I feel like we're seeing much deeper drafts now, with talent well into day 3.

 

[mayoclinic]

Reese
Bell or Strong
Green or Ioane
Ferrell or Wheatley

Would be an A+ draft.

Nice call on Zakee Wheatley. Reportedly 4.40 speed, former CB.

Utah S Tao Johnson another guy with speed and range to watch.

Feeling more optimistic about possibly getting another find in the Craig Woodson range.

 

[mayoclinic]

Zakee Wheatley added to OP. Possibly before Amare Ferrell, need to see more Penn St. on now.

 

[One-If-By-Sea]

Zakee Wheatley added to OP. Possibly before Amare Ferrell, need to see more Penn St. on now.

I love Wheatley, but he might fall because he is so slight in run support. Needs 10 pounds or so.

One-on-one does Rham run right through Wheatley?

 

[mayoclinic]

I'm ok with that.

Use Wheatley initially mainly as a deep safety to complement Woodson, bulk him up a bit and get him stronger.

 

[One-If-By-Sea]

I'm ok with that.

Use Wheatley initially mainly as a deep safety to complement Woodson, bulk him up a bit and get him stronger.

Gonzo and Davis on the outside. Jones in the slot. Wheatley and Woodson in the middle, Woodson in front of Wheatley. Woodson in run support and covers the RB/TE dumpoffs. That would be a secondary.

 

[mayoclinic]

One of the things that I like about the alignment shown above is that you could play Arvell Reese in that position with Wheatley and Woodson playing Cover 2. You could also bring Reese up on the line, either pit wide or between the gaps, or even over the nose, and rotate Wheatley or Woodson into that position.

You could do so much moving people around that back end, cteating all kinds of confusion.

 

[One-If-By-Sea]

One of the things that I like about the alignment shown above is that you could play Arvell Reese in that position with Wheatley and Woodson playing Cover 2. You could also bring Reese up on the line, either pit wide or between the gaps, or even over the nose, and rotate Wheatley or Woodson into that position.

You could do so much moving people around that back end, cteating all kinds of confusion.

I LOVE Reese. You better hope we lose tomorrow, if we win tomorrow we will be in the 20s with our draft pick because of our historically weak schedule. Titans, Saints, Browns, Jets twice, Dolphins with no Tyreek, Falcons, and the Giants. It is not hard to find 11 wins if Maye keeps his cool and keeps improving. Reese will not fall into the 20s.

 

[manxman2601]

I LOVE Reese. You better hope we lose tomorrow, if we win tomorrow we will be in the 20s with our draft pick because of our historically weak schedule. Titans, Saints, Browns, Jets twice, Dolphins with no Tyreek, Falcons, and the Giants. It is not hard to find 11 wins if Maye keeps his cool and keeps improving. Reese will not fall into the 20s.

And at 6-2 and 4.4 speed, you could man up Wheatley on the likes of Bowers.

 

[mayoclinic]

I LOVE Reese. You better hope we lose tomorrow, if we win tomorrow we will be in the 20s with our draft pick because of our historically weak schedule. Titans, Saints, Browns, Jets twice, Dolphins with no Tyreek, Falcons, and the Giants. It is not hard to find 11 wins if Maye keeps his cool and keeps improving. Reese will not fall into the 20s.

Not worrying much about it, just building my board. If the Pats make the playoffs this year then we'll be 1 step closer to being back. We'll worth a drop in draft position.

But until he's picked ahead of us, Reese will probably remain on top of my draft board.

 

[manxman2601]

I LOVE Reese. You better hope we lose tomorrow, if we win tomorrow we will be in the 20s with our draft pick because of our historically weak schedule. Titans, Saints, Browns, Jets twice, Dolphins with no Tyreek, Falcons, and the Giants. It is not hard to find 11 wins if Maye keeps his cool and keeps improving. Reese will not fall into the 20s.

Yup.



He has a sack tonight.

 

[manxman2601]

There's been quite a big shakeup of the PFF predictive board. Some highlights:

Kenyon Sadiq - Up to 7.
Carnell Tate - Now WR3
Arvell Reese - Up to 11 (sorry Mayo)
Ty Simpson - 17
Spencer Fano - Down to 18
A'Mauri Washington - up to 21
Chris Brazzell - 27
KC Concepcion - 28 (I really like him though not necessarily for us)
Vega Ioane - 32 (this one saddens me. He was my favourite RG option).
Connor Lew - Down to 37
CJ Daniels - 66
Malachi Fields - 77


With us now picking at 19 and these changes, mocks are going to look very different.

 

[mayoclinic]

It will be up and down. I don't pay too much attention to PFF. Lot of time left, lot of good players. This will be another deep draft.

Happy if we play ourselves out of drafting most of my top 2 tier players. Someone good may slip.

If Arvell Reese goes early and Spencer Fanu slips to us, I think I might survive.

 

[mayoclinic]

Besides, my Sensei told me not to get too attached.

 

[Clonamery]

It will be up and down. I don't pay too much attention to PFF. Lot of time left, lot of good players. This will be another deep draft.

Happy if we play ourselves out of drafting most of my top 2 tier players. Someone good may slip.

If Arvell Reese goes early and Spencer Fanu slips to us, I think I might survive.

What a great Monday! Positivity and faith in the FO.

 

[manxman2601]

We're starting to see the first round shaping up as it may be next April. However, I think the top of the draft is far from set. There'll be the rising QBs like Moore, Mendoza and Simpson but for non-QBs, I feel like Rueben Bain is the only top 10 certainty.

I think there'll be a battle for WR 1, Downs and Woods are possible but neither are at premier positions (same with Sadiq), the OTs are failing to impress and the one CB expected to go in the top 10 might not play this year. I think there's still going to be plenty of movement upwards; Chris Brazzell for example.

There's also going to be risers into the 2nd half of round one. Quincy Rhodes, David Bailey, the WRs, maybe a couple of linebackers. Still, at least now we have a reasonable view of what the first round will look like.

 

[mayoclinic]

I agree, we're starting to get some idea of the shape of this draft.

Have added a few people in and made a few minor changes.

I would quibble that DT is a premier position. I expect Peter Woods to go top 25, and wouldn't be surprised to see some risers. 5 went 1st round in 2024: Mason Graham, Kenneth Grant, Walter Nolen, Derrick Harmon and Tyleik Williams. I think Caleb Banks, A'maure Washington, Zxavien Harris, Cristen Miller and Kayden McDonald all have some potential to move up. Would not be surprised if at least 2 of those snuck into the first round.

 

[manxman2601]

I agree, we're starting to get some idea of the shape of this draft.

Have added a few people in and made a few minor changes.

I would quibble that DT is a premier position. I expect Peter Woods to go top 25, and wouldn't be surprised to see some risers. 5 went 1st round in 2024: Mason Graham, Kenneth Grant, Walter Nolen, Derrick Harmon and Tyleik Williams. I think Caleb Banks, A'maure Washington, Zxavien Harris, Cristen Miller and Kayden McDonald all have some potential to move up. Would not be surprised if at least 2 of those snuck into the first round.

The statement about DT not being premium is that I don't think it's necessarily a top 5 or top 10 position. Only Mason Graham went top 10 and he was more productive than Peter Woods and it was a fairly barren top 10 last year.

 

[Clonamery]

The statement about DT not being premium is that I don't think it's necessarily a top 5 or top 10 position. Only Mason Graham went top 10 and he was more productive than Peter Woods and it was a fairly barren top 10 last year.

Would Caleb Banks been there if not hurt?

 

[manxman2601]

Would Caleb Banks been there if not hurt?

I'd say top 15 rather than top 5 but we don't know without knowing what he'd have put on tape this year.