2027 Watch List

[manxman2601]

Ty Bryant
Tavion Gadsen
Lance Heard

Kentucky are worth a watch this year.

 

[Clonamery]

Ty Bryant
Tavion Gadsen
Lance Heard

Kentucky are worth a watch this year.

Last year was for their OL. Though they also have a C that's pretty good, Price.

 

[manxman2601]

A sort of Lance Zierlein top 25

Senior Bowl Top 300 reveal: 2027 NFL Draft prospects to watch in 2026

The Senior Bowl Top 300 is here! Lance Zierlein highlights 10 of the most notable talents in the group, along with 23 other 2027 NFL Draft prospects he'll be watching closely leading up to the annual college all-star game.

www.nfl.com

Notables

10. Will Echoles (top DT)
11. Sammy Brown (ouch)
12 Kewan Lacy (about as high as I've seen a RB)
19. Ellis Robinson
24. Kelly Jones

Zeke Berry and Ashton Hampton are honourable mentions. Zeke Berry is about as buzzy as any prospect this past week.

 

[manxman2601]

Dane's first edition of Building The Beast this cycle. He say's his top 50 is out on Wednesday.

 

[BobDigital]

Top needs. Edge, Safety, CB, LB. I think Landry, Byard, Davis and Elliss are not being brought back.

CB -Maybe Punty can be a surprise and be ready to take that CB2 spot and that be amazing. (Gonzo isn't going anywhere no matter what happens with his contract this year). So there is a chance depending on how this year goes CB becomes less of a need.

LB - Elliss has simply not been worth the contract. They can easily bring in a vet for relatively cheap money (9M-11M) and get good production if they don't feel like drafting. LBs are undervalued in the market right now and I support taking advantage of that.

Safety - IDK Maybe they bring Byard back another year if he looks good this year? All depends.. but they probably want to draft there anyway. I am hesitant to take a safety in round 1 unless they are very special.

Edge - Unless Jacas turns into an absolute terror they will need to address this again. This is very possibly pick 1 for the Pats.

The interesting thing is all the need spots are on D. Usually teams don't just go pure offense or defense the first 3 rounds. But the Pats showed they were willing to do that in 2025. Their first 4 picks were all offense. I could absolutely see the reverse happening here. Seeing as we already used a 2028 first rounder on a WR.

My ideal draft is something like...

32 - Trade down (I don't see the edge who falls at 32 worth taking.. so i take a trade down to recoup a pick for 2028.

46 - Clev Lubin - Edge - A guy i really liked last year. I thought he was an all around better version of Mason Thomas who went 40th overall in a much weaker draft. It wouldn't surprise me if he finds his way into round 1... but i would hesitate a bit to take him at 32 without more tape.

64 - Suntarine Perkins - LB/Edge Hybrid - He kind of split time between these roles... some ED... some OLB some MLB. I just think he is a good player. If he gets a full year at MLB this year which i think he might, he will be a good pick.


4th rounder? John Henry Daley - Edge - He has everything you want outside of a noticeable lack of bend. This keeps him from being a first round talent to me. But looking as his spin move which is already elite for college, his hand eye, fast reflexes, power and ability to use good hand technique, i think he can be a good starting edge,

I haven't even looked at anyone else to have the slightly opinion on Safety or CB.

 

[manxman2601]

Scouting intel on leading Texas prospects. Of note:

EDGE Colin Simmons​

Of all the prospects I discussed with scouting sources, Simmons generated the biggest rave reviews. According to one scout, “Simmons is everything I thought he was. My goodness, what a (expletive) alpha. He (expletive) wrecked practice and talked his talk the entire time. He made Melvin Siani back down. They said he’s been wearing Siani out ever since he got there.”

Also Jelani Mcdonald which I'll paste in the safety thread.

Early scouting intel on Texas Longhorns' 2027 NFL Draft prospects reveals mixed feelings on Arch Manning, rave reviews for Colin Simmons

The Texas Longhorns have a long list of impressive 2027 NFL Draft prospects to know. Here are the headliners of that deep group.

atozsports.com

​

 

[manxman2601]

Mike Renner on the draft.

Aiden Hutchinson comp for Will Heldt.

 

[mayoclinic]

A lot of people seem to like Will Heldt. Need to re-watch to see if I am missing something.

 

[Clonamery]

A lot of people seem to like Will Heldt. Need to re-watch to see if I am missing something.

Re: 2025 highlights...has speed and keeps his hands free (mostly) but his damage was against a lot of really meh teams.

 

[manxman2601]

Re: 2025 highlights...has speed and keeps his hands free (mostly) but his damage was against a lot of really meh teams.

South Carolina padded a lot of pass rusher stats last year. Heldt had 8 pressures and 2 sacks against them.

I like Heldt but I think I want a more sudden pass rusher rather than another big strong one.

 

[mayoclinic]

Aiden Hutchinson was both a beast and a freak. Great strength length, hand usage, combat skills, and temperment. But also a 9.87 RAS including an unholy 6.73 3C.

Will Heldt has not shown anything like that, that I have seen. Good player, but limited athletically. But will re-assess.

 

[manxman2601]

Another Heldt endorsement. Chad Reuter names Heldt as his top senior and also drops the Hutchinson comp.

 

[manxman2601]

A list of sleeper college football players from ESPN. There's draft eligible and NOT draft eligible players on their and ost aren't the usual suspects. The one that interests me is:

Ja'Bril Rawls​

Class: Junior

Height/weight: 6-foot-1, 185 pounds

2025 stats: 7 starts, 40 tackles, 1 interception, 1 fumble recovery, 2 tackles for loss

ESPN recruiting snapshot: Three stars, No. 87 athlete, No. 142 in Florida

Rawls is only a sleeper in the sense that he missed about half of last season because of injury, but he produced nicely in his seven starts. He was the team's only defender to record multiple games with 10 or more tackles, and he showcased his playmaking ability against Virginia, Wake Forest and others. Rawls projects as one of the leaders of the Seminoles' secondary alongside Duke transfer Ma'Khi Jones, and his skills allow defensive coordinator Tony White to use him in multiple ways.

Coach's take: "He's got a chance to be one of the best cornerbacks in college football," FSU coach Mike Norvell said. "He did some great things in the first part of the season. If he would have played the rest of the year, he would have probably put himself in position to be a top draft pick. He's got first-round ability. ... He can press, he can play off. Tony's defense has really let him flourish because you know he can get up and play man, but he can also do great ball skills, play with his eyes to the quarterback."

https://www.espn.com/college-football/story/_/id/49704012/sleeper-college-football-players-break-2026-season

 

[manxman2601]

Anthony Russo has a really interesting top 200. He's a man after my own heart:

25. Dashawn Spears, safety, LSU
35. Ray Coney, LB, Texas A&M
48. Antwan Raymond, RB, Rutgers
49. Alex McLaughlin, Safety, Washington

I don't agree with everything but it's nice to get some confirmation on prospects like Coney and Spears that almost no-one is talking about. There's also a bunch of new names to me to research.

2027 NFL Draft Top 200 Big Board

The college football season kicks off in t-minus 5 hours (if you’re an FCS fan) with week 0 action kicking off Saturday and the NFL season not far behind on September 9th.

anthonyrusso97.substack.com

Note: He skipped sophomores so that explains why prospects like Ellis Robinson aren't on there.

 

[manxman2601]

James Foster's top 80

 

[Clonamery]

Anthony Russo has a really interesting top 200. He's a man after my own heart:

25. Dashawn Spears, safety, LSU
35. Ray Coney, LB, Texas A&M
48. Antwan Raymond, RB, Rutgers
49. Alex McLaughlin, Safety, Washington

I don't agree with everything but it's nice to get some confirmation on prospects like Coney and Spears that almost no-one is talking about. There's also a bunch of new names to me to research.

2027 NFL Draft Top 200 Big Board

The college football season kicks off in t-minus 5 hours (if you’re an FCS fan) with week 0 action kicking off Saturday and the NFL season not far behind on September 9th.

anthonyrusso97.substack.com

Note: He skipped sophomores so that explains why prospects like Ellis Robinson aren't on there.

Hmm - ?
Tre Richardson WR at #50 - bold
Luke Talich S at #112 - wut
Vicari Swain CB at #185 - different take

 

[manxman2601]

Hmm - ?
Tre Richardson WR at #50 - bold
Luke Talich S at #112 - wut
Vicari Swain CB at #185 - different take

The Vicari Swain one jumped out at me.