Dane Brugler 2026 The Beast

manxman2601 · Apr 9, 2026

OldEngland said:
There is a whole load of older guys that look like really great prospects. Really enjoyed you championing so many this year.

Nadine Tucker, Haynes King, Jeff Caldwell, Mesidor, Trost, and Height are all 25. Kionte Scott, Jeremiah Wright, Stukes, Pregnon, Iheunachor, K.Proctor, Fa'amore, Jefferson, Wheatley, Hibner are already 24.

But how do teams (and particularly the Pats) view older prospects against players like Allen, Woods, Sadiq, Parker, Concepcion, Mason Thomas, Randall, Hurst, Bell, Bisontis and Jacas, who are all 21 and under?

All we have in the Vrabel era is last years class. Woodson was the only older prospect at 24. Campbell, Henderson , Williams, Wilson, Farmer, Swinson, were all 22 and under. So we could say (on a small sample size) they usually draft younger prospects, but possibly the best value from last years class was Woodson.

I wonder if the immediate success of Woodson influences thinking for this draft? A good trend to note for future years. It'll be interesting to see where Mesidor goes in the draft vs Parker, Mason Thomas and Jacas.

Great post.

This is the debate I've been having with myself all year. I just don't know how the FO will view the older prospects. I haven't been targeting older prospects with my scouting, it just happened that way. All the guys I liked just happened to be older. It may well be that the FO want younger guys and all my work will have been for nothing.

I see this year as a learning one. We only have one year of info to go on so far and you can't see patterns after only one year of drafting. Adding a second year of data may, or not, give us some idea of the types of prospects they like.

mayoclinic · Apr 9, 2026

This is the new normal, IMO.

There will be more and more 24+ prospects, due to NIL and the transfer portal. They may be more physically and emotionally mature, and more mentally prepared to adapt to a new environment. They will be more experienced.

This will have advantages and disadvantages. Possibly a higher floor, more ready to immediately contribute. But also a shorter half-life, a lower ceiling, and possibly over-estimation due to an unequal level of college competition.

This will be a case-by-case determination, and probably something to balance across a draft class. You probably don't want 7-8 24+ prospects; but a few may raise the bar for the younger rookies, as well as contribute early.

stelfans · Apr 9, 2026

Another thing to ponder is: How much does all this unreal RAS have to do with older prospects? I havent really deep dived on that but one could say this class is a lot more mature athletically than recent years.
Maybe those metrics need to be adjusted?

Clonamery · Apr 9, 2026

stelfans said:
Another thing to ponder is: How much does all this unreal RAS have to do with older prospects? I havent really deep dived on that but one could say this class is a lot more mature athletically than recent years.
Maybe those metrics need to be adjusted?

You could also stop them from getting personal trainers, too.

stelfans · Apr 9, 2026

Clonamery said:
You could also stop them from getting personal trainers, too.

Not sure what that have to do with anything but yeah sure, i guess.

DaBruinz · Apr 9, 2026

mayoclinic said:
This is the new normal, IMO.

There will be more and more 24+ prospects, due to NIL and the transfer portal. They may be more physically and emotionally mature, and more mentally prepared to adapt to a new environment. They will be more experienced.

This will have advantages and disadvantages. Possibly a higher floor, more ready to immediately contribute. But also a shorter half-life, a lower ceiling, and possibly over-estimation due to an unequal level of college competition.

This will be a case-by-case determination, and probably something to balance across a draft class. You probably don't want 7-8 24+ prospects; but a few may raise the bar for the younger rookies, as well as contribute early.

Is it the Transfer Portal or are we at the tail end of the group that had to deal with COVID shutting stuff down and giving a whole bunch of players an extra year?

I think that, if anything, we're going to be seeing less and less 24+ because they no longer have to wait a year to be able to play again after transferring. Plus they can enter the Transfer portal multiple times in the same year the way that Julian Neal did.

One-If-By-Sea · Apr 9, 2026

stelfans said:
Another thing to ponder is: How much does all this unreal RAS have to do with older prospects? I havent really deep dived on that but one could say this class is a lot more mature athletically than recent years.
Maybe those metrics need to be adjusted?

Some high RAS scores are because the player skips one or more of the RAS events. Previously athletes would participate in all 11 events and now some athletes skip the events they score poorly in to boost their RAS.

manxman2601 · Apr 9, 2026

DaBruinz said:
Is it the Transfer Portal or are we at the tail end of the group that had to deal with COVID shutting stuff down and giving a whole bunch of players an extra year?

I think that, if anything, we're going to be seeing less and less 24+ because they no longer have to wait a year to be able to play again after transferring. Plus they can enter the Transfer portal multiple times in the same year the way that Julian Neal did.

There were a surprising number of juniors who went back to school this time. It will be interesting to see if the same happens next year.

DaBruinz · Apr 9, 2026

One-If-By-Sea said:
Some high RAS scores are because the player skips one or more of the RAS events. Previously athletes would participate in all 11 events and now some athletes skip the events they score poorly in to boost their RAS.

This is why I say that people put too much stock in the RAS. It literally is just a comparison tool. It tells you nothing about how the player performs on the field. We already know that some players play slower than their times. Just like some players play faster.

Which is why you still want to watch tape and take into consideration the level of competition the person is playing against. Not to mention the multitude of other items when looking at a player.

manxman2601 · Tuesday at 9:19 AM

Jordan Reid has a top 500 big board out.

bold = personal dream still alive

Iheanachor - 24
Miller - 26
Jacas - 31
Mesidor - 33
Rutledge - 48
Stowers - 57
Stukes - 64
Delp - 68 (ugh)
Kaleb Proctor - 71 (also ugh)
DDS - 85
Crawford - 88
Stribling - 93
Roush - 94
Burke - 113
Kacmarek - 132

A board couldn't fall more perfectly for me. From Reid's keyboard to God's ears.

2026 NFL draft rankings: Jordan Reid's top 500 prospects

Jordan Reid ranked every draftable player in the 2026 class and graded them by round. Here's his final list, plus scouting reports on the top names.

www.espn.com

Clonamery · Tuesday at 9:31 AM

manxman2601 said:
Jordan Reid has a top 500 big board out.

bold = personal dream still alive

Iheanachor - 24
Miller - 26
Jacas - 31
Mesidor - 33
Rutledge - 48
Stowers - 57
Stukes - 64
Delp - 68 (ugh)
Kaleb Proctor - 71 (also ugh)
DDS - 85
Crawford - 88
Stribling - 93
Roush - 94
Burke - 113
Kacmarek - 132

A board couldn't fall more perfectly for me. From Reid's keyboard to God's ears.

2026 NFL draft rankings: Jordan Reid's top 500 prospects

Jordan Reid ranked every draftable player in the 2026 class and graded them by round. Here's his final list, plus scouting reports on the top names.

www.espn.com

So you're Jordan Reid?

manxman2601 · Tuesday at 9:49 AM

Clonamery said:
So you're Jordan Reid?

I couldn't have written it better.

DaBruinz · Tuesday at 10:19 AM

manxman2601 said:
Jordan Reid has a top 500 big board out.

bold = personal dream still alive

Iheanachor - 24
Miller - 26
Jacas - 31
Mesidor - 33
Rutledge - 48
Stowers - 57
Stukes - 64
Delp - 68 (ugh)
Kaleb Proctor - 71 (also ugh)
DDS - 85
Crawford - 88
Stribling - 93
Roush - 94
Burke - 113
Kacmarek - 132

A board couldn't fall more perfectly for me. From Reid's keyboard to God's ears.

2026 NFL draft rankings: Jordan Reid's top 500 prospects

Jordan Reid ranked every draftable player in the 2026 class and graded them by round. Here's his final list, plus scouting reports on the top names.

www.espn.com

It's definitely an interesting board..

mayoclinic · Tuesday at 11:43 AM

manxman2601 said:
Jordan Reid has a top 500 big board out.

bold = personal dream still alive

Iheanachor - 24
Miller - 26
Jacas - 31
Mesidor - 33
Rutledge - 48
Stowers - 57
Stukes - 64
Delp - 68 (ugh)
Kaleb Proctor - 71 (also ugh)
DDS - 85
Crawford - 88
Stribling - 93
Roush - 94
Burke - 113
Kacmarek - 132

A board couldn't fall more perfectly for me. From Reid's keyboard to God's ears.

2026 NFL draft rankings: Jordan Reid's top 500 prospects

Jordan Reid ranked every draftable player in the 2026 class and graded them by round. Here's his final list, plus scouting reports on the top names.

www.espn.com

So if the board falls that way I go Mesidor - Stukes at 31 and 63. I take Sam Roush if he slips one pick, then trade up for Travis Burke.

mgteich · Tuesday at 12:05 PM

I don't understand the preference for youngsters over 5th and 6th year players. Experience helps.

We sign players after the first for a 4-year contract. After that, if they are great, they get the big bucks, not necessarily from us.

I would think that we would expect to get more over four years from healthy more experienced prospects. For example, I would expect an older LB to be more able to contribute earlier. There will be lots of LB's available in the 5th or 6th. Perhaps the staff would be more likely to have one of them be ready to make the 53 if they are more experienced to start with.

DaBruinz · Tuesday at 1:18 PM

mgteich said:
I don't understand the preference for youngsters over 5th and 6th year players. Experience helps.

We sign players after the first for a 4-year contract. After that, if they are great, they get the big bucks, not necessarily from us.

I would think that we would expect to get more over four years from healthy more experienced prospects. For example, I would expect an older LB to be more able to contribute earlier. There will be lots of LB's available in the 5th or 6th. Perhaps the staff would be more likely to have one of them be ready to make the 53 if they are more experienced to start with.

You don't understand the preference between guys who are still developing and guys who have very little, if any, growth remaining?

You're making a lot of assumptions about health and what those older prospects would do.

Why would the staff be "more likely to have one of them ready to make they 53 if they are more experienced"?? That's just nonsense on your part.

DaBruinz · Tuesday at 1:28 PM

mayoclinic said:
So if the board falls that way I go Mesidor - Stukes at 31 and 63. I take Sam Roush if he slips one pick, then trade up for Travis Burke.

No thanks on Mesidor.

- By the time they have to make a decision on the 5th year option, he'll be 28.
- I honestly don't see him becoming a top 10 Edge guy in the NFL.
- Having foot surgery on both feet already is a red flag on what his availability will be..

upstater1 · Tuesday at 2:29 PM

Two big things stand out from reading the first page:

1. Keionte Scott sounds like an intriguing pick to shore up the safety position and perhaps take over the Davis at some point.

2. Caleb Lomu is highly regarded -- though I was hoping he'd drop to us as many mocks have him in the early 2nd. He looks like our future RT.

mayoclinic · Tuesday at 2:48 PM

upstater1 said:
Two big things stand out from reading the first page:

1. Keionte Scott sounds like an intriguing pick to shore up the safety position and perhaps take over the Davis at some point.

2. Caleb Lomu is highly regarded -- though I was hoping he'd drop to us as many mocks have him in the early 2nd. He looks like our future RT.

1. Keionte Scott is an awesome player, but he did poorly as an outside zone CB when Auburn tried him there. He is many things, but not a Davis replacement.

2. I could live with Lomu at 31. Great feet. But his game lacks aggression and violence. Not my first choice.

manxman2601 · Wednesday at 8:33 AM

Some notables from Dane Brugler's latest 7 round mock. See the pundits mock draft (fail) thread for the Patriots picks.

1. Bisontis, Lawrence and Chris Johnson make it into the back end of the first. It should be noted that Johnson is Brugler's favourite player on defense though so some bias.

2. Blake Miller and Iheanachor make it to the Pats pick. all other OTs are off the board.

3. The only leading edge rushers to make it to pick 63 are Keyron Crawford and Derrick Moore but only just. Moore goes off the board at 70.

4. Guard might be a push at 63. Rutledge goes 53, Pregnon 55, Dunker 56.

5. CJ Allen falls to 62.

6. Travis Burke goes 83, Wheatley falls to 98.

7. Roush, Klare and Delp are gone by 95. Kacmarek goes top of the 5th.

Full 2026 NFL mock draft: Dane Brugler predicts all 7 rounds and 257 picks

How will this year's NFL Draft play out? Our expert takes his best shot at predicting every pick.

www.nytimes.com

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