2026 draft stuff

[TheLeviathan]

7 minutes ago, Vanimal46 said:

Add Texas Tech NT Lee Hunter to my draft crush list. Listed at 6'4" 330 lbs - if he's that big with the burst he has then he's got the ceiling of Sexy Dexy Lawrence

I guess I should've shared my favorite: "Godfather" Dontay Corleone.

You either double him or you don't get to run.

 

[TheLeviathan]

Better link on Corleone

[Mike Sixel]

Y'all are about my favorite posters here, so I thought I'd drop this note here. I'm leaving Twins Daily. Brock knows why. 

[nicksaviking]

1 hour ago, Mike Sixel said:

Y'all are about my favorite posters here, so I thought I'd drop this note here. I'm leaving Twins Daily. Brock knows why. 

Sorry to hear that Mike. PM me anytime if you'd like to talk. Sports, life or anything.

[Parfigliano]

2 hours ago, Mike Sixel said:

Y'all are about my favorite posters here, so I thought I'd drop this note here. I'm leaving Twins Daily. Brock knows why. 

?

[gunnarthor]

2 hours ago, Mike Sixel said:

Y'all are about my favorite posters here, so I thought I'd drop this note here. I'm leaving Twins Daily. Brock knows why. 

Will miss you, buddy. Hope all is well. Reach out if you need anything. 

[TheLeviathan]

10 hours ago, Mike Sixel said:

Y'all are about my favorite posters here, so I thought I'd drop this note here. I'm leaving Twins Daily. Brock knows why. 

Sorry to hear that Mike.  Did my own sabbatical so I hear ya.

[Vanimal46]

On 1/10/2026 at 1:11 PM, Mike Sixel said:

Y'all are about my favorite posters here, so I thought I'd drop this note here. I'm leaving Twins Daily. Brock knows why. 

Just saw this. Hope to see you around if you ever come back... Once baseball season rolls around I won't be around as much either. I can't get on board with the Twins anymore. 

[Vanimal46]

$6.5 million. Wow. We really need to fix college football 

[gunnarthor]

15 minutes ago, Vanimal46 said:

$6.5 million. Wow. We really need to fix college football 

6.5? Wow. I have no idea where he's likely to go - the best case scenario for anyone would seem to be the Rams and sit for a year. 

[TheLeviathan]

19 hours ago, Vanimal46 said:

$6.5 million. Wow. We really need to fix college football 

It's probably broken beyond repair.  Certainly never going back to the days of "student athletes".

[gunnarthor]

No matter where the Vikes draft, the prognosticators won't stop giving them the injured corner back in round one.

https://ftw.usatoday.com/story/sports/nfl/2026/01/13/nfl-mock-draft-2026-jets-browns-double-dip-fernando-mendoza/88082079007/

If that is the draft board, I'd rather the Vikings take McDonald or Allen. Also wonder if Olaivavega Ioane can play center (or Fries, for that matter).

[Vanimal46]

Dante Moore is returning to Oregon next year. That’s the right call… So now the draft is Fernando Mendoza, Ty Simpson, and a bunch of mid to late round picks. 

[gunnarthor]

Just now, Vanimal46 said:

Dante Moore is returning to Oregon next year. That’s the right call… So now the draft is Fernando Mendoza, Ty Simpson, and a bunch of mid to late round picks. 

Wow. He was going to be the second pick in this draft. I thought Simpson might stay but not Moore. Maybe the loss hurt his draft stock more than I thought? 

[nicksaviking]

50 minutes ago, Vanimal46 said:

Dante Moore is returning to Oregon next year. That’s the right call… So now the draft is Fernando Mendoza, Ty Simpson, and a bunch of mid to late round picks. 

Maybe. He was tracking to be the 2nd QB taken in this draft and next year he might go 5th or even lower if things don't go well for him.

Yeah, the teams that would pick him don't look like good spots, but we said that about Drake Maye too. Things can change in the NFL fast.

[Vanimal46]

54 minutes ago, nicksaviking said:

Maybe. He was tracking to be the 2nd QB taken in this draft and next year he might go 5th or even lower if things don't go well for him.

Yeah, the teams that would pick him don't look like good spots, but we said that about Drake Maye too. Things can change in the NFL fast.

If I’m him I’m taking that chance next year over getting drafted by the Jets and career ruined by year 3 

[TheLeviathan]

On 1/13/2026 at 5:50 PM, gunnarthor said:

No matter where the Vikes draft, the prognosticators won't stop giving them the injured corner back in round one.

https://ftw.usatoday.com/story/sports/nfl/2026/01/13/nfl-mock-draft-2026-jets-browns-double-dip-fernando-mendoza/88082079007/

If that is the draft board, I'd rather the Vikings take McDonald or Allen. Also wonder if Olaivavega Ioane can play center (or Fries, for that matter).

The depressing part of this mock is we would have won meaningless games and lost out on Caleb Downs as a result.

[The Great Hambino]

17 hours ago, Vanimal46 said:

If I’m him I’m taking that chance next year over getting drafted by the Jets and career ruined by year 3 

If that's the reasoning, I think it's a pretty risky bet

He almost quite literally has nowhere to go but down.  And even if he doesn't, is there any reason to think the Jets won't be picking high again next year, and with decreased chances that they had taken a QB this year?

[Vanimal46]

1 hour ago, The Great Hambino said:

If that's the reasoning, I think it's a pretty risky bet

He almost quite literally has nowhere to go but down.  And even if he doesn't, is there any reason to think the Jets won't be picking high again next year, and with decreased chances that they had taken a QB this year?

Now that college football is the Wild West, we can’t really predict what these draft classes look like. Dante Moore could end up QB 1 if Arch Manning stays another year. He could end up QB 5. For him right now, it’s a pretty smart call to take $7.5 million from Oregon and continue to develop. 

An interesting wrinkle with the Moore retuning decision is former Nebraska starting QB Dylan Raiola transferred to Oregon last week. Now what is that guy going to do? Waste a year sitting behind Moore?

[The Great Hambino]

1 minute ago, Vanimal46 said:

Now that college football is the Wild West, we can’t really predict what these draft classes look like. Dante Moore could end up QB 1 if Arch Manning stays another year. He could end up QB 5. For him right now, it’s a pretty smart call to take $7.5 million from Oregon and continue to develop. 

An interesting wrinkle with the Moore retuning decision is former Nebraska starting QB Dylan Raiola transferred to Oregon last week. Now what is that guy going to do? Waste a year sitting behind Moore?

Re: Raiola, I'd imagine he's waiting to see what shirt Patrick Mahomes puts on next before making his decision

[Vanimal46]

 

[nicksaviking]

23 hours ago, Vanimal46 said:

Now that college football is the Wild West, we can’t really predict what these draft classes look like. Dante Moore could end up QB 1 if Arch Manning stays another year. He could end up QB 5. For him right now, it’s a pretty smart call to take $7.5 million from Oregon and continue to develop. 

An interesting wrinkle with the Moore retuning decision is former Nebraska starting QB Dylan Raiola transferred to Oregon last week. Now what is that guy going to do? Waste a year sitting behind Moore?

Maybe Moore goes higher, but to me he looks like Michael Penix with lesser passing stats. I think a Penix still has a shot at going #2 this year. But next year, besides Manning, I think people are going to give Julien Sayin Drake Maye comps, Jordan Maiava Cam Newton comps and LaNorris Sellers Jalen Hurts comps. Then watch out for Sam Leavitt getting the Josh Allen comps. And yeah, I see what I did there but that seems to be how the hype dealers try to sell it.

Now I'm fully aware those are all crazy, but those other players all have more exciting and explosive physical skills and teams are going to get really turned on. Odds are some of those guys will fall on their face next year but odds are QBs we haven't even thought of will rise. I think after the dust has settled and the draft is ready to roll in 2027, Moore is going to be seen as a higher floor but low ceiling QB and in years where there are three, four or even five QBs going in the first round, those guys tend to go in the back of that group.

Now playing Devil's Advocate, first round QBs who slide, quite often find themselves on better teams drafting in the second half of the draft. They don't get paid nearly as much though on that rookie contract.

[gunnarthor]

PFF did a three round mock draft for the Vikings. 

 

[TheLeviathan]

6 minutes ago, gunnarthor said:

PFF did a three round mock draft for the Vikings. 

 

Not sure I love McGowan.  The other three picks are great fits.

[gunnarthor]

2 hours ago, TheLeviathan said:

Not sure I love McGowan.  The other three picks are great fits.

Agreed. I think Thieneman would be a really realistic target for the Vikings. 

[nicksaviking]

3 hours ago, gunnarthor said:

PFF did a three round mock draft for the Vikings. 

 

Don't know enough about the last two picks, but I like the direction.

[Cap'n Piranha]

On 1/16/2026 at 7:52 AM, nicksaviking said:

Maybe Moore goes higher, but to me he looks like Michael Penix with lesser passing stats. I think a Penix still has a shot at going #2 this year. But next year, besides Manning, I think people are going to give Julien Sayin Drake Maye comps, Jordan Maiava Cam Newton comps and LaNorris Sellers Jalen Hurts comps. Then watch out for Sam Leavitt getting the Josh Allen comps. And yeah, I see what I did there but that seems to be how the hype dealers try to sell it.

Now I'm fully aware those are all crazy, but those other players all have more exciting and explosive physical skills and teams are going to get really turned on. Odds are some of those guys will fall on their face next year but odds are QBs we haven't even thought of will rise. I think after the dust has settled and the draft is ready to roll in 2027, Moore is going to be seen as a higher floor but low ceiling QB and in years where there are three, four or even five QBs going in the first round, those guys tend to go in the back of that group.

Now playing Devil's Advocate, first round QBs who slide, quite often find themselves on better teams drafting in the second half of the draft. They don't get paid nearly as much though on that rookie contract.

Yup, and you didn't even mention Carr from ND who could very easily win the Heisman next year (not saying he will, but on a loaded ND team that has a floor of 10-2, it will be a surprise if he's not on the short list to go to NY).  Getting the guaranteed $50 by being a top 3 pick is certainly worth it, but if I can't be QB 1-3, I'm pretty sure I'd rather go to a better situation in the mid to late first round then to someone at 7 or 8.

[TheLeviathan]

1 hour ago, nicksaviking said:

Don't know enough about the last two picks, but I like the direction.

The RB seems awfully one dimensional.  He's physical and straight ahead, but we have a guy like that already.  That isn't a fit for us, IMO.

The center is a good player and a good fit.

[nicksaviking]

14 hours ago, TheLeviathan said:

The RB seems awfully one dimensional.  He's physical and straight ahead, but we have a guy like that already.  That isn't a fit for us, IMO.

The center is a good player and a good fit.

My bad, it was the end of the work day and I was skipping ahead. I thought they had them drafting McDonald, the Oregon safety and the Florida center.

Edit: Ah, I'm guessing the Vikings have two 3rd round picks. I didn't stick around for that one. I'm also guessing the Vikings aren't going to reach for a character guy. 

[Vanimal46]

Starting to get tunnel vision for Lee Hunter at 18...