Chapter 1: What are John Middlecoff's 10 bold predictions for the NFL Draft?
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1979, that was a big moment for me. 84 was big to me.
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Chapter 2: How will the changes in draft timing affect team strategies?
The draft's the best. I mean, I fell in love with football and probably the draft not too far after. So this is an incredible event. And that's what we'll do today. So if you listen on Colin's feed, make sure you subscribe to 3NOW. Separate podcast. He's got his own feed. Run Netflix. Make sure you hit that alert button. And let's talk some football.
10 bold predictions for the first round of the 2026 NFL Draft. Let's start with 10. I think it was reported at the end of the year in 2025 that the NFL would go from 10 minutes to 8 minutes in the first round. Because as we all know, when they get to the second round, it goes quicker. And by the time we're on the third day, it feels like there's a minute between picks. It's rapid fire.
I do think as the consumer habits have changed, our attention spans are shorter. It's harder to get us to just watch nothing. And this is a very, very unique event. I got the opportunity to go in 2011. It's really cool, but nothing's really happening beside guys being picked. There's a lot of downtime. It's not like you're going to a game. It's not like you're going to a movie.
There's not a lot of action. There just isn't. So going from 10 minutes to 8 minutes makes sense. I would imagine over the course of the next couple years, Goodell's going to push extremely hard to make this five minutes per pick in the first round.
Because the quicker you can get this thing churning, because even if you're going five minutes per pick, you know, 32 teams, you can stretch this out, a several-hour event, sell advertising. You have a pregame show for 30 minutes. You have a postgame show. You can get three hours' worth of content with ease. I do think the 10 minutes thing was a good idea to scrap.
And, you know, I would imagine the teams push back against shortening it too much because you want to have time on the clock to make decisions about trades. But multiple of these GMs have mentioned over the course of the last week in these press conferences that these conversations about trades in the first round used to happen on Tuesday and Wednesday.
John Lynch said the other day he's been talking to teams for a week, and he's picking 27. So I think the wiring of these GMs, people being able to pivot on the spot... This is only the beginning. You know, in politics, they often say that if you allow them to do this, they will take even more and do that. You give them an inch, they'll take a mile.
You can't allow them to take that away because then they'll take this away. I think Roger Goodell is going to want this thing to even be quicker because it's just the nature of the way we consume everything in life. We are easily distracted on our phones. If it's not your team drafting, it's like you may not be. He wants you to watch.
And if it's rapid fire, like if you went at the speed in the first round of the third day, it would be fireworks. Now, I totally understand you can't go like two minutes per pick, but But I do think we will inevitably get to five minutes. Now, it might take a couple years, but eight minutes is going to be a story tomorrow or tonight, and they're going to talk about it. But get ready.
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Chapter 3: What is the likelihood of running backs being drafted in the first round?
And they all talk about it. We study where we've had success and why we've had success. Two of their most successful draft picks in the history of the organization, definitely with Les and Sean, are Cooper Cup and Puka Nakua. Neither of them was remotely close to the 13th overall pick.
You have proven over and over and over that you can get good players at the wide receiver position later in the draft. And this draft's well talked about. You can find starters in the second and third round. I do not believe that the Rams go wide receiver here. And I think they go offensive lineman. I think they go offensive line with the 13th pick. And it's like a bigger picture.
We're never going to draft this high again. We'll probably just trade first rounders the next couple years anyway. But we get the opportunity to take a pretty good offensive lineman right there at 13. That's where I think they go. We'll get into Jeremiah Love here in a second, but this is a big picture running back thought.
I think there's a decent chance that a running back beside Jeremiah Love, who's It could go as high as 3. It could go as low as 8. Who knows? Maybe 10 or 11. I don't think we get a running back going in the top 50.
I've heard from my scouting buddies who have been doing this a long time, this is the worst running back draft they've ever seen, which is crazy because usually you get a bunch of guys go in the late 20s. In the second round is always a sweet spot for the Nick Chubbs, the Quinchon Junkins. You just get really good starters in that 33 to 45 range historically or running backs drafted.
I do not believe this is going to be the case. Now, I think there have been a lot of people ā putting Price, the Notre Dame backup. Think about this. Jeremiah Love, who is one of the better running back prospects of the last 20 years. He'd be on a top 10 list of running backs coming out of college. Going back to Adrian Peterson, Christian McCaffrey, Saquon Barkley, Bijan Robinson.
I think Jenty was clearly pretty highly viewed. Maybe a little overdrafted, but he was a really good prospect as well. and Todd Gurley. We have seen guys go, Marshawn Lynch coming out of college, I think, what was he, pick 12? You see guys get drafted really high. It's not often the second best running back in a draft is that guy's backup.
It's like, yeah, we don't even think anyone's even remotely as good as that guy. So I think there's a chance that if Seattle, who have been rumored, you know, It'd be forcing a need a little bit. I'd be a little surprised. I think we have a chance to see a running back not, beside Love, go in the top 50, which is pretty crazy. And I don't know if that's just like a cyclical thing, right?
Just kind of a year-to-year deal, just one of those times, or if it's like a big picture, trending, the... The sport has gotten much more spread out. Most guys that used to be running backs now are maybe playing receiver, playing defense, maybe playing different positions. Something I'm just keeping an eye on. I don't want to call it a red flag. It could just be a weird year.
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Chapter 4: Which teams are expected to make significant trades during the draft?
Historically, you get a guy, Justin Jefferson. You can get sweet wide receivers in the 20s or the late teens. To me, if you draft a guy in the top 10, I'm looking Jamar Chase, Julio Jones, A.J. Green. I'm looking to hit a home run. And I think this, to me, Tate, I by no means think he's a locked top 10 pick.
The Jordan Tyson thing, they're just going to be teams that even if they think the guy's a really good player, and I've talked to some of my friends who think he's a little overrated, and I've talked to some people that love him. But the injury thing is something that terrifies teams.
And to me, I think guys like that, historically, people with major injury questions, guys that can't work out until a week before the draft, sometimes drop a little in the draft. I think there is a chance. And Makai Lemon, I remember Greg Cosell told me at the Combine, he's like, I just don't really see it. Because it's like, well, it's physical play, it's physical play, it's physical play.
How many guys in the NFL play like Puga Nakua? That's not necessarily, and listen, I'm not anti-Makai Lemon. He's a good player. He's an NFL starter. But when you're talking about drafting a guy in top 15, top 20, I'm looking for CeeDee Lamb. Is that what Makai Lemon's going to be? I don't know. Again, I'm not anti-Makai Lemon.
I'm just saying that I do think he's going to be a little bit eye of the beholder. There are going to be some teams that are like, yeah, it's not really our style of player. That's why everyone thinks that the Rams are going to like him because he reminds them a lot of Puka. Well, Puka goes to rehab. He cleans up his life. You already got Puka. So you're going to get two Pukas? A little weird.
I think there's a chance that Omar Cooper, which the funny part about Indiana is you get Mendoza. You get all these transfers and you build this championship team. Omar Cooper was there before Cignetti got there. You know, typically you get a new coach and all these guys disperse, especially on a bad team like Indiana when Cignetti got there. He stayed. A couple years later,
I think there's a chance he's the second wide receiver off the board. I've talked to some people in the league. His stock is rising. Now, obviously, if Jordan Tyson, someone feels comfortable with the medical, he could go high. I mean, I saw the clip of his pro day jumping. I mean, there's no disputing his athleticism.
I think there are some question marks with physicality, run after catch, in terms of breaking tackles. I mean, he's not exactly Debo with the ball in his hands, but I think he's going to be really fascinating. I do think some people in a draft that is not viewed as great, like kind of just want to hit a double. Some people are just looking to like, I'll hit the fairway if it's 250 yards.
I'm not looking to hit a 320 yard drive out of bounds. And I think sometimes in these type moments, people think a little bit more conservatively. So Omar Cooper, second wide receiver off the board. We talk a lot of football on this show, but the NBA playoffs are here. And here's the thing.
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Chapter 5: How does Aaron Rodgers' situation impact the draft predictions?
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A win is a win. A win is a win. I don't care what y'all say.
Yep, that's me, Clifford Taylor IV. You might have seen the skits, the reactions, my journey from basketball to college football, or my career in sports media. Well, somewhere along the way, this platform became bigger than I ever imagined. And now I'm bringing all of that excitement to my brand new podcast, The Clifford Show.
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Chapter 6: What positions are teams prioritizing in this year's draft?
But earlier this week, the Steelers, they keep saying, we've talked to Rodgers. We know his timeline. Aaron claims he loves going on McAfee and like, I hate publicity. I hate a platform. I don't want to be seen. I want to hide, and I want to go into hibernation. I want to be left alone as he's talking to McAfee, which I'm making fun of him a little bit.
I enjoy Rodgers more than most, and I've loved watching him play. Remember the year, was it A-Rod? Was he coming back or something happened with A-Rod and it was released during the second game of the World Series? And Bud Seeley lost his shit because he was taken away from the World Series.
I predict that Aaron Rodgers, we get some news during the draft that Aaron Rodgers is officially coming back. Could be if I wanted to hedge my bet a little bit. It'll definitely happen by Friday. But I would not be shocked to see a report sometime Thursday that Aaron Rodgers has told McCarthy, has told the Roonies, has told the Steelers. I'm in the boat, baby. I'm going to be ready.
You guys have no quarterbacks besides Will Howard that for some reason people in my DMs and Seeler fans think they got like Kurt Warner right there. And maybe you do. You never know until he gets to play. And right now I saw him taking first team reps because I don't expect Rodgers to be at OTAs. But I would not be surprised at all.
if over the next 24 hours, but specifically maybe a little bit before the first round, we get some definitive news out of the Rodgers camp. I've seen a couple GMs say this. Brett Veach said this the other day. There could be a ton of trades in this draft. Now, not big ones. I don't expect people giving up future picks to trade.
But I also think when I hear draft analysts say, the 27 draft, the 27 draft, the 27 draft, I think we've got to be very careful about doing that. This is not basketball where we knew three years ago that this NBA draft was going to be unreal because you could just watch these guys at 16 in AAU games. That's not the way football works. Things change dramatically year to year. Guys get injured.
Guys underperform. Now with NIL, guys return. There is so much unknown. I also think there are so many teams that just view themselves as playoff teams or playoff contenders. Their coaching staff and their ownership is living in the now. They plan on winning in 26. So any team like the Browns or the Jets that I hear, hey, they're thinking about 27. They are in the minority.
You know, if you told me the Chiefs trade up, and they traded from 9-3, and they gave up the 27 first round. Well, yeah, because they plan on having that first round pick be somewhere between 28 and 32. They ain't worried about that draft class. They're thinking about week one, playing the fucking Chargers. They plan on winning 12-plus games.
They plan on kicking ass this year, and they'll do whatever it takes. I would imagine all these good teams. The Eagles, they are living in the now. That's where I think you get bad teams definitely willing to trade back, accumulate more picks. You get a lot of these good teams willing to maneuver. And then you get these teams in the middle...
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Chapter 7: Who are the standout players to watch in the draft?
And this leads me to four. I think one team that coming from the teens, because I would say if you're in the single digits, like the Chiefs moving up a couple spots, Saints moving up a couple spots, right? It's not that shot. We see those type moves all the time. But typically we see a team in the teens come up. And that could be from like 19 to 11. That could be like 15 to 8.
It feels like that happens every year. And the Lions, who have had a lot of reshuffling, they're moving Panay Sewell to left tackle. They have some turnover on their offensive line. Obviously they have an opening at tackle with Panay moving. I think the Lions at 17 have moving up for a tackle written all over them.
I saw McShea said this other day that I do wonder with the amount of us podcasters and talking heads. It's one thing if you threw it to a bone 10, 20 years ago to a newspaper reporter or a blog, but now you have so many people that talk to so many people in the league that it's like, I'm hearing this, I'm hearing this.
I've been around the NFL for a long time, and I've been in one of those rooms around arguably one of the best GMs of a generation. I, whenever I hear, you know, the Eagles, you do not know what the Eagles are doing. You do not know what John Schneider's thinking. You do not know what Brett Beach is thinking.
Now you could kind of gauge where they should be at because of their roster, but any general manager worth their salt telling you what they're going to do, who's not like spy tech that has the number one overall pick, like we're taking Fernando Mendoza. They are, that is bad. That's stupid business.
Historically, Sean Payton sometimes liked to talk, and word got out the Saints really liked Mahomes. And what happened? The Chiefs caught wind of it, and they jumped him. And where'd Mahomes end up? Not on the Saints. A couple years later, Sean Payton quits. So I think at this point in time, even in a bad draft, telling media people or people you're comfortable with what you're going to do
And most of these organizations, and I have a lot of friends who are No. 2s or No. 3s in these teams, there is a separate conversation that the GM and the head coach and the owner have in a room by themselves. And they typically are not telling that entire room. Now, they kind of find out maybe on draft night and definitely once they start maneuvering or talking about it in the draft room.
But, like, you have an idea. You don't know exactly what your owner or what your head coach and GM are planning to do when you're picking in the mid-teens. Now, it's obvious. Like the Lions. need some offensive line help, right? Specifically a tackle. I see the Eagles need an offensive line help. Well, yeah, they've had some injuries.
Lane Johnson is getting long in the tooth, and who knows how much longer his body's going to be put together. But if you tell me that all of a sudden the Eagles ā Draft a wide receiver or draft a different position. I am not a tight end. I'm not going to be stunned at all.
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Chapter 8: What are the implications of the predictions for the NFL season ahead?
A corner, Caleb Downs. I think, and to me, the Giants at 10, if they did take, let's say, Sonny Stiles at 5, or let's say they took, I don't even know. I think Sonny Stiles is the guy most people think they're going to take. But let's say he's off the board. And I don't think they would take Jeremiah Love there either. I think they would take an offensive lineman.
And then I think ideally they'd come back and get like Caleb Downs or a corner. But I don't think a wide receiver goes in the top 10. And obviously with Tyson's injury, question marks, I think that's a very big stretch. And I just don't think Carnell Tate most years is like going like somewhere between 18 and 25. So I would imagine, I mean, look at Ibuka last year.
Those guys, and it shows you, it kind of speaks to the depth and the power of this draft. So my bold prediction number three, no wide receiver goes in the top ten. Here's where I get really bold. At number one, you got Fernando Mendoza. Let's say the pass rushers in some order go two and three.
My guess would be Reese at two, but it wouldn't be shocking at this point if Bailey goes, but I think in some order they go two and three. I think you get to four. Sala said weeks ago, I like my running back room. He did a little hardball with the defensive line. I view defensive linemen as playmakers. Remember hardball when he took Joe Alt? I view them as the tip of the spear.
That's the defensive line. Well, who was Sala around when he's been a star as a defensive coordinator? one of the best middle linebackers of his generation. And I'd argue the most important player on the Niners defense over the course of the last seven, eight years has not been Nick Bosa. It's been Fred Warner. And Saul had a front row seat to that. And he saw the impact he had when he went down.
I do imagine that they have had long conversations of like, if we're going to take a non-premium position, should we go with Sonny Stiles? and then circle back later in the draft and get some sort of playmaker for offense. But do we have enough in the running back room to just last us this year? Obviously, Jeremiah Love's an excellent player.
But I do think you could talk yourself out of it pretty easily when you look at the defensive roster. You have a defensive head coach, and you have a guy who could just be what I've been told, and you watch his highlights, and you watch him play during the season. I mean, physically, he's got to be one of the better linebacker prospects of the internet era.
And there have been some great linebackers. I mean, Luke Keekly was the eighth overall pick. Roquan Smith was the eighth overall pick. So we have seen some middle linebackers go relatively high recently. And I was told flat out, like, this guy's a better prospect than them. Doesn't mean he's going to be a better player, but he's a better... 6'5", 4'4". He's like CEO character.
I do think the Titans can go with Sonny Styles. Because everyone's telling me they're going to take Jeremiah Love. When everyone's telling you something, sometimes just go the other way. And it's not like Sonny Styles is not viewed as one of the best players in this draft. Definitely his upside is, you know, sky high.
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