DRAFT NEWS

As the leaves begin to turn, we are getting a better sense of the quality and depth of the upperclassmen who are likely to populate the top of NFL draft boards next April. To say the QBs have under-performed would qualify as an understatement at this point in the season. Only Carson Beck has played like a first round draft pick through the first third of the season.

It is a very rare occurrence that a kicker gets drafted before the third day of the NFL Draft – the last kicker to get drafted on the second day of the draft was Michigan kicker Jake Moody who went to the 49ers with pick #99 in the third round of the 2023 NFL Draft. No kicker or punter is projected to earn a Top 100 grade next spring although there may be as many as five specialists who earn a draftable grade for the 2026 NFL Draft.

Safety is a position that is often overlooked and undervalued in the NFL. NFL GMs tend to place the highest priority in the NFL Draft on QB, OT, WR, EDGE, IDL, and CB. In other words, positions that either support the QB or positions that directly attempt to stop the QB typically take priority early in a draft for an NFL squad. Saturday selections (rounds 4-7) are generally used on RBs, TEs, IOL, LB, Safeties, Kickers, and Punters. But the 2026 Safety class looks to potential

Last year at this time, the 2025 CB class had three outstanding prospects – Travis Hunter (Colorado), Will Johnson (Michigan), and Benjamin Morrison – that were considered potential Top 10 picks. Injuries suffered by Johnson and Morrison caused them to fall in last April’s draft but all three players remain top prospects. The 2026 CB class looks to have plenty of depth but there are no prospects that rank nearly as high as Hunter, who was drafted second overall by the Jaguars

From the vantage point of mid-August, the 2026 LB class may be one of the better classes to enter the NFL in the last decade with as many as a half dozen off the ball and inside LBs grading out as first-round picks, and that is not including Suntarine Perkins (Ole Miss) and Harold Perkins (LSU), who’s best skills are rushing the passer but project as LBs on early run downs in the NFL due to size concerns. Unfortunately for these athletes, the NFL Draft values LBs less than th

The quality of the 2026 defensive tackles and 5Ts (3-4 DE) pales in comparison to the prospects that NFL teams hauled from last year’s draft. There is neither the top end quality nor the depth that characterized the 2025 IDL class. But that does not mean there are not any IDL that look like potential starters or important depth pieces in the NFL next year. There is likely to be two or three IDL who will be selected in the first-round of the 2026 NFL Draft.

The 2026 Edge Rusher class looks to be on par with last year’s class, if not even slightly better, although there does not figure to be any prospects that are likely to grade out as highly as Penn State’s Abdul Carter (Giants). However, as many as a half dozen prospects could earn first round grades by the time the 2026 NFL Draft rolls around next April and the depth should provide NFL contributors even late on day three and into free agency.

The 2025 NFL Draft provided a deep and talented class of prospects that should provide several long-term NFL starters including Grey Zabel (Seattle), Donovan Jackson (Minnesota), Tyler Booker (Dallas), and Tate Ratledge (Detroit). The potential top center (OC) and guard (OG) prospects available next April may not be quite up to the level of the 2025 class.

The potential top OT prospects look to be similar in quality to last year’s class and should provide NFL teams with several starting caliber OTs next April, including a couple of players projected to be elite blindside protectors in the NFL. The depth at OT should provide teams with potential starters available on days two and three of the draft next spring. This class is stocked with big and long levered OTs who check the boxes from a physical specimen stand point.

The 2025 NFL Draft offered one of the best and deepest groups of TEs to enter the league in memory as Colston Loveland (Chicago) and Tyler Warren (Indianapolis) were selected in the first round and twelve were drafted across seven rounds. The prospective top TEs available for next April’s draft may not offer a single player who grades out as a first-round pick. But several prospects look like eventual NFL starters or at least as quality backup TEs.

The majority of the top WR prospects in college football this season figure to be sophomores who only left high school prior to the 2024 season and are therefore not available this next April. Jeremiah Smith (Ohio State), Ryan Williams (Alabama), Cam Coleman (Auburn), TJ Moore and Bryant Wesco (Clemson), Ryan Wingo (Texas), and Nick Marsh (Michigan State) are all potential first round picks, but no sooner than the 2027 NFL Draft.

After a down year for the QB position in the NFL Draft, the prospective top upper classmen signal callers could be a bounce back class that delivers several potential franchise QBs to NFL teams in need next April. Although there is no clear-cut leader in this class, there are several prospects that have the combination of physical tools, mental makeup, and game experience to be drafted first overall next year.

Saturday (Day 3) of the NFL Draft is where a team builds depth, selects their kickers and punters (and hey, even a long snapper!), and sometimes even finds a diamond in the rough.

Shedeur Sanders has fallen out of the first three rounds of the 2025 NFL Draft. How far will he wall down the draft board and how many other QBs go before him (McCord, Leonard, Howard)? Saturday's draft is drama packed!

The Seahawks traded picks #52 (second round) and #83 (third round) for the right to draft Emmanwori, a huge and physical ball hawk who tackles like a LB and catches the ball like a TE. He becomes a natural successor to the Kam Chancellor-era safeties of a decade or so ago in Seattle.

Night one of the 2025 NFL Draft concluded with the shocking (to some) fall out of the first round of Shedeur Sanders. The Colorado Buffaloes QB had an inconsistent post season where his interviews left many teams frustrated with his maturity level and his game film left many scouts scratching their heads. Sanders' processing is very slow and he typically waits for the receiver to break open before throwing the ball - and that just does not work at the NFL level. So, where doe

The Jags deal up to get the second pick in the draft. But the cost was steep - pick #5, a second round pick (#36), a fourth round pick (#126), and a 2026 first round pick for the second pick, a fourth rounder (#104), and a sixth round pick (#200). Jacksonville uses the second selection on Travis Hunter, the Heisman Trophy winner who will try to play offense and defense in the NFL.

Draft Day is here! After evaluating hundreds of prospects over the last eight months, conducting mock drafts, ranking prospects, and assessing teams needs, all of this effort begins to payoff as the seven round, 257 pick draft kickoffs tonight at 8 ET from Green Bay, Wisconsin. Let’s take a look at what to expect this weekend as the NFL welcomes a new class of prospects into the ranks.

SNS presents the final mock draft in the run up to the 2025 NFL Draft, that kickoffs Thursday evening in Green Bay, Wisconsin. This mock takes a crack at predicting how the 32 teams use their 257 combined picks over three days and seven rounds. SNS utilized the Comprehensive Eligibility Tracking (CET) database, NFL Teams Needs reports, and the SNS Big Board 300 (ALL AVAILABLE HERE AT SNS!) to conduct this simulated draft.

The SNS 2025 BIG BOARD 300 is the final rankings of the best 300 draft-worthy prospects available in this weekend's draft, which will select 257 prospects in seven rounds over the three-day event.