April 19, 2026
Stan Szeto/Imagn Images
Notre Dame RB Jeremiyah Love: Great player, but a luxury that teams like the Giants and Commanders should steer clear of.
Each week during the NFL regular season we lay out a rooting guide for non-Eagles games on the schedule. Let's do some version of that for the 2026 NFL Draft, shall we?
I believe that the Eagles ideally want to select an offensive lineman or edge defender with their first-round pick, as long as the value of the player is right. They prioritize the trenches, they're both need areas, and there's a decent number of first-round trench prospects.
The following is a list of offensive linemen and edge rushers, and their placement on The Athletic's "consensus big board," which combines rankings from a wide range of NFL Draft experts:
2) EDGE Arvell Reese, Ohio State
4) EDGE David Bailey, Texas Tech
8) EDGE Reuben Bain, Miami
10) OT Francis Mauigoa, Miami
11) OT Spencer Fano, Utah
12) iOL Olaivavega Ioane, Penn State
16) OT Monroe Freeling, Georgia
17) EDGE Keldric Faulk, Auburn
20) OT Kadyn Proctor, Alabama
22) EDGE Akheem Mesidor, Miami
25) OT Caleb Lomu, Utah
30) OT Blake Miller, Clemson
32) EDGE Zion Young, Missouri
33) EDGE Cashius Howell, Texas A&M
34) EDGE T.J. Parker, Clemson
37) OT Max Iheanachor, Arizona State
So, you know, there are a lot of them. The more players who come off the board who don't play in the trenches, the better. That means quarterbacks, running backs, tight ends, cornerbacks, off-ball linebackers, and safeties.
As a disclaimer, I am aware that many of my readers would like to see the team select a safety that they like in the first round, or perhaps TE Kenyon Sadiq. However, there's very little evidence to suggest the Eagles highly value those positions, and as such they are unlikely to select them in the first round, even if available at a perceived decent value. In other words, you can root for safeties to fall to the Eagles all you want, but ultimately that's not what is best for the team since they're very likely not drafting those positions anyway.
The one position that would not be ideal for the Eagles in Round 1 — but also wouldn't be the best thing if a ton of them come off the board — is receiver. The Eagles feel somewhat likely to select a receiver on Day 2, and it's best if the cupboard isn't bare by the time they're picking in Rounds 2 and 3.
The Giants have pick No. 5 in the 2026 draft. It is seventh (!) time in nine drafts that their original first-round pick is a top-six pick.
• 2026: 5
• 2025: 3
• 2024: 6
• 2023: 25
• 2022: 5
• 2021: 11
• 2020: 4
• 2019: 6
• 2018: 2
You'd think that with so many bites at the apple at the top of the draft they'd be a good team by now, but, nope.
They also traded star DT Dexter Lawrence to the Bengals for the No. 10 overall pick. That makes them a worse team in the short-term, but the No. 10 overall pick was an asset far too good to turn down for a team that is not ready to seriously contend for a Super Bowl.
What the Giants do have is a collection of talented edge rushers, with Brian Burns, Abdul Carter, and Kayvon Thibodeaux. They also added off-ball LB Tremaine Edmunds in free agency. But with Lawrence moving on, they have nothing in the middle of their defensive line, and there aren't any interior defensive linemen worth selecting in Round 1.
The Giants would be smart to parlay one of their top 10 picks into more picks either this year or next. Ideally (for them), they could trade back from pick 5. The three most likely "best players available" at that spot are LB Sonny Styles, RB Jeremiyah Love, and S Caleb Downs. They're all great prospects, but all play positions of lesser importance.
The funniest pick, in my opinion, would be if they selected Notre Dame RB Jeremiyah Love, especially after Joe Schoen is very much on the record for an entire season of Hard Knocks adamantly saying that running backs aren't valuable. A selection of Love would indicate (or confirm?) that John Harbaugh is effectively the team's GM, not Schoen.
With pick No. 10, early speculation is that the Giants like Arizona State WR Jordyn Tyson. Though I think Tyson would be a good pick, at, say, 23, I think it would be nuts to select a player with Tyson's injury history in the top 10.
The Commanders have pick No. 7. They do not have second- or fourth-round picks because of all the dumb trades for aging vets that they made last offseason. Because of the Commanders' woeful 2025 season, that second-round pick ended up being 38th overall. Oops!
Personally, I hated what this team did in free agency, overpaying a bunch of defensive players who are not three-down guys. In my view, their horrendous 2025 defense is far from fixed.
If Jeremiyah Love were to fall to pick 7, the Commanders could be tempted to select him. Love would give Washington the best chance of being better immediately, in 2026. However, selecting Love would also continue this front office's repeated mistake of going all-in with a flawed roster, when their focus should have been building long-term.
There should be plenty of very good defensive prospects available at pick 7, and it would be unwise to select a running back there when they don't pick again until Round 3.
The Cowboys have two first-round picks — their own at pick 12, and a pick from the Packers via Micah Parsons trade at 20. Like the Commanders above, the Cowboys had an atrocious defense in 2025.
There has been a lot of buzz leading up to the draft that the Cowboys could package picks 12 and 20 to move up for uber-athletic off-ball linebacker Sonny Styles. Should they go that route, it would be funny to me that they will have traded Micah Parsons for a couple of first-round picks only to trade a couple of first-round picks for an unproven player at a less important position.
We'll see!
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