NFL Draft 2026: Defensive End Class

[WNY_FOOTBALL_DUDE]

I am back. I have been following College Hoops.

Rankings

FIRST ROUND
1. David Bailey, Texas Tech
2. Rueben Bain, Miami of Florida
3. Keldrick Faulk, Auburn
4. Akheem Mesidor, Miami of Florida
5. T.J Parker, Clemson

SECOND ROUND
6. Cashius Howell, Texas A&M
7. Zion Young, Missouri
8. Malachi Lawrence, UCF
9. R, Mason Thomas, Oklahoma
10. Gabe Jacas, Illinois
11. Derrick Moore, Michigan

THIRD ROUND
12. Dani Dennis-Sutton, Penn State
13. Romello Height, Texas Tech
14. Joshua Josephs, Tennessee
15. L.T Overton, Alabama
16. Keyron Crawford, Auburn

 

[Clayton]

1. Bailey
2. Bain

3. Faulk

4. Lawrence
5. R Mason
6. Howell
7. Moore

8. Mesidor

9. Parker
10. Young
11. Jacas
12. Dennis Sutton


That's kinda my guess. Dennis Sutton is a heck of an athlete so maybe that upside still puts him rd2. Hard to get a read on Parker because Clemson seems to have had issues with their top talent. Young will be a great Robin but not a Batman.

Mesidor is older with a ton of finesse moves. 4-7 will be able to pass rush. Not sure about rush D.

Faulk has more upside as a rusher than Young i think. Youre betting on the guy and not the film because Auburn wanted him to be a run defender.

 

[Lake Shore Drive]

1. Bailey
2. Bain

3. Faulk

4. Lawrence
5. R Mason
6. Howell
7. Moore

8. Mesidor

9. Parker
10. Young
11. Jacas
12. Dennis Sutton

I like the way you separated the players, not by round but by talent/impact level. A bit concerned about Faulk's ranking. He had a decent, but not outstanding season at Auburn, with only 2 sacks and a middle of the road pass rush win rate. Still, he seems to be highly regarded in a number of sites, so who am I to cast dispersions.

Kinda feel bad for Mesidor. He actually had a super productive year at Miami, stats that would normally make him a for-sure 1st round target, but his age will probably push him into the 2nd round.

 

[Clayton]

I like the way you separated the players, not by round but by talent/impact level. A bit concerned about Faulk's ranking. He had a decent, but not outstanding season at Auburn, with only 2 sacks and a middle of the road pass rush win rate. Still, he seems to be highly regarded in a number of sites, so who am I to cast dispersions.

Kinda feel bad for Mesidor. He actually had a super productive year at Miami, stats that would normally make him a for-sure 1st round target, but his age will probably push him into the 2nd round.

Mesidor seems to be projected as a top 20 pick. I just think the track record on much older trench players suggests rd3 or so usually but Mesidor will go higher than that because Taylor coached him up really well at Miami.

I think im lower on him than consensus

 

[Iggloo]

This is one of the Eagles' biggest positions of need at this stage in the offseason. I think they are likely to go edge in the first two rounds, top 3 rounds at the latest, and they have the Jets pick near the top of the 3rd.

Guys I like in the second round range include Malachi Lawrence, Gabe Jacas and Zion Young.

Mesidor has most everything the Eagles would want from an edge prospect under Fangio, including the ability to play some edge run defense. But his age is a big turnoff and historically the kind of thing that would take him off Howie's board. Philly tends to draft younger prospects, though they did take older DT Ty Robinson from Nebraska in the 4th last year. He...didn't contribute much as a rookie despite being older, so maybe that is a reminder to pass on these older guys in their 20s who excel in college against younger competition.

 

[Clayton]

To put Arvell Reese's hype into perspective, here is Zierleins draft grades and draft comps:

Arvell Reese 7.04
David Bailey 6.78 (Nik Bonitto)
Rueben Bain Jr 6.70 (Brandon Graham)
Keldric Faulk 6.43 (Carlos Dunlap)
Ahkeem Mesidor 6.41 (Jon Greenard)
Zion Young 6.40 (Za'darius Smith)
Cashius Howell 6.38 (Will McDonald)
Gabe Jacas 6.33 (Matthew Judon)
Malachi Lawrence 6.33 (Josh Sweat)
Derrick Moore 6.30 (Yaya Diaby)
TJ Parker 6.29
R Mason Thomas 6.28 (Dee Ford)
Dani Dennis-Sutton 6.18 (Kingsley Enagbare)

 

[shopson67]

1. Bailey
2. Bain

3. Faulk

4. Lawrence
5. R Mason
6. Howell
7. Moore

8. Mesidor

9. Parker
10. Young
11. Jacas
12. Dennis Sutton


That's kinda my guess. Dennis Sutton is a heck of an athlete so maybe that upside still puts him rd2. Hard to get a read on Parker because Clemson seems to have had issues with their top talent. Young will be a great Robin but not a Batman.

Mesidor is older with a ton of finesse moves. 4-7 will be able to pass rush. Not sure about rush D.

Faulk has more upside as a rusher than Young i think. Youre betting on the guy and not the film because Auburn wanted him to be a run defender.

Depends on what you need. Faulk is all run d and might be a DT IMHO, but is very young. Bain seems like the clear #1 to me as the best combo of pass rush and run defense. 2nd comes down to Bailey and Mesidor (Bailey's run d is questionable, but Mesidor is overaged). I like Parker and Moore next, with plenty of DPR types (3rd down pass rushers that don't stop the run) in this draft, which makes Josh Josephs interesting as a surprisingly decent run defender despite his size.

I can't wait until we clear all these COVID year overaged prospects, those extra years really cloud these evaluations. Are some of these guys succeeding just because they're adults, more experienced and physically developed than the guys they're playing against?

 

[shopson67]

There needs to be some delineation between the 4-3 DEs and the 3-4 OLBs in these Edge rankings too. I am not qualified lol, but as a fan of two teams running 3-4s, it's helpful to identify the guys that will have a hand in the dirt vs the stand up rushers. This class seems to be blurred a bit.

 

[Clayton]

There needs to be some delineation between the 4-3 DEs and the 3-4 OLBs in these Edge rankings too. I am not qualified lol, but as a fan of two teams running 3-4s, it's helpful to identify the guys that will have a hand in the dirt vs the stand up rushers. This class seems to be blurred a bit.

Its tricky because I think a few of these guys will put on some weight and be a typical 4-3 DE and a few will stay at their weight and be 3-4 OLB.

I think for sure Bain is a 4-3 DE. R Mason Thomas is for sure a 3-4 OLB. To me the top 4 picks of the draft should be Mendoza, Reese, Bain and Bailey. I kinda get scheme mattering there a bit but there is a gap there after these guys are off the board or at the very least all top 6.

 

[Xeliou66]

It looks like a decent draft for edge rushers - I bet Bain and Bailey go very high, Mesidor and Faulk I’m sure will go round 1 and possibly Parker/Howell go round 1 as well.
I wonder if my Falcons will take an edge guy/DE at some point - it wouldn’t be a need if Pearce hadn’t been a moron and gotten arrested, but given that his future is uncertain we could use an extra guy there. I think our biggest need is WR but if there’s a defensive guy we like who’s available with our first pick at #48 we might take them.

 

[Lake Shore Drive]

Mesidor has most everything the Eagles would want from an edge prospect under Fangio, including the ability to play some edge run defense. But his age is a big turnoff and historically the kind of thing that would take him off Howie's board.

This is why I'm guessing he might not get picked in the 1st round. I'm sure no scouting dept is questioning his talent or production. Yet I can picture where each GM is on the clock and they're staring at that age 25 without him having faced an NFL offense, then saying "let's see if he's still around in the 2nd, we can snatch him there."

 

[Southieinnc]

so who am I to cast dispersions.

The correct phrase is "cast aspersions."

 

[Iggloo]

To put Arvell Reese's hype into perspective, here is Zierleins draft grades and draft comps:

Arvell Reese 7.04
David Bailey 6.78 (Nik Bonitto)
Rueben Bain Jr 6.70 (Brandon Graham)
Keldric Faulk 6.43 (Carlos Dunlap)
Ahkeem Mesidor 6.41 (Jon Greenard)
Zion Young 6.40 (Za'darius Smith)
Cashius Howell 6.38 (Will McDonald)
Gabe Jacas 6.33 (Matthew Judon)
Malachi Lawrence 6.33 (Josh Sweat)
Derrick Moore 6.30 (Yaya Diaby)
TJ Parker 6.29
R Mason Thomas 6.28 (Dee Ford)
Dani Dennis-Sutton 6.18 (Kingsley Enagbare)

I like the overall depth at edge, I hope Philly can get a good one beyond the first round.

 

[PDay8810]

The correct phrase is "cast aspersions."

this is why I tune in

 

[jarntt]

I am back. I have been following College Hoops.

Rankings

FIRST ROUND
1. David Bailey, Texas Tech
2. Rueben Bain, Miami of Florida
3. Keldrick Faulk, Auburn
4. Akheem Mesidor, Miami of Florida
5. T.J Parker, Clemson

SECOND ROUND
6. Cashius Howell, Texas A&M
7. Zion Young, Missouri
8. Malachi Lawrence, UCF
9. R, Mason Thomas, Oklahoma
10. Gabe Jacas, Illinois
11. Derrick Moore, Michigan

THIRD ROUND
12. Dani Dennis-Sutton, Penn State
13. Romello Height, Texas Tech
14. Joshua Josephs, Tennessee
15. L.T Overton, Alabama
16. Keyron Crawford, Auburn

I think Lawrence could be a really good nickel pass rusher. Just not sure you want to play him much on early downs...

 

[Clayton]

I think Lawrence could be a really good nickel pass rusher. Just not sure you want to play him much on early downs...

Honestly thats like half of them.

 

[Iggloo]

Yeah, it looks like this draft is made up of a bunch of situational pass rushers and a bunch of guys who are OK base ends but lack elite pass rush potential. Few who look like they will be great at both run and pass defense. But...that's OK, I see a bunch of guys in the second round range with base end potential. I actually think Lawrence is one of the guys with a chance to be an all around player. There's at least some numbers at the position IMO.

 

[Clayton]

Yeah, it looks like this draft is made up of a bunch of situational pass rushers and a bunch of guys who are OK base ends but lack elite pass rush potential. Few who look like they will be great at both run and pass defense. But...that's OK, I see a bunch of guys in the second round range with base end potential. I actually think Lawrence is one of the guys with a chance to be an all around player. There's at least some numbers at the position IMO.

Yeah, I think rd2 is where most of these names should go.

Although it does beg the question as to who is going late in rd1. If the Chiefs take a WR at 9 I think they'd probably take one of the edges you like at 29.

 

[PDay8810]

Height is going to make a great day 3 pu

 

[Iggloo]

Yeah, I think rd2 is where most of these names should go.

Although it does beg the question as to who is going late in rd1. If the Chiefs take a WR at 9 I think they'd probably take one of the edges you like at 29.

Offensive line? Andy likes those dancing bear OTs.