Bailey is the consensus top pass rusher. Behind him, a dozen prospects who could develop into NFL starters. Teams picking in the second and third rounds have real options.
The edge rusher class in the 2026 NFL Draft is drawing more attention from scouts than it has in previous years, partly because of its depth and partly because of how the position has evolved at the NFL level over the past two seasons. Texas Tech's David Bailey is the consensus top edge rusher in the class and a candidate to go in the top five picks overall. His athletic profile — 4.50 40 time, exceptional first step, fluid hips in change-of-direction work — translates to the kind of every-down pass rusher that championship-caliber defenses are built around. The question scouts have been asking isn't whether Bailey can be a starter; it's whether he can be an anchor, the kind of player who makes the players around him better through the threat he creates.
Mendoza goes first overall and that part is settled. What happens after him — and what a GM said Thursday evening that stuck with me.
A few things I've been thinking about as the combine wraps up in Indianapolis this week. The quarterback class is thin. I don't mean thin in the way that draft analysts use as shorthand for "no generational talent at the top." I mean thin in a structural way — there are fewer quarterbacks who can step into a starting role in year one without significant protection around them than there have been in any class I can remember covering over the past decade. That has real implications for roughly a third of the league.
The consensus top tackle has a lazy kick-slide that will get him killed at the next level. The center out of Iowa State is invisible and will be a ten-year starter.
Everyone is talking about the quarterbacks at this combine. Fine. Let them talk. I'm looking at the offensive linemen, and what I'm seeing is more interesting than anything happening at the quarterback podiums.
A 245-pound linebacker leaping out of the gym in Indianapolis. Stop what you're doing and understand what you just watched.
Here's the thing about watching Sonny Styles post a 43.5-inch vertical jump. You see a number, and then you think about what the number means, and then it takes a moment before it actually registers. That's the highest vertical jump by any player 6-foot-4 or taller since 2003. He is a linebacker. He weighs 245 pounds.
Texas receiver Matthew Golden ran the fastest 40 of the week. Michigan tight end Colston Loveland's positional work was a reminder of why his grade is what it is.
The 2026 NFL Scouting Combine moved to its skill-position evaluation days Saturday, and the group of wide receivers, tight ends, and defensive backs who took the field in Indianapolis delivered enough standout performances to reshape at least a handful of draft boards by the time the day concluded. Texas's Matthew Golden ran the 40 in 4.29 seconds at 6-feet, 185 pounds — the kind of number that makes teams who didn't have him in their top-10 receiver groupings reconsider the math. Golden had a quiet regular season by raw stat standards, but scouts who spent time on his film came away convinced the production didn't reflect the ability. Saturday gave those evaluations a data point that will be difficult to ignore.
Three franchise tag situations, three different levels of urgency. The decisions made before Tuesday afternoon will shape how the March 11 market opens.
The NFL franchise tag window closes Tuesday at 4 p.m. ET, and the decisions that organizations make — or don't make — in the next 72 hours will define how the March 11 free agency period opens. Philadelphia's situation with A.J. Brown remains the most-watched. Multiple outlets reported Saturday that the Eagles have not yet initiated meaningful extension discussions with Brown's camp, which makes a tag increasingly likely if the team wants to retain any control over his immediate future. The alternative — letting him hit open market — would remove a player from the roster who had 67 catches for 1,020 yards last season despite what multiple league sources described as a deteriorating relationship with the organization. Whatever happens Tuesday, it will carry consequences.
Mendoza goes first. The rest of the class is thinner than teams with quarterback questions would prefer. That gap will reshape the trade market.
The 2026 NFL Draft quarterback class is being described as thin — and thin at the top specifically — in ways that will have real consequences for organizations that enter April without a solution at the position. Indiana's Fernando Mendoza is the consensus top quarterback in the class after leading the Hoosiers to an undefeated season and a national championship. His combine week has been measured and professional — no splashy throwing session numbers, no moments that will be replayed on highlight reels — which is typically what you want from a player who already has consensus first-overall support. The Texans hold the first pick and have been publicly noncommittal, which is standard operating procedure for teams in their position. Mendoza goes first unless something unusual happens between now and April.
The $15.5M cap increase created the conditions for the most active free agent period in three years. The teams best positioned to buy, and the ones most constrained.
The NFL salary cap for 2026 has been set at $277.5 million per team, a $15.5 million increase from 2025's number. That increase, combined with the contracts that expired after last season, has created the conditions for what several team salary-cap experts are projecting to be the most active free-agent period in three years. Twenty-three teams currently have more than $40 million in available cap space, which is a meaningful number. For context, the most coveted free agents at positions of scarcity — quarterback, pass rusher, cornerback — will command annual values in the $30 to $50 million range. Teams that enter free agency with multiple roster holes and limited cap space will be competing for the players left after the first wave of signings, which is rarely the most efficient way to build.
While the broadcast focused on skill positions, five men up front executed at a level that made everything else possible.
The national conversation after Philadelphia's postseason run was about the quarterback. It always is. Jalen Hurts this, Jalen Hurts that. The man is a fine player. But if you think Jalen Hurts is why Philadelphia won, you haven't watched the tape. Watch the tape.
The second-year quarterback plays with a poise that's hard to teach — and an offensive line that's finally giving him the time to show it.
Here's the thing about Jayden Daniels that gets lost in all the analytical conversation: the kid plays football like he enjoys it. That sounds simple. It isn't. The NFL has a way of taking the joy out of young quarterbacks. The system gets more complicated. Defenses get better at what they've studied about you. The mistakes get more expensive. For a lot of young quarterbacks, the first couple of years are about survival — about not getting killed physically and not getting killed mentally. You see them out there running for their professional lives.
Ohio State's Sonny Styles posted the highest vertical by a 6-4+ player since 2003. Texas Tech's David Bailey confirmed his top-three standing. The defensive class is deep.
The 2026 NFL Scouting Combine in Indianapolis wrapped its defensive line and linebacker workout day Thursday, and a handful of prospects left Lucas Oil Stadium having answered every question scouts had brought with them. Ohio State linebacker Sonny Styles posted a 43.5-inch vertical jump — the highest recorded by any player standing 6-foot-4 or taller since 2003. That's not a number that gets dismissed. Styles entered the week already projected in the first round; he left it having removed whatever physical doubt remained. At 6-4, 245 pounds, he has the frame to match up against tight ends in coverage and the athleticism to blitz off the edge. Programs don't produce linebackers with this combination of size and explosion every cycle.
Philadelphia's relationship with its best receiver is strained. Atlanta tagged Pitts. Dallas faces a decision on Pickens. Four days to sort it out.
The NFL franchise tag deadline is Tuesday, March 3, and the decisions teams make in the next four days will shape the roster landscape heading into free agency on March 11. Several situations are unresolved enough to warrant real attention. Atlanta applied the tag to tight end Kyle Pitts on February 23, which was the first notable move of the window. That decision reflects a team that still believes in Pitts's ceiling even after seasons in which the production hasn't consistently matched the draft capital invested. The tag number for tight end is manageable relative to other positions; Atlanta is buying time to either work out a long-term deal or see what Pitts does in a contract year.
93 catches, 1,429 yards, nine touchdowns. The receiver proved he belongs. The contract question is still unresolved before Tuesday's tag deadline.
George Pickens arrived in Dallas last offseason after the trade from Pittsburgh, and what happened next was not a small thing. Ninety-three catches. Fourteen hundred and twenty-nine yards. Nine touchdowns. A legitimate No. 1 receiver performing like one. The question Dallas faces right now — with the franchise tag deadline on Tuesday and free agency opening March 11 — is how to keep that production without overpaying for it in a way that limits what they can do elsewhere on the roster. The franchise tag for receivers this year sits near $28 million. That's a number Dallas can write, but it's also a number that doesn't solve the underlying problem: Pickens will want a long-term deal, and if Tuesday passes without one, he becomes a player playing out a tag year with everything on the line.
A.J. Brown leads the list, but the more interesting cases are the ones without the headlines — players in the wrong system, waiting for a front office to notice.
Every offseason produces a short list of players where the math is obvious: the current situation isn't working, another team would use them correctly, and a change of address would benefit everyone. This offseason has several names that fit that profile cleanly. The A.J. Brown situation in Philadelphia has been covered for its drama, but strip that away and what remains is a football question. Brown is one of the better wide receivers in the sport. The Eagles, navigating a post-championship identity with a new offensive coordinator coming in, may not be the right environment for a player entering a contract year who needs stability and a clear role definition. Buffalo, running an offense that prioritizes big-play receivers and quarterback comfort, has been mentioned as a logical landing spot. The football fit is there.
A coaching change, a quarterback in question, and an offensive line that needs rebuilding — the offseason story in Dallas starts up front.
A few things worth thinking through as the NFL offseason begins to take shape. The first is this: the coaching change in Dallas was coming. Everyone in the league knew it. The front office knew it. The people I talked to before the season started knew it. When you bring in a new head coach — particularly one being handed a roster that is, in many ways, still being built around a quarterback who may have already played his best football — you're making a statement about organizational patience. Dallas isn't a patient franchise by nature. They never have been.