In part two of this series, I’m going to look at players I’m not as high on as draft media appears to be. For part one, click here.
Monroe Freeling (T, Georgia)
He’s a pure pass-pro tackle and not a great run blocker. His height (6-7) means he struggles with leverage and he has a high centre of gravity. He gets beat through the chest because he can’t sink and anchor well enough.
Freeling can also get out over his toes when he gets on the move — lunging at blocks. He has a very upright blocking style.
However, he has enough athleticism to seal off the edge with his footwork. His foot-speed on the kick step is a positive. He showed he can contain Colin Simmons with his kick-step and peppering hands. That’s no small achievement.
He’s a bit of a waist bender which does see him overextend sometimes. He lunges at EDGE defenders with his arms extended too much — making him easy to counter off.
I’m worried about his blocking technique when he extends his arms — he has no balance and it hinders his base. His technique with his hand-use is better when blocking square-on
Just to look at him, he has a good offensive tackle frame and seems to have length. He needs technique work across the board and has a lot to clean up — but the body is there as is the athleticism. He could do with getting stronger and finishing more. There’s not a nasty edge to his game and he’s unlikely to set a tone up front.
I can see why a team could take him early for his pass-pro ability but he’s not a complete blocker. He’s a project with upside but there’s a lot of work needed. I can understand why he’s being mocked late in round one but for me, I just want a bit more of an edge if I’m taking a project. Let’s see how he tests because if he blows up the combine, the potential becomes a lot more tempting.
David Bailey (EDGE, Texas Tech)
He doesn’t have typical size or length for an EDGE rusher. He looks smaller and squatter than would be typically ideal. I’d also say his frame looks pretty maxed out — there’s no room to gain more weight here. He just doesn’t scream ‘elite NFL rusher’ to look at.
Bailey combines multiple moves to get away from chips/blocks. He is clearly productive but in unconventional ways. He drives wide of the tackle before engaging, rather than trying to bend/straighten. He takes very wide angles to run around tackles and I’m not sure at the next level this will work.
He never wins with pure get-off and then just bend and explosion to the quarterback. He can dip under attempted blocks nicely and tackles need to engage him or he will slip them.
He bullied Oregon’s Isaiah World at times but I’m tempted to say who doesn’t?
Bailey uses a spin-move as an effective counter to escape blockers. He can push back tackles when he gets into their chest and gains pad level. You also see him be controlled and dumped when tackles get into his frame.
His run defense grade was good (81.5) in 2025 but I wonder about his anchor power and ability to transfer this to the next level. Only Rueben Bain had more pressures than Bailey’s 81.
I kind of get the feeling this could go either way for him. What is his testing performance to reveal his upside? It’s easier to live with the way he plays/wins if there’s massive physical upside here. If he isn’t a great tester — is he just a very solid, very productive college rusher?
A challenging evaluation — I’m worried he might be average at the next level. I’m not sure why he’s being talked about like a top-five lock. Draft media loved Dallas Turner and I never saw what the fuss was about. I’m getting a similar vibe here, even though they are different types of player.
Rueben Bain Jr (DE, Miami)
He has short-arms (30-31 inches) at 270lbs on a stocky 6-2/6-3 frame. This is not ideal. First and foremost you have to ask — how many players in the league succeed looking like this? Is Bain so unique that he’s an outlier? Or do we need to embrace the reality of what he is?
It’s very difficult to place him in a NFL context and it’s why there’s talk of day two grades and needing to play inside/out. He reminds me of AJ Epenesa, Boogie Basham and Myles Murphy — all players heaped with praise in draft media but didn’t have the physical profile to succeed at a high level in the NFL.
He struggles to get off certain blocks due to his lack of length and can’t hold off blockers or rip through. His game is based on power. When he squares up against tackles and it’s a battle of power — he can be the bully and he looks physically impressive. He has forceful hands and can really control blockers. There’s tape where he delivers a crushing blow to the chest to jolt tackles off balance. He can work off this and has enough agility to capitalise.
Bain doesn’t show much in the way of a counter when his initial plan fails. He’s also not a hair-on-fire stomper to the sideline to chase down ball-carriers.
He does show occasional bend for his size but is he twitchy? Not really. He is not a sudden player with amazing get-off or chase-down speed. I wouldn’t expect great testing numbers. Yet he did have big games in big moments (eg Ohio State). He tended to jump off the screen in some games and be fairly anonymous in others.
I fear he’s going to be the next ‘great in college, not great in the NFL’ type. Again — when you look at his body, do you see a brilliant NFL rusher? I don’t. I see a player who is going to struggle to find a permanent position.
Zion Young (DE, Missouri)
I think Young is a challenging evaluation. There are a lot of positives in terms of his power and maniacal playing style. Yet there are physical limitations and things that need checking out too.
For starters, he was recently arrested on suspicion of DWI and speeding. His coach at Missouri said it was disappointing given he was a team captain. That’s stupid enough at the best of times but to do it weeks before the NFL draft process begins? Come on.
Secondly, he has a quirky personality. Listening to his interviews, he might not be for everyone. I can’t tell how he’d be received. Is he too much, or is he going to fire everyone up?
Finally, his speed. He was only the 21st fastest defensive lineman at the Senior Bowl, running 15.04mph. That was slower than defensive tackles Darrell Jackson and Rayshayn Benny, plus five-tech LT Overton. It doesn’t bode well for a particularly dynamic 10-yard split.
Yet on tape, including in Mobile, the more I watched of him the more explosive he appeared to be. He just looks like he can play in the NFL. He’s very disruptive with a motor that keeps churning.
He’s not going to win consistently with a bend/straighten and he’s more power based. He’s not twitchy and fast bending the arc but he has shown sharpness stunting inside. His inside counter can be deadly. He plays with a ‘bull in a china shop’ approach to rushing the passer.
He stalks quarterbacks like a predator when he gets a free run to them. Nobody can deny he plays like he loves the game. He will run through your chest if you give him a chance.
I’d like to see him work inside and attack the outside shoulder of the guard. Tight ends will not be able to match-up to him in the running game. His run defense grade was a very good 86.6 in 2025. He’s most effective creating pressure when he tries to run through, not around, blockers.
I’m not sure he’s going to test well enough to justify all the first round placings in mock drafts. There’s something here — but his upside is to be determined and you’ll need to check out what happened with that DWI.
Cashius Howell (EDGE, Texas A&M)
Let’s start with the positive. He could be a quicker Yannick Ngakoue. If that proves true, great. Ngakoue had 70.5 NFL sacks.
However, that’s a best case scenario. And even then, Ngakoue bounced around eight different teams in his career because he was more of a situational rusher than someone who could play all of the time.
Howell is similarly undersized with a genuine lack of length. He’s athletic enough to avoid college tackles and he’s a high effort player. He needs to win with quickness though. His hand-use is non-existent and he lacks power. He will try to avoid contact rather than engage and rip through.
There is very little chance he will win with speed-to-power at the next level.
He feels one-dimensional and I’m not sure he’s athletic enough to warrant rolling the dice in round one like some are suggesting. Can he stay on the field? He could be a liability vs the run in the NFL. Is he really going to be able to set an edge?
Back to the positives. He can catch tackles on their heels with his quickness. He’s developed a euro-step move to beat tackles. He can sprint to the edge and dip around contact. Yet he doesn’t really have a counter when his initial plan stalls, he doesn’t drop into coverage with ease and can you live with one big shove ending a lot of his pass rush attempts?
Like Ngakoue he might be a player who collects sacks winning isolated reps but his overall impact is a net-negative as an every-down player.
I think draft media is starting to get a bit carried away talking about this EDGE class. There are a lot of names, sure. But that doesn’t necessarily mean there’s a lot of quality. Players are getting pumped up in a weak overall class. We need to be realistic about what these players are — and in some cases, aren’t.
Lee Hunter (DT, Texas Tech)
I was pretty surprised at the rave reviews Hunter got at the Senior Bowl. I felt like I was watching a different player. There were too many reps where he was upright and either stalled or controlled. Beau Stephens served him dinner on one 1v1 at the end of a practise that found its way all over the internet. What was I missing?
He’s definitely athletic in a surprising way. By that I mean his frame is unappealing and a bit sloppy. You expect a power player to look at him but he’s a quickness player.
Hunter has surprising shiftiness and an ability to dodge blocks to penetrate. He will sift down the line to get a feel for the blocks then slip through gaps. When he gets a sniff of a gap he’ll shoot through it. He also displays a good arm/over move.
But again, he is way too upright in his stance and gets easily blocked when it happens. He’s also not a bully versus the run which for a player looking like he does is a turn off. He doesn’t take the game to the opponent with violent hands. He’s more of a scrapper when engaged. There are reps where he pushes the pocket but you’d like to see it more often.
His lateral agility is lacking and he’s more about straight-line quickness
I worry about the frame and the look and question whether the quickness translates? Will he do a good enough job with the harder parts of playing defensive tackle to thrive? Can he anchor down? Can he drive through leverage to push the pocket? Can he absorb double teams?
Or is he a gap-shooter with an untypical frame for that type of player?
He only had five sacks in four seasons in college. Last year on a successful Texas Tech defense he only ranked 34th among defensive tackles for pressures in 2025 (26).
He’s the kind of player on day two who is worth a shot. The first round talk is too rich for me.
Emmanuel McNeil-Warren (S, Toledo)
Firstly, per Tony Pauline: “Sources from Toledo said McNeil-Warren purposely skipped the Senior Bowl fearing his lack of speed would be exposed.”
Let’s see if he runs at the combine. I would suggest if he doesn’t, that would go some way towards confirming this report — which hasn’t been denied to my knowledge.
Players from Toledo over the last two years have used Mobile to propel their stock. Quinyon Mitchell ended up being a first round pick in 2024, while Darius Alexander secured a high third-round placing last year. It therefore doesn’t make sense that McNeil-Warren wouldn’t attend.
There were signs of physical limitations on tape. He seemed to play his best football in two split safety looks and there wasn’t much evidence of single high safety play. He doesn’t seem to have an amazing vertical jump based on the way he competed for the ball — but his long arms helped break up deep passes.
He’s tall and wiry. To be fair — there was evidence of him being an easy mover in transition and his backpedal is better than most players operating with his frame. There were some plays on tape where he showed range but you do wonder if the competition level helped there.
On the plus side, his read-react ability was sharp, breaking on the ball to disrupt passes. He will read the quarterback’s eyes to try and undercut routes. He identifies wheel routes and tracks with ease. He can run down the seam and stick in coverage, at least for Toledo.
He’s not an in-the-box type who is going to play up at the line and deliver a punishing hit. He’s not someone you want being faced with second level blocking from NFL linemen. He can also be a little bit hesitant to trigger downfield at times.
He missed 13 tackles in 2025 (15.5%) and bad angles are an occasional issue. He does have eight career forced fumbles.
The testing question mark is a thing now but regardless, I’m really not sure about these mocks putting him in round one.
Kenyon Sadiq (TE, Oregon)
There is talk of a legendary testing profile and he’s touted to jump a 41.5 inch vertical. Yet he has a tweener body type and doesn’t look like a typical tight end or receiver. He reminds me of a more athletic Irv Smith Jr.
Creative play-calling could make him a major target at the next level and to his credit he’s such an easy mover with the ball in his hands. He could shock second level defenders with his athleticism. He’s shown an ability to line-up in multiple positions to make plays.
His route running needs a lot of work. He did have some focus drops — six in total in 2025. His production at Oregon, playing in a successful offense, was mediocre. Why was he TE2 until 2025 if he’s a high first round pick? Is Terrance Ferguson really all that?
Everyone kept talking him up and then you’d watch Oregon and often come away thinking — what’s all the fuss about?
I’m not sure he has the length or size to excel working in-line. Is he going to be a dog in the trenches or is he strictly a big target? His blocking in the running game was hit and miss. His effort appeared inconsistent. He’ll be best blocking as a H-back, attacking gaps and contacting on the move.
On the plus side, he manages to uncover with ease and made some big plays during the season. He has big slot ability that could make him a seam dynamo. The deep red zone could be where he makes his money.
In the right offense with the right quarterback he could be a marvel. In the wrong offense you could easily see him being a wasted, luxury pick.
Fernando Mendoza (QB, Indiana)
He plays in a fantastic, prolific system that has driven Indiana to two highly successful seasons. You have to give him credit for being the quarterback for an unbeaten unexpected powerhouse. But it’s difficult to decipher how much of the system played a part here.
To say there’s a lot of back-shoulder and RPO stuff that Indiana do over and over again would be like saying it’s quite wet in the Atlantic ocean. That’s the offense. It’s not the kind of thing he’ll be able to lean on in the NFL.
Against Miami in the National Championship they ramped up the RPO and back-shoulder throws, as they did against Oregon in the regular season. The biggest wins featured an offensive system that didn’t feel particularly NFL-like.
I do think he needs to go somewhere where the system is similarly quite regimented. That seems to be his super power — execution. The Shanahan offense run by Klint Kubiak could be a good match in that regard. If it can take Jimmy Garoppolo to a Super Bowl, Mendoza can probably succeed too. You don’t typically draft those types of player #1 overall though.
I don’t think he’s a quarterback that is going to walk into a building though and lift everyone around him. He is going to need the system to be on-point and he’s going to need a supporting cast. That, currently, is not the Raiders — they have one of the worst rosters in the NFL and it could be about to get worse if they trade Maxx Crosby.
Let’s break down other positives and negatives.
He seems committed and dedicated to master the system if he’s given the chance. His arm is good (not great). The ball does carry some zip when he fires to the sideline. For all the talk of back-shoulder/RPO throws, he has also shown he can layer passes. Mendoza is also capable of touch passes +35 yards downfield.
He does have some movement skills to elude certain pressures to stay alive and he can take off and run for a first down. He is surprisingly athletic in that sense and surprises defenses at times as a runner. He has good height but could do with adding 10lbs.
Mendoza deals with blitzes well — something that will stand him in good stead early on in the NFL. He has won big games, beating big-time opponents. He clearly helped elevate Indiana to the next level. I suppose you could argue, though, that when he was at California previously he had 30 touchdowns and 16 interceptions in two seasons and they went 12-14. Without the great system and great roster, what was he?
There are occasional signs of hesitation when he locks on to his primary read. He’s not really an improv artist and he’s at his best playing with timing and rhythm. He doesn’t consistently challenge downfield with a big arm but does have a smooth delivery. There’s not a ton of progression-based quarterbacking at Indiana and he doesn’t operate under center — he will need to learn how to do this and this is an underrated issue for some quarterbacks.
His footwork needs cleaning up when he comes off his initial read too.
He’s an accurate passer by and large and a regular season QBR of 89.5 was second among college quarterbacks in 2025. His EPA was only 13th best — speaking to the situation at Indiana.
For me there’s not enough difference making traits or obvious transferable tape to feel like I could take him in round one. I think the Raiders are better off building an actual roster instead. Too many teams just end up on this treadmill of trotting out young quarterbacks who have no chance of succeeding because they’re playing on crap teams. Mendoza alone isn’t turning around the fortunes in Vegas. They should build up their trenches and overall talent level, add an experienced quarterback who can run Kubiak’s system and draft someone like Garrett Nussmeier later on.
They probably won’t do this and I fear Mendoza, once he’s outside of Curt Cignetti’s juggernaut, will find life very difficult.
I get the impression that any reasonably talented college quarterback is going to succeed at Indiana and elevate their stock. Josh Hoover made a smart move transferring there for next season and we’ll see if he similarly elevates himself up the board.
