2026 Draft Week Chatter Thread...

Chocolate Lab said:
Ravi, my man... Several of us had him going to us, and hoping for it.

Here's an article with all the pundits predicting it:


Where is UCF football's Malachi Lawrence projected in NFL mock drafts?

Daniel Jeremiah, NFL.com (April 22): Dallas Cowboys, Round 1, No. 20 overall

Pete Prisco, CBS Sports (April 23): Dallas Cowboys, Round 1, No. 20 overall

Michael Middlehurst-Schwartz, USA TODAY (April 23): Dallas Cowboys, Round 1, No. 20 overall

Dan Parr, NFL.com (April 23): Tampa Bay Buccaneers via trade with Pittsburgh, Round 1, No. 21 overall

Trevor Sikkema, NFL Stock Exchange (April 22): Los Angeles Chargers, Round 1, No. 22 overall

Dane Brugler, The Athletic (April 15): Buffalo Bills, Round 1, No. 26 overall

Ryan Wilson, CBS Sports (April 23): Buffalo Bills, Round 1, No. 26 overall

Field Yates, ESPN (April 23): Buffalo Bills, Round 1, No. 26 overall

Jordan Reid, ESPN (April 20): San Francisco 49ers, Round 1, No. 27 overall

Connor Rogers, NBC Sports (April 22): Kansas City Chiefs, Round 1, No. 29 overall

Jacob Infante, PFSN (April 20): Kansas City Chiefs, Round 1, No. 29 overall

Lance Zierlein, NFL.com (April 22): Kansas City Chiefs, Round 1, No. 29 overall

Peter Schrager, ESPN (April 22): Dallas Cowboys via trade with Kansas City, Round 1, No. 29 overall

Eric Edholm, NFL.com (April 20): New England Patriots, Round 1, No. 31 overall

Nathan Jahnke, Pro Football Focus (April 20): New England Patriots, Round 1, No. 31 overall

Matt Miller, ESPN (April 23): Seattle Seahawks, Round 1, No. 32 overall
Click to expand...
Props.
 
Chocolate Lab said:
Maybe sometimes, but in this case people were on him early, well before anything from the team or the media who follow it. I know I noticed him in February with his combine testing, and others like NoDak and IIRC C-Rock, probably Simp, were noticing him before that.
Click to expand...

I was going to say we hadn't heard him tied to Dallas until really late in the process. Prior to that I was debating between him and Howell as my "next favorite" pass rusher after The Reese, Bailey and even Bain. And I know others on here loved Lawrence long before the Cowboys were tied to him. That only happened a week or less before the draft.

I don't want to take a guy at 20 who would otherwise go 50 in the draft, even if I have him as the best player available at 20. So I always want to trade down and extract as much capital as possible for the draft.

In this instance, based on everything we know, I don't think you could have gone down any further and known you would get Lawrence. If you want to say you liked Howell, R Mason Thomas and TJ Parker just as much as Lawrence I get it. But those guys all lacked something in terms of physical traits. Lawrence has elite physical traits. And so if I watch 4 pass rushers and I see them as similar but one guy has elite level physical traits, I'm banking on the guy with elite traits. Because Parker will never have that speed or first step quickness. Howell will never have that length and size. R Mason will never have that speed or size. Good players but all flawed compared to Lawrence.
 
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