2026 Pre-Combine Risers and Fallers
Draft stocks rise, draft stocks fall; we have seen each other through it all and when push comes to shove, I will send a blog post to remind you of my...love?
Can’t Get Indiana Off My Mind…
The next time you’ll be hearing about this risers and faller business again will be post-combine who’s stock has risen (and fallen) the most. Looking back at last year’s list, you saw some pretty impressive players (New York Jets OT Armand Membou and Seattle Seahawks SAF Nick Emmanwori) and a disappointment one (Cincinnati Bengals EDGE Shemar Stewart). And on the other side, you saw players who continued to slide in big ways (Arizona Cardinals CB Will Johnson and Baltimore Ravens EDGE Mike Green) along with a player who went a lot higher than most analyst thought (Dallas Cowboys OG Tyler Booker). Needless to say, it will be fun to see who the next crop of post-combine risers and fallers are. See y’all in Indy!
Top 3 Risers
Senior Bowl Risers Du Jour
Max Iheanachor, OT, ASU (47th Post-Deadline → 26th Pre-Combine)
Iheanachor is by far the biggest riser in both real terms and in the adjusted terms that I like to use when looking at the relative rise and fall of players. The Senior Bowl really helped showcase his skills as you can see in his draft stock chart above. I could see him ending up as more of a Round 2 prospect but he’s put himself directly in the late Round 1 conversation. A positive testing show at the combine, could cement him in the Round 1 conversation among a crowded group that contains Georgia’s Monroe Freeling, Utah’s Caleb Lomu, and Alabama’s mammoth of a man, Kadyn Proctor.
David Bailey, EDGE, Texas Tech (6th Post-Deadline → 4th Pre-Combine)
David Bailey’s stock is on a heater. Jumping from 6th to 4th sounds small but that’s a BIG jump. Similarly with Rueben Bain, Bailey is not universally adored by draftniks so this is still a live battle for EDGE1 but I think Bailey has as good a shot as anyone!
Caleb Banks, DT, Florida (28th Post-Deadline → 23rd Pre-Combine)
Caleb Banks really showcased why he was highly regarded as a prospect prior to the season at this year’s Senior Bowl All-Star Game in Mobile, Alabama. There was an injury that hurt his availability and potentially his performance during the season. Now with all that behind him, his stock is on the up-and-up. Time will tell (and maybe the combine will facilitate this) if this rise is an overcorrection or not.
Top 3 Fallers
Post-Declaration Deadline Blues
Akheem Mesidor, EDGE, Miami (25th Post-Deadline → 32nd Pre-Combine)
I have plenty of concerns about Akheem Mesidor and they mainly have to do with his age. He’ll be one of if not the oldest rookies in this draft class by the time he touches an NFL field (25 years old). To give a bit of context, Detroit Lions EDGE Aidan Hutchinson and Jacksonville Jaguars EDGE Travon Walker, both top picks in the 2022 NFL Draft are 25 years old now. Mesidor better be a finished product at this point!
Jordyn Tyson, WR, Arizona State (11th Post-Deadline → 13th Pre-Combine)
The big concern around Jordyn Tyson is not his play, but rather his injury history so it makes sense that drafniks are second-guessing his stock. And this isn’t just a minor injury things. Tyson missed a HUGE amount of his college games with injury. Pair that with the rise of Ohio State’s Carnell Tate and USC’s Makai Lemon and Tyson seems to be on the wrong end of the WR stock train, Hines Ward tutelage be damned.
Kayden McDonald, DT, OSU (23rd Post-Deadline → 27th Pre-Combine)
With the rise of Caleb Banks and his performance at the Senior Bowl, Kayden McDonald is a relative faller. We’ll see how the position battle at DT shakes out, but I wouldn’t make too much of this. The DT position feels pretty murky given how Peter Woods’s final season at Clemson played out, so this is a very much live race for DT1.
Don't Say I Didn't, Say I Didn't Warn Ya…
There will be plenty of talk about Mississippi State WR Brenen Thompson’s stock “rising” after the combine. In fact, it wouldn’t surprise me if he got a pretty big “bump” coming out of the Combine. In an effort to keep things in perspective, I will pre-empt that discussion by saying that if a prospect is already considered the WR21 and has an Expected Draft Position in the Day 3 range, he’s probably a Day 3 prospect.
Will I still be excited about his 40 time? Oh, yeah. But that’s a separate conversation relative to my endeavor: telling you where the draftnik community projects his stock.
