Hello friends, it's your buddy Lou Pickney with you here.
The DKDB update.
April 18th, 2026.
We begin with breaking news.
Cincinnati Bengals made a major trade with the New York Giants.
Bengals have traded the number 10 overall pick to the Giants in exchange for defensive tackle Dexter Lawrence.
Lawrence was unhappy in New York.
But presuming that Lawrence and the Bengals can end up on the same page as far as some sort of a long-term contract, suddenly Cincinnati got stronger in this interior defensive line.
And it creates a very interesting situation now for the New York Giants.
Have number five and the number 10 overall picks.
I updated my mock draft to reflect the trade.
But there are several updates I anticipate making before too long.
A lot of information starting to come in.
Lots to parse through.
A lot of smoke screens.
Let me be my latest thoughts in light of this trade.
Never know when things are going to happen.
The heart of draft season, less than a week out.
This Thursday.
Night one of the 2026 NFL draft.
At one, Fernando Mendoza, quarterback Indiana to the Raiders.
It's all but a formality at this point.
That's been locked in for a long time now.
At number two, New York Jets.
Had David Bailey in there, but it's been interesting to see the back and forth as far as some of the projections.
I'm not sure if the proverbial smart money is in yet.
Most seem to think it'll be either David Bailey, edge from Texas Tech, or Ohio State linebacker/edge Arvell Reese.
At three, remember this is misdirection season.
Arizona is known to be wanting to trade down.
And suddenly there's a lot of smoke out there about the Cardinals potentially being interested in Jeremiah Love at number three overall.
They're trying to go through all avenues possible as far as finding a trade partner.
Still not sold on the Titans taking Love.
But it would likely be either Love or Sunny Styles in the event that it's Arvell Reese and David Bailey in either order at two and three with Mendoza gone.
But ongoing question what would the Titans do in that situation?
And here they get Reese, but that's easy because that's what Maui Noah doing to the Cardinals.
The impression teams don't want to trade back too far in the first round.
Being more aware that perhaps Dallas has calmed down a bit as far as looking for potential trade partners.
At least for now.
So here's the Giants at five and at 10.
If they want to get Jeremiah Love, if he's there, they could get him at five and still get one of those top defenders at 10, at least in theory.
Also potentially either at five or at 10.
I guess they could take him at five, but really taking more at 10.
LSU corner Mansoor Delane.
Don't think Carnell take to the Browns makes a lot of sense based on the intel that's out there.
Uh as the most likely projection where the Browns are said to want to trade back interested in going offensive line, offensive tackle.
The six and the 24.
Have these teams with multiple first round picks.
With a different dynamic compared with last year.
A lot of chatter tonight that Jeremiah Love won't be here at seven.
Whether that's conjecture, whether that's Arizona turning up all the way as far as trying to get the word out there about And maybe they will take Jeremiah Love.
That's the thing.
You can't just say, "Oh, it's a smoke screen for sure." Oh, really?
>> [laughter] >> These reporters are pretty savvy people.
They're going to sussing things out.
So we'll see.
It could be Jeremiah Love to the Titans.
And again, me personally as a Titans fan, I'd be thrilled to have Jeremiah Love on the Titans.
There is the consideration as far as the salary cap implications, the guaranteed money that's associated with each spot, which makes it even more difficult for one of those non- primary positions, those quarterback, edge rusher, corner, etc.
that tend to be focused on.
Passing game, more and more important in the modern NFL.
Continues to tilt in that direction.
Those rule changes made for safety reasons.
Those very important.
They had the side effect of in many ways altering the game in some drastic ways.
Fullback is all but a lost art.
The I formation, huddling up.
>> [laughter] >> Different sport in many ways.
But it's a safer sport.
They had to change.
They had to.
We got Delaine.
And latest word is that Kansas City is more likely to go edge rusher than corner here.
So this is where I thought that maybe Dallas would have been trading up from 12.
The latest word is maybe Dallas won't be trading up.
Although not trading up right now and then something happening day of the draft perhaps two different things.
It's noteworthy some are seeing Jermaine McCoy as a more likely to slide than he looked earlier out of this range.
Some medical concerns.
As impressive as McCoy looked at his pro day in Knoxville, University of Tennessee, reality is he's coming off a torn ACL.
But beyond that, if there are in fact concerns about some sort of medical flags, that could impact things.
Something to keep in mind.
As it is, I think Miami, if they're going to go corner, would be more likely to go with Mance Word Delaine.
But here's the thing.
Now the Giants at 10, the Giants could really use Delaine.
So maybe Caleb Downs is off the board at this point.
Or maybe the Giants want to go with Delaine or Downs, depending on who's there.
Some flexibility for the Giants, certainly.
Yeah, I'm not so sure that Bane actually gets by Kansas City at nine.
Then there's Jordan Addison.
The mysterious Los Angeles Rams.
We'll see with Addison.
This middle range through here is interesting.
Some people are less than optimistic.
This is why I think somebody like Vangai Ouanae from Penn State would make sense for the Ravens.
In a draft that seems to have relatively few ultra high-end talents the way some evaluators see it.
Someone that is a very safe bet the way it appears for most evaluators like Vangai.
I mean, interior offensive line is not the position that'll sell you a bunch of tickets.
Got Lamar Jackson there in Baltimore.
He'd help in that interior offensive line.
Vangai would provide that.
Moving to the Buccaneers, we thought he would be a good fit at a need position, but I really think the Bucs could probably trade back and still get him potentially.
Also the potential of getting Kinyon Seddik.
If the Jets in fact decide to trade up here from 16, it would be interesting to see what they would target.
The thought is the Jets see waiting until next year's draft and go for a high-end quarterback.
More and more with Ty Simpson.
It really looks like Arizona the most likely.
And beyond that, there's not exactly a lot out there.
And multiple people that know things that people I trust are talking up Proctor as a strong possibility for the Lions.
Dylan Theineman.
I don't want to just presume it's Theineman and not There he is.
Emmanuel McNeil Warren.
Safety from Toledo.
But you look at the speed for Theineman running that 4.35 40.
Whereas I really do think that EMW if he's still on the board at 25 for Chicago as much as there's been talk of defensive tackle I'm not so sure we're going to have such a ton of first round tackles this year.
Payton McDonald appears to be the most likely.
Peter Woods from Clemson's going to get a lot of talk.
I'm not so sure.
And yet it's entirely possible that there that these top three safeties could all be gone before Chicago is on the board.
Not that much of a stretch.
A lot of talk about offensive line being targeted in that mid to late first round run.
Like for Miami at 11 on down.
Man, it's reflected in here.
I've got McCoy but as I said you're probably more likely to see Miami the way it looks now at least.
I'd be more likely to see them go with Delain if he's there.
Although I still think with the Giants there at 10 needing a corner hmm.
>> [snorts] >> So maybe they get Downs.
Maybe they get Spencer Fano.
I'm not so sure about Fano slotting at 19 the way it looks now.
Unless Kinyon Sedique being a mystery because even for teams that don't have a pressing need a tight end there just aren't many guys like him that can run a sub 4.4 40-yard dash at more than 240 lb and play tight end effectively.
Avion Terrell I'm not so sure at 20 is going to be a real go.
Where Denzel Boston will be probably going somewhere in this first round.
You're talking about offensive lineman there's Blake Miller, Monroe Freeling.
Like Cleveland if the rumors are true the Browns being interested in Freeling.
I think they'd be thrilled if they could get him here 24.
I talked about Emmanuel McNeil Warren.
Akeem Mesidor's interesting.
I You know what?
I've been bracing or waiting for him to get this late fade.
Suddenly he's sitting there like 45 46 overall and that hasn't happened.
If anything this is low compared with what some indicators that I look for say are more like 15 16.
I just It to me it seems odd that Tampa Bay would take Mesidor even they need an edge.
I mean the guy's 25 years old.
But that also means that he's really in his athletic prime right now and should be able to contribute to a team that isn't position.
So you look up at Baltimore with number 14 could potentially go in Mesidor and say look we only have so many years with Lamar Jackson.
Maybe they go Vang and maybe they said no we'll go Mesidor.
That's something to consider as well.
Not that Tampa Bay they're all looking to win right now right?
I mean that's nobody's going in there trying to just go 500.
>> [laughter] >> That happens easy enough if you're not trying to.
It's time easy Nothing's really easy in the NFL though I suppose.
Anyway point being there's also the argument that some teams will go offensive line because they see a a certain drop-off in this year's offensive line class and given the lack of demand for quarterback or there's the demand is always there but the lack of first round options that seem viable for quarterback beyond Fernando Mendoza and then the possibility of Arizona trading up for Tyree Wilson.
There's some people that think Wilson will fall today too.
So that's important to note.
I've got Concepcion here but the reality is if Denzel Boston is in the mix he might be more likely to go there.
Although I have me Again there's a reason I have I didn't pull a name out of a hat.
Concepcion is really good and his name had been linked with the Niners but and that was some time ago and you can't get too hung up on a connection with a team and a player the further you get from that top of the draft board.
Low move late first round.
See I don't think Cashers how here because if Kansas City goes let's say they get Ruben Bain up at number nine.
Ruben Bain Jr.
at 29 And there's going to be some corners.
Went through that in the last DKDB update.
It's like Chris Johnson San Diego State.
Here's that projected trade.
Again I've had no specific indications that it will be Miami trading down.
It's just looking at possibilities and knowing that Miami's in a position where they're looking to build for Again yes they're going to try for this upcoming season but the reality is you got to build long-term.
So if you can trade back from 30 to Arizona's spot in that high second round Arizona gets a fifth year option on Wilson.
A lot of people think that's going to happen in some form or fashion.
Patriots they're going to There's more and more thought that they go offensive line.
A lot of talk with these interior offensive lineman.
Beisman Santis from Texas A&M comes to mind.
Manuel Pregon Oregon.
Of course edge rusher possibilities Zion Young really good against the run but also capable as a pass rusher.
As teams are looking for those pass rushers especially Anae Won.
Here's Seattle at 32.
Holton Hood corner from Tennessee.
Seattle is usually a very difficult team to read unless their pick leaks like Gray Sable.
After that Super Bowl win Seattle has some holes to fill as far as their free agent losses.
Corner certainly is going to be a consideration at some point you would think.
There's an outside chance they could go with a running back.
Perhaps Jadarian Price from Notre Dame.
It seems less likely that we'd have two running backs go on night one but if it happens the most likely scenario would be two running backs from Notre Dame.
Jeremiah Love Jadarian Price.
Let's scroll here to the top.
I had this pulled up already.
There we go.
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Night one of the first round 2026 NFL draft less than a week away.
