Since I last wrote this column, every team in college football history has seemingly lost, shaking up the College Football Playoff outlook and giving fans a more unpredictable, potentially exciting end to the season. Similarly, the 24-team CFP plan is now in motion, and 2026 is the final year for conference title games. The new playoff will go into effect in 2027, with four conference champions from the Power 4, the highest-ranked team from the Group of Six, and the next 19 highest-ranked teams. The sport has completely changed, and that’s changing the NFL Draft. Fourth-year seniors are now considered underclassmen, with a new declaration deadline previously reserved for third-year early-declares. Unfortunately, that means the talent pool in every NFL Draft will be weakened, as NIL has opened the door for players to stay and develop if they don’t receive a first-round grade from NFL teams. I won’t call this doomsday yet, but it will be interesting to see how many potential top-100 picks end up back in school. Eventually, the NFL may have to re-evaluate how they pay rookie deals. Until then, we’ll work with what we’ve got.
In this edition, I polled our Discord and Twitter for a few mailbag questions.
Best man cover corner, best zone cover corner, best nickel corner? - @Anthony_Russo97
I know some of these answers will seem pretty obvious, but I still think Notre Dame’s Leonard Moore is the best man-coverage cornerback, Clemson’s Ashton Hampton is the best zone-coverage cornerback, and I’ll take Arizona’s Jay’Vion Cole as the best nickel. While I think there will be some Moore detractors, mostly because he won’t be a 4.3-second forty-yard dash guy, he’s easily the stickiest, most physical, and best on-ball cornerback on film over the last few years. He’s an island corner, and I think he’ll leave the board very early. Hampton’s ability to stop on a dime and drive to the football is unmatched, though I did consider Georgia’s Ellis Robinson IV here. Hampton is just so physical when he breaks on the ball, and he is consistently out for blood at the catch point. It’s fun to watch. Cole is the sleeper, I suppose, but I’ve been a fan since the summer. He has very few snaps as a slot corner, so this is a bit of a projection, but you almost have to do that in this class. I actually don’t remember a class as weak at that specific position since I’ve been doing this. But Cole is undersized yet physical, can stick in man coverage pretty well, and can tackle pretty well. I’m curious if it’ll translate, but this is my vote for the weakest group in the class.
What type of draft capital do you see Duce Robinson having after a major injury? - @v_pizzle
Candidly, I think Robinson has to go back to school after the season-ending ACL injury. I don’t necessarily think he did enough to prove he can be a high-end draft pick, but he has the upside of a top-50 pick. I normally don’t fall for wideouts like him anymore, as we’ve seen them fail pretty regularly at the NFL level, but he’s such a special athlete that I was pretty sure he’d at least provide something similar to Malachi Fields at the NFL level (I know that’s an incomplete right now, but still). Robinson just wasn’t as good this year, after his breakout 2025. Hopefully the team can find a quarterback and some offense around him, and hopefully he can hit the field in the back half of next year.
If he does declare, I think we’re looking at a fourth- or fifth-round pick right now.