New York Jets 2026 Draft Pick Pathway | CFB Playoff Talk + Prospects To Watch!

New York Jets 2026 Draft Pick Pathway | CFB Playoff Talk + Prospects To Watch!

All right, guys. What’s going on? Welcome in. In this one, I wanted to focus in on the future of this team, right? Pertaining to the 2026 NFL draft. A very, very exciting day. Honestly, it’s probably my favorite day of the year. If we’re being real, the Jets have two first round picks right now. If the season were to end today, they would be currently slated to pick seven and 18, right? Obviously, we had that Indianapolis Colts pick, but again, in this one, I just wanted to hit on a bunch of different topics here, right? Talk prospects, talk college football playoff, talk uh big games down the stretch as it pertains to the top of the draft, the Daniel Jones injury, all this stuff, right? So, I I guess let’s start first with where the Jets are currently at. Right now, again, three wins on the season. We just got humiliated against the Miami Dolphins. God, I hated watching that. Right. 24point loss. Yeah, it sucked. My mindset really since the start has always been, you know, despite the Jets record, despite us missing the playoffs and whatnot, I still want this team to win games because I think it’s really important to finish off the season on a high note, right? understanding kind of the vibe in the locker room, the just overall dynamics of where we stand right now, you know, like just like this feeling right now of just getting blown out at home late into the season against the Miami Dolphins. That feeling sucks, man. Like, do we really want to end the season off on four more losses? Oh, it’s just it’s just a dangerous place, right? We need to see this team fully bought into Aaron Glenn, right? It’s year one. continue to fight, continue to claw, continue to scratch away and uh try to secure victories down the stretch. However, if the Jets lose games, the draft stock in theory should get bolstered, right? It should be better. The problem is there is a bunch of bad teams in football. You know, a bunch of bad teams. You kind of feel like we already have the top 10 pretty much secured, right? We know who these teams are going to be. It’s just about the order, right? you look at the difference uh like the games back, the games behind between the first overall pick and like the seventh overall pick, the eighth overall pick. It’s like a game, you know? So, every this whole thing could get completely flipped on its head. The draft order today could look completely different four weeks from now. Let’s talk about some of the uh the quote unquote big games that are really going to play big factors in the draft order up at the top, right? And this assumes, let’s just assume for a second that these teams, right, the Browns, the Titans, the Giants, you know, the Jets, Saints, the Raiders, they all lose the the games that they’re supposed to lose, right? So, like, for example, when the Raiders play the Eagles, let’s just assume that the Eagles beat the Raiders, right? But before we go on, a quick word from today’s video sponsor. So, I want to give a special shout out to today’s video sponsor, Dollar Shave Club. They actually sent me over a cool little package consisting of the Club Series diamond grip handle, a bunch of razors, as well as the Dollar Shave Club shave butter here. And honestly, it’s been awesome so far. What’s really cool, too, is they come in a bunch of different colors, but there’s this uh tab on their site where you can go through and pick out different college teams. Um, it’s basically like a college team themed razor. I also think that’s a really good gift idea as well. As far as the blades go, it’s the signature six blade, which consists of six stainless steel blades for the closest and most comfortable shave. They’re long lasting blades, and it also comes with a strip uh that has aloe and vitamin E in it for comfort and glide. And last, but not least, we have the shave butter here, and this is my personal favorite. Uh number one, it has a translucent formula so you can see where you’re shaving. It’s naturally scented with a blend of essential oils and extracts. And if you use code jets25, you’ll get 25% off either the first month of a subscription or the first purchase with a minimum purchase of $8. Again, that’s code jets 25. So, thank you so much Dollar Shave Club for sponsoring the video. The first game that’s highlighted here, Jets at Saints week 16. Two young coaches, two teams that need long-term options at the quarterback position. However, Tyler Shuck is playing better football as of late. They got the got the upset win uh against Tampa yesterday. Not so great weather, but hey, who cares? Credit New Orleans. They went in and handled business 24-20 over the Bucks who are fighting for the division. Carolina’s right there. And the Bucks are dropping a a home game to the two- win Saints. Yeah, credit New Orleans there. I’m not a 100 percent sure that New Orleans is ready to move off of Tyler Shuck at this point in time, but regardless, it’s still a big game nonetheless, right? As far as the Jets schedule goes, that’s the worst team that they play here. And again, right now, the Saints are projected to have a top five draft selection. Uh, so obviously in regards to the draft order up at the top, that is a massive game. Another one is actually this weekend, right? Washington Giants. Okay, you look at Washington right now. Not only were they blown out against the Minnesota Vikings and JJ McCarthy of all teams, but Jaden Daniels was once again hurt. So, a huge huge game in regards to draft positioning here. Now, there’s two games in week 17 that have a major major impact. The first Saints at Titans and then the second game in that stretch is Raiders at Giants. That feels like the biggest game like from here on out in regards to landing the number one overall pick right now. Two teams to keep your eye on here. Number one, Cleveland Browns. They’re a three- win team. Again, just losing to the on paper the worst team at football in Tennessee. They have a very difficult four-game stretch at Chicago next week. Home against the Bills, home against the Steelers. And you got to imagine that Pittsburgh is going to be going all out for a playoff push there. And then to end the season, they’re going to Cincinnati. Now, the Browns typically play the Bengals tough. There’s something about those two coaching staffs that just seem to clash. Um, but I could very well see the Browns going 0 and4 and literally ending the season with three wins. They’re currently ahead of the Jets in the, you know, draft pecking order. Uh, but here’s the push back, right? Shador Sanders is looking pretty damn impressive. I, you know, all things considered, O line problems, O line injuries, wide receiver problems. So again, the Browns are a bit of a wild card here. Will they fully commit to Shidor Sanders moving forward? Will Kevin Stfansky still be the head coach? Will it be someone brand new? Uh if you do bring in someone brand new, will they try to trade up to the top to go land like their guy to like really kickstart the regime? There’s a lot of questions with Cleveland, but as far as them winning a game from here on out, pretty damn slim. The last team I want to talk about as it pertains to the top of the draft is the Arizona Cardinals, right? Another team that has three wins. Another team that has a very difficult schedule here right this week. Cardinals at Texans. Then Falcons at Cardinals. Cardinals going to Cincinnati. And then Cardinals at Rams. Maybe they get one. I don’t see them beating the Rams. I don’t see them beating the Texans. Are they really going to, you know, this is a dome west coast team going to Cincinnati. I I just don’t see them beating the Bengals. I’d probably say the Falcons game on on December 21st is definitely winnable. So, Arizona is definitely another team to watch out for here, right? Because if the Jets just say say New York beats the Saints, right, in week 16 and Arizona just so happens to lose out, Cleveland just so happens to lose out, you know, you’re going to have teams like the Giants and the Titans and the Raiders in front of you again with the Cleveland Browns. And now Arizona has jumped you as well. And Arizona, I believe, is going to be a quarterback needy team. I don’t And look, we’ve been talking about this for months. I don’t think Kyler Murray will be a Cardinal next year. I don’t. I think he’s going to be traded. And I think you can get him for cheap. I think Arizona, if you look at the contract, you can get the Cardinals to pay some of the deal. You would not have to give up a first round pick to go land him, right? The compensation will be lower. I’m not saying it’s going to be for a day three pick swap, but you know, I I think probably a second and a future pick can can get the job done. So, just throwing that out there. I think the Cardinals will be in the quarterback market this upcoming uh 2026 draft. And they already have their bridge quarterback on the roster and Jacobe Brassette, remember, right? He signed the two-year deal. So, just it’s a team that no one’s really talking about. Everyone’s focusing in on the Raiders, on the Browns, on the Titans. Watch We got to watch out for Arizona again as it pertains to the top of the draft order. Let’s talk about Indianapolis, right? The Jets obviously own their first round pick for the next two seasons. Let’s freaking go. And this team as of late has not really looked all that impressive, right? They have lost what, four out of their last five. They lost at the Pittsburgh Steelers. I felt like they were going to win that one. Uh they did of course beat the Atlanta Falcons, but you know, no shot to Atlanta. It seems like everyone is beating the Falcons these days. Um, outside of the Bills, ironically enough, Indie lost to Kansas City. They lost to Houston. They lost last week to or, you know, a couple days ago to the Jaguars. Killed against Jacksonville. They go to Seattle this week. Then they play the 49ers. Then they have to play Jacksonville again. And then they end the season against Houston. Daniel Jones was not only dealing with the uh the the the small fracture in his leg, but now Achilles and you feel for him, you feel for C, you know, for the Colts fans. I I mean, they started the season off so so well. And to be fair, I don’t think a lot of fans expected Indianapolis to just continue to roll. 14 wins, 15 wins on the season, right? Because they went on on a pretty big winning streak early on. Uh, but now with this Daniel Jones injury, right, Anthony Richardson’s currently hurt, like they could very well lose out again. Seahawks, 49ers, Jaguars, Texans, they’re already on a slide as it is. And now you lose Daniel Jones. And the, you know, backup Anthony Richardson is also hurt. So, you know, the Colts right now are sitting at eight wins. So, it’s not like we’re going to be going out and getting a second top 10 draft selection. But, you know, when the trade was initially made, a lot of people expected, oh, this pick’s going to be 2728. The Colts are going to go on a playoff run. I kind of figured it was going to be around like 22 23ish. If we look at the current projection, you know, Miami is at 6-7, Baltimore 6-7, Kansas City at 6-7, Dallas 66-1, you know. So, if if the Chiefs win two games, if the Ravens win two games, if Dallas wins two games here, right, and Indianapolis, again, assuming they continue to lose, that pick could be because I I don’t see Minnesota winning uh you know, getting to eight wins on the season. So, I think probably the ceiling for that pick is 12 123 realistically. probably it’s it’s going to be in the range of uh let’s call it 12 to 16 I I would say is again the realistic range because I don’t want to look at Indianapolis and just say they’re completely done, right? Uh and I also don’t want to look at a team in like Miami and say they’re going to just continue on this win streak. But the bottom line is this second first round pick that the Jets own could be shooting up. It could very well be shooting up. I don’t want to jump to assumptions here, but just based off of what the future schedule looks like, it looks like again this pick could very well be in the mid- teens. And I will take that gladly as a Jet fan. Gladly as a Jet fan. Let’s talk about the college football playoff here for a second, right? Because that was also announced. Tons of really interesting matchups. I think just on the surface, Oregon has the easiest path, right? uh James Madison. I think they’re a 21 and a half point uh home favorite. You know, this is the playoffs here and they’re 21. It’s just crazy, right? Um but again, home Eugene Oregon against James Madison. Then they play Texas Tech and I think Texas Tech is kind of a little underrated throughout this process, right? People are, you know, so focused in on Indiana and Ohio State. I’m personally not sleeping on Texas Tech. They they almost feel a little disrespected throughout this whole process. So, I think Oregon Tech is going to be such a good game. I cannot like such a defensive battle. But on the topic of Oregon, Dante Moore, like you figure he’s going to have a successful night against James Madison. You know, we’re all foreseeing that. No disrespect to the Dukes, but it’s, you know, just it is what it is. against Texas Tech though, if Dante Moore can step up on a neutral field against Texas Tech and have success, winning is one thing, but I’m talking about personal success for Dante Moore. That could very well, very well impact his draft, right? Uh or impact maybe how people look at him right now because if Dante Moore, Texas Tech’s defense is freaking phenomenal. I mean, you got Bailey, you got Romelo, right? Rodriguez, they are freaking stacked on on defense. And it’s so cool because the Red Raiders have always been this like offensive juggernaut and defense has always felt like it’s it’s been like a bit of an afterthought. But now Texas Tech, you know, they’re firing on all cylinders, both sides of the football. So again, that should be a really interesting game. Don’t be surprised if Dante Moore, again, if he has success against that Red Raider defense, if his stock just shoots up like crazy. However, I I do think if he were to declare right now and just sit out the playoff, he would still be a top three draft selection. But regardless, um this playoff layout, it’s it’s very favorable for Dante Moore. It’s kind of setting the stage for him to just completely uh shatter the roof on draft maybe uh projections. Let’s take a look at Indiana, right? Defeating Ohio State in the Big 10 Championship was was so cool, right? I you know, apologies to Ohio State fans. I think you guys are going to be totally fine. But, you know, just kind of that underdog story. Indiana is not a football powerhouse. However, maybe now they currently are with uh Signetti and you know what they do in the portal and whatnot. But, uh regardless, what a night, right? Mendoza coming up with those two clutch two clutch throws um to end that game. It was just so cool, right? not only just to win the Big 10, but to also finish it undefeated, knocking off just an absolutely elite team and an elite defense in Ohio State. And I’m so pumped for Signetti and and Mendoza, right? you knew signi just based off of last season he was going to continue to roll but with Fernando Mendoza I mean he’s been I don’t want to say disrespected throughout the year but it just feels like people are so you know draft insiders and whatnot they’re so ready to uh give flowers to other quarterback prospects and they’re like yeah Mendoza is there he’s good but let’s kind of focus in on other like think about it right the the start of the year you’re you’re seeing or you’re hearing Arch Manning you’re hearing Garrett Nusmeer you’re hearing Kate Clubnik season starts and then Mendoza is balling, right? We’ve been talking about Mendoza since midepptember. He’s been QB1 for me since midepptember, but from like a national standpoint, it’s okay. Well, he hasn’t beat any good teams yet. Then he defeats Illinois, right? And at the time, Illinois was ranked very high. It was a 60, what was that final score? 6317 or something, 6313. Just completely blew the doors off of Illinois. Boom. you have a statement win and then it’s immediately downplayed, you know, oh well, it’s Illinois and they’re not as as as good as the the initial rankings and then in the same kind of time period, uh, John was getting a lot of love, right? John is going to be number one, number one, number one. Uh, Lenora Sellers was kind of in that mix as well, but Sellers stock started to kind of slip out a little bit because he was just playing hero ball. just the the coaching was not good with Schula as uh you know the Gamecoox’s offensive coordinator. You’re looking at the talent on the South Carolina offense. It’s just you can tell like sellers with South with South Carolina kind of felt like luck with the Colts a little bit like I I have to do everything here. I have to run. I have to throw. I have to hit guys down the field. Intermediate short game. I have to be perfect. I can’t turn the ball over for us to have a chance to win. I would not be shocked if sellers enters the transfer portal or if South Carolina just goes all in and just dumps a ton of money into the portal to surround sellers with talent. Um but yeah, again, it’s kind of like, okay, well, Mendoza beat Illinois. Cool. But let’s focus on these other prospects. And then he goes, right, couple weeks go by, he goes to Eugene, Oregon, and he look, he didn’t go 25 of 27 and throw for four touchdowns. I’m sorry, but he still went out and handled business, made the throws that he needed to make to win that game. And we’ve been saying it since it happened, right? Who goes to Eugene, Oregon and defeats the Ducks in the regular season? How many times does that happen per year? It rarely does. And so, as the season progresses, right, weeks are going by, Mendoza is stacking up wins, has, you know, multiple blowout wins. Uh, factor in the win at Iowa, that’s such an underrated win that again, he wasn’t throwing for 400 yards in that one, but winning in Iowa is so damn difficult. That home field, it like it rocks you. Like it it really gets inside players heads. Um, and and Iowa’s always Iowa’s a really good team. You know, when you look at that coaching staff, they pay very very close attention to details. They don’t really have much offensive success, but they really win at the point of attack. They win in the trenches. Special teams is awesome. Again, winning there is tough. Mendoza did it. He wins against Penn State and you’re hearing, “Okay, well, it’s Penn State and they’re not as good as they once were.” Compared to the start of the year when Dante Moore went in and won the white out game. Uh, I was close to actually going to that one. That would have been so much fun uh to go to. By the way, just on the topic of Penn State here, Matt Campbell, my Let’s freaking go, man. I’m pumped for Matt. Uh, I cannot wait to see what Penn State looks like under, you know, his guidance, his tutelage here. He’s bringing over John Peacock, the DC, right? 335 defense in Penn State. I think that place is going to be just rocking, man. I cannot wait. I cannot I I think I’m I’m probably going to go uh make it up to Happy Valley for a game this season. I love Campbell, but I digress. The point is Mendoza throughout the entire season is always been looked at as yeah, he’s good, but ah, he doesn’t have that Josh Allen, that Patrick Mahomes, that Lamar Jackson type of upside. For some reason, people continue to say he didn’t have any big-time wins. I understand he’s not in the SEC, but I mean, you can only beat the teams that you play, and he literally beat every single team. And just the like the the the gloss over the Oregon win was just so crazy to me, especially in the moment where it happens and they’re like, “Oh, you know, the the kind of narrative was, okay, well, he didn’t have a great game.” Like, I I’m sorry, he still found a way to win. Not every game is going to be 95% completion percentage and just these absurd numbers. It’s just not realistic. Um, and so we hit the Big 10 championship and then he goes out and he wins against Ohio State. So, and now it’s like, oh, like there’s so much Mendoza love. So, I’m pumped for him. Um, it’s going to be interesting to see how it plays out, right? I think, uh, you know, if you look at the the layout, the slate, Indiana is going to be playing the winner of Oklahoma Alabama. We talked a little bit about Matier, right? You look at the first time that these two teams played, Alabama, Oklahoma. Brent Venibals got the better of Kalin Dbor. How will that fare in round two, right? Tai Simpson. I I mean, real quick for a second, what the hell was Al like Alabama in the SEC Championship game, it looked like nobody cared. The coach, the offensive game plan, right, grubbing these guys, it was so I I was blown away. It was just so basic, so passive, so like, let’s just get out of here. You had wide receivers dropping so many passes. There were two touchdown passes that were dropped. The offensive line was getting just completely manhandled. And credit Georgia, right? Dominant defense. Uh, credit Kirby Smart, right? Obviously, or it goes without saying, but still, I mean, like Alabama was pushed around in every facet. Special teams, defense, like it just I was shocked. And Tai didn’t have a good game, right? So when you are going up against the best prepared team in the in the country, right, Georgia is when you talk about like getting ready for a game, being prepared, understanding your opponent. Georgia is the like they are cream of the crop in that regard. You’re not going to beat a team like that in the championship game when you have when you’re failing in so many metrics and having mental lapses on the field, drops, penalties, and whatnot. It’s just not going to happen. But here’s the deal. Bama has an opportunity to redeem themselves. First order of business, you got to take down Oklahoma and get re revenge on Brent Venibal’s defense, right? Because that was the story the first go round. No joke defense. No joke at all, right? So, I can’t wait for the playoffs. It’s going to be a lot of fun. Then you throw on top of it, right, uh, Miami Texas A&M. We we know that Rick Spielman loves Carson Beck. Personally on the field, I really really like Carson Beck as well. I just get bothered, if I’m just being real, when you listen to Carson Beck after losses, personally, I just don’t think that aspect will mix when we look at this media market, right? You know, I it’s unfortunate, right? But when everything is looked at uh almost negatively, when every little thing is scrutinized, a practice throw, a word in in a press conference, right? every single line of dialogue is analyzed uh constantly. And you almost kind of feel like there’s this joy uh in like kicking the team while they’re down too, which I absolutely hate, you know, people like rushing to talk about these humiliating statistics that oh, you know, we got to bring them out. So, you know, drops and lack of picks and all like there’s just this strange um you know, again, joy in it which I I just don’t really like. And again, when Carson Beck is on, he’s on on the field. I love his arm strength. I love his size. I love his anticipation. I think that he is a natural thrower of the football mechanically speaking. I don’t think he’s perfect, but I think he’s definitely good enough. Um, I think he can also be a highle backup as well. So, maybe like in day three or something. But Carson Beck is someone who I think maybe, you know, if he if he nails the pre-draft interviews, right, it really makes a good first impression with teams. I I assume Beck will be a Senior Bowl guy as well. He could really shoot up his draft stock, but there’s just moments where after a loss, you kind of feel like there’s a little bit of deflection, like not my fault. I do what I’m told type of thing. So again, I just don’t know how that aspect would mix with this media market. But then of course, right, we have Texas A&M on the other side and they are they are awesome, right? Mike Elco’s defense is just stacked. They have one of my favorite college football players here in Cashes Howell, right? If you want I also think the Jets should be interested in Howell when it comes to draft time, right? You know, if you’re talking third down getting after the passer, right? There are lots of situations where we’re watching this Jets team. It’s Michael Clemens rushing the passer. It’s Brady McGregor rushing the passer. It’s Tyler Baron rushing the passer with maybe Will McDonald out or Germaine Johnson out, what have you. If you want to talk about a third down speed rusher at the next level, I think Cashes Howell can do that. I’m interested interested to see what the arm length is going to be. It’s not projecting to be all that great I think at this point. uh from the you know the the buzz right now and that could obviously hurt his draft stock but I mean ultra productive ultra experienced bowling green transfer I mean he’s just been absolutely awesome for uh for Elco’s defense this year and we’ve seen a lot of NFL talent getting developed from Mike Elco specifically so again should be a really really interesting game of course two lane miss uh there’s a lot of people that love uh Shamblas right at quarterback and rightfully so I mean he’s he’s done such a great job I I He’s probably going to be back in college. I don’t think he’s just going to declare for the draft. Um there’s a lot of buzz that he could transfer over to LSU, follow Lane, but I also think that there could be a big push from Miss to retain him and, you know, just continue on, right? So, that’s going to be another interesting storyline for sure. But, uh yeah, let me know your thoughts down below in the comments section. I know this video is kind of all over the place. just wanted to dish out some thoughts on again the the 2026 draft, the playoffs, the prospects, the Colts pick, everything uh everything like that. So, thanks so much for watching, guys. I appreciate it. And as always, go chats.

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New York Jets 2026 Draft Pick Pathway | CFB Playoff Talk + Prospects To Watch!

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