With the 2026 NFL Draft rapidly approaching, all 32 teams’ boards are being finalized before Thursday night’s opening bell.
Some players, like Jeremiyah Love, Omar Cooper Jr., and Jordyn Tyson, have watched their stocks surge in a major way, while other players and position groups as a whole have gone in the other direction as rumors and reporters hint at who could go where.
One position grouping in particular that has had a tough go during the pre-draft process has been defensive tackle, with few, if any, expected to go in the first round despite some major hype last summer. Discussing this DT downfall in his Takeaways column for Sports Illustrated, Albert Breer noted that there’s a big “buyer beware” tag on the entire position grouping that could keep them out of the premier picks in this year’s class.
“Defensive tackle is another spot that’s a bit ‘buyer beware,’” Breer wrote. “There, you have: Clemson’s Peter Woods, who was seen as a top 10-ish guy before a tough final year; Ohio State’s Kayden McDonald and Georgia’s Christen Miller, who’ll have to prove that they’re more than just two-down players; and Florida’s Caleb Banks, who is outrageously talented but comes with a host of football-character questions. I’d be surprised if any of them go among the first 20 picks.”
Of the players mentioned by Breer, the only one with a real chance to hear his name called on Thursday night is Peter Woods, the Clemson tackle who was a certified force in 2024, but didn’t exactly set the world on fire in 2025 during his final season in South Carolina. While teams are always looking for help on the defensive interior, because this year’s class is so light, general managers have begun to look into other options at the position, with the Cincinnati Bengals trading away pick No. 10 for Dexter Lawrence to address their need.
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