2026 NFL Team Draft Page

It's just not going to work. The NFL base salary cap is $279.2M. The Bengals haver approximately $155M committed to just four players in the 2025 season. Three are commited long term: QB Burrow and WRs Higgins and Chase. The Cats really just need to give up on Trey Hendrickson at this point. Were heading into Week 12 as I write this: maybe Burrow will return from injury (maybe not), but Hendrickson and Chase will both be out against the Patriots.

Surely there must be a model: let's assume that Burrow doesn't play Week 12. This means that the Bengals will be fielding approximately $160M worth of roster value against opponents who are rostering (depending on their injuries) potentially $230M-$250M of roster value.

The only way to make this strategy (of overloading on a few star players) work is to draft really well, and hope that cheap first-contract draftees play well above their salary. Looking at the past three drafts, I'm having a tough time locating stars. For every Amarius Mims, there are Kris Jenkins, Shemar Stewarts and Myles Murphys. It would be nice to see an All-Pro.

Regarding the 2026 Draft, Caleb Downs represents great value at a position of need. He, or Arvell Reese would make excellent picks for the team.

Things could change quickly for the Rams in the offseason if Matthew Stafford decides to retire, but until then the front office's top job is to make sure that he is protected and that he has the weapons to continue playing at the top of his game.

Since we already added another pass catcher at pick 10, the Rams will use pick 31 to address protection. RT Rob Havenstein has been with the Rams since 2015 when they were still playing in St. Louis. He is also in the last year of his contract, hasn't played a full season since 2022 and just had to be put on IR due to ankle and knee bursitis. The Rams may want to bring him back if he decides to keep playing into 2026, but if the Rams do not believe his successor is already on the roster, this could be a good draft to find one.

Utah's Caleb Lomu would be a nice fit in the Rams offense. Lomu has exceptional athleticism for his size and though he is still realizing his potential, has elite upside.