DKDB NFL Draft
Updates: August 2026

Written by Lou Pickney (updated 8/14/2026 4:51a EDT)
DKDB owner/operator since 2003

2027 Mock Draft Database | Best Free Simulator List

August 14, 2026

The primary objective is entirely different in the preseason. The goal isn't to win; it's to evaluate players and team units while minimizing the risk of injury to key starters.

If you win, great. But it doesn't really matter.

It did amuse me to see how the Baltimore Ravens leaned into their years-long preseason winning streak as that played out. They won 24 preseason games in a row from 2016 to 2023.

An entertaining novelty, but nothing more.

New tight end profiles are up in the DKDB: Caleb Odom (Ole Miss), Elija Lofton (Miami), Ethan Davis (Tennessee), Toby Payne (Marshall), Caden Jensen (Louisiana), Hunter Provience (NC State), and Mason Mini (Cal).

I'll have a new DKDB Update video up later today previewing the top 2027 draft-eligible tight end prospects.

August 13, 2026

It feels disrespectful to Daniel Jeremiah and Bucky Brooks that NFL Media has kept their names on the podcast listing for Move the Sticks, which is now hosted by an intentionally neutral-sounding person whose broadcasting name is Game Preview Guy.

Jeremiah is one of the top evaluators in the business. He'll have a new podcast soon enough, and people will follow him there. Content is king.

But part of Jeremiah's personal brand is Move the Sticks; it's his X handle, after all. NFL Media had two months to rebrand the podcast and they didn't.

Now what they're doing with it feels like false advertising.

GPG is a very smooth reader, so much so that many listeners presumed he was Artificial Intelligence. That part really upset some people.

When I play up the anti-AI stuff so hard in my DKDB Update videos, it's with good reason. The outrage that some are feeling about it is exceptionally strong.

To that end, websites that utilize machine-scaled content are in serious danger from the next Google Core Update.

That's what David G. Quaid predicted last month on The Edward Sturm Show. If his projection comes true, the impact will be massive.

Quaid understands Google better than anyone else I've found. It surprises me that more people aren't making a big deal about it.

While this would have a major disruptive effect on the NFL mock draft world, the most immediate impact might be felt with fantasy football sites, right at the start of their peak busy season in late August.

August 12, 2026

The first game of the preseason slate for the Minnesota Vikings doesn't arrive until Saturday, but there's already a winner in the starting quarterback competition. It's newcomer Kyler Murray, the former 2019 top overall pick released by the Arizona Cardinals earlier this year, who beat out J.J. McCarthy for the spot.

August 11, 2026

It's not unlike the anticipation I had for Smoothie King during an entire morning of dental procedures. Though, if I had to spend four hours on a random Tuesday enduring that, Legacy Hill Dentistry is where I'd want to be. Great people there.

I try to book as many appointments as possible between June and August because of broadcasting commitments and opportunities. That's not always a perfect approach, though; when I got the gig calling Nashville SC matches in 2017, it was for May-July dates.

But we're not too far from the games that really count. Here in Tennessee, the high school season starts one week from Friday. College football begins on August 29 and the NFL regular-season starts on September 9.

Here's hoping the best for New York Jets CB Qwan'tez Stiggers after he passed out today during a joint practice with the Tampa Bay Bucs. He was said to be awake and talking before leaving in an ambulance.

Stiggers, 24, is one of the few current players in the NFL to have never played a snap of college football. He attended Lane College in Jackson, Tennessee on scholarship, but COVID-19 caused the cancellation of his freshman season in 2020 and he later dropped out.

In 2022, Stiggers played for the Bored Ape Football Club in the short-lived Fan Controlled Football league (7v7), then was the 2023 Canadian Football League Most Outstanding Rookie with the Toronto Argonauts before being selected in round 5 of the 2024 NFL Draft by the Jets.

One of the looming storylines of the pre-season is resolved with the Dallas Cowboys signing DT Quinnen Williams to a new three-year contract extension with $101 million guaranteed.

Williams, 28, is one of the top defensive tackles in the game today. Dallas gave up quite a bit of capital in acquiring Williams from the Jets last year, and while Williams was still under contract through 2027, the Cowboys risked losing face if they had failed to hammer out a new deal.

August 10, 2026

South Carolina CB Vicari Swain showed up in Campbell's new mock and now Swain has a profile page here in the DKDB.

Bruce Feldman's 2026 Freaks List is now available in The Athletic (subscription required) and, as usual, Feldman did a great job with it.

It's notable that South Carolina WR Nyck Harbor has reclaimed the top spot on the list, a position Harbor also held in 2023 and 2024.

Last year, Harbor was #3 on the list behind Ohio State WR Jeremiah Smith at #1 and former Alabama OL Kadyn Proctor (drafted by Miami in round one this past April) at #2.

It's not like Smith has regressed; he's the top overall prospect on the bulk of the notable early 2027 big boards and is one of the most promising wide receiver prospects in recent memory.

But, at least for 2026, Harbor is back to being the top freak.

August 9, 2026

It's expected that Tunsil, who turned 32 earlier this month, will require surgery and likely miss a substantial amount of the season.

Lions QB Teddy Bridgewater is going to step away from the team, with a forthcoming retirement likely per Detroit head coach Dan Campbell.

Bridgewater, 33, was a first-round pick in 2014 by Minnesota. Ten years ago this month, Bridgewater suffered a catastrophic left knee injury in practice that at the time was feared would be career-ending.

Instead, Bridgewater went through a grueling rehab to not only make it back onto the field, but to go on to play for another decade.

August 8, 2026

I don't know anyone who's happy with everything in college football right now, but this regressive cash grab of a bill isn't the answer.

If this were actually about protecting the players, they'd be talking about the two-game suspension issued to Tennessee Vols EDGE Arion Carter because his agent paid for a flight at a point when Carter thought he was going to declare for the 2026 NFL Draft.

Carter reimbursed his agent, but nonetheless this was against NCAA rules and thus deemed a violation. If you read between the lines with the whispers out of Knoxville, it appears the system punished Carter for being honest with the NCAA.

Some things never change.

New player profiles up today-

Safety: Jaylen McClain (Ohio State) and Adon Shuler (Notre Dame)

Linebacker: Matt Rose (Stanford), Myles Graham (Florida), Cade Uluave (BYU), Xe'ree Alexander (Washington), Nick Rinaldi (Vanderbilt), Antonio Watts (Louisville), Jaylen Sneed (Notre Dame)

August 7, 2026

Ultimately, both proved to be exceptional players. And now they're going to be paid like it.

Both of them turned 24 earlier this year, and both were on the final year of their respective rookie contracts with the team-option fifth year lingering for 2027. Now they're both on brand-new three-year extensions with big-money guarantees signed this week.

Bijan Robinson (3-year, $51M guar.) DOB: 1/30/2002
2023-2025: 3,910 rushing yards, 1,738 receiving yards, 34 touchdowns, 4.9 yards per carry.

In 2025, Robinson's 1,478 rushing yards and 820 receiving yards made him the only player in NFL history to record at least 1,400 rushing yards and 810 receiving yards in a single season.

Jahmyr Gibbs (3-year, $51.5M guar.) DOB: 3/20/2002
2023-2025: 3,580 rushing yards, 1,449 receiving yards, 49 touchdowns, 5.3 yards per carry, no more than one lost fumble in any season.

Gibbs' 49 touchdowns are the most by any player in NFL history in the first three seasons of their career. I like how Gibbs got the extra half-million guaranteed by waiting for Robinson to sign first.

Some of you might remember the Larry Johnson holdout with the Kansas City Chiefs, immortalized on Hard Knocks (same season as the sign's gotta say HOT!) in 2007.

Ultimately, Johnson signed a new contract, which became a cautionary tale about paying holdout running backs as his production declined at that point. But the difference is that Johnson was 27 at the time and had already taken a serious pounding after years in a primary role.

By the time Robinson and Gibbs hit 27, they will already be three years into these new contracts.

As of Friday afternoon EDT, it appears increasingly probable that the Protect College Sports Act won't reach a full vote in the U.S. Senate before it takes a scheduled recess. Once people actually read the bill, there was opposition from both the political left and right.

I thought the Congressional Black Caucus summarized it best with this part of its statement against the legislation: "[T]he so-called Protect College Sports Act grants sweeping new legal protections to powerful institutions while failing to adequately protect the athletes whose talent fuels this multibillion-dollar industry."

Let's face it: the bill is more about protecting the grifters than the players. After all, who do you think is writing this legislation?

Unfortunately, even if this push fails, the big-spending lobbyists will just try again next year, potentially with an even more restrictive and onerous plan in place.

August 6, 2026

Tight End: Hayden Hansen (Oklahoma) and Arlis Boardingham (Auburn)

Def. Tackle: Elinneus Davis (Washington) and Jordan Hall (Georgia)

Tonight the 2026 NFL preseason opens with the Hall of Fame game in Canton, Ohio between the Arizona Cardinals and the Carolina Panthers. Carson Beck will get the start at QB for the Cards in his NFL debut.

Beck's position is somewhat akin to what Saints QB Tyler Shough faced as a rookie last year in New Orleans, an unspoken mandate to play well enough out of the gate to earn another shot at it the next season. That's the reality of the modern NFL.

It's looking increasingly likely that we'll see the unretirement of former St. Louis/Los Angeles Rams DT Aaron Donald, 35, a three-time former NFL Defensive Player of the Year who retired after the 2023 season as a first-team All-Pro.

Donald had an official workout with the Rams on Wednesday. He walked away from $30 million in 2024 but appears ready to return in large part for the opportunity to line up alongside elite EDGE Myles Garrett, acquired by the Rams from the Cleveland Browns this off-season.

There's no modern precedent for what Donald is doing, and that's in part what makes it so compelling. It's hard to know what to expect next.

August 5, 2026

But, like many things today, it's complicated.

To point, with the NCAA seemingly working a losing-streak gimmick in federal court, it was fitting that a judge last week issued a class-wide injunction allowing newly-graduated seniors who never took a redshirt to have a fifth season for 2026-27.

This will primarily impact basketball, but the very limited window creates some challenging dynamics for the football players and teams involved. The season begins on August 29.

This is madness. This is 2026.

Indiana announced on Tuesday that defensive end Stephen Daley (pictured above), one of the affected players, is coming back for the upcoming season. Daley suffered a fluke knee injury during the post-game celebration following Indiana's Big Ten championship game win over Ohio State last year and ultimately went undrafted.

I can't create DKDB 2027 draft profiles for these players as they've already been through the full NFL Draft process. No double jeopardy. They're ghosts in the machine.

No one has ever made it back after going through the draft. Not until now, anyway.

Perhaps the most intriguing player of the relatively small group who might return is Florida State QB Tommy Castellanos. As of this writing, Castellanos is said to be mulling his options.

But such things don't happen in a vacuum. Fifth-year senior Ashton Daniels (a transfer from Auburn) is the starting quarterback for the Seminoles for 2026. If Castellanos ends up returning to Tallahassee, it will be very interesting to see how he might be utilized.

August 4, 2026

Nobody dislikes young adults quite like American lawmakers do.

I'd be loudly protesting about this if I thought it would make any difference. That's not the way it works, not at this level.

Read the bill and decide for yourself. To me, it's terribly off-putting that the NCAA is getting rewarded for spectacularly losing in federal court over and over again.

It's a giant cash grab. It's not being done with the players' best interest in mind. But these realities don't matter.

The only chance it has of not passing is if the slow-motion process of federal legislation passage in the United States keeps it from going up for a full vote before attention turns to the mid-term elections.

August 3, 2026

Aaron Rodgers on The Pat McAfee Show (8/3/2026)

It's worth a watch/listen, though note that it has significant profanity.

If Pittsburgh wins the AFC this season, we're in for the most interesting media week in Super Bowl history.

New DKDB prospect profile arrivals!

Max Johnson, QB, Georgia Southern
Malachi Singleton, QB, App State
Hank Brown, QB, Iowa
Jamal Roberts, RB, Missouri
Dierre Hill Jr., RB, Oregon
Caleb Hawkins, RB, Oklahoma State
Jai'Den Thomas, RB, UNLV
Reed Harris, WR, Arizona State

August 2, 2026

I revamped the 2027 NFL Mock Draft Database to provide a bio for the various people included. It now looks more like the classic site design and functions much better on mobile now.

If you haven't seen them yet, be sure to watch my DKDB Update preview videos for top 2027 draft-eligible prospects at quarterback (6/30), running back (7/25), and wide receiver (7/29) with more coming soon. Please like/subscribe if you enjoy them.

The site's rebrand from Draft King to DKDB has been an overwhelming success. Thanks to everyone who has supported me through the years. The best is yet to come.

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