2026 Draft Board: Interior Defensive Lineman
The below information I included in the QB draft board earlier in the week, I'm going to include it for every board, but it will be identical on each.
Just a reminder that the "Nose Tackle" board isn't based on the location they primarily lined up at in college, but is used to divvy up this position that usually has a wide range of weights (talking 270 to 350+), and several positional alignments that usually accommodate things like size and athletic build. So the "Nose Tackle" board is the 320+ group.
If you've ever read one of my draft board articles before then you have an idea of what you'll see below, but I did overhaul the system a little bit. Basically I just moved all of my formulas over to using a z-score method. If you haven't read them, quick explanation, I use stats, athletic testing, past performances from current pro players, and formulas to try and determine the chances a prospect in the current draft has at succeeding as a pro. In the past I used a "PSR", and an "A Met" and "S Met" to give every player a round grade. Now, it all comes down to a Score. The scores differ by position, so before each draft board I will put what the high score was between the 2020-2023 drafts at that position (those are draft years that I've done this for, as well as ones that have been in the league for at least 3 years). And at the bottom you will see a small blurb I wrote up for each position.
Real quick additional note: I'm including a "My Top 5" section this year. You will notice with some positions that the top 5 doesn't line up with the top five on the actual draft board. There's a reason for that. When I grade out the pros to determine the "success rate" factor, I actually give them a grade (A = Superstar, B = High-end starter, C = Solid Starter, D = Rotational at best, and F = Fail). I hadn't considered using that in the past, but I realized I can use it to get a little more granular when it comes to ranking them. Sometimes a guy that is lower on my draft board than another guy, actually has a higher chance of being a high-end starter or better. So along side the name of the player and their school, I will include a B+ which is just the percent chance they have of being a high-end starter or better, and a C+ which will be the percent chance they have of being a solid starter or better.
This will be updated as pro day results become available.
High Score for DL: 79.17 (Milton Williams - 2021)
My DL Draft Board
| Players | College | Score | Rounds |
|---|---|---|---|
| Keldric Faulk | Auburn | 44.43 | Day 3 |
| Gracen Halton | Oklahoma | 42.50 | Day 3 |
| Kaleb Proctor | SE Louisiana | 41.31 | Day 3 |
| DeMonte Capehart | Clemson | 38.50 | Day 3 |
| Chris McClellan | Missouri | 37.83 | Day 3 |
| Skyler Gill-Howard | Texas Tech | 37.36 | Day 3 |
| David Gusta | Kentucky | 36.68 | Day 3 |
| Cameron Ball | Arkansas | 33.72 | Day 3 |
| Tyler Onyedim | Texas A&M | 33.67 | Day 3 |
| LT Overton | Alabama | 33.27 | Day 3 |
| Zane Durant | Penn State | 32.81 | Day 3 |
| Deven Eastern | Minnesota | 32.40 | Day 3 |
| Gary Smith III | UCLA | 32.25 | Day 3 |
| Brandon Cleveland | NC State | 31.96 | Day 3 |
| Nick Barrett | South Carolina | 31.40 | Day 3 |
| Albert Regis | Texas A&M | 28.99 | Day 3 |
| Jackie Marshall | Baylor | 28.03 | Day 3 |
| Lee Hunter | Texas Tech | 26.79 | Day 3 |
| Rayshaun Benny | Michigan | 25.34 | Day 3 |
| Damonic Williams | Oklahoma | 24.51 | Day 3 |
| Darrell Jackson Jr. | Florida State | 23.84 | Day 3 |
| Peter Woods | Clemson | 18.69 | Undrafted |
High Score for NT: 98.06 (Travis Jones - 2022)
My NT Draft Board
| Players | College | Score | Rounds |
|---|---|---|---|
| Caleb Banks | Florida | 58.28 | Day 3 |
| Bryson Eason | Tennessee | 40.01 | Day 3 |
| Kayden McDonald | Ohio State | 36.70 | Undrafted |
| Dontay Corleone | Cincinnati | 31.07 | Undrafted |
| Zxavian Harris | Ole Miss | 25.07 | Undrafted |
| Bobby Jamison-Travis | Auburn | 20.69 | Undrafted |
| Christen Miller | Georgia | 0.00 | Undrafted |
| Domonique Orange | Iowa State | 0.00 | Undrafted |
| Tim Keenan III | Alabama | 0.00 | Undrafted |
My Top 5:
1) Bryson Eason (Tennessee): B+ = 0.00, C+ = 42.86
2) Caleb Banks (Florida): B+ = 0.00, C+ = 17.86
3) Keldric Faulk (Auburn): B+ = 0.00, C+ = 16.18
4) Gracen Halton (Oklahoma): B+ = 0.00, C+ = 16.18
5) Kaleb Proctor (SE Louisiana): B+ = 0.00, C+ = 16.18
Things worth noting:
-This group is really unimpressive by my numbers. My Success Rate numbers below are poor, which isn't promising. I'm hoping this shift to using z-scores will help fix things, but it'll be a few years before we see that change start to have an effect. I may spend some time after this season to see if I can do anything else to help improve my numbers for this position.
-I mentioned it with Faulk and Overton for Edge, but I'll drop it here too, they're on both boards. Their size suggests position versatility., like playing hand in the dirt Defensive End in a 3-4 and in a 4-3, while also being able to kick inside on pass rush downs in a 4-3. If Faulk runs at his pro day he may show enough speed to add stand up edge rusher in a 3-4 to his list of positional options.
-The "Nose Tackles" get a little tricky. There really aren't enough 320+ guys to create a Day 2 and Day 3 separation. So, they get listed as Day 3, but in reality it's more of a Day 2/3.
-Sleeper: Kaleb Proctor. He made my top 5, but he's really not being talked about, so I think this still counts. He had solid production getting after the Quarterback at SE Louisiana, and then he posted that 4.79 forty with the 1.68 10-split, and bonus, a 9'5" Broad. Stellar athletic testing. The biggest knock is going to be that he played at the FCS level. I wouldn't let that stop me though.
I've been tracking the success rate of each position individually based on my grades from 2020-2023, and I'm going to include that for each position. It might help shine a light on some of my "things worth noting." I combined the Nose Tackles in with the DL for this one, the NT group was too small, when I get a few more years added to the group I will split them out.
