Bruce Feldman 1st round mock for The Athletic

[Sierra Foothills]

Just putting this out there... not vouching for it. Can't speak for Bruce Feldman.

 

This is how he prefaces the mock that dropped this morning at The Athletic:

 

"This is my sixth annual NFL mock draft based on intel I’ve gathered from coaching, scouting and agent sources over the past month-plus.

My aim here with this project, as always, is to provide unique insight directly from the eyes of rival coaches who have not only studied and scouted these prospects, but also game-planned for and then faced each of them. These sources know exactly what they’re dealing with and what they’ve tried to do against these players in real-game situations, and some of them faced these prospects in multiple games."

 

It's behind a paywall and out of respect for their intellectual property I'm only going to post the picks up to the Bills at 26. It includes a projected trade: Dallas receives pick No. 3; Arizona receives picks Nos. 12 and 92

 

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/7151713/2026/04/01/nfl-mock-draft-intel-coaches-scouts-agents-2026/

 

Pick	NFL	PLAYER	POS	SCHOOL
1	LVR	Fernando Mendoza	QB	Indiana
2	NYJ	Arvell Reese	EDGE	Ohio State
3	DAL	David Bailey	EDGE	Texas Tech
4	TEN	Jeremiyah Love	RB	Notre Dame
5	NYG	Sonny Styles	LB	Ohio State
6	CLE	Francis Mauigoa	OT	Miami
7	WAS	Rueben Bain Jr	EDGE	Miami
8	NO	Carnell Tate	WR	Ohio State
9	KC	Spencer Fano	OT	Utah
10	CIN	Caleb Downs	S	Ohio State
11	MIA	Mansoor Delane	CB	LSI
12	ARZ	Monroe Freeling	OT	Georgia
13	LAR	Makai Lemon	WR	USC
14	BAL	Jermod McCoy	CB	Tennessee
15	TB	Kenyon Sadiq	TE	Oregon
16	NYJ	Jordyn Tyson	WR	Arizona State
17	DET	Kadyn Proctor	OT	Alabama
18	MIN	Dillon Thieneman	S	Oregon
19	CAR	Emmanuel McNeil-Warren	S	Toledo
20	DAL	Denzel Boston	WR	Washington
21	PIT	Omar Cooper	WR	Indiana
22	LAC	Olaivavega Ioane	G	Penn State
23	PHI	Caleb Lomu	OL	Utah
24	CLE	KC Concepcion	WR	Texas A&M
25	CHI	Akheem Mesidor	EDGE	Miami
26	BUF	Cashius Howell	EDGE	Texas A&M

 

Edited April 3 by Sierra Foothills

[dreadlox]

I don’t hate it. The Bills need pass rush and this kid provides that. 

[BillsFanForever19]

7 minutes ago, dreadlox said:

I don’t hate it. The Bills need pass rush and this kid provides that. 

 

To be honest, I haven't really gotten into Draft Prospects at Edge. But that's not a name I've heard for us much. Usually it's Zion Young or T.J. Parker. Is that because this guy is expected to be gone or because he has him rated higher than others?

[Buffalo716]

He would definitely fit the new scheme 

 

He has the burst although he needs a little bit more refinement in his Rush 

 

Not great against the rush but he's a true pass rusher that we haven't been able to draft in a while 

 

He could be the third down specialist we've been looking for potentially with the room to grow 

 

But he fits the defense standing up on the edge

Edited April 2 by Buffalo716

[dreadlox]

1 hour ago, BillsFanForever19 said:

 

1 hour ago, BillsFanForever19 said:

 

To be honest, I haven't really gotten into Draft Prospects at Edge. But that's not a name I've heard for us much. Usually it's Zion Young or T.J. Parker. Is that because this guy is expected to be gone or because he has him rated higher than others?

He’s generally predicted around The Bills’ pick. Matt Miller at ESPN has him at 22 to LA. Bucky Brooks predicts 27 to the 49ers. Kiper has him as the 4th best edge and not in the 1st round. He has 30.5 inch arms so some think he might fall out of the first.

Edited April 2 by dreadlox
The post I quoted appeared twice

[Kirby Jackson]

 

Arm length has mattered to the Bills (and I think Carolina before that). I don’t see any way that the guy that reset the scale in terms of arm length is their target.

 

Personally I like the idea of more explosive pass rushers. I just don’t think there’s much chance he’s the guy. Howell was literally “off the charts” in terms of his arm length. 

[CNYfan]

This would not be a guy I would be happy about.   

The arm length is so worrisome.  

 

With Lamu and Cooper gone I would hope for a trade back.  CJ Allen is available here as is Peter Woods, etc.  

[TheBeaneBandit]

All the WR......gone.

[DJB]

If Arizona trades back like that again passing on a “potential game changing DE” again…their GM will be fired 

 

Not putting much stock into this mock of his “sources”

[OldTimer1960]

I think Howell’s movement skills, effort and speed/quickness give him a chance to be a good pass rusher, but man it seems like a very risky pick given his arm length.  Go watch video of his 40 at the combine- his arms look very short for his body and how will he win against OTs with arms 3-5” longer than his?  It seems if the OT can get his arms on him, he will be done.

[Back2Buff]

I think arm length for a speed rusher is completely a useless trait evaluation.  Speed rushers rely on the tackle not even getting a hand on the OLB.  They succeed by the tackles not being quick enough. 

[GunnerBill]

4 minutes ago, Back2Buff said:

I think arm length for a speed rusher is completely a useless trait evaluation.  Speed rushers rely on the tackle not even getting a hand on the OLB.  They succeed by the tackles not being quick enough. 

 

If you are taking a speed rusher round 3 or round 4 to be a designated pass rusher only - absolutely fair. 

 

But if you have 30.5" arms and the OT doesn't totally whiff the play is dead, you are done. He gets a hand on you and you are flailing. You can't take that in the first round IMO. A speed rusher in the first round needs to have something else to his game too because even the best speed rushers in the NFL don't just blow past OTs untouched 6 or 7 times per game. 

 

Howell has no plan B, is poor playing the run and can't disengage from blockers consistently. The length definitely hurts him. 

 

I remain very much of the view the Buffalo Bills will NOT draft Cashius Howell.

[SoCal Deek]

Thanks for posting! I love the simple list format. What stands out to me when you see Round One presented that way is Ohio State has four guys in the Top Ten (geeez) and yet they didn’t even win their Conference…and the once ‘mighty’ Alabama has only one much lower down. 

[GunnerBill]

2 hours ago, Kirby Jackson said:

 

Arm length has mattered to the Bills (and I think Carolina before that). I don’t see any way that the guy that reset the scale in terms of arm length is their target.

 

Personally I like the idea of more explosive pass rushers. I just don’t think there’s much chance he’s the guy. Howell was literally “off the charts” in terms of his arm length. 

 

Yep the arm length for DL is a Dave Gettleman absolute and we know by this point so much of Beane's philosophy about how he drafts is influenced by his spell as Gettleman's Assistant in Carolina. In the five years Gettleman was Panthers GM he drafted five defensive linemen across the first two days of the draft. Star Lotulelei - with 33 & 5/8ths inch arms had the shortest among those five. He drafted another 5 in 4 years as Giants GM. 33" was the shortest - BJ Hill. 

 

Now Beane has gone against that grain once for Ed Oliver. Howell isn't close to the prospect Ed was. Ed is more akin to a team overlooking arm length this year and taking Rueben Bain in the top 10. Sometimes the talent justifies it. But as a general principle it holds for Beane - it is everything he has been taught in the business.

[NewEra]

1 hour ago, Back2Buff said:

I think arm length for a speed rusher is completely a useless trait evaluation.  Speed rushers rely on the tackle not even getting a hand on the OLB.  They succeed by the tackles not being quick enough. 

Meanwhile…..there has never been ONE good pass rusher with arms as short as Howell. Ever

 

Howell was my original draft crush and the guy I was hoping for at 26.  But numbers don’t lie.  Cashius wishes his arms would lie and be brought back to life by Gepetto.  That seems like his only chance.

 

taking a player trying to be one of one in the history of the nfl history is a no go for me.  Rd 3, sure

 

Edited April 2 by NewEra

[Sierra Foothills]

30 minutes ago, NewEra said:

Meanwhile…..there has never been ONE good pass rusher with arms as short as Howell. Ever

 

Howell was my original draft crush and the guy I was hoping for at 26.  But numbers don’t lie.  Cashius wishes his arms would lie and be brought back to life by Gepetto.  That seems like his only chance.

 

taking a player trying to be one of one in the history of the nfl history is a no go for me.  Rd 3, sure

 

 

That's because Howell has the shortest arms ever of anyone measured at the combine at that position.

 

I'm not in favor of the Bills drafting him but watching his video it's hard (at least for me) to imagine him not being a good NFL pass rusher in fact, it looks like he'd still be winning one on ones even if he didn't have any arms because his other traits are so impressive.

 

Howell is almost identical in size to Melvin Ingram (both 6'2" 250 lbs) who had 58 sacks in his 13 year career, including 2 seasons of over 10 sacks. Ingram had arm length concerns too (31.5").

 

Again I don't want the Bills to draft him in the 1st round but I wouldn't be surprised at all if he became a good NFL pass rusher and in fact, I expect him to be.

 

 

Edited April 2 by Sierra Foothills

[LEBills]

Well how that mock fell seems to be about the worst case scenario for the Bills lol. TJ Parker would be my clear top pick for the Bills in this scenario, followed by one of the OL that are left.

[Bangarang]

33 minutes ago, NewEra said:

Meanwhile…..there has never been ONE good pass rusher with arms as short as Howell. Ever

 

Howell was my original draft crush and the guy I was hoping for at 26.  But numbers don’t lie.  Cashius wishes his arms would lie and be brought back to life by Gepetto.  That seems like his only chance.

 

taking a player trying to be one of one in the history of the nfl history is a no go for me.  Rd 3, sure

 

 

There has also never been a franchise QB to come out of Wyoming...until it happened. 

 

I'm not pounding the table for Howell but he obviously has some NFL quality traits regardless of his arm length. Quality pass rushers are hard to find, just ask Beane that. If he has what it takes then I don't think he should be removed from consideration because his arms are an inch or two shorter than you'd prefer. 

[Kirby Jackson]

If Howell goes in round 1 it speaks volumes as to what the league thinks of this draft class. In a normal year, there’d be no chance of a guy with those arms going anywhere near day 1. In a good year, he may be relegated to day 3. 

[NewEra]

9 minutes ago, Sierra Foothills said:

 

That's because Howell has the shortest arms ever of anyone measured at the combine at that position.

 

I'm not in favor of the Bills drafting him but watching his video it's hard (at least for me) to imagine him not being a good NFL pass rusher in fact, it looks like he'd still be winning one on ones even if he didn't have any arms because his other traits are so impressive.

 

Howell is almost identical in size to Melvin Ingram (both 6'2" 250 lbs) who had 58 sacks in his 13 year career, including 2 seasons of over 10 sacks. Ingram had arm length concerns too (31.5").

 

Again I don't want the Bills to draft him in the 1st round but I wouldn't be surprised at all if he became a good NFL pass rusher and in fact, I expect him to be.

 

 

Yeah his athleticism on tape is impressive.  Has some good moves other than the speed.  Doesn’t really string moves together though.  
 

I’m not saying that I think he’s doomed.  I just wouldn’t bet the 26th pick on him becoming 1 of 1