10 Players Making the Leap in 2026 with Brett Kollmann

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2:31Welcome to NFL Daily, where we've been making the leap since 2013. You know who's making the leap this year? It's Brett Coleman. I mean, you know, sure, he's making God knows how much money on that YouTube account in his great podcast. But now he's part of the NFL media family with his NFL Pro Show. What is happening? Brett Coleman, welcome to the show. It's less money than you think. I use copyrighted music, so not a whole lot of ad sense on that channel. Stop. It's all 32. And yeah, check Brett Coleman out on his YouTube channel. He's the co-host of the Bootleg Football Podcast too, which is great.

3:14but if you have enough to spend money on copyrighted music that means you're doing well plus look at the background uh for everyone watching i'm spending on it oh okay i i hear you uh good to know i won't i try not to get you in trouble internet you know that but yeah let's uh let's go over something i've been doing since 2013 i went to go look it was actually a written content piece i did on nfl.com back in the day called making the leap and i thought brett who, yeah, we're welcoming to the NFL media family. The show he's doing is really great. If you're into football, if you love this show and you're a sicko, you are going to love his show with Trevor Sykema, NFL Pro.

3:56And this was kind of a sicko exercise I used to do back in the day because I went 40 deep. And I decided just in the interest of naming some guys, Brett, to go see what the list looked like back in 2013. And in the top 10 that year, we had T.Y. Hilton, Josh Gordon, Chandler Jones, Harrison Smith, and Ryan Tannehill. Five, you know, Tannehill maybe shouldn't have been number one overall. And that was not in exact order, but those are some great, some great players to look back on. Yeah, it was like, what, half decade later, Tannehill led a team to an AFC championship. So like, he got there. He got there.

4:32There were some other names, though. Number two and three on the list are players I barely remember. Bruce Carter of the Cowboys, David Wilson of the Giants. And yeah, there were a lot of misses along the way here. So the exercise, the assignment, and it was partly because I just was really curious what you would say, was to come up with four or five guys you think are going to make the leap this season. It can be a guy you never heard of making a leap up to solid. It could be a solid starter, making his way to superstar. However you wanted to interpret it. I will let you start, Brett. Who do you got?

5:05So I'm going to start with the Bengals defensive line. If you look at what the Bengals D line looked like last year, I mean they basically got no pressure from every from anybody not named Trey Hendrickson he was the only pass rusher that had like even a half decent uh you know pressure percentage and really he was more than half decent he's Trey Hendrickson he's great this year though they're not relying on just one guy to be their winner on second and long third and long right you got Dexter Lawrence who yes he is the one guy but they have more than just him you bring in Boye Mafe they drafted did cash as how like they've just they've they've added to their depth so much over the last two off seasons they have a real defensive line rotation for the first time since probably that 2021 group where you know they they brought in like dj reader and like they had like a whole platoon of defensive linemen and they were a pretty good defense that year wasn't just you know joe throwing go balls to jamar chase so for the first time in a while like they have an actual defense here.

6:06And I think that's what makes the Bengals more dangerous. Yeah, I love that. I love that you immediately zag a little bit off the assignment that you know that you went for an entire defensive line. It's exactly something that I do myself. And I appreciate that and going going big like with a position group. And I heard Zach Taylor say at the podium just this week of like that's where why we feel differently this year more than anything. I'm using my words there in terms of more than anything, but he said our defensive line depth is just different and that's part of the confidence. How confident are you though that let's get into the depth part of it because yeah, let's assume Dexter Lawrence is Dexter Lawrence.

6:49Let's assume Boye Mafé, who's a great piece as part of a good pass rush unit, we know that is who he is. When we get into the Jonathan Allen, Miles Murphy, Shamar Stewart is on their active roster. I thought he was going to maybe put on IR to start the season. And Howell, like BJ Hill, out of those guys, what is your level of confidence? Who do you like there? Where are your concerns? What do you think about the rest of the group after the top guys? Allen, obviously, is not the same as what he was a few years ago in his heyday. But I still think he's a more effective complementary piece than what they've had in recent years there.

7:31Like even if he's just, let's say an average, league average starting three technique, that's still better than what they had. So that in itself is an upgrade. As far as like the true depth pieces, Cassius Howell is a TPR coming off the edge. He really is a fun player. And it's not just because he's kind of the fast, bendy, fluid, you know, lighter pass rusher that a lot of people tend to fall in love with and they do nothing in the NFL. He does have some power to him, right? And he really weaponizes his natural leverage. He is a shorter player. When he gets up and under you and into a tackle's chest, he doesn't look like he packs a punch.

8:05He absolutely does. So I really like Cassius Howell. Do I ever think he's going to be a three-down player? Not necessarily. But if he gives me value on third down or an obvious passing situation like second and long, you just get production there. That's something that they haven't really had outside of Trey Hendrickson. You pair that with Mafia. You pair that with Lawrence. like they could have all four of those guys on the field on second and nine and that's a problem and they just are coming from such a bad place that like just getting average would be awesome and you're right the upside is really high there i loved cassius house tape i've loved to see the reports in cincinnati that he's had a really strong camp he looked good in the preseason when he played so he's like checking a lot of boxes along the way i'm going to start off with the with another defensive line player in this case, Walter Nolan of the Cardinals.

9:00And he's a guy who just didn't get a lot of snaps as a rookie. But man, those snaps were impressive. It's under a couple hundred snaps and even less in terms of the pass rush moves. But man, within those snaps, I think he had about 17 pressures. His snap per pass rush was incredible. He was the best defensive tackle of all the rookies last year, although they struggled as a group. But there were a couple reps. There's one against Tyler Smith. And you said, you know, providing a jolt with Cassius Howell. This is a guy, Walter Nolan, with heavy hands. I know you're a real football guy, Brett. You like to use phrases like heavy hands.

9:39Walter Nolan has heavy hands. And he swipes Tyler Smith. And he wins so fast against him and takes down Dak Prescott. It was actually the first pressure of his entire career. and what a way to get going. And there's a lot of reps like that during his rookie season. And we think a closing speed with cornerbacks, but man, he has closing speed for a defensive tackle because sometimes he's going around the edge like on a stunt or something. And you just do not expect him to get to his target, the quarterback as quickly as he does. But it's impressive. You don't want to just scout on only the best plays, but he had a lot of the best plays in a pretty limited sample size where I think that the ceiling for him is extraordinarily high.

10:25I mean, the physical comp a lot of people had for him was Jalen Carter. And Jalen Carter's making$38 million a year now. And for good reason, even coming off a quote-unquote down year because he had shoulder injuries, the Eagles still pay Jalen Carter because we know what he is. And for Nolan to be compared to that kind of physical unicorn, that's about as high of praise as it gets. if he's healthy, I agree with you. I think he's going to be awesome. There was a quote from him this week where he said, I feel like I'm the heartbeat of the defense, which is interesting to hear from a second year player, a lot of confidence.

11:03And yet, Mike LaFleur, his coach kind of backed it up. He said early after he got hired that when we faced them, we recognized their defense was just different because they played them once without Walter Nolan and they played him once with it and that they were just a different defense with him. Again, it's a lot to put on such a young player, but I'll fall for the offseason stories like that his injury was a wake up call about how much he loves football, that he got a personal shift. When it serves my interest, Brett, then I'm totally into it. And when the tape matches, I mean, he plays with the ferocity that I'm just I'm totally into.

11:43So I'm big on the Walter Nolan hype train this year. Yeah, we're always going to confirm our priors around here. That's pretty much it. All right. Give me someone else that you think or a group that you think is going to make the leap this year. Speaking of confirming my priors, so I had Omarian Hampton with an equivalent grade to Ashton Gentry in that year's draft class. I loved both of them equally. And Omarian, if you're looking at what he was last year versus what the Chargers run game as a whole was last year you can see his impact just by making them be not the worst run game in the league unfortunately ashton genti like they were arguably the worst run game in the league wasn't really ashton's fault but if you're looking at like average yards before contact per attempt the chargers were one of the worst offenses in the nfl last year at that their offensive line completely fell apart due to injuries alt got hurt slater obviously was hurt the entire year you know the interior trio like it was just a constant rotation of new guys and none of them were actually that effective and yet they were still 12th in explosive run rate last year and omarion among all running backs with at least 50 carries he was third in terms of uh missed tackle force percentage about 30 which is an absurd number so the fact that they were even a kind of below average run game in totality is just because of how good Amarian and also Kamani, but I'll also we're in that backfield offensive line deserve none of the credit for that.

13:12It was all the running backs and now, okay, alt is healthy. Slater's healthy ish. We think, you know, you lose Biotis, but like they drafted a guy who can play center and slaughter hard to believe the guard situation is going to be worse. Right? So if the offensive line is at least a little bit better and Hampton is still healthy, I think he could very easily put up like 1300 plus yards this year. Yeah. He is someone we got a chance to see in person when we went out to their training camp that he had one. He's just crazy to see in person. Cause he had, he had one where he got up the sidelines and just sprinted and just to see that size moving like that.

13:54It reminded me, I was lucky enough to see Derek Henry at field level once and it always stuck with me. He's not Derrick Henry, I know, but it's just so rare to see anyone that size move like that, that it's just sick looking at this guy in person. My comp for him, and I developed this comp after seeing him at the combine. Because for some reason, the NFL keeps letting me on the field at the combine. I don't know why. I don't know who I'm tricking to get away with that, but they keep letting me down there. And watching him go through the drills from like 10 feet away, my comp changed from a football player to a different kind of athlete entirely, a ballet dancer.

14:31Because when he steps, I swear to God, Greg, he floats off the ground. I've very rarely ever seen somebody move like him where it's almost like gravity is fighting to keep him on the ground every time he just takes a single step. The last guy that I saw up close and personal that moved like that was Julio Jones. He's that kind of athlete. He's just ridiculous. list. That's a great comp just in terms of a guy that is moving in a way that you don't expect to see and really wows you in person. Now you're there, what? Taking videos. What are you doing on the field at the combine exactly? Because you got like the high res, what's going on there?

15:12So I was always taking my FX3 down there to do like really cool like slow-mo cinematic shots, but I also have my notebook because the combine is like a unique opportunity where you can see guys with your own eyes do the same drill back to back to back to back to back and just see how guys move relative to each other. And I think it's so valuable. You try not to over index on it, but also like seeing quarterbacks throw live, seeing how the ball looks live. Cause I do think that cameras can kind of play a trick on you a little bit when it comes to like looking at how a ball flies through the air.

15:43That was actually what kind of changed my opinion on Trey Lance and Brock Purdy back in the day is you're watching Trey Lance on tape. You're like, Oh my God, this guy's got a gun for an arm. And you know, Brock Purdy doesn't look like he really has much at all. Then I showed up to Niners training camp. I think this was 2022, whatever year Brock Purdy's rookie year was. And just being on the sidelines of that training camp, you're like, oh my God, is Brock Purdy like their, their best quarterback. And you're just looking at how the ball jumps out of Trey's hands versus Brock. You're like, I think he might be.

16:13And that was what really made me believe in Brock was seeing him live in person before that season even started. He was QB four on the depth chart at the time. Jimmy was working on a side field and then eventually he gets his opportunity because of unfortunate injuries and he just took it. Right. And I hearken back to seeing it live. I was like, it kind of makes sense because if I'm seeing it live, the coaches are seeing it live. That's why he made the team and that's why he got the opportunity. It is weird to think that they were in the same training camp together. A couple of them. I think, I think, you know, Trey Lance was still there Brock Purdy second year.

16:49It's something that non-49ers fans, even myself, kind of memory hold that at one point, yeah, Brock Purdy had to beat out Trey Lance. With Hampton, because I've thought a lot about Auburn and Hampton. Are you at all worried about his running style? He's not necessarily a guy that's going to make you miss compared to some of his brethren at the position. And do you worry that he's almost, he invites contact at some point and that could be a problem? I think it kind of depends on where and how that contact happens, right? I think he does need to get a little bit better in terms of not inviting it in no-win situations.

17:39He's a young running back. He's eager. I think it's okay if you have 12 yards, right? You already got the first down. You have 12 yards. You're going out of bounds. You don't necessarily need to turn back into the safety. You can just get out of bounds. You got the explosive run. Preserve yourself for the next carry. He's very eager. He's a very violent running back. I think he can probably preserve himself a little bit more after he's already won. Yeah, that's a great way of putting it. and I'm sure he's been coached on that a little bit. Almost reminds you, yeah, of a quarterback that occasionally just save yourself just a little bit.

18:17Let's go, I'll go offensive line next. And I view this exercise, Brett, since it's happening right before the season as kind of we're planting our flag on these guys. I don't want to not mention Armand Membu because I've talked about him at different points a little bit throughout the offseason because I want to pick the guys that I think are the most likely to really ascend. And he's close to me to already being at an elite level. And the numbers, as much as you can get them for offensive linemen, would back me up. Just their running game when they ran to his side of the field last year was like a yard and a half better going to Membu's side than it was to the left.

19:01The numbers can be a little messy there. He did give up sacks. Those numbers weren't incredible. he tended to lose quickly the times that he lost but overall if you look up the pressure rate that he gave up as a rookie it was not high there were pre-snap penalties I mean he looked like a rookie and yet if if you asked me to just pick one tackle out of the last few draft classes for the next 10 years I think it's him I just I just think he's gonna be that guy and and tackles who are going to be great, often become great pretty quickly if they were that good as a rookie. So Membu is my second pick here for making the leap.

19:42I mean, he is just an absolute physical freak, right? Size, length, power, fluidity. It's very Tristan Wirfs-ish as far as the athletic profile. And in fact, I think if you put their numbers side by side, I bet it's pretty similar. And he moves like Tristan Wirfs, quite frankly. the fact that his first game ever as a rookie, it's like, Hey, go block TJ watt one-on-one. Right. And he did it. He pancaked him like four times in that game. That to me was the announcement of like, Oh, this, this guy isn't normal. And he just stayed not normal the entire year. I think he is arguably the best player on the team.

20:23Maybe not even arguable. Yeah. I was going to say on the jets, I thought you're, I thought you were about to go. He's like the, the best. tackle already and maybe I'm cheating a little bit. Part of the making the leap exercise, Brett, at the end of the year, you want to look good with it. Sometimes it's about the guy gaining a greater public profile and consciousness and acceptance when people like yourself are already kind of recognizing his talents. And yet I do think he had stuff to clean up as a rookie. I mentioned some of them where he did give up sacks. He did have penalties and everything.

21:01But for a guy to come out at that position and show that much upside right away at a position that's so difficult that so often you don't look like a star right away. Even some of the greats did not look like stars right away. It does feel like, yeah, Armand Membu, I agree with you, is the best player on the Jets. And if Fashanu can do his thing on the left side, and I don't think he's going to be at that level, but they really have like a couple of building blocks to be their team identity, to get excited about the Jets for a while with David Bailey on the other side. Were you a Membu or a Will Campbell guy going into the draft or both?

21:40I was Membu and quite frankly, I got very upset at the Raiders for taking a running back over Membu when they needed a right tackle and then that running back who again, very talented running back, nowhere to go and it's like, well, if they took the right tackle first, it'd probably be a better running game, but what do I know? Yeah, I love Membu so much. The question I have for you, because you mentioned, I don't know if there's a young tackle you take for the next 10 years over him. Him or Joe Alt? Where do you stand on that? I'd probably just go Membu, which is unfair just because he's not coming off of an injury, but Joe Alt is a great shout-out.

22:19Are you a big Joe Alt guy? Joe Walt to me I mean you've been watching football a long time just like me. You remember Jake Long pre-injury Jake Long? Yeah. That's Joe Walt to me. He's Jake Long. I think if he stays healthy which has been the issue so far. If he stays healthy that to me is like a future Hall of Fame tackle. That's how good he is. And his tape in his second season before he got injured was just outrageously good. Remarkable. He's a good shout out too because it's not that I forgot about him, but you also just think, okay, he's already good and he's coming back from an injury. And we're almost taking that for granted with the Chargers and what's happening this season.

23:00But my God, to just add him to that line is massive. How do you turn 16 games, injury reports, team notes, betting lines, and matchup trends into one clear weekend preview? Chat GPT work can help. Give it the goal plus real inputs like notes, files, data, and project plans. It can help turn them into an analysis, tracker, deck outline, or workflow you can keep shaping. You stay in control, reviewing the work, and choosing the final result. Put ChatGPT to work on your most ambitious ideas and projects. Get started at chatgpt.com by selecting work mode, available on plus and pro plans. Every player in the league has a scouting report.

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26:33I think so, especially if you think he's going to go to another level even. improve on where he was as a rookie? He very easily could, and I'll tell you why. A lot of it doesn't even really have that much to do with CJ. It has everything to do with the run game. And this is something that we highlighted on our week one preview of NFL Pro. If you're looking at the Texans' called run percentage on first down last year, 54.4%. That was way above league average of roughly 50%. I know it doesn't sound like a big difference. It absolutely is. They loved running the ball on first down. problem is they kind of sucked at it not even kind of they really did suck at it 28.4 percent of their first down rushes were successful that was the worst percentage in the league they led the league in second and long opportunities and the problem is in second and long the texans went into shotgun cj stroud is a better quarterback from under center than he is in shotgun kind of a rarity for a young quarterback quite honestly but when he is under center especially doing hard play action fakes from under center there's that structure there's that rhythm like he's he's very much a timing based quarterback and he thrives in that environment you put him into shotgun that kind of happy feet there the timing is different it's kind of more of a loosey group loosey goosey structure i would say and that's reflected in the numbers here as far as yards per attempt from under center 8.6 shotgun 6.9 massive drop off epa per drop back damn near tripled under center compared to shotgun he is a much better quarterback under center had just 16.6 percent of his dropbacks uh came on third and long second highest in the nfl behind only justin fields since entering the league so you give him a half decent running game which i think they're going to have this year with dave montgomery in an improved offensive line you get him into more second and manageable where they're going to be under center at twice the rate as gun once they get into second manageable compared to second and long.

28:37More under center for C.J. Stroud means a better C.J. Stroud, which means a better Texans offense, which means at that point, sky's the limit for that team. I think that he's a totally fair making the leap pick because, look, the rookie year was great for him to come out how he did and his great, like, if you had taken the 25 best throws of his rookie season, they were just jaw-dropping and he's great throwing the ball down the field. But even that season, somewhat statistically, it wasn't that far off from where he was last year, which I think overall was a little bit better season than we remember because of how it finished and because of the dichotomy you're bringing about.