Sexy Dexy becoming a Bengal sends ripples through the first round of NFL Draft which kicks off Thursday night
Sep 28, 2025; East Rutherford, New Jersey, USA; New York Giants defensive tackle Dexter Lawrence (97) reacts during the fourth quarter against the Los Angeles Chargers at MetLife Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Brad Penner-Imagn Images | Brad Penner-Imagn ImagesCommanders linksArticlesdark mode loading... pic.twitter.com/dZT3nAyELM
- Washington Commanders (@Commanders) April 18, 2026
The Athletic (paywall)
Why teams should select Notre Dame's Jeremiyah Love - no matter his position value[T]eams should be racing for the opportunity to select Notre Dame's Jeremiyah Love.
Of course, Love's draft ceiling is only so high because of his devalued running back position, but someone Thursday night is going to inherit a game-breaking talent. Love could easily be a top-five pick, and teams generally believe there's very little chance of him slipping out of the top 10.
(Love) is really special," the scout said. He's not far off from a Saquon (Barkley) type of impact. He's going high.
You can poke holes in a few of the guys (in the top 10), but very little with (Love). Dynamic, explosive, productive, big. Throw the positional value out the window."
Because of those qualities and the overall talent, teams absolutely believe Love is in play for the Tennessee Titans at No. 4. It helps they're trying to round out the offense for quarterback Cam Ward, the No. 1 pick in 2025.
New York Giants coach John Harbaugh, who holds the No. 5 pick, has a long affinity for premium running backs, so they could also be in play.
After five backs were taken in the top 10 from 2015-18, the league collectively shunned the position in that area until the Atlanta Falcons jumped on Bijan Robinson at No. 8 in 2023. The Raiders drafted Ashton Jeanty at No. 6 in 2025, so a top-10 pick for Love would resemble something of a run.
If he were coming out last year with Jeanty, that would have been a hell of a debate," a scout said. I think (Love) is a hell of a player. He's one of the top players in this draft, just not a premium position. But you just take him, especially if you need a back."
Make no mistake, there are credible cases to be made against drafting a running back in the top 10. But Love has made a compelling case of his own, and there's plenty of belief that he'll be off the board quickly in the opening round.
I coached Jeremiyah Love in college. This one run is what makes him specialYou want your best players to be your hardest workers. We talk about having a walk-on mentality, because they're underappreciated, but they go to work and don't look for pats on the back.
Jeremiyah was our best player and our most talented player, but he also had that same mentality. It set a precedent foreveryone else:If our best player can work this way, it entices me, as a young guy,to mimic what I see.
His thing became: Coach, push me."
We always said a cheetah never stretches when it gets up to chase prey. And Jeremiyah is kind of like a cheetah. He got in the habit of finishing long runs, which showed up in games. Your habits become what you do. And what you do in the dark comes to light.
The great example: He had a 94-yard run against Boston College last year. I can see the play vividly in my head.
Commanders.com
Washington alumni love the return of the burgundy and goldThat thing is poppin'," Hall of Fame cornerback Darrell Green said of the new helmet on the Command Center" podcast live show at Franklin Hall.
You look at those colors, and you look at that scheme that they had, you automatically knew what it was about," former Washington running back Brian Mitchell told Commanders host Bryan Colbert Jr.
For former players like Andre Collins, who spent the first five seasons of his career with Washington and helped the franchise win a Super Bowl in 1991, the return of the classic looks helps rekindle the connection they had with the team. Collins understood several of the changes Washington made in recent years, including the rebranding from Redskins to Commanders, but he felt like there was a disconnect that at least partially stemmed from the uniforms. Now that the look is back, that bond has been renewed.
That just meant too much to this community to go that hard the other way," Collins said. I'm so happy that we're going back to seeing more gold, seeing more burgundy. I love this helmet. It just makes so much sense."
- Washington Commanders (@Commanders) April 18, 2026
Hogs Haven
Top 30 visit to TopGolfAlright; for those of you interested, here's the fuller list of prospects who went to TopGolf. Note that both of our 1st rounders under AP (JD5 and Conerly) attended, though always alongside others who were not drafted by the team (you can't be too obvious!). So, it's probably fair to suppose that our first-round pick is among these names:
- Arvell Reese Edge
- David Bailey Edge
- Reuben Bain Edge
- Romello Height Edge
- Kayden McDonald DT
- Sonny Styles LB
- Monseur Delane CB
- Keionte Scott CB
- Daylen Everette CB
- Caleb Downs S
- Jaylen Kilgore S
- Athan Kaliakmanis QB
- Jeremiyah Love RB
- Emmett Johnson RB
- Carnell Tate WR
- Makai Lemon WR
- Jordyn Tyson WR
- Omar Cooper Jr. WR
- Denzel Boston WR
- Chris Brazzell II WR
Big Blue View
Giants trade DT Dexter Lawrence to Bengals for first-round pick: SourceThe New York Giants have agreed to send Dexter Lawrence to the Cincinnati Bengals in exchange for the No. 10 pick in next week's NFL Draft, a league source confirmed toThe Athletic.
The move, which is pending a physical, comes after Lawrence publicly requested a trade April 6. The All-Pro defensive tackle has not attended the team's voluntary offseason workouts, which began April 7. The day after the news went public, coach John Harbaugh said he wasn't surprised by the request, calling the prospects of Lawrence staying with the Giants high."
Cincinnati's stunning deal for Lawrence was arguably the most out-of-character, big swing in recent franchise history and indicates the urgency toward changing the face of a defense that's doomed the window of quarterback Joe Burrow. Lawrence becomes the third significant veteran addition to the Bengals' defensive line and invigorates a previously dead pass rush.
I was on the phone with a GM less than an hour ago running through top 10 scenarios. The way we had it going, we both said, the bengals are screwed." Well, not anymore. This trade makes a ton of sense for them.
- Daniel Jeremiah (@MoveTheSticks) April 19, 2026
ESPN
Dexter Lawrence trade: Bengals, Giants, NFL draft takeaways1. The NFL's trade paradigm has officially shifted
Lawrence is now the fourth prominent defensive lineman to be included in a trade for a first-round pick over the past nine months after Parsons, Williams and Crosby (whose deal admittedly didn't come to fruition but still gives us a sense of how he was valued). The Parsons trade doesn't really belong with the other three, given that he was a younger player who hadn't even signed his second contract, let alone played through part of that deal.
The Cowboys' trade for Williams is really the moment where the prices NFL teams were willing to pay for star defensive linemen midway through their second contracts shifted.
2. The league doesn't appear to like this draft class
An alternate explanation for what's going on might simply be that the NFL doesn't see 2026 first-round picks as particularly valuable. While there are a few standout hybrid players at the top of the first round and a couple of positions that are relatively deep into Day 2, this is widely regarded around the league as one of the weaker drafts in recent memory.
Organizations want to see drafts with plug-and-play starters at key positions like wide receiver, edge rusher and left tackle, but there aren't many players who project to be standouts in those spots. The players who will come off the board first at those positions have more question marks than usual.
There are now 6(!) teams with multiple firsts:
- Field Yates (@FieldYates) April 19, 2026
Jets: 2, 16
Giants: 5, 10
Browns: 6, 24
Chiefs: 9, 29
Dolphins: 11, 30
Cowboys: 12, 20
No first: Colts, Bengals, Jaguars, Broncos, Packers, Falcons
Receiving such a high selection back is a massive get for the Giants to kickstart the John Harbaugh era.
Already stocked with a potential franchise quarterback in Jaxson Dart and a difference maker like Malik Nabers at wideout, it's a huge opportunity for New York to build around Dart on a cheap rookie contract, either by adding another weapon or bolstering his protection. The Giants will also need to plug a massive hole now at DT along a defensive line that was already in need of some upgrades regardless of if Lawrence had remained in town or not.
On the surface, this isn't ideal for the Commanders at 7.
- Ben Standig (@BenStandig) April 19, 2026
There's been lots of talk about the Giants going OL at 5. Now, they can get Fano, Ioane or maybe Mauigoa at 10, freeing them up for Styles, Love or Tate at 5.
Maybe they go Jordyn Tyson at 5. Swapping him out for... https://t.co/9kxZShntQ3
I've always loved Lawrence as a player, but I am stunned by the draft capital the Bengals spent to get him. The No. 10 pick - straight up! What's almost as shocking is that the Bengals, who rarely make trades, were the ones who pulled off the deal.
At the peak of his powers, Lawrence has been incredible. He was exceptional in 2022 and 2023. During those two seasons, Lawrence's 17.5% pass rush win rate at defensive tackle ranked third best, behind only Aaron Donald and Chris Jones. But unlike those other two pass-rushing savants, Lawrence delivered that production mostly playing nose tackle, which is what made him so special and valuable.
He was double-teamed on 68% of his defensive tackle pass rushes during that span, which put him in the 93rd percentile for the position (though that was not unique compared with Donald and Jones). Lawrence recorded 12.0 sacks in those two years - though I think that undersells his impact - and he was an AP second-team All-Pro in each of those seasons. Though his run stop win rate was only average those years, his run-stopping reputation is much, much stronger than that.
In 2024, he recorded 9.0 sacks in only 12 games, but his pass rush win rate dropped suddenly, to just 6.8% (30th percentile) before an elbow injury knocked him out for the final five games of the year. His pressure rate fell from 10.0% in 2023 to 6.3% in 2024.
In 2025, Lawrence's play seemed to fall further, as he delivered an 8.4% pass rush win rate and a 5.3% pressure rate but with - jarringly - just 0.5 sacks. And just 50% of Lawrence's pass rushes last season came playing 0-technique or 1-technique, compared with 70% during 2022 and 2023.
But value-wise, I don't see how the Bengals make this move. This isn't a late first-round pick; Cincinnati is surrendering the No. 10 pick to (presumably) pay Lawrence and find out if he can return to his form from a couple of years ago. That's not the kind of bet I would want to make!
- The Weekly Audible (@WeeklyAudible) April 19, 2026
Pro Football Talk
Giants now have two picks in the top ten, againThey have the No. 5 pick, which they earned the old-fashioned way: By being the fifth-worst team in the league last season. They'll now inherit the Bengals' pick, No. 10 overall.
That happened four years ago, when the Giants had their own pick (No. 5) plus the Chicago pick acquired when the Bears traded up in 2021 to get quarterback Justin Fields.
Last time around, it didn't go very well. Defensive end Kayvon Thibodeaux, the fifth overall pick, has performed well enough to have his fifth-year option exercised. The presence of Brian Burns and the selection of Abdul Carter with the third overall pick in 2025 clouds Thibodeaux's future with the team.
Offensive lineman Evan Neal, taken with the seventh overall pick, has not panned out. He re-signed a one-year deal for the minimum salary after his four-year rookie deal expired.
This time around, Joe Schoen is still the G.M. But John Harbaugh is the head coach. They'll need to nail at least one, and ideally both, of the selections. Pick the right guys, and then develop them the right way.
The fact that the deal was done five days before the draft becomes a complicating factor for the Giants. The teams picking behind the Giants will try to speculate on the player they want at No. 10. If a team guesses right and leapfrogs the Giants to the ninth spot (currently held by the Chiefs), the Giants will lose the player they may be coveting.
That's why the best outcome would have been to keep the deal with the Bengals quiet until the pick was on the clock.
Giants grade: A
The Giants now enter draft week with the Nos. 5 and 10 picks, so they're equipped to address two major needs to launch the John Harbaugh era.
That's intriguing with the makeup of this draft class, as top prospects such as Notre Dame running back Jeremiyah Love, Ohio State inside linebacker Sonny Styles and Ohio State safety Caleb Downs don't play premium positions - something that's created internal philosophical debates within front offices as they handle draft strategies. If the Giants take one of those players at No. 5, they could theoretically stack a receiver or a higher-value position on top to accentuate the value of the class.
But really, the Giants created momentum with wide receiver Malik Nabers and quarterback Jaxson Dart as the headliners of their last two draft classes, and now they've got two quality assets to keep it going.
They also got incredible value for a player who publicly requested a trade.
NFL DraftThere's a belief among teams at the top of the draft that the #Cowboys, who have picks at #12 and #20, are a team to watch in trade-up scenarios, according to multiple league sources.
- Jordan Schultz (@Schultz_Report) April 14, 2026
Several teams have said they believe Dallas is targeting a player the #Giants also covet, and... pic.twitter.com/9C32GqBSkS
ESPN
Judge grants Oklahoma LB Heinecke extra year of eligibilityA district court judge has granted Oklahoma linebacker Owen Heinecke a preliminary injunction that hands the former walk-on an additional year of eligibility in 2026.
Following a daylong emergency hearing at the Cleveland County (Oklahoma) courthouse, which included testimony from Oklahoma coach Brent Venables and general manager Jim Nagy, Judge Thad Balkman ruled Thursday that the NCAA failed to consider the totality of Heinecke's case surrounding his freshman season with Ohio State's lacrosse program in 2021, and he granted the injunction that paves the way for Heinecke to return to Oklahoma for a fifth season this fall.
A career special-teamer, Heinecke emerged as a star for the Sooners in 2025, finishing as the second-leading tackler on the nation's No. 3 run defense and helping carry Oklahoma to its first College Football Playoff appearance since 2019. He'll rejoin veteran Kip Lewis and Michigan transfer Cole Sullivan in one of the most experienced linebacker corps across the SEC in 2026.
Thursday's ruling marks the latest, and likely final, chapter in a monthslong eligibility fight.
AI Overview of impact on Heinecke's draft eligibility:
Oklahoma linebacker Owen Heinecke is not immediately draft-eligible for the 2026 NFL draft as he has been granted a preliminary injunction that allows him an additional year of college eligibility to return for the 2026 season. Following a 2025 breakout season, a court ruled in April 2026 that the NCAA failed to properly consider his eligibility case.
Key Details on Heinecke's Status:
- 2026 Season Return: Heinecke is expected to rejoin the Oklahoma Sooners for a fifth season in 2026.
- Legal Injunction: A Judge (Thad Balkman) ruled that his 2021 lacrosse stint at Ohio State should not have disqualified him from playing college football in 2026.
- Draft Preparation: Although he participated in the 2026 Senior Bowl, NFL combine, and Oklahoma's pro day, he will return to college instead of joining the 2026 NFL draft.
- 2025 Stats: He was a standout player in 2025, recording 74 tackles and 12 tackles for loss.
While he was preparing for the draft, the successful lawsuit allows him to return to Oklahoma, changing his status from a potential 2026 draft pick to a college linebacker for the 2026 season.
aBit o'TwitterHere's the answer to a question posed in the comments section a few days ago (answer: TE Lawrence Cager):
- Washington Commanders (@Commanders) April 19, 2026
Shout out to our model @lawrencecager3pic.twitter.com/iszQfVnNER
"The last time you were this adamant about a Top 10 pick was Jayden Daniels." @Mitch_Tischler and @JPFinlayNBCS' 2026 Mock Draft is here! pic.twitter.com/6EM1trIFM8
- Monumental Sports Network (@MonSportsNet) April 18, 2026
Teams starting to work phones for trades up/down...
- Jeremy Fowler (@JFowlerESPN) April 18, 2026
Belief in league circles is that Arizona (3), Tennessee (4) both open to moving back
Many watching Dallas (12/20) closely, due to obvious defensive needs. Cowboys not overly active on phones yet. Open-minded about potential... https://t.co/YKxyh7F8JF
For those young enough to have never seen him play, and for those (like me) old enough to remember him clearly.
- Bill-in-Bangkok (@billhorgan2005) April 19, 2026
Redskins highlights start at 04:32.#RaiseHail#HTTRhttps://t.co/gPmspbRPqQ
JMU PRODUCT SAM KIDD WITH THE DAGGER INT TO SEAL THE GAME.
- Christian Paolantonio (@CPaolantonio_) April 18, 2026
The DC #Defenders earn revenge on their rivals and pick up the 28-22 win over the #Battlehawks. #UFLpic.twitter.com/hTqInaZOPk
Matt McCrane hits another long ball. This one was good from 56.
- Grant Paulsen (@GrantPaulsen) April 18, 2026
This dude should get a call from Ashburn. pic.twitter.com/NtK0IcmIF7
Alvin Mack (LB, ESU) is the best damn movie football player I've seen.
- Kyle Brandt (@KyleBrandt) April 15, 2026
And Charles Jefferson (DL/LB, Ridgemont High, 5-Star) even at the prep level, belongs on this list. https://t.co/Z7VoUm4dmT