NFL Insider Tom Pelissero Talks Draft Intrigue, AJ Brown & More with Rich

Tom Pelissero settles in with his phone in his left hand, ready to clear thousands of texts, because the meetings are over and GMs are now just calling each other to feel out the back half of round one. The line he keeps hearing: I don't know what the bleep is going on. There is always a cliff in the first round, but in this draft the cliff is steep. Twelve to fifteen guys, and a head coach told him the player you get at 15 and the player you get at 80 are not that different.

That math, he says, explains the Bengals trading for Dexter Lawrence. Cincinnati had only seven blue-chip grades on its board, and at 10 they were not getting one. So they dealt the pick, signaled to Joe Burrow that the defense matters, and let the Giants stack two top-ten selections to land two of their top six or seven players, since they would not take an edge or a quarterback there.

Pelissero rolls through risers. Dylan Feamster, the Oregon safety, top 20. Caleb Banks, foot medicals cleaning up enough to push him into the top 20. Carson Beck is his most pounded-table call. The Georgia tape, the celebrity stuff, the Kirby Smart noise, all of it Beck cleaned up at Miami, and scouts now describe him as a beautiful mind on the field. Six-five, a Parcells-rules quarterback, super senior, the right metrics. Pelissero pegs him as a second-round lock with a non-trivial chance to sneak into round one ahead of Ty Simpson, possibly to the Jets at 33 even though they have stockpiled for 2027.

On Simpson, Pelissero says the Cardinals are the clear team at three, the Rams are the wild card if they can move back from 13, and the Brock Purdy comp is shifting how the league values processors over traits. Up top, three is where the Jeremiah Love window opens and slams shut. Past five, he is shocked. The Cowboys and Chiefs have explored trading up, and if a tackle goes top five it is Spencer Fano or Francis Mauigoa, with Andy Reid quietly partial to a BYU guy.

Then the storylines beyond round one. Jermaine McCoy's knee, a bone-plug procedure with longevity questions, makes him a candidate for a team like the Chargers at 23. Big-name quarterbacks Drew Allar, Garrett Nussmeier with a spinal cyst that explained 2025, plus athletic projects Talyn Green and Cole Payton. Rich brings up AJ Brown to close. Pelissero's read: a June second divorce, no recent talks, and the Patriots will not give up a 2027 first because that draft is loaded. He volunteers for VP. Howie's making news on Rich's show.