NFL Network’s Charles Davis Talks 2026 Draft & More with Rich

Charles Davis settles into the desk and Rich opens with a small confession: there is a short list of people he never wants to do the draft without, and Davis is on it. They have been calling picks together since 2007. Before they get into 2026, Davis sidetracks to gush about Bret Michaels stopping by, who apparently signed his charity check in dry erase ink. Rich riffs about taking it to the bank in his fake SportsCenter security guard bit, and they finally land on football.

Fernando Mendoza first overall, no ifs or buts. Davis says the talent is obvious, but the part that sells him is the package around it. He recalls a GM telling him years ago that he picked a player because he needed an adult in the room. Mendoza, in his read, is that adult. The polished interviews are a feature, not a bug, because the kid does not want to embarrass teammates, and once he gets to the locker room he busts back with the best of them. Rich invokes Steven Bochco's memoir title, truth is a total defense, and pivots to the Raiders, who he says are now covered at quarterback with Mendoza behind Kirk Cousins, the consummate mentor with no mean bone in his body.

Then the Jets at two. Davis is locked in on David Bailey over Arvell Reese, framing the canceled top-30 visit as meaningless noise. He saw the Jets in Week 18 at Buffalo and called it abysmal, and a roster that needs a full rebuild. He brings up the Jay Cutler-to-Denver story as proof that quiet on draft homework can mean a team is already sold. Bailey graduated Stanford in three years before transferring to Texas Tech, the kind of resume that suggests the Jets have done their work.

On Tyree Simpson, Davis shoots down the Cardinals at three but argues Simpson would benefit from sliding to the second round and sitting, the way Mahomes and Carson Palmer did. Todd McShay's mock has Simpson 13 to the Rams, and Rich pushes back hard. Stafford is coming off an MVP-caliber season after a bad back, the Rams just gave up their next first for Trent McDuffie, and locking in a rookie starts a clock they should not start. Better, he argues, to keep the door open for a Hall-of-Fame-track quarterback to force his way to LA when Stafford steps aside. Davis tips his cap to Les Snead's track record, including using his last first on Jared Verse.

Davis closes with his small-school table-pounder: Cole Wisniewski, the Texas Tech safety from North Dakota State whose dad was a high school math teacher and who plays angles like it. A day-three pick who, Davis swears, is going to make somebody very happy.