After the cast of Yahoo Sports’ “Football 301” podcast dissected their favorite picks, surprise selections and head-scratching reaches of the NFL Draft’s first round, their focus turned to Day 2, where value and intrigue often come alive.
Day 2 is a celebration of depth, system fits and looking for gold in the “starter plus” categories: receivers who don’t separate at an elite level but catch everything, nose tackles ready to step in, corners with injury flags but Pro Bowl flashes, and teams resisting the urge to grab a running back before it’s absolutely necessary.
Round 1 grades | Best available players for Day 2 | Draft guide
If Round 1 was about crossing off team-need checklists, Friday is about creativity, value and the occasional dice roll.
Here are the storylines and players Nate Tice, Matt Harmon, Charles McDonald and Andrew Siciliano are looking at as the draft rolls through Rounds 2 and 3 on Friday night.
Wide receiver is always a focus, especially for Harmon, and this year’s class did not disappoint in terms of intrigue.
Harmon is especially keen on Denzel Boston as the most intriguing player left on the board. Boston, in Harmon's view, belongs to a group of bigger-bodied outside receivers who may not be universally beloved by draftniks concerned about separation, but who have enough technical savvy and physicality to develop into contributors at the next level.
“I would have taken him in the first round. I thought he was a worthy first-round player,” Harmon said, before rattling off comps like Michael Pittman Jr., Courtland Sutton and Muhsin Muhammad — other Day 2 picks who became high-end starters.
Harmon expects Boston to come off the board quickly Friday, perhaps to teams like San Francisco (the first pick in Round 2) or Buffalo (the third pick in Round 2) who have shifted into prime WR-needy slots at the top of the round.
With a run possible on a diverse group of receivers ranging from glue-guy types like Antonio Williams and Germie Bernard to high-upside dice rolls like Chris Brazzell II, every pick could shift not only team needs but fantasy implications as well.
While receivers steal the headlines, the “Football 301” group didn’t sleep on the trenches. McDonald voiced particular interest in Kayden McDonald, the nose tackle from Ohio State, whom he expected to go Round 1. His production — 65 tackles, nine TFLs, three sacks — at 330 pounds made him stand out on tape, and a couple of NFL sources even told Tice that McDonald was their DT1 over those actually picked in the first round.
Finding a disruptive nose is rare, and McDonald’s athleticism and production could lead him to become one of the better values in the draft — especially as teams look for run-pluggers who offer more than just early-down utility.
Every draft generates a few “what were NFL teams thinking?” moments when playmakers slide further than expected. The “301” crew honed in on a pair of Tennessee corners who fit that bill as Day 2 wild cards: Jermod McCoy and Colton Hood.
McCoy fell partly due to injury concerns, but Tice believes his upside is “top-15 ability,” with league sources viewing him the same way. Both project as quality starters — if healthy.
In a class where teams loaded up on offensive beef in the first round, a Day 2 run on cornerbacks could start with these names.
Maybe the boldest prediction came from Siciliano: “No running backs on Friday night.”
It's plausible that teams wait until Day 3 to grab any RBs.
Even teams in need of a “banger” back, like Denver or Minnesota, may punt on the position Friday in favor of looking for value in the later rounds.
“All these guys are true Round 4 guys,” Tice noted.
McDonald offered a bold prediction: keep an eye on Arkansas quarterback Taylen Green.