What Preseason Week 2 Revealed About This Year's NFL Draft Class, and Why Coaches Are Already Talking Basketball

There is something deeply human about how the NFL preseason functions in late August. You have veterans fighting to prove they still belong, you have journeymen trying to resurrect careers that have stalled, and you have young players from the Class of 2025 getting their first real taste of what it means to play football at the professional level. Preseason Week 2 is where the veil really lifts. The starters are mostly done playing, the vanilla packages get shelved, and suddenly you are watching football the way scouts and coaches actually want to see it. This is where you get genuine answers about speed, instinct, problem-solving, and competitive fire.

What we witnessed across the landscape of NFL stadiums during Week 2 of the preseason tells us something important about the depth of this draft class and about how early-round talent is already separating from everyone else. The tape does not lie in August, and the tape was speaking volumes.

Let me start with what stands out most plainly to anyone who has been watching: the secondary talent in this draft class is noticeably strong at the cornerback position. We saw it again in Week 2 when several projected early-round corners got meaningful reps against starting wide receivers. One particular aspect of this talent that catches your eye is the versatility on tape. These guys are not one-dimensional. They can work the boundary, they can play robber coverage, they can disguise pre-snap and get aggressive at the line of scrimmage without getting beat deep. This is different from some draft classes where you get elite man-corner talent but they struggle in zone concepts. That is not the issue this year. The positional depth is genuine.

What coaches are talking about privately right now, and what you can sense from the way they are deploying players in Week 2, is that the evaluation process has shifted in an interesting direction. The preseason is still about health and availability, still about getting snaps, but there is an undercurrent of coaches knowing that college football is changing. The NCAA transfer portal has completely restructured how talent flows through the college game. The extra year of eligibility that was granted during the pandemic created a bottleneck of talent that will take years to filter through. Some of the players you are watching right now in preseason Week 2 are actually competing against college players who are themselves NFL-caliber talents but still have eligibility remaining. That Class of 2022 that got the extra year? Some of those kids are still in college. Some of them are genuinely considering whether to go pro or return. And some of them are in this peculiar limbo where their eligibility status is still being determined.

The reason coaches are increasingly talking about college basketball in the same breath as the draft evaluation process is fascinating and worth your full attention. When you have a college athlete who can play at an elite level in multiple sports, you have something truly special. But the modern NCAA infrastructure, the transfer portal, and the new Name, Image, and Likeness opportunities have changed the calculus entirely. A kid can now monetize their athletic talent regardless of which sport they choose. A kid can transfer and immediately get playing time. A kid can keep adding eligibility years through exemptions and transfers. This creates a completely different environment than existed even five years ago.

The connection between preseason performance and these eligibility questions might seem tangential, but it is not. Coaches are watching Week 2 tape and they are simultaneously watching film of college athletes who could theoretically still enter the portal. They are trying to piece together what kind of talent is actually going to be available to them in April. The uncertainty has never been higher. A tackle who looks like a Day 1 pick in NFL stadiums this week might still be a college junior with eligibility remaining. A receiver you pencil in as a third-rounder might surprise you by staying in school. The information age has created an abundance of scouting data but also genuine uncertainty about who actually plays in the NFL and when.

What we saw in preseason Week 2 across defensive lines was particularly instructive here. Interior defensive line talent in this draft class is solid but not overwhelming. We have some interesting edge rushers, some developmental types at nose tackle, but nothing that screams generational. Yet every defensive coordinator in the NFL is desperately searching for elite interior pressure. The tape from Week 2 shows that many teams are still searching for answers on the defensive front. That scarcity created a feeling on Sunday that teams will have to get creative in free agency and the mid-rounds of the draft. It is the kind of environment where a college player with another year of eligibility becomes exponentially more valuable. Why take a risk on a developmental tackle in the third round when you could monitor a true junior and add him later if he still has eligibility?

The running back class this year continues to trend toward a particular type: versatile, explosive, willing to pass protect, capable in space. We saw this reinforced in Week 2 when several backs got opportunities in mixed personnel and showcased their receiving ability. This is a clear signal about how the position has evolved. It is no longer about a 225-pound truck back who can lower his shoulders. The modern NFL wants intelligence, flexibility, and the ability to be productive as part of a committee. Several of the projected Day 2 backs showed exactly that skill set in Week 2, and they looked comfortable operating in space. The depth at running back continues to be underrated by much of the draft media, which I think will be proven wrong.

Let me address the offensive line talent because this is where preseason performance becomes truly crucial. Tackle depth is solid across the board. Guard play is where you find some real gems if you are willing to look past the obvious household names. We saw in Week 2 that several developmental types at guard and center got reps and held their own against veteran defensive players. This is valuable data. You can project these guys forward. You can start imagining what they look like in a NFL strength and conditioning program for a full offseason. These are the kinds of performances that move someone from a fifth-round projection to a third or fourth-round conversation. The tape matters most in August, and the tape on certain linemen was compelling.

The receiver class remains deep and talented at the top, but the mid-tier receivers are where this year's preseason performance felt uncertain. We saw drops that should not happen, route-running inconsistencies, separation issues that you cannot excuse against NFL corners. This is the kind of tape that gets discussed in war rooms when coaches are trying to figure out who to take on Day 2. A receiver who drops passes at the NBA level of competition cannot be trusted in the NFL regardless of his physical tools. This separation between first-round worthy talent and Day 2 talent is sometimes razor thin, and Week 2 preseason performance can absolutely move the needle.

Coaching decisions in Week 2 preseason always tell you something about how they are thinking about the future. You see them experiment with packages, you see them try unconventional lineups, and sometimes you see them give extra work to players who are clearly not in their immediate plans but might be in the following year's draft class when they have another year of college eligibility. That latter point is crucial. Coaches are not just evaluating current players anymore. They are thinking about the futures of college athletes who could still enter the portal, still add years of eligibility, still surprise everyone. This creates a strange moment in NFL evaluation where you have teams preparing for a 2025 draft class while simultaneously monitoring college athletes who could impact multiple future draft classes depending on eligibility decisions.

The entire structure of talent acquisition in professional football is in a state of flux that has not existed in modern history. The preseason still functions the way it always has, but the information you are trying to extract from it has multiplied. Are you evaluating a player's NFL readiness? Yes. Are you also tracking their professional ceiling and whether they will slide in this draft? Absolutely. Are you simultaneously considering whether they might add another year of eligibility and therefore become available for a future draft? You have to be. The coaches know this. The scouts know this. The entire evaluation ecosystem is operating under these new assumptions.

What preseason Week 2 showed us, in the final analysis, is a draft class that has genuine talent across multiple positions but with uncertain depth because of the portal and eligibility complications. The best players will still go early. The tape does not lie about excellence. But the middle rounds are far more complicated this year than they have been in the past, and that is the reality of modern college football and professional evaluation in 2024 and beyond.