The 2026 East-West Shrine Bowl practices are officially wrapped up, with the game set to be played later tonight. It was a good week overall, and several players improved their stock throughout the week.

Getting the chance to be around scouts and beat writers throughout the week around practices and media day did give me a chance to absorb intel from around the league, and I got a chance to speak to several players.

Here’s a small snippet of NFL Draft intel I learned and picked up on throughout the last few days at the Shrine Bowl.

NFL team meetings at Shrine Bowl

This is the time of year that you see those posts of “Per source, X prospect met with X team at the Shrine Bowl” this time of year. Be cautious of that, as every NFL team has met with every prospect at the Shrine Bowl. Again, let me reiterate this: All 32 teams have met with every single prospect at the Shrine Bowl.

Just be aware when you see tweets and posts like that. They are stating the obvious.

Dontay Corleone

Corleone entered the week with some buzz behind him as a former top draft prospects, but injuries diminished his stock over the years. Unfortunately, he looked rusty early on in practice and then suffered an injury midway through the first practice and was in a boot afterwards.

For a player looking to answer questions, Corleone will be leaving the Shrine Bowl with more questions than he had coming into the week.

Wide Receivers Shined

The top two receivers entering the week were Ole Miss’s De’Zhaun Stribling and UConn’s Skyler Bell. However, Stribling pulled his hamstring leading up to the game and didn’t make it out to the Shrine Bowl, while Bell hurt his quad on the first day of practice and shut it down. Oregon Ducks’ WR Malik Benson left early as well.

In their stead, however, other wide receivers stepped up to the plate and delivered some notable performances. Nobody delivered a better performance all week than Iowa’s Kaden Wetjen, who was downright incredible in practice. He doesn’t have a particularly traditional receiver role in Iowa’s offense (granted, it is Iowa), but where he does shine is on special teams. Wetjen averaged nearly 30 yards per kick return and nearly 27 yards per punt return in 2025. He has 10 career return touchdowns in college and looked like a weapon out in space.

Other receivers like Florida Gators’ wideout J.Michael Sturdivant and Georgia Tech’s Eric Rivers also stood out, but maybe the most eye-catching player relative to his buzz entering the week was East Carolina’s Anthony Smith. The 6-1 receiver made some very impressive catches throughout drills all week, adjusting to plenty of errant passes (more on that later) and looking comfortable out in space.

As an aside, I can’t wait to dig into the film of Montana’s Michael Wortham. He stood out throughout practices, and I know that he has fans across the league despite being a late call up to the Shrine. I’m excited to watch more of him.

Offensive tackle debate atop the class

For most mocks, Utah offensive tackle Spencer Fano has been the first tackle off the board, typically going to the Arizona Cardinals, New York Giants, or Tennessee Titans. However, several scouts I spoke to said that he might not even be the best tackle from Utah. Additionally, some scouts saw Fano as a likely candidate to move inside instead of staying at tackle.

Instead, Utah’s Caleb Lomu and Georgia’s Monroe Freeling were the names that came up the most. I wrote in my mock draft last week that I believed Freeling had a good chance to be the first tackle taken off the board, and this week only strengthened that belief after a strong season this year for the Bulldogs.

Navy could have their next draft prospect

Nobody was more of a pleasant surprise all week than Navy defensive tackle Landon Robinson. He doesn’t necessarily look the part at just 5-11, 292 pounds, but his explosiveness is simply unbelievable. A former Feldman’s Freaks lister in both 2023 and 2025, Robinson is one of the best pure athletes in the defensive tackle class, and he showed that off all week in drills.

Robinson reportedly ran a 4.6 40-yard dash, bench-pressed 465 pounds, and squatted 600 pounds, and has hit over 20 MPH on GPS tracking. His natural leverage made him nearly impossible to guard all week long.

Where did Harold Perkins play?

Harold Perkins has had some question marks surrounding on where he will play at the next level. He was used as both a traditional linebacker and pass rusher in drills, but when I asked Perkins, he specifically said teams have viewed him as a WILL linebacker.

What about Brian Parker II?

On the first day of the Shrine Bowl, Parker immediately told media members “I’m here to silence any doubts that I can play center”, confirming that the NFL is pushing him over from right tackle to center at the next level.

He started off a little slow, losing pretty badly to Dontay Corleone twice on the first day of practices, but he settled in over time there at the pivot, rebounding nicely on Days 2 and 3 to come away as a big winner of the week.

It’s a bit of a referendum on the state of the class that three centers at Shrine Bowl were players moved away from other positions (Parker, Febechi Nwaiwu, and Garret DiGiorgio). However, Parker did look the part, giving him a strong case to be one of the first, if not the first, center taken in the draft.

Cornerbacks dominate all week

If your team needs one (or more) cornerbacks, this week should be a huge encouragement for you. Oregon’s Jaden Canady, NC State’s Devon Marshall, Toledo’s Avery Smith, Nebraska’s Ceyair Wright, and Cal’s Brent Austin dominated practices all week long, and this group looked like the best players here at practice.

Also, fun fact: Ceyair Wright played Lebron James’s son in Space Jam 2.

Cade Klubnik

If, however, your team needs a quarterback, I think you’re probably out of luck this draft cycle unless you’re a fan of the Las Vegas Raiders.

Clemson’s Cade Klubnik was the best quarterback in Frisco, there’s no doubt about it. Was it a week that flipped his draft stock around? I don’t think I’d argue that based on practice. Did he confirm that he was the best quarterback that either All-Star game landed? Yeah, I think that’s a fair take.

I did hear that several of his meetings did go well with teams, and he looked sharp all week long. In a bare quarterback class, Klubnik looks like one of the first few off the board come April.

What will the Jets do atop the draft?

To wrap this up, I wanted to touch on one last tidbit here. It seems like we all know that Fernando Mendoza is going first overall to the Las Vegas Raiders (barring a typical Raiders screw-up). However, what about the Jets at second overall? What are they going to do?

It was a frequent discussion throughout the week, and it was fairly divisive. However, it does seem overwhelmingly likely that the Jets will draft a defender at second overall, and they are deciding between Ohio State’s Arvell Reese and Texas Tech’s David Bailey. Notably, Miami’s Rueben Bain did not pop up all that often in discussions, alluding to his divided stance among scouts about his fit at the next level.

Given the state of the quarterback class, it’s not necessarily a surprise that the Jets seemingly aren’t in on one. Several mock drafts have had Alabama’s Ty Simpson going second overall. After this last week, I will say I’d be pretty surprised if that happens.

In some order, I believe that Mendoza, Reese, Bailey, and Carnell Tate will be the first names off the board in the 2026 NFL Draft.

NFL Draft

Cade Klubnik among 2026 NFL Draft prospects who improved their stock the most at the East-West Shrine Bowl

Several intriguing draft prospects boosted their draft positioning for the 2026 NFL Draft at the East-West Shrine Bowl practices.

AJ Schulte