Senior Bowl gems Bengals should be all over in 2026 NFL Draft

The Senior Bowl can be an intoxicating trigger point for warped perceptions of NFL Draft prospects. Look no further than the Cincinnati Bengals' last first-round pick Shemar Stewart, who had such a bust of a rookie season that the team may draft another defensive end on Day 1.

Stewart is a size-speed freakazoid. He put on a show at last year's Senior Bowl and at the NFL Scouting Combine to cement his status as a first-round prospect. Us Bengals fans know all too well how that's panned out since Stewart was selected 17th overall.

But this isn't about Stewart. He still has time to redeem himself. This isn't about players who are bound to fly off the board in the first half of the first round or somewhere around there.

We're looking at 2026 NFL Draft prospects in Mobile who are from non-powerhouse football programs but could be big contributors on Sundays before long.

Emmanuel McNeil-Warren, S, Toledo

One of the big issues with Stewart was his glaring lack of production. Only 4.5 sacks in three seasons at Texas A&M? Really? With such an exotic physical tool set to work with? The math ain't mathin'!

Bearing in mind that the competition level isn't SEC-caliber, the production profile of Toledo safety Emmanuel McNeil-Warren is my kind of party. It compares to the likes of Chargers All-Pro Derwin James.

Would it be too much to ask Bengals scouts to travel in-state, to northern Ohio, and get more in the know about this guy? Probably. I wonder if he's even on Cincinnati's radar at all.

McNeil-Warren is someone I've mocked to the Bengals multiple times in this space. It'd be too rich to select him with the 10th overall pick, but the lesser positional value of a safety could mean he falls to Cincinnati at No. 41 in Round 2. If he's there, the Bengals shouldn't hesitate to pull the trigger.

We're talking about a player who can play deep safety, in the box, or even nickelback if called upon. He'd be quite the complement to Jordan Battle.

An ace in coverage. A big hitter. A self-evidently smart football player. What's not to like about Emmanuel McNeil-Warren? Watch the tape. And watch some more.

Kyle Louis, LB, Pitt

Unless you've been living under a rock as a Bengals fan or just don't watch the actual games, you know that this team has a serious linebacker problem.

Some data points incoming that I'd like to pass along on Pitt linebacker Kyle Louis, courtesy of PFF College on X/Twitter. He boasts an 84.7 overall PFF grade since 2024, which is 10th among all NCAA linebackers. His 31 tackles for loss or no gain and 50 QB pressures are first in that span, and his 87.0 coverage grade is eighth nationally.

If you don't trust the PFF data, just look at Louis locking up fools at the Senior Bowl practices in one-on-one coverage matchups. Hat tip to my colleague Marcus Mosher for the footage:

Let me know when you see rising second-year players Demetrius Knight Jr. or Barrett Carter look like that. They won't. It'll never happen. I'm convinced Louis could start over either of them immediately.

The draft picks of Knight in the second round and Carter in the fourth will never make sense to me. Barring Knight's transformation into some All-Pro-caliber player, those picks by Duke Tobin will always be indefensible to me.

If Tobin and the scouting department can actually admit defeat for once, Kyle Louis could be part of the solution for the second level of Cincinnati's maligned defense.

Charles Demmings, CB, Stephen F. Austin

Another small school guy who, frankly, I hadn't heard of until he started making waves at the Senior Bowl. My goodness though, this Charles Demmings fella is long, strong, and speedy, with plus ball skills to boot. That's a mighty fine combination for a cornerback prospect.

PFF has Demmings ranked 383rd on their big board as of now. I suspect he'll ascend quite a bit from there. For a bit of context, McNeil-Warren is 34th; Louis is 161st. My latest big board (yet to be published on the record) has EMW at 24th, Louis at 66th, and Demmings checking in at 96th.

Demmings allowed just a 39.8 passer rating at Stephen F. Austin in 2025, hauling in four interceptions and yielding only a 48.6% completion rate.

No idea how close these numbers are to reality. If they're even remotely close, good lord...

Sure, he's a little raw, but with NFL coaching, Demmings could make massive strides in his development in short order. It says a lot that Demmings got onto the Senior Bowl radar in the first place coming from such an unheralded place.

Does he not look the part? You tell me. Is it "cap" to say I'm getting "Shorter Nashon Wright" vibes?

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