by Zak Drapeau Sportz Nation - 9/1/2026 Photo Credits to Williams Navarro via Imagn Images Above Everyone Else 1. Los Angeles Rams ESPN Rank: 1 Super Bowl Odds: +500 Key to Season: Not underperforming The Rams added Myles Garrett, Trent McDuffie and Aaron Donald on the defensive end while keeping their offensive talent and adding Kliff Kingsbury as assistant Head Coach for a little extra fire power in the passing game. They were already one of the favorites before their histo

by Zak Drapeau Sportz Nation - 8/27/2026 Welcome to Draft Season! Technically the new draft season starts the day after the NFL Draft but with the College Football season set to kick off tomorrow and the NFL season only 2 weeks away, I'm using this timeline to start my official Draft Content for the 2027 season. Draft content will start with this Mock Draft but as my content showed last year, I will be again prioritizing player evaluations and team makeup over Mock Draft exer

by Zak Drapeau Sportz Nation - 8/24/2026 Photo Credits to Jeff Bottari via Zuffa LLC Gregory Rodrigues vs Brendan Allen Zak Drapeau - Hell yeah, RoboCop is gonna be Top-7 in the Middleweight division this week. I'm stoked! Rodrigues had a great display of power and striking this weekend and now has 4 wins in a row and in 7 of his last 8. His next fight doesn't necessarily have to be a Top-5 guy, but Brendan Allen is also not active enough for his #4 ranking either. If the t

by Zak Drapeau and Matt Hylen Sportz Nation - 8/21/2026 In our FN Gamrot vs Salkilld Predictions, which you can find here, Zak went 3-3 in picks with 2 method for 5 points. Matt went 3-3 in picks with 2 method for 5 points. Points To Date: Zak: 158 (106-60) Matt: 145 (95-65) *All odds courtesy of Caesar's Sportsbook on 8/ Photo Credits to Uselyis on Youtube.com _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 6Anthony Hernandez vs 11Gregory Rodrigues (Hernandez -165) Zak Drapeau - T

by Zak Drapeau and Matt Hylen Sportz Nation - 8/17/2026 Photo Credits to Derik Hamilton via Associated Press Islam Makhachev vs Carlos Prates Matt Hylen - There's only one man, now that Ian Machado Garry got his shot, that deserves a shot at the title and that's Carlos Prates. Sure, Michael Morales was the backup fighter for the Makhachev/Garry fight, but his resume still needs one more top contender before getting a shot over Prates. Now, do I think Prates is stylistically t

by Zak Drapeau Sportz Nation - 8/11/2026 When I made this list in 2022 which you can find here, I had Shavkat, Du Plessis, Chimaev, Pereira and Topuria, so I can't wait to see where this group of prospects will climb to by 2030. Honorable Mentions: - Ion Baraniewski - Mairon Santos - Ethyn Ewing _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ Photo Credits to Jeff Bottari via Zuffa LLC #10 Tommy McMillen Division Lightweight Age 28y, 239d UFC Record 2-0 Finishes 2 McMillen j

by Zak Drapeau Sportz Nation - 5/24/2026 Photo Credits to Kevin Richardson via Baltimore Sun/Tribune News Services via Getty Images 100. Olaivavega Ioane Ravens Guard Last Year's Rank: Unranked And we start the Top 100 Players of 2026 with an immediate hot take as I have rookie Guard Vega Ioane with the #100 spot. As the clear #1 Guard in the 2026 NFL Draft and being drafted by one of the best running offenses in the league, I'm confident that Vega belongs on this list and I

by Zak Drapeau Sportz Nation - 5/27/2026 Photo Credits to Robert Alam/ISI Photos via Getty images 10. Christian Pulisic - United States The host countries for the 2026 World Cup are the United States, Mexico and Canada and of the 78 players on those rosters, none have the star power of AC Milan's and United States' Forward Christian Pulisic. Pulisic will be competing in his 2nd World Cup as a member of the United States team that was bounced out in the Round of 16 in 2022. Pu

by Zak Drapeau Sportz Nation - 5/13/2026 Photo by Chris Schwegler via Getty Images/ NBAE 1. Washington Wizards Darryn Peterson, Kansas, Guard So pick #1 and I'm already making waves but not only do I think Peterson is a much better fit in Washington than A.J. but has as much potential too. Peterson has been scrutinized because he "lost explosiveness in college" but I see it as a minor setback year for an amazing athlete who can get a bucket anywhere. _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

by Zak Drapeau Sportz Nation - 4/27/2026 Photo by Sue Ogrocki/ Associated Press 1. New York Jets The Jets and the Giants had the best classes of all to me but I think the Jets just topped their cross-town rivals. With 4 picks in the Top-50, the Jets hit home runs with all of them including filling the 3 biggest needs of the team. David Bailey will be a force on the Edge for years to come. D'Angelo Ponds is a feisty leader on the outside or at slot corner. Then you get two dyn

by Zak Drapeau Sportz Nation - 4/24/2026 Photo by Kirby Lee/ Imagn Imgaes via CNN 1. Fernando Mendoza - LV Grade: A- The right pick. Mendoza isn't the perfect QB prospect but he's very good and the best of the class. He'll be under no pressure to start until he's ready with Kirk Cousins on the roster and is already surrounded by Jeanty and Bowers. 2. David Bailey - NYJ Grade: A I had Bailey as the 2nd pick all along and a much better fit for the Jets than Reese so I love the

by Zak Drapeau Sportz Nation - 4/23/2026 My Final Mock of the year will come with no trades. While I expect there to be more than a few trades going down today, today's exercise is all about rumors I've heard, team expectations and player evaluations. While I wouldn't make all of these picks myself, this is the full mock draft I expect to actually happen tonight. You can also check out: my What I Would Do Mock Draft here and my Top-150 Prospect Big Board. Happy Draft Day! -Z.

by Zak Drapeau Sportz Nation - 4/21/2026 Photo by Kirby Lee/ Imagn Images *Click For Final Top-150 Big Board *Click For Final Positional Rankings _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 1. Fernando Mendoza QB Las Vegas Raiders The Raiders need a Quarterback and Mendoza is the easy pick. Mendoza will get to sit behind Cousins for a few games before taking the reigns and becoming their Franchise guy for the next decade. 2. Arvell Reese Edge New York Jets The Jets have been linked to Bailey a

by Zak Drapeau Sportz Nation - 4/8/2026 Graphic by NFL For the first time in the 2026 Draft season I will be putting out a Mock Draft with trades. This exercise helps with 2 things, the first being it gives everyone an idea of the most likely candidates to move picks when it comes to the First Round on April 24 and also shakes up the normal routine of draft picks we see selected just about at the same selection just about every time. I will probably make a separate list just

by Zak Drapeau and Matt Hylen Sportz Nation - 3/30/2026 Photo by Steven Bisig/ Imagn Images Joe Pyfer vs Anthony Hernandez Zak Drapeau - Pyfer started his fight with Izzy slow but showed us all what he's capable of with devastating power and controlled grappling. Now it's time for him to get another Top-5 fight where a lot more will be on the line. I have him against Fluffy next as a more complete fighter than Izzy and one still in his prime. Hernandez's grappling will be a g

Photo graphic by Sporting News Selection Sunday consistently follows the same pattern for fans: the bracket is revealed, analysts begin highlighting potential upsets, and fans quickly start discussing which teams might make it all the way. However, for the players, March is about more than just the bracket; it's about the people alongside you in the locker room, teammates who motivated you during early morning workouts, coaches who supported you when the season became challen

by Zak Drapeau Sportz Nation - 3/14/2026 On Friday, March 13th Matt Hylen and myself did our first Mock Draft together of the 2026 season. Follow us on X for in podcast form if you want to listen in live as we'll do several more of these before the actual draft. This Mock Draft was an exercise we wanted to do because of Free Agency. While the period only technically started 2 days ago, "legal tampering" started Monday and we've seen the majority of the bigger moves take place

by Zak Drapeau and Matt Hylen Sportz Nation - 3/2/2026 Photo by Jeff Bottari/ Zuffa LLC Lone'er Kavanaugh vs Brandon Royval The performance Lone'er Kavanaugh just put on in enemy territory is inspiring. To beat up a former champion and tough guy like Brandon Moreno was awesome to see and should earn him a Top-8 ranking among the Flyweights. For his next fight, I can see him fighting either Brandon Royval or Amir Albazi. With both men on two-fight skids, I'd normally side with

by Zak Drapeau and Matt Hylen Sportz Nation - 2/23/2026 Photo by Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC Sean Strickland vs Title Holder Matt - We all know Sean Strickland is good, but I don't think anyone expected him to look that good. Strickland may have looked better than he ever has before, completely shutting down a monster in Anthony Hernandez. With Strickland snapping Fluffy's 8-fight winning streak, big things should be on the horizon for him. A third fight against Dricus Du Plessi

by Zak Drapeau and Matt Hylen Sportz Nation - 1/30/2026 (All odds are via Caesar's Sportsbook on 1/29) Last week Zak went 5-1 and Matt went 4-2 in picking the winners of UFC 324 with both getting 2 methods right as well. For UFC 325 this week, the boys will predict __ fights in their ongoing series of UFC Predictions ALL YEAR Points To Date: Zak - 7 Matt - 6 Photo by Chris Unger/ Zuffa LLC C Alexander Volkanovski vs #2 Diego Lopes 2 Featherweight Championship (Volkanovski -