NFL combine 2026: Offensive draft prospects who could shock the world this year

For all of the tentpole events NFL draft prospects go through on their way to selection weekend, nothing outside of game tape can make more of a difference than a prospect’s performance at the scouting combine. If a guy aces his interviews with teams, and then goes out on the field at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis with athletic excellence, the result can be career-transformative to the tune of several million dollars. On the other hand, if a prospect sleepwalks through the interviews and the drills, it doesn’t take much for that stock to crater — just ask one Shedeur Sanders about that.

When looking at the most likely prospects to shock NFL decision-makers at the 2026 combine, which begins in a drill sense on Thursday, February 26 and goes through Sunday, March 1, here are six offensive players we think could really blow it up and make tons of money in the process.

Some may not be stars now, but they could very well be within the next week or so.

Cole Payton, QB, North Dakota State

We could have a live one here. Payton spent four seasons as a backup for the Bison, finally getting his shot in the 2025 season. He responded with 161 completions in 226 attempts (71.2%) for 2,719 yards (12.0 yards per attempt), 16 touchdowns, four interceptions, and a passer rating of 127.8. Payton also brought extreme value as a runner to head coach Tim Polasek’s multi-faceted ground game, gaining 894 yards on 120 attempts (7.5 yards per attempt), 13 touchdowns, and seven runs of 15 or more yards.

Payton clearly has the arm and the touch to throw to every area of the field; that’s how you complete 35 of 56 passes of 20 or more air yards in a season for 1,247 yards, eight touchdowns, one interception, and a passer rating of 138.4.

Due to strength of opponent concerns, and the fact that he has just one season as a starter (some will also pause because he’s a lefty), Payton will likely drop to the mid-/late-third day of the draft, but he could help himself immeasurably in the combine drills with all the athletic attributes required of a quarterback in today’s NFL. There’s enough on the ball to really like as a developmental quarterback in a system where running is just as important as throwing for the guy under center.

Emmett Johnson, RB, Nebraska

Jeremiyah Love is the top running back prospect in the 2026 draft for all kinds of good reasons, but it’s important to note that Love didn’t lead all backs in this combine-invited group in rushing yards — at the FBS level, that was Nebraska’s Emmett Johnson, the (unofficially) 5’11”, 200-pound fireball who gained 1,450 rushing yards last season on 251 carries (5.8 yards per attempt) with 13 runs of 15 or more yards. And as a receiver, Johnson doubled down in explosiveness with 46 catches on 54 targets for 370 yards (8.0 yards per reception), three touchdowns, and several high-speed plays after the catch.

Based on Johnson’s pure speed and acceleration in the open field, I’m guessing that he’ll run a 10-yard split and 40 time that will bring him a lot of well-deserved attention, and the tape shows juice that should serve him VERY well in the agility drills. From there, an NFL team might take him on the second day if they want all kinds of lightning in their backfield.

Brenen Thompson, WR, Mississippi State

Thompson was a world-class sprinter in high school, and that speed shows up all over his tape — it’s why a lot of people expect the 5’9”, 170-pounder to challenge the all-time 40-yard dash record in Indy. When you watch Thompson simply whiz by unfortunate cornerbacks and safeties on the field, it’s pretty clear. But there’s more to Thompson’s game than just vertical acceleration; he will also track the ball very well in receiving drills, and his route acumen could have NFL coaches and executives frothing at the mouth when it’s time for those drills to happen.

In 2025, Thompson caught 57 passes on 87 targets for 1,054 yards (18.0 yards per catch), six touchdowns, and on passes of 20 or more air yards, he bagged 11 catches on 26 targets for 478 yards and five touchdowns. Similar to Xavier Worthy or Tank Dell, Johnson could and should come out of the combine with all kinds of NFL interest as a pure weapon to the third level of any defense.

Chris Brazzell II, WR, Tennessee

Tennessee head coach Josh Heupel’s hyper-spread offense isn’t always suited to ideal NFL transitions, but what they say about the fact that you can’t coach speed does apply to receiver Chris Brazzell II, and that will show up at the combine. In 2025, Brazzell caught 651 catches on 86 targets for 1,006 yards (16.5 yards per reception), and nine touchdowns. Tennessee would often put Brazzell in an X-iso position to the boundary side of the field, and it was his job to scald defenders with preposterous straight-line speed for his 6’5”, 200-pound frame. 13 of those catches on 23 targets for 509 yards and six touchdowns came on throws of 20 or more air yards.

Yes, Brazzell can run more than just go routes, but when it comes to running in a straight line at more than 20 miles per hour on the regular… well, there’s more than enough evidence of that to make his skill set more than just a bit combine-conversant in the minds of NFL shot-callers.

Zavion Thomas, WR, LSU

In 2025, the 5’10”, 192-pound Thomas caught 41 passes on 60 targets for 493 yards and four touchdowns, but that’s not why he’s on this list. He’s on this list because of the simple fact that when you watch his tape, and you see the number of plays in which he meets or exceeds the 20 mile-per-hour bar, and it’s always intriguing to wonder how your passing game would be augmented by a guy who could be ticketed in most school zones as a pure runner.

Thomas had eight explosive catches in the 2025 season, along with a 48-yard run against Louisiana Tech in which he greased the entire defense down the left sideline on the way to near-paydirt. Wait for it to show up at Lucas Oil Stadium, and for Thomas’ draft stock to rise accordingly.

Kadyn Proctor, OT, Alabama

As much as we tend to laugh at the idea of offensive tackles running 40-yard dashes at the combine and what it all means, when you look at the best 40 times for tackles since 1999 — which the fine folks at mockdraftable.com allow us to do — there’s a pretty good hit rate with the fastest guys. Terron Armstead, Lane Johnson, Joe Staley, and Trent Williams are in the top five, and those are all people you’d want anchoring your offensive line for a number of years.

Which brings us to Alabama’s Kadyn Proctor, the 6’7”, 366-pound behemoth who is already getting more than a bit of first-round love in this draft class, based purely on the improvements he’s made in technique and movement in the last three seasons with the Crimson Tide. That all shows up on tape, but what also shows up is Proctor’s ability to get on the move at a startling rate of speed for a man his size. On multiple occasions in the 2025 season, Proctor clocked in at more than 16 miles per hour on the move, and that’s just not fair when we’re dealing with such a large human.

What will happen if Proctor speeds his way to some sort of insane 40-yard dash and/or 10-yard split? My guess is, you’ll see a lot of Big Brains in the NFL re-arranging their tackle rankings in the same sort of hurry.