The 2026 NFL draft needs some juice because it simply doesn’t have the stirring traits that typically turn drafts into memorable moments we recall decades later.

What’s missing? 

There aren’t a lot of big-name quarterbacks on the board. Outside of presumptive No. 1 pick Fernando Mendoza — and even he’s skipping the party in Pittsburgh next Thursday — we aren’t having a 2024 redo when a record-tying six quarterbacks were selected in the first round.

There’s not enough talent to fill a future Pro Football Hall of Fame induction roster. Well, nobody is predicting this will rival the 1983 draft when seven future Hall of Famers were selected in the first round and eight players from the draft ended up in Canton.

There’s also no compelling story that captures the imagination. There is no polarizing Shedeur Sanders in this draft. No enigmatic Randy Moss. And no Laremy Tunsil once he donned his gasmask.

The expectation for multiple trades is so high that even general managers acknowledge it.

“I love how everybody last year thought we weren’t trading down and everybody this year assumes we are,” Cleveland Browns general manager Andrew Berry said Thursday.

Teams always put out feelers to see what may be available, and this year is no different.

“We’ve gotten a couple calls of teams sniffing around about potentially coming up,” said Giants general manager Joe Schoen, whose team has the No. 5 overall selection. “And again, we’ll just have to wait and see who’s there when we pick. I don’t really foresee us moving back before next Thursday night.”

The truth is this draft includes factors that might lead to trades.

There are five teams – the Jets, Browns, Chiefs, Dolphins and Cowboys – with two first round picks. And, outside the Dolphins, who are likely not going to give up their picks in a trade-up scenario, the other teams might be tempted to use their extra resources to swing trades.

Why would teams move up? Offensive linemen, specifically tackles, is one reason because there are a handful that are viable first-rounders and then the talent pool at the position becomes quite shallow.

So teams needing tackles might move up to get them.

“I think in some of those a couple of linemen creep in, but I do think that if they don’t creep into that first eight, nine, 10 slots, I think you’re going to get a massive run of offensive linemen from 10 to 20, 25,” said Veach, who coincidentally might be in the market for a right tackle.

There’s also the possibility teams will trade talented veterans during the draft.

And it seems the most likely player to be moved would be Giants nose tackle Dexter Lawrence because he wants to be traded and the situation has grown uncomfortable in the last week, with Lawrence insisting he doesn’t want to be on the team anymore.

But the Giants love Lawrence as a player. And he’s got two years remaining on his contract. So they are not gifting him to anyone. It would require at least a first-round pick plus another pick or player to get Lawrence, per a source.

“I’m always going to pick up the phone,” Schoen said.

Having said all that, we should not get carried away.

There is so far no intelligence that suggests the Browns are working to trade Myles Garrett.

The Eagles probably will trade A.J. Brown at some point this offseason. But salary cap considerations suggest they won’t be doing that until after June 1.

And the Chargers shut down rumors receiver Quentin Johnston is about to be dealt.

“There’s a lot of rumors out there on Twitter,” Chargers GM Joe Hortiz told reporters on Thursday, “but I can tell you this: I have made zero calls about Quentin, and I’ve had zero calls regarding Quentin.”

The U.S. Air Force Academy (USAFA) held its large-scale annual “CULEX,” or culminating training exercise, on Thursday, giving cadets a realistic look at a combat scenario.

The 24-hour-a-day exercise places nearly 4,000 cadets in a mock war setting, where upperclassmen lead complex missions and younger students follow orders. This year, it runs April 15–16. 

The Air Force Academy is 18,500 acres, nestled in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains, but on Thursday, the culminating exercise scenario transformed USAFA into Hokkaido, a Japanese island under attack by enemy forces.

“We’ve pretty much taken over the entirety of USAFA, to allow all 4,000 of our cadets to have space to operate throughout the exercise,” said CULEX director Col. Jennifer Hall.

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In the war scenario, Japan has asked the U.S. to come in as a defensive force. 

“In this scenario, we have four established airfields,” Hall said. “And so that’s what’s established, the four joint operating areas that we have them in.”

Each joint operation area, or JOA, has around 800 cadets, defending an airfield, two high-value assets and a downed airman. Cadets also face real-world issues such as injured officers and invasions by enemy targets deemed the “Red Force.”

“We pulled out one squadron to play Red Force,” said Hall. “So our cadets are actually playing Red Force, and they’re out there in the field right now harassing our cadets. They’re doing an amazing job. They’re super excited.”

Hall explained, “What we’re trying to do is have the cadets prioritize through decision-making. And you’ll see all across that Red Force is trying to complicate that to the best of their ability.”

While the situation may not be real, it definitely looks and feels like it.

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“You’ll see about 15 tents laid down as an austere, expeditionary environment, two of which are tactical operations centers and a medical tent and warming tent,” Hall explained. “And then we have sleeping tents for the cadets, because we will be remaining overnight for the first time.”

Some cadets fly airplanes while others deploy parachutes in the sky. On the ground, hundreds of cadets equipped with air soft guns defend their camps, taking radio traffic from troops under attack. Meanwhile, students in mission control use drones and mapping technology to solve real-world problems.

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“The only way to prepare for the fight that we’re in, or the future fight, is to develop the training necessary where they can experience it real time, in the woods, in the field,” said Hall.

Now in its second year, the CULEX focuses on building confidence, teamwork and leadership skills rather than testing cadets with a pass-or-fail system. It’s a multi-domain tactical exercise designed to replicate the environments future Space Force and Air Force officers may encounter.

“For our seniors, in 44 days, they’re going to graduate, and they’re going to go off, and they’re going to be officers in our Space Force and Air Force— how much more equipped they’re going to be to lead, to face complicated problems, to know that they can do what’s difficult,” said Hall. 

It was just a few short years ago that the Walt Disney Company was proudly announcing and opening their “Star Wars” themed land in multiple parks across the country.

Disney invested billions of dollars in the Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge design and construction, based on a fictional world called “Batuu.” They hyped up technology and immersive elements meant to enhance the guest experience and allow for fans to spend hours in Galaxy’s Edge. And return time and time again to build up experience points by interacting with props and characters.

“Batuu” was purposefully set in the world of the newest trilogy, led by characters like Rey and Kylo Ren. All thanks to advice from then-head of Lucasfilm, Kathleen Kennedy, to then-Disney CEO Bob Iger.

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And now, after just a few years in operation, new leadership at the top is completely changing the entire plan behind Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge. In the process, admitting they completely missed the mark with their multi-billion dollar project.

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One former top executive at Walt Disney World once explained in an interview why Galaxy’s Edge focused on the new trilogy and not the beloved original movies and characters. Because Kathleen Kennedy gave awful advice to Bob Iger.

“We got a call one day,” said former WDW VP Dan Cockerell. “They said, ‘Well, we got some news for you all.’ And the Imagineering guys, they’ve heard this line many, many times during their careers. And I had never been through this.” “They said, ‘Well, yesterday Bob Iger met with Kathleen Kennedy, who as a lot people may know was sort of George Lucas’ protégé and headed up Lucasfilm. And they had a conversation. They had a meeting. And Kathleen Kennedy, her point of view was, there are way more Disney Star Wars stories ahead of us than behind us. So we really should think about do we want to build a Tatooine, and build what all the fifty-somethings remember Star Wars is or do we want to build something else which is going to appeal to all the upcoming generations who are going to know the new stories.'”

Don’t focus the land on characters people like, focus it instead on the new movies, Kennedy said. And Iger listened. Well, those new movies have come and gone, and “Star Wars” has never meant less in the national conversation. Sure enough, under new CEO Josh D’Amaro, Disney announced this month that they were bringing Han Solo, Princess Leia, and Luke Skywalker into Galaxy’s Edge, as well as finally incorporating John Williams’ beloved score from the original films.

That’s how you know they’re admitting they made a gigantic mistake listening to Kathleen Kennedy. 

Bringing these characters into Galaxy’s Edge makes no logical or thematic sense, particularly since they’re being portrayed as their younger selves from the original trilogy. But Disney is desperate to make their gigantic investment in Galaxy’s Edge worth it, so they’re hoping characters people actually like will bring new fans and keep them there longer. 

It’s a series of unforced errors. They made mediocre movies that have been mostly forgotten, assumed that people cared about Rey and Kylo Ren or Fin or Poe Dameron, and then bet billions of dollars that their newer stories would be more popular moving forward than the old ones. They were wrong about all of it. None of the depth, complexity, charm, or swashbuckling excitement of the original characters is present in the new movies. Because Kathleen Kennedy was involved in creating them. They haven’t released a new “main trilogy” Star Wars movie in years, and aren’t close to releasing one. 

Now they’re having to undo these mistakes, without spending billions to reconfigure the land. What a disaster. And even more frustratingly, a predictable and avoidable one.