Cory's Corner: Polish Or Potential?
Fernando Mendoza will be the No. 1 pick in the 2026 NFL Draft and he will be 23 on Oct. 1. Thanks to the transfer portal, that will now be the norm.
The NFL Draft has always been a projection exercise. It’s about imagining what a 21-year-old might become at 25, what raw traits could turn into polished production. But in 2026, that exercise is changing — because the players are changing.
Welcome to the transfer portal era.
Not long ago, the typical top prospect entered the draft after three college seasons, often as an underclassman still growing into his body and his position. In the 2020 draft cycle, the average age of Top 100 prospects hovered around 21.5 years old. They were young, moldable, and, in many cases, incomplete.
Fast forward to the 2026 draft, and that average has crept closer to roughly 22.5 to 23 years old. A full year older might not sound like much, but in football terms, it’s significant. These are players with extra starts, extra systems, extra coaching — and often, extra mileage.
The transfer portal is the engine behind that shift. Players no longer sit and wait their turn; they move. They chase playing time, better schemes, bigger stages. A wide receiver might play in three offenses in four years. A quarterback might start at one school, transfer, then transfer again. The result is a prospect who looks, on tape, more seasoned than his predecessors.
And that creates a fascinating tension for NFL front offices.
Are teams drafting more “finished” players — or are they drafting players closer to their ceiling? There is also another wrinkle to all of this as well. If a college player was willing to switch colleges four, five or even six times just because he didn’t like his role or situation, what would he be like when an NFL team gives him a lesser role?
An older prospect with 40-plus college starts often arrives with cleaner film. His reads are sharper. His technique is more refined. There’s less guesswork. For a team trying to win now, that’s appealing. Plug-and-play has real value, especially in a league where rookie contracts are gold.
But there’s a trade-off. Development curves don’t disappear — they just flatten. A 23-year-old rookie may be closer to his peak than a 21-year-old was in 2020. The upside might be lower, even if the floor is higher.
That’s the quiet debate playing out in draft rooms.
Five years ago, teams talked themselves into traits: arm strength, explosiveness, length. Now, there’s a growing temptation to trust production. After all, if a player has already succeeded in multiple systems against high-level competition, what more proof do you need?
The answer, of course, is projection. And projection is getting harder.
When a prospect has transferred twice, which version of him is real? The breakout year at a powerhouse program? The quieter seasons before it? How much is development, and how much is the environment?
The draft hasn’t lost its uncertainty — it’s just wearing a different disguise.
For teams like the Green Bay Packers and others building through youth, this shift forces a philosophical choice. Do you bet on polish or potential? Do you draft the player who looks ready now, or the one who might be better later?
There’s no easy answer. But one thing is clear: the days of drafting teenagers in shoulder pads and dreaming big are fading. The prospects are older. The résumés are longer.
And the margin for getting it wrong may be smaller than ever.
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Cory Jennerjohn is a graduate from UW-Oshkosh and has been in sports media for over 15 years. He was a co-host on "Clubhouse Live" and has also done various radio and TV work as well. He has written for newspapers, magazines and websites. He currently is a columnist for CHTV and also does various podcasts. He recently earned his Masters degree from the University of Iowa. He can be found on Twitter: @Coryjennerjohn
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Comments (37)
golfpacker61
April 21, 2026 at 07:45 am
NIL is a disaster for college sports. All it has done is legalize cheating. Iowa's basketball coach and others have talked about their players getting calls and "offers" during the season to come play at other schools for more money. The schools that have the money will be in the playoffs every year. They will just do it "Legally" now. Unless this is fixed, there will be a Tier 1 of about 25 teams and everyone else will be down below..
Carson Beck should have been the picture attached to this article, 6 years in college and was getting paid at Miami and not going to classes at all. He even admitted it after their bowl game. So he is basically a professional QB while in college. It's just wrong and now that the genie is out of the bottle, I don't see how they fix it.
Swisch
April 21, 2026 at 09:52 am
I remember thinking it would be nice if these college athletes were given enough money to be able to afford to go out for pizza once in a while? Plus, some decent clothes, and other ordinary items of life.
Nowadays, it seems they're raking in tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of dollars per year. It's gone from college sports to pro leagues. It's nuts.
I'm a huge fan of college football and basketball, and it's threatened with ruin.
As so often happens in life, especially in America, we've gone from one extreme to the other.
College athletes have gone from rags to riches, from sympathetic deprivation to obnoxious luxury.
***
As far as I can tell, a key solution is to put a cap on payments to college athletes.
It would work like a stipend given to graduate students.
Give each player $20,000 per year for personal expenses, in addition to room and board.
That's it, that's all.
***
As a way to keep the best athletes in college longer, the NCAA could help to facilitate a program of insurance policies for career-ending injuries.
The insurance policy for each player would be based on the projected earnings for that particular player in his pro career.
The university would pay for the insurance for each player covered. If the player doesn't need the insurance and makes it as a pro, he would be expected to reimburse the university.
***
Something like that. The above is a general presentation.
Also, players can only transfer once or twice during their four years of eligibility.
As far as going to class, the athletes could have a lighter courseload during the season of their sport. Then, they could take classes in the summer.
The universities would require class attendance. Each player would have a tutor provided by the university, and a guidance counselor.
At the very least, these players should go to all of their classes, and have a required hour or two of study time each day from Monday through Saturday (with exceptions for gamedays).
***
All of this is meant for the good of the players, and the fans, as well as the integrity of both college athletics and college academics.
We ruin things with greed. It's good to be generous to college athletes. It's terrible to make them into mercenaries. We corrupt them and us.
***
P.S. Each athlete in any college sport at any university would be required to take a course on G.K. Chesterton's book, "The Everlasting Man." It's a masterpiece of comparative religion. It doesn't compel a choice in religion, but helps one to understand the background of that choice. It promotes thought and discussion.
One can agree and disagree with it, but at least there's some solid substance, based in history, on which to make one's deepest decision in life. If education is ultimately about wisdom and a happy life, then this book gets to the essence of education.
crayzpackfan
April 21, 2026 at 10:36 am
I care less about the money they get and more about the portal. I say one transfer is all they get and when they do, if they get paid more than 200k (or some number), they have to pay 10 percent to a college academic scholarship endowment for graduating senior high school students to apply for. If they transfer again after that, they have to sit out a year like they used to do.
WestCoastPackerBacker
April 21, 2026 at 10:57 am
Isn’t it lawsuits by student athletes that resulted in the situation today? Courts have said they have the right to seek payment for their services, which in previous decades was funding college sports and leaving them with nothing. I don’t know how you limit it now. Maybe limit the number of transfers but courts may strike that down too.
Swisch
April 21, 2026 at 11:36 am
For public colleges at least, a large amount of those salaries paid to their athletes come out of tax dollars. If it's money from alums, then stop allowing the alums to buy athletes.
The whole college thing is becoming a racket. Make it so colleges don't get any tax dollars from state or federal. Any tax dollars would go to students for tuition and other living expenses.
Any profits made from sports at a college, including merchandise, would go to lowering tuition for all of the students.
Something like that. There's a way for the colleges not to be able to exploit the athletes and a way for the athletes not to able to exploit the colleges. Protect the students and citizens and the fans.
If colleges can't figure this out, then it's an indictment of how stupid our colleges have become.
What good is a college degree without common sense?
crayzpackfan
April 21, 2026 at 12:06 pm
Well, if nothing can be done, and it's not even worth trying, then I guess it is what it is and we all just move along and let it evolve to whatever end it reaches I guess.
golfpacker61
April 21, 2026 at 06:04 pm
The old rules they had in place regarding transferring from 1 school to another worked just fine. If a player transferred, they were required to sit out for a year. It just worked and you didn't see 3000 kids transferring every year because that is a deterrent/stiff penalty.
As far as NIL goes, yes I too wanted to see more for the players, but they are a Student/Athlete, not a Pro player. It used to be good enough to get a free education, I read Caleb Williams NIL contract at USC was $12 million dollars. No wonder players like Williams and Carson Beck stay in school, they are getting rich.
PackerBackerAZ
April 21, 2026 at 02:00 pm
NCAA Division I (FBS) football has a limit of 105 players on a team. Schools are allowed more than $20 mil in NIL money. that's over $190,000.00 per student athlete if they were all given the same amount. Any student athlete can receive as much of that 20+ mil as they can negotiate for. Some are being offered more than they can make as the NFL number one overall draft pick in their first year.
Why do you believe that you have the right to dictate what courses anyone should take. Education has nothing to do with wisdom and a happy life. Wisdom comes from understanding what succeeds and fails as you go through life. Happiness is strictly an individual emotion that is nurtured by being content with your life. If you're satisfied with the choices you've made and what you've accomplished, you'll be happy, regardless of education. Education will, hopefully, give you the ability to provide a higher standard of living for yourself. It doesn't prevent anyone from making bad choices that degrade happiness throughout their life.
Swisch
April 21, 2026 at 05:48 pm
One of the purposes of education is to learn from the wisdom of our elders what has worked in the past and what has not. Why should everyone have to start from zero and learn things from trial and error, oftentimes through great pain and suffering and even lasting injury?
There's a lot of things I wish someone had introduced to me early in life rather than my having had to learn them the hard way. Why keep walking into walls when others have already show us where to find the doors?
***
Also, it seems important to have some meaning to life. Otherwise, it's just working and eating and accumulating things -- with relationships of convenience rather than of unconditional love.
It seems a fair number of the regulars here at CheeseheadTV have risked their lives in war to defend America. Why do that unless there is something about America worth risking such an incredible price?
Why do we believe that all humans are created equal in worth by God, and thus endowed with certain unalienable that can't be taken away by government? Why do we believe in leaving no one behind?
The belief that all humans have the same inherent dignity -- that we are all priceless and irreplaceable -- only began with Christianity. The pagans didn't believe it. It wasn't even a consideration among them. It was considered obvious to even the greatest philosophers of paganism that only a few people in society really mattered, and that the vast majority did not. Life was cheap.
That's why it was Christians who invented the first hospitals ever seen on this earth. Previously, no one had ever thought it important to care for the maladies of the common man, especially those made repulsive by disease and deformity. Such people had been assumed to be disposable; with Christianity, even the least among us are considered indispensable.
All of this speaks to the foundation of America, which is built on the bedrock of Jesus as an historical personage of profound influence. Whatever one believes about his nature, we should recognize that our society is built upon his revolutionary teachings. The creche of Christmas is truly the cradle of civilization.
***
To not know these things is to be impoverished as a civilization. It's to be in peril of ruin. If we don't treasure the heritage handed down to us, we are in grave danger of losing it.
If we value living in America rather than some other country with some other civilization, then we must understand and guard the principles that make us uniquely American.
When I graduated from college way back when in 1984 -- and for decades afterward -- I knew very little of this. I've learned it through years upon years of very gradual study after long and diligent searching.
It doesn't seem like I'm being a dictator to think that all of our future doctors and lawyers and engineers and accountants, along with all of our tradesmen and other laborers, should know something of the Western Civilization which is the essence of America.
Even our most famous athletes are enriched personally by such an investigation. Even millions of dollars and personal fame are no substitute. It's not forcing religious belief upon anyone, but giving them the information needed to make good decisions upon the most important matters of our existence and fulfillment and destiny.
Also, if enough people don't have at least some commonality of belief upon such matters of supreme importance, then there is no civilization, there is no society, there is no country. We're all just a bunch of tribes competing with each other, and eventually fighting each other. Might makes right, instead of what's right being the source of our might.
As we look around, such a discord -- with its resulting disintegration and discouragement -- is already afflicting the America of today, threatening all of the good things in life that most of us grew up cherishing without fully realizing that they are exceedingly rare and fragile.
Bitternotsour
April 21, 2026 at 06:12 pm
Well Swish, if you'd paid attention in your Ancient Civilizations classes, you'd probably know that the earliest clear articulation of dignity as something belonging to all humans—not just elites—comes from the Stoics, not Christianity. Now I'm not a stoic, not at all, I'm an epicurean. Bitter, not sour.
Also too, the world is round, not flat. America was founded by deists. They believed god created the universe, and then stepped back. Deists also believe that humans can only understand god through reason and observation of the natural world, not through sacred texts or revealed doctrines. They shunned the gobledygook of divine revelation, miracles and supernatural interventions. Sure there were protestants of various persuasions, and a few papists, but the big thinkers were deists. Thus ends today's class.
Swisch
April 21, 2026 at 08:13 pm
Did the Stoics protest the slavery that prevailed in all the societies of ancient paganism? What about the exposure of newborns considered defective (or just born as girls) to be eaten by wild animals?
Did the Stoics set up hospitals for the most putrid and repulsive and pathetic people of their society to receive compassionate medical care?
***
The Founding Fathers were right about the equality of all humans, but wrong in saying that this truth is self-evident.
Before Christ, no one even contemplated the idea of universal human equality. It would have been considered absurd if it was considered at all. It was a radically unique teaching to believe that in Jesus there is neither slave nor free, man nor woman, Jew nor Gentile.
All of us are equal in worth. That's not against reason, but beyond it. That's mystical gobbledygook.
Even if a tiny few of the Founding Fathers were deists, there were influenced by the nine centuries of Catholic Christianity in England that inspired Alfred the Great, founded the universities of Oxford and Cambridge, and wrote the Magna Carta.
Whether he realized it or not, Thomas Jefferson was an heir in idealism to Thomas Beckett and Thomas More.
See the work of the great English reformer of the 1820s, William Cobbett, "A History of the Protestant Reformation in England and Ireland."
A good scholar in America is the recently departed Rodney Stark, author of "Bearing False Witness: Debunking Centuries of Anti-Catholic History."
Both of them were non-Catholics.
golfpacker61
April 21, 2026 at 06:12 pm
Swisch, I am all for young people studying and learning about the true history of the past, so bad things are prevented from ever happening again. Case in point, the Holocaust. But I am not for shoving one's religion down other peoples throats. If they want to study religion and learn from it fine, but let it be their choice, not someone else's.
How about we just talk about football on here. GPG!!
Bitternotsour
April 21, 2026 at 06:30 pm
It would be helpful if someone wants to lecture us on the "true history" that they actually studied it (and then went so far as to understand it). Collective myth does not history make. I've had enough of the "god said it, i believe it, that settles it" crew. Put a sock in it Swish
Swisch
April 21, 2026 at 07:53 pm
I'm not in favor of shoving religion down anyone's throat.
I don't want anyone pretending to believe anything that they don't really believe.
It'd be like someone pretending to be your friend, but not really sincere about it.
However, to study the difference between religions is not the same as forcing religion.
It's important to know that Christianity invented the hospital. No other religion did. {Mike Aquilina, "The Healing Imperative: The Early Church and the Invention of Medicine as We Know It"}
It's important to know that the only religion to ever abolish slavery is Christianity, and it did it twice. {Rodney Stark, "Bearing False Witness: Debunking Centuries of Anti-Catholic History}
It's important to know that Christianity has been the greatest force in history for the elevation of women to an equality of worth with men. {Regine Pernoud, "Women in the Days of the Cathedrals"}
***
Do we want to pattern our society on the traditional civilizations of the Middle East or Asia or Africa? Would you want to move there and live there and assume their culture?
It seems a crucial question, whether a college student or not.
***
I think it was Jerry Kramer who said that Lombardi talked to the players more about life than football.
The great head coach knew that football was an important part of life, and also that a proper understanding of life is what makes football meaningful. (Otherwise, it seems to me, football is pretty frivolous.)
If we see the meaning in what we're doing, then we're much more likely to do it well. America is adrift in meaninglessness, and it show in the epidemics of addiction and divorce and diabetes 2. Why try to make a difference if there's no real reason to try?
Whether a football team, or a nation, it's important to share some common values in order to sacrifice for each other so as to achieve shared excellence.
Lombardi brought together a diverse collection of individuals and united them in focus to become the greatest team in the history of sports.
***
My comment above on one book that I think is essential for a true college education was only a small part of my original comment.
As anyone can see, I pretty much stick to football in my comments, but I think it's important at times to relate football to life.
Everyone is free to skim or skip my comments.
All of the best to all of the people here at CheeseheadTV.
Spock
April 22, 2026 at 11:46 am
"I'm not in favor of shoving religion down anyone's throat."
Bullshit Swisch. I'm an atheist (raised Catholic) and I have come to believe that 90% of all wars come about because of either religion or money (or both), I think if everyone simply practiced "The Golden Rule" (do onto others, etc.) the world would be a better place. I'm fine with people who find strength through their beliefs. But I stopped believing in the Easter Bunny, Santa and God in that order. If believing in an invisible, all powerful, vengeful god that also "loves" you is your thing, go for it. Just leave it off a Packers' forum, O.K.?
Thanks.
(p.s. I happen to have three college degrees but I don't think that makes me any more insightful than someone who has none. I'll take a "less educated" man/woman with Common Sense over anyone who thinks a degree gives them special insights. Just my "humble" opinion. :) )
Swisch
April 22, 2026 at 09:24 pm
Well, Spock, we agree to not put too much emphasis on college. To paraphrase Mark Twain, we shouldn't let our schooling interfere with our education.
***
The slaughters in Russia and China over the past century or so were done by radical secularists who were anti-religion. Same with Hitler's Germany. To the leaders of these nations, the State was supreme, and the source of whatever rights were allowed to its citizens.
***
An interesting thing about the book I mentioned above, "The Everlasting Man," is that it helped to convert C.S. Lewis from atheism to Christianity. It aided Lewis in discerning that Christianity is a myth that is actually true.
Lewis said of the author, G.K. Chesterton, that an atheist can't be too careful about what he reads.
Another major factor in Lewis' conversion was his friendship with J.R.R. Tolkien, both of them professors at Oxford and veterans of World War I.
If anyone likes the writings of these two men, they may be more in tune with Christianity than they think.
Actually, much of what the Catholic Church teaches about right living is based on reason as applied to an understanding of human nature (e.g., we shouldn't steal).
The harmony of faith and reason is a big part of the teaching of St. Thomas Aquinas, as related in Chesterton's biography of the great scholar.
***
All the best to you, Spock.
PackerBackerAZ
April 22, 2026 at 11:14 am
The purpose of education is, initially, to teach people to read, write and understand mathematics. That continues, along with art, social studies, history and sciences, through high school. In college the purpose of education is to allow people to study and learn a specific area of expertise. There is no wisdom of the ages to be learned through education. Wisdom is learning from the successes and failures in life as a person travels their path. If you don't learn from success and failure and, adjust your life's decisions because of that learning, you are not ever going to be considered wise.
You, by your proselytizing words, are a religious zealot that believes in manifest destiny. That is a horrendously awful indictment.There is nothing about you that I can ever enjoy conversing with. So I choose to stop immediately.
Bitternotsour
April 22, 2026 at 11:36 am
Amen
Spock
April 22, 2026 at 11:50 am
Said way better than I did, PBAZ. Nicely phrased.
Swisch
April 22, 2026 at 09:01 pm
I'm sorry for all of the highly negative replies.
It seems America used to be a place where we could engage in serious discussion without being so harsh. I like to think it's still true, but apparently to a much lesser extent.
Anyway, no hard feelings on my part.
***
I've already noted that in my original comment above, my thoughts about the value of "The Everlasting Man" was only a small part of what I wrote, actually a postscript.
I mainly talk football at CheeseheadTV, but not always. I don't think life can be completely separated from football.
For one thing, a team with lots of talent but little character will not go very far.
Lombardi actually described the cooperation and camaraderie of his Packers as a kind of love.
Amoral mercenaries don't win wars, or NFL championships.
***
Finally, I leave with a thought by Paul Johnson -- from his book "Modern Times" -- ". . . the nation which took Hitler to its heart and waged his fearful war with passionate industry was easily the best-educated on earth."
LeotisHarris
April 21, 2026 at 08:40 am
You always have to go with the Polish players. I mean, look at Chester Marcol, Jim Grabowski, and Bob Skoronski. Kind of a no-brainer, I think.
dobber
April 21, 2026 at 08:50 am
See, I was going to go with the Italian with secret stadium sauce.
Since'61
April 21, 2026 at 09:08 am
Cookie for Dobber! Thanks, Since '61
Spock
April 21, 2026 at 09:30 am
Beat me to it Leotis.
ricky
April 21, 2026 at 09:56 am
Marcol had a few good seasons, then lost the ability to be a reliable kicker. Grabowski's best year as a player was 518 yards in a short career. Skoronski was a very good player on Lombardi's Packers that won three consecutive championships (pre-Super Bowl). Sometimes age makes us more nostalgic and more forgiving.
LeotisHarris
April 21, 2026 at 06:29 pm
So, you're more of a potential guy? That's cool.
Bob Skoronski was the starting LT on the Super Bowl I and Super Bowl II teams, in addition to being a key player on five NFL championship teams. He was offensive team captain from 1965-68.
Jerry Kramer called Skoronski "probably the best lineman on the team", and said Bob consistently achieved the highest grades for the OL.
Marcol was NFC ROTY, a two-time First Team All Pro selection, and he lead the NFL in scoring in 1972 and 1974. Substance abuse cut his career short, but he's lead a life of service since leaving the NFL.
Grabowski was Polish. He was selected ninth overall in 1966. He had potential. He suffered injuries. If he doesn't pick up Mel Renfro's fumble and run it for a TD in the 1966 NFL Championship game, NFL history might be different.
Bitternotsour
April 21, 2026 at 06:35 pm
Jim Taylor gained a lot of yards running behind Skoronski.
stockholder
April 21, 2026 at 09:30 am
Polish /potential?
I Think it's more finished and ceiling.
Plug and play over development.
It's that simple.
ricky
April 21, 2026 at 09:59 am
If the Packers have a "window" to make the SB in the next couple of years, they don't have time to do their usual "draft and develop" strategy. They need "plug and play". If the future is now, then act like it and draft accordingly. Though in the end, it's all a crap shoot.
PackerBackerAZ
April 21, 2026 at 01:19 pm
With Gutekunst needing to bring in at least two starter quality players, at nose tackle and cornerback, along with backup/marginal starter quality offensive line, that's a big IF. LaFleur having his newest defensive coordinator actually do a decent job in the second half of games is, also, a must.
dobber
April 21, 2026 at 01:47 pm
"They need "plug and play". If the future is now, then act like it and draft accordingly. "
If you MUST have plug and play, you don't rely on the draft.
greengold
April 21, 2026 at 02:57 pm
There are more than a couple Gutekunst could steal off the board, but I’m happy knowing he built cap space to add veteran plug and play where needed.
PackerBackerAZ
April 21, 2026 at 01:07 pm
The only college football I watch are the playoffs and any two top five teams meeting. I don't watch any other college sports. If everyone bites the bullet of self denial and stops watching college sports, the NIL would be nill. When you watch you aid the NIL system. No viewers or butts in the stands would stifle NIL in two years, maybe less. Never going to happen.
Full disclosure: I'm going to watch certain games, as stated above, but I'm not complaining about NIL.
I believe that NIL is fine if the student athlete actually takes and attends classes, lectures and labs. With the money some bring in, they should not be taking up a scholarship. Providing the student athlete is compensated with more than the scholarship is worth, they should pay for their own education. That might entice them to actually get an education.
Bitternotsour
April 21, 2026 at 06:33 pm
So you favor backroom deals where the boosters at Alabama and Georgia and Texas and Michigan dole out cars and jobs to a somewhat transparent NIL program. I'd rather it was in the open myself.
PackerBackerAZ
April 22, 2026 at 11:19 am
How did you come to that conclusion? Where do I mention clandestine backroom anything. NIL is contractual and totally out in the open. Your reading comprehension is pretty bad, if that is what you took away from my post.
Bitternotsour
April 22, 2026 at 11:48 am
Got off on a tangent, skimmed your response, read it as complaining about NIL. My bad.
SwedeBayPacker
April 22, 2026 at 07:49 am
Polish you say?
Ja pierdole! Kurwa mać!