Building the Beast: Did they stay or did they go now?
The Athletic Football Show: A show about the NFL
The Athletic
4.6 • 3.3K Ratings
🗓️ 14 January 2026
⏱️ 63 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
We're on the doorstep of the NFL Draft declaration deadline, and most of the big dominos have fallen. One big one, Oregon quarterback Dante Moore, remains at time of the recording of this episode of The Athletic Football Show's Building the Beast. That's precisely where Dane Brugler and Dave Helman began their discussion. The guys also hit on the biggest decisions we do already have answers on, be they guys who are going to the draft or staying in school. Finally, they wrap up with a look at the CFP National Championship Game between Indiana and Miami.
Rundown (timestamps are approximate)
4:25 Waiting on Dante Moore
17:09 Ty Simpson headed to the NFL...for now
28:23 Guys headed to the 2026 NFL Draft
40:42 Guys staying in school one more year
52:22 Indiana/Miami CFP Championship Game preview
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Host: Dave Helman
Co-Host: Dane Brugler
Executive Producer: Michael Beller
Video Producer: Katy Duffy
Audio Producer: Michael Beller
Social Producer: Scott Krinch
Follow Dave on Bluesky: @davehelman.bsky.social
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Follow Dane on X: @dpbrugler
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Welcome to another episode of Building the Beast. |
| 0:05.7 | I am your host, Dave Hellman. |
| 0:07.5 | Really great episode today between myself and Dane Bruegler, taking a look at the ever-changing |
| 0:13.6 | landscape of the NFL draft class. |
| 0:17.5 | The underclassman deadline is approaching. |
| 0:19.9 | We talked about some big name prospects with |
| 0:22.4 | some big decisions still yet to make. Most notably, Dante Moore, as a programming note, |
| 0:28.1 | it is Tuesday, as I'm saying this. It's the day before the underclassman deadline. We did not know |
| 0:34.4 | Dante Moore's NFL decision as of recording, but talked through all of the options, all of the angles with that. |
| 0:41.5 | So when he does ultimately decide whether or not he's part of this draft class, we have that covered for you. |
| 0:48.2 | Talked about some other guys that entered the 2026 NFL draft class as well as a few surprising names, some high profile guys, |
| 0:55.9 | some very talented players that decided to return to college football for the 26th season. |
| 1:00.6 | In addition, obviously Miami playing Indiana in the national championship game took a look |
| 1:05.8 | at that matchup, those players and what to expect. |
| 1:08.9 | Really great episode with myself and Dan Bruegler. Let's do it. |
| 1:17.1 | Well, Dane, call it a quirk of the schedule, but here in mid-January, building it the beast |
| 1:22.5 | finds itself smack dab in the middle of no man's land. We've still got, we're recording this on Tuesday, January 13th. |
| 1:30.6 | We still have six days until Indiana plays Miami in the national championship game. |
| 1:36.0 | And if that wasn't enough, we are also recording this roughly 24 hours before the deadline for |
| 1:43.8 | underclassmen to declare for the NFL draft. |
| 1:46.2 | So we're so close to having a pretty complete picture of this 2026 NFL draft class. |
| 1:54.1 | But not close enough. |
... |
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