The Beast is Built! Hidden gems in the 2026 NFL Draft class
The Athletic Football Show: A show about the NFL
The Athletic
4.6 • 3.3K Ratings
🗓️ 8 April 2026
⏱️ 62 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
April 8 gets the distinction of being Beast Day in 2026, and that's a day worthy of celebration. So how best do we celebrate on The Athletic Football Show? Why by thumbing through The Beast and discussing our favorite hidden gems in this year's draft, of course. That's exactly what Dane Brugler, Dave Helman and friend of the show Bryan Broaddus from 105.3 The Fan in Dallas do on this episode of The Athletic Football Show.
Host: Dave Helman
Co-Host: Dane Brugler
Guest: Bryan Broaddus
Executive Producer: Michael Beller
Senior Producer: Katy Duffy
Social Producer: Scott Krinch
Follow Dave on Bluesky: @davehelman.bsky.social
Follow Dave on X: @DaveHelman_
Follow Dane on X: @DPBrugler
Theme song: Haunted
Written by Dylan Slocum, Trevor Dietrich, Ruben Duarte, Kyle McAulay, and Meredith VanWoert / Performed by Spanish Love Songs
Courtesy of Pure Noise / By arrangement with Bank Robber Music, LLC
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Welcome to an all new episode of Building the Beast. |
| 0:02.4 | I am your host, Dave Hellman, and it is a special episode because if you can hear this, |
| 0:07.4 | then you can log on to Theathletic.com and download The Beast. |
| 0:11.4 | It is Beast release day. |
| 0:12.9 | Dan Brugler's exhaustive, comprehensive, 2026 NFL draft guide is finally available just in time for the home stretch before this 2026 NFL |
| 0:23.5 | draft on April 23rd. And to celebrate, we did a fun throwback episode of the show. As we've talked |
| 0:29.5 | about many times, Dana and I go way, way back over the years. And we decided to bring on our old |
| 0:35.3 | buddy from the beginning of our draft coverage days. |
| 0:38.1 | Our friend Brian Bratiss joined us to work through some hidden gyms in this year's draft class. |
| 0:44.2 | We wanted to talk about players that maybe aren't getting their fair share. |
| 0:48.3 | That's potential first round prospects. |
| 0:50.2 | That's good value picks to be found on day two. |
| 0:52.7 | And of course, in the spirit of the beast, we had to throw in some day three sleepers as well. |
| 0:58.1 | A really, really fun look through the draft with our guy, Brian, to celebrate the release of the Beast. |
| 1:06.4 | It is finally here. |
| 1:07.5 | Without further ado, let's get it going. |
| 1:19.8 | Music finally here. Without further ado, let's get it going. Well, Dane, before we dive into this episode, let's just address the elephant in the room. |
| 1:25.5 | Merry Beast, Miss. Happy Beast Day? |
| 1:28.2 | Like what's the term we're using here? |
| 1:30.2 | The Beast is finally available for public consumption. |
| 1:33.5 | If you're listening to this right now, you can go download it. |
| 1:37.4 | You can go look through the whole thing. |
... |
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