UTA|2026 Bees Knees

[Aston]

past reports: (2018) End of the Wynn Era?, (2020) Draft Results, (2020) Bees Report, (2021) Utah Herald, (2022) Bumbling Bees, (2023) Ulmanac, (2024), (2025)

2026 | UTAH BEES

Chapter two continues. Utah has morphed quickly into a team of aging veteran stars, and the franchise continues to stand at a crossroads, the sword of time pointed direct at its throat. Do we usher in the youth movement now? Or hang on to the core for all they are worth? What is the right balance?

Ostensibly, the Bees management are making a show of future-looking. In what has been described as "definitely not a miscalculation and a huge mistake", the Bees handed monster contracts during the playoffs to two of its younger stars: defensive end Junior Bello, and linebacker Dan Harper, fifth-years both — and in doing so shut the door on an in-season extension
for defensive tackle Bennie Siragusa, the rock of the DL, heading into his 8th year.

Siragusa had played out a very cheap 4 seasons in Utah, and was eager for a payday in his contract year. The Bees balked at the 5-year, 40+ million demands of a player earning the veteran discount at the time, and between the start of the '25 free agency and just before the Stevens Cup, the Bees made five concrete offers to the <abbr title='Bullshit, Sir!' style='border-bottom:1px dotted #888'>B.S.</abbr> camp, all of them rejected. <span style='text-decoration:line-through'>By accident</span> In response, two extensions materialized not previously on the Bees' radar out of nowhere, and were pushed through with ease on the first try <span style='text-decoration:line-through'>to my surprise and immediately afterwards, dismay</span>.

Siragusa would go on to hit free agency along with a lesser-known Bees gaffe (FB Kerry Duran turned down our last-ditch effort at extending him during Bowl Week). And much to our surprise, his outlandish demands only increased, and to our considerably greater surprise, they were promptly met and then some.

Thus ends the Siragusa chapter in Utah, hurt feelings and animosity on both sides (we did barely ever pay the man), and so walked the finest nose tackle these Bees have ever seen, out of our lives forever.

It's a brave new world, with this probably the first in a series of ugly parting-of-the-ways of veterans Utah stalwarts that will come in the next few seasons. For those Bees that remain, though, it will have to be business as usual. The lure of a three-peat is on everybody's mind.

[Aston]

The Young Bees

Before we crown the youth movement as the collective new sherrifs in town here in the Salt Lake, let's call a T.O. and take a look at what the Bees have waiting in the wings.

Outside of three top 45 selections from the 2025 draft, no Bees rookie addition in the past three drafts has even really played! But we do have some reason for optimism for the Mothballed Club.

Year 3 ('24 Draft)
FS J.B. Bynaker At 3.11, Bynaker headlined the Bees' draft that year - becoming Utah's first pick after trading away longtime starting ILB Howard Cote. Bynaker had an outstanding rookie camp, but has played six defensive snaps in two regular seasons. Bynaker finds himself still at best fourth in the S rotation, and outside of injuries, may continue his tenure on Team Moth.

WR Sedrick Woodruff is an athletic, creeping receiver with good big-play ability and solid GD and RR. He just hasn't found his way past the other heavy-hitters in the Utah WR corps, outside of the preseason. The team has stocked up heavy on receivers in recent years to keep him around, though, and he's a good ace in the pocket to have while Foley and Vandersommen age.

RB Ryan Green was the first of two "prepare for graduation" plans put in place for aging-but-still-still-got-it Earnest Giang. Ryan has 20 regular season attempts in two years, not being able to hold on to the #2 job over incumbent Herman Woods, and surpassed more recently by 2025 2.11 Nate Washington. However, we still love what Green brings to the table. If Giang should ever retire - and it may never happen at this point - we expect Green to provide the thunder to Washington and Woods' lightning. A reliable, solid between-the-tackles guy, whose climbing STs bar may, like WR Mansker before him, may push him onto active duty. At one time we didn't think much of Mansker's ST ability - now he's one of our top assets.

The Year 2 Guys ('25 Draft)

TE Derek Wheeler was a 4.32 pick a year ago. As the 3rd TE in the rotation, Wheeler has more or less seen nothing but the sideline. However, we do consider him a well-rounded TE with getting-downfield ability that may really be worth keeping an eye on. The bar is a maxed-out 40/40, but Wheeler is only at 50% experience.

WR Chester Haddix is the current behind-the-scenes star in Utah. A 4.02 selection, Haddix had a fairly pedestrian rookie camp, and was relegated to kick return duty, which is what we drafted him for. However, Haddix had a surprising +1 bump this past FA unmasking stage, and his future may be starting to get considerably more promising.

The Other Guys

WR Winston Reynolds is a fourth year player who has seen more than his share of irrelevancy, as draft-class-buddy and 2nd-rounder Ray Mansker beat him out first for the 4th WR spot, and later took over Reynolds' spot on the STs coverage teams for good measure. Reynolds was drafted as a potential STs ace with moderate receiving ability, so that last part really stings. Reynolds is really holding his own as a receiver, however, and he brings some things to the field that Mankser doesn't. If or when Vandersommen putters out, a five-or-six-years in the program Reynolds would be expected to bring some real veteran savvy to the field. He's a great example of a guy who hasn't played much to date, but is slowly being groomed to take on a larger role once the old guys move on.

Future-Lookin'

A few final notes before we head into the thick of the offseason, on three players signed during the '25 playoffs to fill spots vacated by IR.

NT Jeff Harrison - in anticipation of a potential (though then-unlikely) Siragusa departure, Harrison was brought back into the fold. A Utah retread who had been signed early in 2024, Harrison brings that run-stop-only ability sort of reminiscent of Billy Johns, our starter prior to Siragusa.

RB Lawrence Collier - another retread we brought back with our newfound IR room. Collier is a mostly overlooked RB with speed, power, and moves - still a big unknown who has not seen action of any kind in the league, but it was insurance for Giang, who may have retired and may still hit a -15 camp.

C Conrad Webster - sort of just a guy we took a gander on because we had the extra space. Our backup center, I suppose, is hitting the time when I'd like to replace him with a younger backup, but it isn't critical. Our guards are quite aged, although we're good with what we have for another year. Webster provides some insurance at both spots that probably won't be needed, but he just had to see where those RB/PB bars are going to go on him, coupled with that 85 block strength.

Draft Stock

Thanks in part to not paying Bennie Siragusa, and in part to 2026 being the lightest year on the renegotiation front that we've seen in a long time, the Bees have a nice amount of cap space to play with.

On the draft front, the Bees hold: 1.4,1.17,2.2,2.14,2.16,3.6,3.25,4.9,5.1,5.26,5.32, 6.32,7.12.

[Aston]

<span style='font-variant:small-caps;font-size:120%'>2026 Utah Bees Draft</span>

The Bees gave away 2.2 in anticipation of needing to clear cap room for the 1.4, but ended up moving the 1.4 as well...which was a minor misstep, given what landed to the top of the 2nd ;)

Still, we ended up with the low-key 2026 class we were hoping for. It's an 8-member class with a lot of risk/reward type picks. Maybe a few more than we would've liked. And a lot of obvious position overlap picks...but you can never truly have too many numbers.

2.6 | TE Edwin Blades
Weapon on the cheap is what we're gambling here. Dakota was hot on his trail, so it's a good thing we moved up here.

2.16 | T Max Reese
A 2nd round gamble?! If successful, Reese is our bookend tackle for the next ten years. If not,....eh, I've done worse in the 2nd before. Not my favorite pick ever, looking back. We had other, much safer and good value options, but couldn't resist a crack at a home run.

4.9 | LB Ike Arias
If we are to remain in a 3-4 long term - not a definite - we'll need more guys like Melnick and O'Donnell. Arias is our shot in the dark at a succession plan. Columbus managed to take not one, but two of our other options, but we like Ike as well as the spot we took him.

5.1 | CB Grady Hett
Hett's an interesting one. Didn't do so great in our individual workout. Obvious ability. When he slid down, we had to take a chance at injecting our corner corps with youth.

5.32 | S Butch McKinnon
We needed a safety like Bill Gates needs a $10 bill, but we couldn't get away from talent. McKinnon is a strong SS candidate, should age or volatility strike someone else down. And, who knows? We sort of think his ceiling could be through the roof...

6.21 | CB Scottie Finley
At one point, we were thinking of loading up on DB - taking Finley, as well as Rumans. Decided our 3rd DB was enough. Finley's another VU prospect, like McKinnon. He'll need to fill out a zone bar if he's to stick, though.

6.32 | LB Norbert Grice
This was a really tough pick, because there wasn't a single position of need among our targets. Grice looks like a good talent, run-stopping and coverage, so we took him. Insurance for our quite deep LB corps.

7.12 | T Mo Mahoney
Guard prospect here, as we are a little short in numbers at guard. Went with high ceiling, again.

Our draft in 2025 was an unusual one for the Bees - loading up on high-end talent, with three picks in the top 45 and two first rounders. This time we settled down, moving out of the first round for the second time in three years, and picked up target quantity (6-9 players is what I like to see out of a draft).

[Aston]

Bees Camp - '26 edition

Remember the good days, when players were young and beautiful? We do. This was not a happy camp for a number of our stalwarts, who ate the magical 'age' cookie and are coming out of TC a lot south of how they came in.

On their way out?
QB Patrick Whalen (-6)
RB Earnest Giang (-8)
RB Herman Woods (-6)
TE Mario Bradford (-5)
WR Alvin Foley (-6)
WR Sedrick Woodruff (-6)
OG Michael Huffman (-8)
DE Robbie Kerr (-8)
LB Norbert Slaten (-6)
LB Carlos Melnick (-5)
LB Brant Henson (-4)
DT Jeff Harrison (-8)
CB Benjamin Chmelik (-5)
CB Quinn Robinette (-3)

Some of these are still in their prime, and will play out their years in peace. Others are in jeopardy of losing their jobs. Others are young guys who had been unmasking upwards, only to feel the cruel hand of volatility at their throats.

I would say, an unusually high incidence of age-related hits especially for guys years 6-7. Nonetheless, we march on. Plenty of young blood this year, for a change, ready to replace these aforementioned old farts.

UDFA Rookies

QB Brent Patten 7/31->9/33 +2
Patten was one of a few quarterbacks we liked and pursued as UDFAs. Poor Patrick Whalen falls apart this year after a long tenure as one of our Randy understudies, and Patten is just in time to become the first developmental backup QB to top 6 feet.

RB/WR Wade Morton 23/31->25/31 +0
Morton was asked to lose weight in camp, which he didn't do satisfactorily, but every little bit counts. He's being kicked out to receiver, where he has close to a 60 BPR bar. We had no way of predicting that, so what a coup.

RB Gilbert Money 18/20->20/22 +2
Herman Woods, like Ken Schacht before him, took an ugly dive in year 6...so we're hoping Money steps in at just the right time to be the next generation of the 'Utah Breakaway Speed RBs'. Just don't die on us in five years.

DT/DE Bryant Hendrickson 19/20->23/26 +6
Hendrickson is big time for us. We have options either to keep him as a versatile tackle, or shift him over to end where, after losing weight, he can convert with no loss in ratings.

CB Courtney Blackshear 10/34->14/36 +2
We're running out of room for corners here, because at first glance it looks like we've pulled in three keepers at once - which is really nice overturn at the position.

S Eric Szporluk 18/31->22/33 +2
A much better free safety prospect with a good INT bar, to boot. Safety is the last position where we needed to get two extra guys, though. It'll be tough.

S/CB Bob Brady 18/27->21/29 +2
Brady was asked to lose weight so that we can move him to corner, where we felt we'd have a bigger need this camp. That seems to not really be the case anymore, so I'm not quite sure where that leaves Bob.

Drafted Rookies

TE Edwin Blades (2.6) 20/36->24/43 +7
If that +7 is legit, and we feel that it is, then Blades is going to make us forget about Hartman pretty quick. Starting TE Mario Bradford's camp dip opens the door. Bradford was never quite the superlative receiver...

T Max Reese (2.16) 23/58->27/59 +1
We may have really hit the big-time with Reese, who looks like he's gaining in run blocking (something we really did not count on) and has a +1 cut test. This gamble may have paid off.

T/G Mo Mahoney (7.12) 16/25->19/28 +3
Decent prospect. Could project to guard. Apparently we won't really need him now.

LB Ike Arias (4.09) 18/21->23/28 +7
Very promising camp from Arias, who lands just in time in Utah to take on the role of '34 WLB of the future' -- if he can live up to this camp.

LB Norbert Grice (6.32) 12/32->15/35 +3
A promising camp, but Grice conflicts with our defensive leader. We'll need to use the preseason to make sure he has a case.

CB Scottie Finley (6.21) 15/21->19/27 +6
Can barely contain our excitement on Finley, who is poised to be a big part of our secondary in years to come.

CB Grady Hett (5.1) 19/41->23/42 +1
Hett has a 96 punishing hitter bar and could help us transition back to our bump-and-run days in Utah. Not sure how his other coverage skills will pan out, however. But he does look like he makes the team.

S Butch McKinnon (5.32) 8/33->12/38 +5
So McKinnon won't be doing much good if he doesn't pull that zone bar up a lot. Still, this is really nice to see. Good run stopping and a future at SS.

More Camp Nuggets

Guard Mo Marchant was in Utah's sights from way back early in his SMD days, and made a big (vol-assisted?) jump (+8/+6) in camp to secure a spot at guard.

Safety Chester Foster is still going strong in year ten, and will make another Utah roster, barring injury.

We might have a new starting punter in Utah. Our continual efforts to replace Eugene Compton, from the moment he got on this team, may finally be shipping him off to a yet-unspecified team. Courtney Ellison should take over the role this year and beyond.

[Aston]

Preseason Preview

Utah's preparing for our first week 1 preseason tilt in memory, and will come out guns blazing with its 2026 starters and gameplan.

We need to knock off the rust early this year and give our top unit a chance to recover from injuries. We'll be on our solid field turf to open, and looking ahead to our P2 road trip, Pearl Harbor has one of the lesser field turfs in the league. So we might be playing backups from P2 on out...but that means a rare "all-in" preseason showing from the Bees, on the starters front.

Backups and sub-package players won't be the 2nd string, though, and we'll get a good look at some of our rookie secondary players in the nickel and dime. That rookie TE will get some action as the #2 and 3rd-down TE, so maybe we'll see him flash some of that big-play ability.

Here's to a good one Matt. Hope Randy hangs up 50 in extended action ;)

[Aston]

Regular Season Preview

Really pleased with the new blood on this team. 10 rookies have made the final cutdown to the 'reg 53' squad, and an additional four guys are newcomers to the team in 2026.

The Bees swung a ... risky deal at the 11th hour to part ways with receiver Colin Fletcher. Time will certainly tell if it works out, but the guy brought in to replace him, Bryan Sidharta, is someone we feel fairly decent about. And he's a strong hit with Alvin Foley.

Bye to the vets: 12th-year G Michael Huffman and 8th-year DE Robbie Kerr now find themselves on the streets after an entire career's worth to date of service for Utah. I said before that some tough partings-of-ways were looming in Utah, and a few new arrivals expedited the process for these two. Kerr's move will clear some much-needed cap space, which we'll need to sign that new receiver.

Welcome back, Bryce: Wait, that's not Bryce Forbes! That's 5th-year guard Jared Craig, having won his first starting gig as a Utah Bee not due to injury. Craig takes over Huffman's LG spot, and becomes the vocal leader of the offensive line. He's earned his wings here in Beesland. Everybody loves him.

The Forbes connection: Randy's best season ever was the one where he had an 80-pass blocking guard keeping defenders away from him. This is the first time since my bone-headed training camp trade of Bryce Forbes in 2023, that Randy will have that luxury once again.

Goalline, baby: Utah ran a 2TE-heavy offense in the later Nate Barlow days, with Mario Bradford coming up through the ranks as that #2 guy. Last year Utah transitioned to a spread 'em 3-WR focus, but this year we're going to be more multiple than ever before. Our corps of Foley, Sidharta, Vandersommen and Mansker will give us 3- and 4-WR, but Blades will give us a stronger 2TE pass game, and even enable a good mix of goalline sets.

A New Punter: Ever since we signed Eugene Compton as an undrafted free agent and pushed out Matt Russ (who's still 64/64 in year 13 on that SMD roster -- so maybe that whole thing was a mistake), we've been trying to replace the guy. We've finally succeeded with strong-legged Courtney Ellison, a second-year Michigan man arriving by way of Charlotte. Hoping he'll raise that In20 percentage, as Compton always had the uncanny ability to do, here in Utah.

Preseason Defense: Utah's defense was exceptional in its four exhibition games, holding opponents under 200 twice and under 300 once. Naturally, we're going to change everything up. Hope it works, but more or less...



Final Roster Breakdown: The Bees are rolling with 6 safeties and only 1 center and 8 total OL. Probably the most unusual arrangement I've ever carried into the regular season. The final two cuts are C Conrad Webster and LB Dixon Goldade.

A last word: ... on the WLB front. Carlos Melnick is going to keep his starting gig until his legs fall out from under him, or until Matty O'Donnell overtakes him. The latter is a serious possibility one of these years.

[Aston]

Midseason Report

The Bees have opened the season 8-1, and are in strong contention for their first >11-win season since 2022. In typical recent Bees fashion, though, we've struggled and scraped through a lot of close games.

It'll take some more of that to get to 12 wins. While the next three games are against struggling teams, they are no less dangerous, and the final stretch is a brutal closer: at Yuma, Phoenix, Las Vegas, and at Denver.

We hope to have our playoff spot secured to the point where we can rest all of our starters against Denver, because on no account do we want to play anybody on that field turf in Week 17. An absurd obstacle to have to work around...

Player Spotlights:

WLB Carlos Melnick is chasing his best year rushing the passer as a Utah Bee, with 13.3 PR% at this juncture and 8.5 sacks.

The usual suspect - Robin, our masked hero - is continuing a stellar lockdown career in the secondary, but it's maybe time to recognize the other guys who have stepped up around him. Mitchell Prescott is having by far his best year ever, Wally Burgess has emerged in year 2 after a ho-hum rookie campaign, and Brent Driscoll should finally get the recognition he's never had from me for being a really kickass strong safety.

This guy racks up the tackles non-stop and is more than capable in coverage.

On offense, Randy Boone is having a decent year in every category but INTs. And the only big news on that side of the ball has been Bryan Sidharta's recent 6-year contract extension, locking him up long-term with the Bees at $6.2mm per season.

&raquo; Oh, I guess it's also a big deal that Utah is on pace currently for a franchise-high in Pass Yards -- barely ahead of the 264.2 clip set waaaaay back in 2012. Boone is on pace for 4249 yards, which would be a personal best by 363 yards over 2024. Although he'd have to play 16 games for that.

[Guest]

Whine whine whine. Interceptions. Whine whine whine. Championship.

[Aston]

I think we can make it 5 in a row. But only if Coughlin is as good as I think he can be.

hey, I see you've gone back to Britt Meyer at QB.

He looks like he's doing well, aside from getting eaten for lunch by Dakota. What is with that guy? He takes good QBs and demolishes them.

[Guest]

I think we can make it 5 in a row. But only if Coughlin is as good as I think he can be.

hey, I see you've gone back to Britt Meyer at QB.

He looks like he's doing well, aside from getting eaten for lunch by Dakota. What is with that guy? He takes good QBs and demolishes them.

Columbus circumvented that by running the ball more than usual last game, which I should have seen coming since Tubbs was playing hurt.

That said, my team both literally and figuratively dropped the ball in that game!

[Guest]

hey, I see you've gone back to Britt Meyer at QB.

He looks like he's doing well, aside from getting eaten for lunch by Dakota. What is with that guy? He takes good QBs and demolishes them.

Because I didn't mean to start him for that game. I tried a completely crazy gameplan and it went all wrong.

The past two weeks (and going forward) Britt was more on target as I went to a gameplan my team is more comfortable with.

Really, I starter Britt because I was sick of all the sacks to CJ Jones. My line can't handle a guy with shit pass protection. If I don't snag a QB next draft I'm fine with Jones as my QB, but I need a bit more pass blocking skill on my line.

[Aston]

SEASON WRAP-UP

Bon Voyage, Seor Giang
Five seasons ago we traded for this stud of a RB and haven't missed a bowl since. With Giang's retirement, it could be the end of that run, too. Giang didn't decline at all until this year, and has been a stalwart. But life must go on...we had accumulated two drafted investments to replace him, but decided only to keep one. Ryan Green, it's on you now kid.

Defense
After three capable seasons, Mitchell Prescott turned in a fairly sensational one in 2026 at cornerback. 15 defenses to only 12 catches, he eclipsed the 90 PD% mark, and is looking like our top corner.

Secondary depth has to be the strength of this Bees team, with rookie Scottie Finley coming up pretty strong in his (somewhat) limited playing time, and Wally Burgess really coming into his own.

OFFENSE
When we drafted Ray Mankser 2.32 a few years ago, we were expecting him to be Foley's succession plan, and a top-three weapon on the offense. Mansker hasn't earned that kind of faith to date yet. Utah lost both its top two WRs in 2026, and Mansker couldn't break the lineup and had to share #3 duties.

Chester Haddix has developed far more than we ever expected, though. We were thinking his KR ability would be somewhere around decent, or comparable to the 50s-KR/4th WR Brock Rosalez we had at the time. Instead, Haddix has watched his KR bar climb to 71, and boasts a 6-of-9 3rd down conversion rate -- the biggest reason Mansker had to split WR3 duties even after Foley/Sidharta went down.

With rookie Wade Morton dominating the preseason and showing up big every chance he got in the regular season and playoffs, it'll be a good competition among the next generation of Utah WRs. Feel like we got to see a lot of options. Starting Zach Coughlin all those games might have been a mistake.

Over the course of the season, new guard Mo Marchant broke through as a starter. It seems as if he and Jared Craig will split duties there from this point on. The Bees carried only 8 linemen this year, but felt really good about all of them. Hopefully we'll get them to be more adaptable this next camp, better backups at all positions.

The Effing Punter
Looks like we got a keeper here. Courtney Ellison's got some kind of leg on him...and with a soon-to-be struggling offense, that could come in big in the future.

Weren't very happy with all the times he just booted it into the endzone, though. What's that directional punting bar for if you can't take off the strength when punting from midfield?

Overall
It'll be at least three more seasons before our next chance at a 3-peat, so this was a puttering ending, but those Catfish are one of the most impressive win-with-little teams we've seen. A tough matchup every time.

The Bees are getting older, seemingly at every position group, so the offseason should give us a wealth of options for what to do in the draft and in Free Agency.

Also, reports coming in now that Utah plans to shed its yellow-and-black aprocita team mascots in order to become the Pelicans as soon as 2027-2028. Said the owner, "This seems like a GREAT idea."

[Sharkn20]

hahahaha

This bird reminds me a chapter of family guy...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2WNrx2jq184

hahahaha fun a lot!!

[Guest]

As much as I like the old Bees logo I can't help but love this derp pelican.

[Guest]

As much as I like the old Bees logo I can't help but love this derp pelican.

Foos haven't you heard?


Bird bird bird, bird is the word!






(i would have linked the family guy vid but im at work and they block youtube for some strange reason)