diff --git a/pyproject.toml b/pyproject.toml
index b88acb28..43d8cc55 100644
--- a/pyproject.toml
+++ b/pyproject.toml
@@ -83,6 +83,7 @@ fix = [
 ]
 sentiment = [
     "textblob>=0.17.1",
+    "nltk>=3.10.3",
     "vaderSentiment>=3.3.2",
     "transformers>=4.21.0",
     "torch>=1.12.0",
diff --git a/tests/test_sentiment_textblob.py b/tests/test_sentiment_textblob.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..6684bfde
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/test_sentiment_textblob.py
@@ -0,0 +1,33 @@
+"""Optional TextBlob smoke coverage without downloaded corpora or network access."""
+
+import socket
+
+import pytest
+
+
+@pytest.mark.parametrize(
+    ("text", "direction"),
+    [("I love this excellent result.", 1), ("I hate this terrible result.", -1)],
+)
+def test_textblob_sentiment_without_network_or_corpora(monkeypatch, text, direction):
+    def forbid_network(*args, **kwargs):
+        raise AssertionError("Sentiment analysis must not access the network or download corpora")
+
+    monkeypatch.setattr(socket.socket, "connect", forbid_network)
+    monkeypatch.setattr(socket.socket, "connect_ex", forbid_network)
+    monkeypatch.setattr(socket, "create_connection", forbid_network)
+    monkeypatch.setattr(socket, "getaddrinfo", forbid_network)
+
+    nltk = pytest.importorskip("nltk")
+    monkeypatch.setattr(nltk.data, "path", [])
+    monkeypatch.setattr(nltk, "download", forbid_network)
+    pytest.importorskip("textblob")
+
+    from neural.analysis.sentiment import SentimentAnalyzer, SentimentEngine
+
+    score = SentimentAnalyzer(engine=SentimentEngine.TEXTBLOB).analyze_text(text)
+
+    assert "textblob" in score.metadata["engines_used"]
+    assert score.engine_used is SentimentEngine.TEXTBLOB
+    assert 0 < direction * score.overall_score <= 1
+    assert 0 <= score.subjectivity <= 1
diff --git a/uv.lock b/uv.lock
index 73195b16..b42996c8 100644
--- a/uv.lock
+++ b/uv.lock
@@ -710,6 +710,15 @@ wheels = [
     { url = "https://files.pythonhosted.org/packages/07/02/59a5bc738a09def0b49aea0e460bdf97f65206d0d041246147cf6207e69c/cuda_pathfinder-1.4.1-py3-none-any.whl", hash = "sha256:40793006082de88e0950753655e55558a446bed9a7d9d0bcb48b2506d50ed82a", size = 43903, upload-time = "2026-03-06T21:05:24.372Z" },
 ]
 
+[[package]]
+name = "defusedxml"
+version = "0.7.1"
+source = { registry = "https://pypi.org/simple" }
+sdist = { url = "https://files.pythonhosted.org/packages/0f/d5/c66da9b79e5bdb124974bfe172b4daf3c984ebd9c2a06e2b8a4dc7331c72/defusedxml-0.7.1.tar.gz", hash = "sha256:1bb3032db185915b62d7c6209c5a8792be6a32ab2fedacc84e01b52c51aa3e69", size = 75520, upload-time = "2021-03-08T10:59:26.269Z" }
+wheels = [
+    { url = "https://files.pythonhosted.org/packages/07/6c/aa3f2f849e01cb6a001cd8554a88d4c77c5c1a31c95bdf1cf9301e6d9ef4/defusedxml-0.7.1-py2.py3-none-any.whl", hash = "sha256:a352e7e428770286cc899e2542b6cdaedb2b4953ff269a210103ec58f6198a61", size = 25604, upload-time = "2021-03-08T10:59:24.45Z" },
+]
+
 [[package]]
 name = "docker"
 version = "7.1.0"
@@ -1767,6 +1776,7 @@ fix = [
     { name = "simplefix" },
 ]
 sentiment = [
+    { name = "nltk" },
     { name = "scikit-learn", version = "1.7.2", source = { registry = "https://pypi.org/simple" }, marker = "python_full_version < '3.11'" },
     { name = "scikit-learn", version = "1.8.0", source = { registry = "https://pypi.org/simple" }, marker = "python_full_version >= '3.11'" },
     { name = "textblob" },
@@ -1793,6 +1803,7 @@ requires-dist = [
     { name = "jsonschema", extras = ["format-nongpl"], specifier = ">=4.23.0" },
     { name = "kalshi-python", marker = "extra == 'trading'", specifier = ">=2.1.4,<3" },
     { name = "mypy", marker = "extra == 'dev'", specifier = ">=1.4.1" },
+    { name = "nltk", marker = "extra == 'sentiment'", specifier = ">=3.10.3" },
     { name = "numpy", specifier = ">=1.24.0,<2.0" },
     { name = "pandas", specifier = ">=2.0.0" },
     { name = "plotly", marker = "extra == 'analysis'", specifier = ">=5.15.0" },
@@ -1857,17 +1868,18 @@ wheels = [
 
 [[package]]
 name = "nltk"
-version = "3.9.3"
+version = "3.10.3"
 source = { registry = "https://pypi.org/simple" }
 dependencies = [
     { name = "click" },
+    { name = "defusedxml" },
     { name = "joblib" },
     { name = "regex" },
     { name = "tqdm" },
 ]
-sdist = { url = "https://files.pythonhosted.org/packages/e1/8f/915e1c12df07c70ed779d18ab83d065718a926e70d3ea33eb0cd66ffb7c0/nltk-3.9.3.tar.gz", hash = "sha256:cb5945d6424a98d694c2b9a0264519fab4363711065a46aa0ae7a2195b92e71f", size = 2923673, upload-time = "2026-02-24T12:05:53.833Z" }
+sdist = { url = "https://files.pythonhosted.org/packages/e0/e6/fe51d2bb1a3b446f59c5c8165999a9fee208bc346af90a7cbf7657bc0d75/nltk-3.10.3.tar.gz", hash = "sha256:bb9327a461c3811c2fa4900e03840401f2126adfb30c0072827c433bd2444ea4", size = 5137152, upload-time = "2026-08-12T23:46:37.258Z" }
 wheels = [
-    { url = "https://files.pythonhosted.org/packages/c2/7e/9af5a710a1236e4772de8dfcc6af942a561327bb9f42b5b4a24d0cf100fd/nltk-3.9.3-py3-none-any.whl", hash = "sha256:60b3db6e9995b3dd976b1f0fa7dec22069b2677e759c28eb69b62ddd44870522", size = 1525385, upload-time = "2026-02-24T12:05:46.54Z" },
+    { url = "https://files.pythonhosted.org/packages/b6/6d/ebd2af4640b12168fdf0cb74b6118df2f32a2f62ec7e0c06fbfd80706639/nltk-3.10.3-py3-none-any.whl", hash = "sha256:ff9598a8e20518ee0d557745890cc4435b9578489e2dcbc69c4f81fa060caf7c", size = 1798643, upload-time = "2026-08-12T23:44:13.478Z" },
 ]
 
 [[package]]