Draft Night Drama
- Mock drafts project the Las Vegas Raiders will select Fernando Mendoza with the No.1 overall pick on draft night. - Analysts are forecasting about four trades in Round 1 and name teams like the Eagles and Saints as likely movers. - The draft is expected to be volatile with quarterbacks like Jeremiyah Love, trade-up buzz around Arvell Reese, and teams weighing positional needs (nfl.com) (foxnews.com).
The 2026 National Football League draft opens Thursday night with the Las Vegas Raiders widely projected to take Indiana quarterback Fernando Mendoza at No. 1 overall. (nfl.com) Round 1 begins at 8 p.m. Eastern on Thursday, April 23, in Pittsburgh, and the league says the full draft runs through Saturday, April 25. The Raiders hold the first pick, followed by the New York Jets at No. 2. (nfl.com 1) (nfl.com 2) Daniel Jeremiah’s final mock draft, published Thursday, projects four first-round trades and puts the Philadelphia Eagles and New Orleans Saints among the teams moving up. He keeps Mendoza at No. 1 and says “uncertainty once we get beyond the first overall pick” is shaping the board. (nfl.com) The trade chatter reflects a class with less consensus after the top slot. NFL.com’s draft coverage has featured multiple first-round scenarios with four trades, including Chad Reuter’s five-round mock and seven-round mock published in the final two weeks before the draft. (nfl.com 1) (nfl.com 2) Quarterback is driving the top of the board, but not by itself. Jeremiah’s earlier mock in January called Mendoza the clear No. 1 after Indiana’s national title run, while later mocks kept asking whether a second quarterback would force teams to move. (nfl.com 1) (nfl.com 2) Other premium prospects are adding to the volatility because they do not fit the usual top-five template. NFL.com mocks have repeatedly pushed Notre Dame running back Jeremiyah Love into the top 10, and Lance Zierlein’s final mock on Wednesday had Love in the top three. (nfl.com) (nfl.com) Arvell Reese is another hinge point. Zierlein’s final projection had the Dallas Cowboys trading up for the Ohio State defender, while NFL.com’s draft buzz column said the Jets had been widely linked to Reese or Texas Tech edge rusher David Bailey at No. 2. (nfl.com) (nfl.com) Team need is part of the equation, but draft mechanics could speed up the chaos. The league cut the time between first-round picks from 10 minutes to eight minutes for 2026, the first such change since 2008. (operations.nfl.com) Philadelphia has extra ammunition if it wants to jump, holding two first-round picks, Nos. 23 and 31. New Orleans enters the night with one first-rounder at No. 10, but Jeremiah’s mock is one of several late projections that sees the Saints as a candidate to climb. (nfl.com) (nfl.com) If the board breaks the way the mocks expect, the first name called in Pittsburgh will be Mendoza’s and the rest of the night will turn on how far teams are willing to move for the next quarterback or defender. (nfl.com) (nfl.com)
