Rounds 2–3 conclude, trade activity reshapes the 2026 NFL Draft
- The 2026 National Football League Draft finished Rounds 2 and 3 on Friday in Pittsburgh, with teams repeatedly moving up the board as quarterbacks, tight ends and offensive linemen came off quickly. - Arizona opened Round 3 by taking Miami quarterback Carson Beck at No. 65, Pittsburgh followed with Drew Allar at No. 76, and ESPN logged multiple Day 2 trade-ups across both rounds. - Trade volume stayed high after eight Round 1 deals, extending a multiyear run of aggressive draft movement and pushing roster-building deeper into Day 2. (espn.com)
Rounds 2 and 3 of the 2026 National Football League Draft ended Friday with another wave of trade-ups and a fast run on skill players and linemen. (nfl.com) (espn.com) Arizona started Round 3 by selecting Miami quarterback Carson Beck at No. 65, and Pittsburgh followed later with Penn State quarterback Drew Allar at No. 76. (espn.com 1) (espn.com 2) The trade ledger stayed busy through Friday night. ESPN’s tracker listed Day 2 moves including Buffalo up to No. 62, Tennessee up to No. 60, Cleveland up to No. 58 and No. 86, New York Giants up to No. 74, Green Bay up to No. 77, and Pittsburgh up to No. 96. (espn.com) Round 2 began with San Francisco at No. 33 after a trade back, and the 49ers used the pick on Mississippi wide receiver De’Zhaun Stribling. Cleveland then took Washington wide receiver Denzel Boston at No. 39 after he entered Friday as Mel Kiper Jr.’s top remaining prospect. (nfl.com) (espn.com) Kiper wrote that only four players from his top 32 remained available when Day 2 began, which shifted the night toward fit, value and roster-specific moves rather than the headline names from Thursday. (espn.com) He also flagged a tight end run in Round 3. ESPN’s round tracker shows Stanford’s Sam Roush at No. 69, Georgia’s Oscar Delp at No. 73, Ohio State’s Will Kacmarek at No. 87 and Notre Dame’s Eli Raridon at No. 95. (espn.com 1) (espn.com 2) Offensive line help kept moving too. ESPN’s Round 3 list includes Miami tackle Markel Bell at No. 68, Florida tackle Austin Barber at No. 86, Oregon guard Emmanuel Pregnon at No. 88, Texas A&M center Trey Zuhn III at No. 91, Missouri tackle Keagen Trost at No. 93, Iowa tackle Gennings Dunker at No. 96 and Northwestern tackle Caleb Tiernan at No. 97. (espn.com) The draft entered Friday after an active first round, and ESPN said eight trades on Thursday extended the streak to five straight years with at least that many Day 1 deals. That pace carried into the middle rounds, where clubs paid extra picks to target specific roster holes instead of waiting for value to fall. (espn.com) The draft concludes Saturday, April 25, with Rounds 4 through 7. Friday’s board already showed the shape of this class: quarterbacks pushed into Round 3, pass catchers moved early, and teams kept spending picks to control the order rather than react to it. (nfl.com) (espn.com)
