Draft trade expectations
- Analysts expect trade activity to shape Round 1 of the 2026 NFL Draft, not just pick order. - Daniel Jeremiah projected four first-round trades and named teams like the Eagles and Saints as movers. - Mockers also floated scenarios where Jeremiyah Love cracks the top three and the Cowboys trade up for Arvell Reese. ( )
The 2026 National Football League draft is hours away, and the strongest consensus is not about one pick but about movement across Round 1. (nfl.com) Daniel Jeremiah’s final mock, published April 22, projected four first-round trades and said uncertainty starts “beyond the first overall pick.” His board kept Las Vegas at No. 1 for Indiana quarterback Fernando Mendoza, then had New Orleans jump from No. 8 to No. 3 in a deal with Arizona. (nfl.com) Lance Zierlein’s final mock, also published April 22, projected four Round 1 trades of his own. His version sent Dallas from No. 12 to No. 6 for Ohio State hybrid defender Arvell Reese and put Notre Dame running back Jeremiyah Love at No. 3 to Arizona. (nfl.com) The official first-round order gives teams room to move. Arizona opens at No. 3, Cleveland at No. 6, New Orleans at No. 8, Dallas at No. 12, and Philadelphia at No. 23, which helps explain why mock drafts keep circling those slots as trade windows. (nfl.com) Jeremiah’s mock framed the Saints as one of the league’s most aggressive draft traders. He noted New Orleans has made 25 draft trades since 2008 and traded up in all 25 of those moves, a history that makes another climb into the top five easy to picture. (nfl.com) His mock also pointed to Cleveland as a team listening on its pick. Jeremiah wrote that “it sounds like the Browns are trying to trade down from No. 6,” which fits a class where evaluators see less certainty after the first pick than in some recent drafts. (nfl.com) Love’s rise is one reason the trade talk widened. Zierlein had him third overall after first placing him in the top 10 in his February 2 mock, while Jeremiah said Arizona could take Love at No. 3 if the Cardinals stay put. (nfl.com; nfl.com; nfl.com) Reese sits at the center of the other big swing. Jeremiah had him going No. 3 after a Saints trade-up, while Zierlein had him sliding to No. 6 before Dallas moved up to stop the fall, a split that captures how volatile the top of this board looks on April 23. (nfl.com; nfl.com) Round 1 begins at 8 p.m. Eastern on Thursday, April 23, in Pittsburgh, with rounds two and three on April 24 and rounds four through seven on April 25. If the mock draft consensus holds, the first night’s story will be which teams move fastest, not just which names come off the board first. (nfl.com)
