We’re only 32 picks into the 2026 NFL Draft, which has 225 yet to come off the board over the course of Friday’s second and third rounds plus the final four on Saturday. Yet what occurred April 23 in Pittsburgh during Round 1 will go a long way toward shaping the legacy of this draft – one that isn’t necessarily expected to have a seismic impact on the league this year and perhaps not in the long run, either.
That will be up to the players, and time will determine whether it’s a pedestrian group, maybe one that winds up exceeding expectations … or even falling short of what already seems set as a low bar. Regardless, it’s never too early to give a microwaved assessment of something that probably can’t be fairly judged until at least 2029 – so let’s (prematurely) label the winners and losers of the 2026 draft’s first round:
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2026 NFL Draft Round 1 grades: Analysis for every pick
WINNERS
No idea who that is. Arch Manning? Dante Moore? Joe Burrow? Get back to us in 2027. But Gang Green’s plan to construct a support system for the man who will doubtless end the franchise’s (almost) six-decade Super Bowl drought – even ending a playoff absence that extends to 2010, now the longest in major North American professional team sports, would be remarkable – seems to be off to a promising start. Pass rusher David Bailey became the franchise’s highest-drafted defender ever, coming off the board second overall – and a good defense is often among a QB’s best friends. But the Jets chose twice more in Round 1, getting Oregon TE Kenyon Sadiq 16th overall and Indiana WR Omar Cooper Jr. after GM Darren Mougey snuck back into the bottom of the round at the 30th spot. A nice influx of talent, if not youngsters who will necessarily be ready to make major contributions in 2026 … which would only benefit a team clearly positioning itself to draft early again in 2027.
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Fernando Mendoza
The draft’s presumptive No. 1 pick for – five? – months, he officially changed that LinkedIn profile to employed after officially joining the Las Vegas Raiders. Mendoza will almost doubtless be the face of this draft, for better or worse, forevermore, and simply has to become the first Silver and Black quarterback to notch a playoff win in nearly a quarter of a century to justify his investment. A word of advice: Don’t let Kirk Cousins keep you out at all hours on the slots and tables. Good luck, pal.
First, the Browns traded down from No. 6 to obtain some mid-round ammo. Then they drafted OL Spencer Fano ninth overall before getting game-breaking WR KC Concepcion at No. 24. If Sanders, who famously plummeted to Round 5 a year ago, fails to lock down the QB1 job this season, it almost certainly won’t be because Cleveland failed to load up on solid talent around him.
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QB Ty Simpson’s No. 1 media advocate was vindicated – after the ESPN analyst and former NFL backup QB unabashedly stumped for the former Alabama passer throughout the pre-draft process – when the Rams picked him 13th overall despite intense speculation that Simpson wouldn’t hear his name called at all Thursday. Good luck, Ty. Congrats, Dan, who got to take a victory lap on ESPN’s air with Pat McAfee.
2027 first-round draft picks
Despite all of Thursday night’s trade activity, none of the deals involved a Round 1 selection for next year – which is expected to boast a lot more star power than this year’s draft. The Jets, who obtained valuable 2027 picks from the Colts and Cowboys at last year’s trade deadline, are currently the only team in possession of multiple first-round selections next year.
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Ohio State
Having four players going off the board in the top 11 selections is quite the recruiting messaging for the Buckeyes. Suck it, oh-fer Michigan.
Jeremiyah Love
He came off the board third overall, to the Arizona Cardinals, his draft slotting set to guarantee him more than $50 million – almost a 50% bump from the market-setting $36 million guarantee the Eagles’ Saquon Barkley collected with his most recent extension.
Pittsburgh
The Steel City hosted its first draft in more than 78 years – and it looked marvelous. NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell announced at the end of the evening that Pittsburgh set a Round 1 attendance record of 320,000. Expect that figure to balloon – significantly – into the weekend.
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LOSERS
Meanwhile, the local team apparently didn’t do as well as it had hoped. Per reports, the AFC North champs – still not necessarily sure who their quarterback will be in 2026 – were all set to take USC WR Makai Lemon with the 21st overall pick … not knowing a cross-state jump had occurred, the Philadelphia Eagles literally swooping in to sink their talons into Lemon after moving up from the 23rd spot to 20. Welp. But who knows? Sometimes the move you don’t make winds up serving you well, and fallback Max Iheanachor of Arizona State might actually address what could be a far more pressing need given the questions about the neck injury Steelers OT Broderick Jones is dealing with.
Jeremiyah Love
He’s got a bag. He’s also headed to a literal and figurative football desert where the Cardinals appear to have plenty of running backs (James Conner, Tyler Allgeier, Trey Benson) but no long-term prospects at quarterback … nor much short- or intermediate-term hope in the NFC West, home of the Super Bowl champion Seahawks, who drafted Love’s former Notre Dame backfield mate (Jadarian Price) Thursday, and two other teams that won at least 12 games last season. Woof.
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Mike Vrabel
Dude. You don’t owe me an apology. An explicit one to the Patriots might be nice, and a public one to your family seems incumbent at this point. Either say more or say less. But this week’s approach clearly isn’t working at this point … though the internet’s ability to torpedo your rep certainly is.
Defensive backs
Thursday was kind to Mansoor Delane, the Kansas City Chiefs trading up to get the former LSU cornerback with the sixth overall selection. Otherwise, Round 1 was largely unkind relative to the DBs. S Caleb Downs, widely projected as a top-five pick going into this draft, wound up going 11th overall to the Cowboys. Former Oregon S Dillon Thieneman also went lower than expected, landing in Chicago with the 25th selection. San Diego State CB Chris Johnson, who picked up steam late in the pre-draft process, snuck into Round 1, too, going to Miami two spots after Thieneman. Otherwise? Nada. Tennessee CBs Jermod McCoy and Colton Hood, Clemson CB Avieon Terrell and Toledo S Emmanuel McNeil-Warren were among the most notable players slipping into Day 2.
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The fifth overall pick from the 2022 draft suddenly looks like the Giants’ No. 4 pass rusher after Arvell Reese joined him, Brian Burns and Abdul Carter on the depth chart. Thibodeaux, somewhat ironically the first pick of GM Joe Schoen’s tenure, is only under contract for one more season. He’s averaged fewer than six sacks per year to this point of his career, and it’s worth wondering if the Giants should expedite his departure by trying to obtain whatever future draft assets they can get for Thibodeaux.
Rams‘ Super Bowl 61 hopes?
Super Sunday will be staged in Sofi Stadium to cap the upcoming season – five years after the Rams won their only championship in L.A. … at SoFi. Reigning MVP Matthew Stafford and Co. certainly seem to have the requisite firepower to hoist another Lombardi Trophy next February, especially if they iron out their special teams issues. But drafting Simpson with the 13th overall pick, while perhaps a forward-looking move with Stafford evaluating his desire to continue playing on a year-to-year basis, almost certainly isn’t going to help the Rams much in 2026. Or 2027.
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That would most definitely be Cam Ward. After weeks of widespread speculation that Love would be the pick here, there were quite a few 11th-hour projections – perhaps due to smoke inhalation – that Tennessee would go with a defender to supercharge Robert Saleh’s defense. But the Titans weren’t compelled to move up from the fourth spot to No. 3, where Love wound up going to Arizona, yet didn’t take Ohio State LB Arvell Reese or Sonny Styles, either – opting instead for Buckeyes WR Carnell Tate. The takeaway? The Titans did indeed place an emphasis on upgrading Ward’s weaponry … but failed to get the one that almost certainly would have had the biggest impact. They even traded back into the first round at No. 31 … but for DE Keldric Faulk, who can only help Ward indirectly, unlike Love’s former Irish teammate, Jadarian Price, who went to Seattle with the next and final pick of Thursday night.
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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: NFL draft first round winners, losers include Jets, Browns, Steelers
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