The 2026 NFL Draft begins at 8 p.m. ET with the Las Vegas Raiders selecting Fernando Mendoza as the franchise’s new quarterback, but the intrigue doesn’t really begin until after that first pick is history.
This is how this draft will take place. The first pick will remain the highlight of the draft, but the fireworks won’t be lit until later.
The maneuvers, the complications and the curiosity, all this begins beyond the first selection.
An advertisement for the 2026 NFL Draft is displayed on a video board outside Acrisure Stadium in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania on March 25, 2026. (Imagn Images)
The reason is that this draft doesn’t have the appeal of multiple quarterbacks competing to go higher than the others. Only one QB beyond Mendoza has even a small chance of being picked in the first round and that would likely require some of the maneuvering you just read about.
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This draft also doesn’t have the appeal of polarizing players like Randy Moss in 1998 or Shedeur Sanders a year ago, so it will be difficult to find heroes and villains.
But this draft offers some high-interest touchpoints that will keep people engaged. It features drama on certain teams and individual prospects.
Let’s start with the teams:
New York Jets head coach Aaron Glenn reacts in the first quarter against the New England Patriots at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey on December 28, 2025. (Vincent Carchietta/Imagn Images)
This draft actually begins with the New York Jets going No. 2 and picking a player whose identity only three people in the organization – coach Aaron Glenn, general manager Darren Mougey and owner Woody Johnson – know for sure.
This is important, friends. Remember, the Jets were leaking like century-old pipes in the Bronx under Robert Saleh’s regime. No more. The Jets are locked in tight, so even insiders don’t know if they’ll pick Texas Tech edge rusher David Bailey or Ohio State linebacker Arvell Reese.
Or someone else.
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Notre Dame running back Jeremiah Love runs the ball into the end zone for a touchdown in the first half against Syracuse at Notre Dame Stadium in South Bend on November 22, 2025. (Michael Clubb/South Bend Tribune/USA Today Network via Imagn Images)
The Arizona Cardinals should pick No. 3. And they could pick any number of players — running back Jeremiah Love (if they’re smart), a right tackle or a pass rusher.
But here’s the truth: The Cardinals want to lower prices. Seriously.
They want more picks and need more talent and the word around the league is that they lost interest in Love so a team that coveted the dynamic running back would offer them a trade.
Do you understand the drift here? This stuff is pretty interesting.
The fact is, the Cardinals, Eagles, Chiefs, Saints, Browns, Bills, Titans Commanders, and Seahawks have all been linked to up or down trade scenarios.
We can only hope that such mass chaos punctuates this project.
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And why are teams so willing to move? Because there are players with great ability but also questionable reliability – a combination that makes teams want to trade down to hedge their bets.
Consider:
Miami offensive tackle Francis Mauigoa is probably the best offensive tackle prospect in the draft. He’s big, strong, tough, everything an NFL team wants in a bookend tackle.
He also comes into this draft with a herniated disc in his back.
Mauigoa was reportedly asymptomatic throughout the 2025 season and remains so currently, but teams are aware that if his back becomes uncomfortable it could require surgery. So yes, a significant potential risk.
Arizona State wide receiver Jordyn Tyson is on the injured reserve list. He had a torn multi-ligament knee (ACL, MCL, PCL) in 2022, a broken collarbone in 2024 and hamstring issues much of last season.
Tyson is also a human highlight.
And those two traits make teams love him. And I hate him. And I don’t know where to recruit him in the first round.
Injury issues aren’t the only reason some players will be fascinating to watch in Thursday’s first round.
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You can bet that if ESPN analyst Dan Orlovsky gets airtime during the draft, he’ll be advocating for Alabama quarterback Ty Simpson to be selected because there’s a bromance there.
Simpson is the other quarterback who could go in the first round. But that may not be the case.
Ty Simpson of the Alabama Crimson Tide runs with the football against the Indiana Hoosiers in the quarterfinals of the College Football Playoff at Rose Bowl Stadium in Pasadena, California on January 1, 2026. (Luke Hales/Getty Images)
The Cardinals, of all teams, could be interested in him later in the first round. Simpson isn’t a good pick at third because he’s only started 15 college games and even Nick Saban, who recruited him to Alabama, doesn’t think he’s ready for the NFL.
“He needs to go somewhere where he has a chance to develop and not play right away,” Saban said on The Pat McAfee Show this week.
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There are rumors that the Pittsburgh Steelers initially viewed Simpson as a player to park on their bench and let him learn behind Aaron Rodgers. It’s unclear where that thinking stands within an organization that doesn’t have 100 percent certainty that Rodgers will play in 2026.
Call it another chance for intrigue in the first round of this draft.
