With the 2026 NFL Draft still nearly a week away, NFL.com released a full seven-round mock that runs through all 257 picks and opens with four first-round trades. The projection sends quarterback Ty Simpson to the Jets and gives several teams a last look at how the board could break before Pittsburgh hosts the draft from April 23-25.
The mock casts the Raiders as a team still searching for help in front of Mendoza and at receiver, while the Cardinals are projected to turn to Bailey to fix a pass rush that needs more juice. Those are only the first ripples in a projection that also touches the Giants, Browns, Cowboys, Chiefs and Jaguars, with the Jaguars' recent decision on Travon Walker hovering in the background as a reminder that the first pick can define a franchise for years.
That history matters because Jacksonville took Walker first overall four years ago instead of Aidan Hutchinson, and Walker has since grown into the kind of player worth a $110 million extension earlier this month. The mock uses that same long view throughout, treating the draft less like a one-night event than a sequence of bets on whether a team can live with the player it leaves on the board and the one it chooses instead.
There is more than one way to read the board, though, and this mock keeps circling the same kinds of questions that usually decide the top 10 overall selections. Tony Pollard is entering a contract year and is about to turn 29 after carrying the ball more than 750 times over the last three seasons, which is why Love is described as the top player available and a rookie who could be eased into a rushing and receiving role behind him. The Giants are also projected to get more flexible with Mauigoa, who could start at right guard as a rookie and move back outside later.
Freeling is another name built for that kind of debate. He started at both tackle spots and played through an ankle injury last season, the sort of detail that separates a clean projection from one grounded in how teams actually talk about players once the tape and medical reports are done.
Defense gets the same treatment. Delane's speed and ball skills are framed as tools that could let Dan Quinn play man coverage on at least one side of the field, while Downs draws a comparison to eventual All-Pro Kyle Hamilton, who went 14th overall in 2022. Bain is in the mix as well, with his arms listed at 30 7/8 inches, one more measurement that scouts will use to sort players before the opening round starts in Pittsburgh.
The limitation is the same one that hangs over every final mock: it is not a draft result, just a snapshot taken almost a full week before the real picks begin. The piece also says it will not include the last-minute information reported about prospects and teams' potential interest, which leaves room for the late twists that always show up between now and April 23. That is especially true for teams like the Raiders, Jets, Cardinals, Giants, Browns, Cowboys, Chiefs and Jaguars, where one trade or one reach can change the shape of an entire class.
For Pittsburgh, the draft is also a return to the center of the football map, the sort of week that will pull a sports-scarred city back into the spotlight as the league stages its biggest offseason event there. By the time the first pick is in, the mock will already be outdated, but it still gives the clearest picture yet of how clubs are thinking about risk, age, injuries and value before the clock starts to run.
