NFL mock draft 2026: Final projection with 2 big trades

The NFL Draft is finally upon us. All the debating, consternation, and speculation comes to an end on Thursday night with the first round. We know that Fernando Mendoza is going No. 1 overall to the Las Vegas Raiders, but it’s all up in the air after that. After looking at our big board, team needs, and potential trades we have finally settled on our final mock draft for the 1st round in 2026.

Putting this together was a collaborative effort by James Dator and Mark Schofield, alternating picks, discussing the board, and formulating trades together. We’re not going to tell you who made which picks, because if you want to yell at one of us, you yell at both of us. Without further ado here’s the mock, and after we’ll discuss the trades that we have taking place in the first round, as well as a few more notes.

The two big Browns trades

Yes, we have Cleveland making two deals in the first round. The first is the much-rumored deal involving Dallas moving up to the No. 6 pick, which we felt especially made sense with Arvell Reese and Reuben Bain Jr. on the board. Without making a deal, there’s no guarantee the Cowboys could get either pass rusher, and locking up the No. 1 player on our big board was too good to pass up here.

It costs Dallas the No. 12 and No. 20 picks to move up, but they get back a third-rounder from Cleveland. It’s a fair trade that allows both teams to execute their visions.

The second deal falls in the 20s with Ty Simpson. We really thought about taking the easy route and mocking him to Pittsburgh at 21, but it just doesn’t feel like the Steelers are willing to risk repeating their Kenny Pickett mistake. Simpson is a risk, and giving up a 2027 1st is a lot — but this team needs to win right now to instill some confidence. Getting both Simpson and Jeremiyah Love is a tremendous way to build hype in Glendale, while the Browns get a future pick they can use as quarterback insurance for Shedeur Sanders.

The Giants absolutely ROCK their two first rounders

A lot of this was simply how the board fell, but this draft would be a godsend for Big Blue. Not only do the Giants get a transformative defensive player in Caleb Downs, but fix their offensive tackle problem in a big was with Francis Mauigoa. We had Downs and Mauigoa at No. 3 and No. 8 respectively on our board — so getting them at No. 5 and No. 10 is amazing value.

We promise we didn’t rig this for the Chiefs

There was a collective realization when we hit the late 20s that we were on the verge of giving the Chiefs both Mansoor Delane and Kenyon Sadiq in the first round. It really couldn’t be helped as we were working through this class.

Delane is a no-brainer for the Chiefs after trading away Trent McDuffie, but the more curious element is seeing Sadiq fall so far. There just aren’t a lot of great landing spots for him in this class. There’s been a lot of mocking him to Carolina, but there hasn’t been a lot of apparent interest from the Panthers — and they’re typically an organization that does heavy investment in a position group they’re targeting. So far Carolina has spent much more time with wide receivers than this TE class, altering the way we went.

Sadiq is a disgusting fit in Kansas City in the best way for the Chiefs. He’s going to cook there.

Let’s talk about Jermod McCoy

Neither of us have holiday homes, so you know we’re not doctors. We aren’t going to armchair diagnose potential knee issues with Jermod McCoy, but we did hedge this a little bit. Without any medical issues we’d put McCoy in the early teens, potentially as early as No. 11 to the Dolphins — but with this injury situation being up in the air we had him fall to the latter part of the round.

This would be a tremendous pickup for the 49ers if he’s healthy, but even if he needs knee surgery then San Francisco get his 5th year option by taking him in the first.

One thing that didn’t happen but we’d watch for …

Let’s see what happens with Indiana WR Omar Cooper Jr. In our mock we have him going to the Jets at No. 16, which feels right value wise — but we wouldn’t count out the Raiders trying to make a play here with future picks. Joe Burrow and Ja’Marr Chase set the benchmark for how good a college QB/WR handcuff can be, and there will be some strong motivation for Las Vegas to potentially try the same thing with Mendoza and Cooper.