Now that the NFL draft has came to a close, we can clearly say there were many surprising picks, and many that were basically already written in stone. With that being said, many don’t have the patience to sit around, and watch people call names for 3 hours, and that is why we’re here. In this article, we will cover the most shocking selections, and the biggest moves of the event.
Round 1 Pick 1 – Mendoza
The most unsurprising pick of the draft, as normal, was its number 1 selection. This year, that was National Champion and Heisman winner Fernando Mendoza. Mendoza was considered the consensus number 1 not only for his talents and success but for his upstanding on and off field personality. Mendoza will make a big difference for a Raiders organization that has struggled for years, and will help change that losing culture.
Round 1 Pick 3 – Love
Notre Dame’s star running back was expected to be one of the first selections of this NFL draft, but there are a series of things notable about his high pick. Based on the unprecedented height of his selection, the Arizona Cardinals were required to pay him a certain amount of money on his rookie contract. As a part of this contract, Love was fully guaranteed $50 million, giving him the most guaranteed money ever promised to a player at the position, passing Saquan Barkley despite still being a rookie! The rest of his deal secures him $35 million as a signing bonus, and an overall contract of 4 years, $53 million meaning all but $3 million is fully guaranteed to him. A record-breaking deal for the young talent.
Historic RB tandem drafted
While we’ve already delved into the drafting of Notre Dame’s Jeremiah Love, we’re yet to talk about his running back counterpart from the same school, Jadarian Price. Price was yet another talented back out of Notre Dame and was one of the highest touted weapons of the draft. This value was certainly one held by reigning Super Bowl champion Seattle Seahawks who opted to select him with the 32nd pick of the first round. This means both running backs drafted within the first round came from the same school. This is extremely rare, having not happened since Darren McFadden and Felix Jones were drafted from Arkansas in 2008. Additionally, according to ESPN, the tandem both being drafted was only the sixth occurrence of this in the common draft era (Since 1967).
Slipping down the board
When looking at the draft board before the draft, it would’ve been a fair assumption to make that the second highest rated player at a position would be taken relatively early. Furthermore, you would expect that player to be drafted prior to the majority of players at that position. Well, that is very much not what happened for Tennessee CB Jermod McCoy. McCoy was not only considered by most experts as a top two talent positionally, but as one deserving of a top ten selection in the draft. This all was thrown into the air following a brutal ACL tear causing many teams to question his ability to recover, resulting in his slide in the draft. Fast forward to the draft’s fourth round and McCoy is taken with 101st pick to Las Vegas. This pick is now being regarded as quite possibly the best pick of the whole 257 pick draft for McCoy’s scary high upside. However, it also raises many questions about what the other teams must’ve seen in his knee to avoid him so strongly. This question will be answered early this year, as McCoy is hoped to be available to participate in training camp this summer.
Huge reach?
The Kansas City Chiefs are a team who’ve had such consistent success they’re in contention for being a top dynasty in the league’s history. With that being said, with the injury of franchise cornerstone Patrick Mahomes in the 2025-26 season, the Chiefs struggled badly. This allowed them to have a very high pick to refurbish their team for Mahomes’ return, and so they targeted the highest rated player at their biggest need. To do this, they opted to make a trade with the Cleveland Browns, forfeiting their 9th, 74th, and 148th picks respectively for the 6th overall selection. They promptly selected CB Mansoor Delane out of LSU to fill their needs, but many question the validity of this move. According to The Athletic, the Chiefs were very certain that Delane was who they wanted, and they were unsure he’d fall. The team’s director of football research, Marc Richards, ran endless predictive models, to anticipate what the teams ahead of the Chiefs might do with their picks. As a result, he determined that contrary to what many think, the Saints were of high likelihood to select Delane, and that was an outcome they weren’t willing to risk. According to The Athletic, they attempted trade talks with the Commanders for the 7th overall pick first but were shot down quickly. As a result, the Chiefs did what they considered was their next best bet, moving up to the 6th spot despite its cost.
Giants score a potential master class
The Giants are commonly viewed as a team that is right on the cusp of success. After a long period of poor results, they’re more than ready both as an organization and as a fanbase for that to happen. In order to continue to develop, the Giants knew they had some moves to make, and nailing the draft was one of them. After trading star DT Dexter Lawrence, the Giants knew some new talent would be needed to fill such a void. Especially because during the 2025-26 season, their defensive unit was ranked 27th according to PFF, showing their pre-existent struggles. As a result, when top 2 talent Arvell Reese fell into their lap at the 5th overall spot, the Giants did not hesitate. After selecting Reese, they moved to protect their young second year star Jaxon Dart, who dealt with many injuries through his first season, and they did so by drafting a stone wall in Miami’s Francis Mauigoa. They followed these excellent moves with more smart moves, selecting highly touted DB Colton Hood and Notre Dame’s Malachi Fields in the 3rd to help cement a solid draft.