2026 Nfl Draft Five Team Race For No 1 Pick Top Prospects

Bonisiwe Shabane

-Nov 15, 2025, 12:18 AM

2026 nfl draft five team race for no 1 pick top prospects

Five NFL teams have at least 5% odds to land the No. 1 pick in 2026, per our Football Power Index. The race for the No. 1 pick is on as the NFL rolls into the second half of its season. Contenders are gearing up for their playoff run, while pretenders have at least one eye on this upcoming NFL Draft class. Every week of the season, Bleacher Report writer Alex Ballentine and B/R NFL Scouting Dept.'s Matt Holder will break down each team's biggest needs and highlight potential 2026 draft prospects who could fill them.

The eventual end product will be a full 2026 draft big board for every team heading into the offseason. .css-8b3r8y{margin:0;font:inherit;font-style:italic;}All grades and rankings courtesy of the B/R NFL Draft Scouting Department. .css-1582m2i{margin:0;font:inherit;font-weight:700;}Top Draft Needs The Jets' win over the Browns on Sunday had big implications on the race for the No. 1 pick in the 2026 NFL Draft. Robert Deutsch / Imagn Images

The Athletic has live coverage of Jets vs Patriots in NFL ‘Thursday Night Football.’ The New York Jets versus the Cleveland Browns. Talk about a stinker, right? While last weekend’s matchup certainly wasn’t the highlight of Week 10, it might have been the most important game of the week — at least in one regard. That game between two NFL bottom-feeders went a long way in determining who would win the race for the No. 1 pick in the 2026 NFL Draft.

Funny enough, the team that benefited the most wasn’t even involved. It was the Tennessee Titans, who were on bye last week. The Jets’ win over the Browns pushed Tennessee’s odds of securing the top pick up from 25 percent to 35 percent. Meanwhile, the Jets’ reward for winning their second game of the season was seeing their odds of securing the top pick drop from 39 percent to 26 percent. Of course, there’s still plenty of time for the draft order to get shaken up. Heading into this Week 11, 12 teams have three wins or fewer, with nine of them still having at least a one percent chance at picking first in April.

As the season winds down, each week will have huge ramifications on draft position, and some games, like the Browns against the Jets, are much more important than you might think. Most NFL teams still have a path to the playoffs entering Week 11. Some, though, may already be thinking about 2026. The race for next year’s No. 1 pick is on, with several struggling teams in 2025 tracking toward a top-10 selection. With much of the second half of the season still to play, the top three teams in the hunt for the No.

1 pick are the Tennessee Titans (1-8), New York Giants (2-8) and New Orleans Saints (2-8). While the Saints have a bye in Week 11, both the Titans (vs. the Houston Texans) and Giants (vs. the Green Bay Packers) face tough matchups. The Cleveland Browns, New York Jets and Las Vegas Raiders are also firmly tracking for top-10 picks. Several teams also owe their 2026 first-rounder to another franchise: The Los Angeles Rams own the Atlanta Falcons’ pick, the Browns own the Jacksonville Jaguars’ pick, the Packers will send their first-rounder to the...

How is the 2026 NFL Draft order shaping up? Here’s an updated look entering Week 11. This is a look at the first-round order for the 2026 NFL Draft heading into Week 11 of the 2025 NFL season, along with the top five needs for each team. The order is determined by record, using strength of schedule as the first tiebreaker (click here to see a full list of the draft-order tiebreakers). Keep in mind -- teams that would make the playoffs if the season ended today are marked as PL (short for playoffs) in the order below. The draft order for playoff teams is determined by the results of postseason play.

If Tennessee decides to stick and pick at No. 1, adding a premier edge rusher would make sense -- especially after trading edge rusher Dre'Mont Jones to the Ravens at the deadline. Malik Nabers ' absence has exposed the Giants' lack of depth at receiver, which must be addressed during the first two days of the draft. Tyler Shough took a step forward against the Panthers on Sunday, but still has work to do over the next eight weeks to dissuade the Saints from using their top pick on a new... Whether he keeps the job in 2026 or New Orleans looks elsewhere to fill the role, the team could use more talent at receiver. The Browns' needs on the offensive line were further highlighted on Sunday, with the Jets getting to QB Dillon Gabriel six times in their 27-20 win.

It may not be the quarterback class we'd hoped for, but it still looks like a step up from last year. After that, though, there aren't a ton of position groups I'd call "loaded" relative to recent expectations. It's part of why we've already seen so many teams feel comfortable unloading their first-rounders. That doesn't mean there isn't talent to be had, however. It simply means scouts are going to have to work overtime to parse through a less clear-cut draft order than we've seen in recent years. If you're looking for position groups with quality depth -- even if they aren't traditionally drafted highly -- interior offensive line and linebacker are where I'd start.

There are 13 interior offensive linemen and nine linebackers represented in the top 100 below, both large numbers compared to the typical yearly crop that goes in the top three rounds. With that context in mind, let's dive into how the class stacks up in early November. Bain is putting together the best season for a defensive end at the collegiate level since Aidan Hutchinson. Like Hutchinson, Bain isn't a cookie-cutter edge prospect. The Hurricanes defender has a defensive tackle build with shorter arms than ideal on the edge. It's no matter -- he already has 44 pressures this season.

Woods has been on scouting radars since he was a true freshman. He's as powerful a true junior defensive tackle as you'll see and won't turn 21 until a month before the draft. He'll be even more disruptive in the pros than he is in Clemson's defense. This is a look at the first-round order for the 2026 NFL Draft heading into Week 11 of the 2025 NFL season, along with the top five needs for each team. The order is determined by record, using strength of schedule as the first tiebreaker (click here to see a full list of the draft-order tiebreakers). Keep in mind -- teams that would make the playoffs if the season ended today are marked as PL (short for playoffs) in the order below.

The draft order for playoff teams is determined by the results of postseason play. If Tennessee decides to stick and pick at No. 1, adding a premier edge rusher would make sense -- especially after trading edge rusher Dre'Mont Jones to the Ravens at the deadline. Malik Nabers ' absence has exposed the Giants' lack of depth at receiver, which must be addressed during the first two days of the draft. Tyler Shough took a step forward against the Panthers on Sunday, but still has work to do over the next eight weeks to dissuade the Saints from using their top pick on a new... Whether he keeps the job in 2026 or New Orleans looks elsewhere to fill the role, the team could use more talent at receiver.

The Browns' needs on the offensive line were further highlighted on Sunday, with the Jets getting to QB Dillon Gabriel six times in their 27-20 win. Most NFL teams still have a path to the playoffs entering Week 11. Some, though, may already be thinking about 2026. The race for next year’s No. 1 pick is on, with several struggling teams in 2025 tracking toward a top-10 selection. With much of the second half of the season still to play, the top three teams in the hunt for the No.

How is the 2026 NFL Draft order shaping up? Here’s an updated look entering Week 11. It may not be the quarterback class we'd hoped for, but it still looks like a step up from last year. After that, though, there aren't a ton of position groups I'd call "loaded" relative to recent expectations. It's part of why we've already seen so many teams feel comfortable unloading their first-rounders. That doesn't mean there isn't talent to be had, however.

It simply means scouts are going to have to work overtime to parse through a less clear-cut draft order than we've seen in recent years. If you're looking for position groups with quality depth -- even if they aren't traditionally drafted highly -- interior offensive line and linebacker are where I'd start. There are 13 interior offensive linemen and nine linebackers represented in the top 100 below, both large numbers compared to the typical yearly crop that goes in the top three rounds. Five NFL teams have at least 5% odds to land the No. 1 pick in 2026, per our Football Power Index.

2026 Nfl Draft Five Team Race For No 1 Pick Top Prospects

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