2026 Nfl Draft Order Raiders To Select No 1 Overall

Bonisiwe Shabane

-Jan 8, 2026, 1:37 AM

2026 nfl draft order raiders to select no 1 overall

With the Giants' Week 18 win over the Dallas Cowboys, the Raiders hold the No. 1 overall pick in the 2026 NFL Draft. Draft order is determined by record, using strength of schedule as a tiebreaker when needed. The Raiders have selected first overall only one previous time in franchise history, drafting QB JaMarcus Russell in the 2007 NFL Draft. The 2026 Draft is set to take place April 23-25 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Below is the full draft order (excluding playoff teams):

The Raiders locked up the first overall pick in the 2026 NFL Draft on Sunday. The Giants were the only other team still in the running for the top selection entering Week 18, but their victory over the Cowboys on Sunday eliminated them from contention. The Raiders defeated the Chiefs later on Sunday, moving to 3-14, but Vegas wins the strength-of-schedule tiebreaker for the first pick since its SOS is lower than that of the three other 3-14 teams... The Jets secured the second pick after losing to the Bills on Sunday. Rounding out the rest of the top 10 in the draft order, the Cardinals pick third, the Titans fourth, the Giants fifth, the Browns sixth, the Commanders seventh, the Saints eighth, the Chiefs ninth... The Raiders hold the top selection for the first time since 2007.

Things started off positively for the Silver and Black at the dawn of the Pete Carroll era, with the Raiders beating the Patriots in New England to open the season. The bottom dropped out immediately after that victory, though, with Vegas losing 14 of its next 15 games, including 10 in a row entering Sunday's contest. On Monday, team owner Mark Davis announced that the organization was parting ways with Carroll, stating that GM John Spytek will lead football operations in close collaboration with minority owner Tom Brady. Reuniting Carroll with Geno Smith was largely a disaster. Smith led the league in interceptions with 17 and the offense's struggles led to the firing of coordinator Chip Kelly after a 24-10 loss to the Browns in Week 12. QB coach Greg Olson was installed as the interim OC, but the results didn't improve, with the low-wattage unit averaging a measly 12.7 points per game since the change.

Following the New York Giants' upset win over the Dallas Cowboys in Week 18, the Raiders officially secured the No. 1 overall pick in the 2026 NFL Draft. The Raiders were able to secure the No. 1 overall pick despite defeating the Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday because they had the tiebreaker over the three other three-win teams, holding the worst strength of schedule of the group. Following the Raiders, the New York Jets will have the No. 2 overall pick.

The Arizona Cardinals have the No. 3 pick. The Tennessee Titans and Giants round out the top five. In what would've been viewed as a major surprise in the preseason, the Washington Commanders, Kansas City Chiefs and Cincinnati Bengals will each hold a top-10 pick in the 2026 NFL Draft going into... The first 18 picks of the 2026 NFL Draft have now been determined. Here's a closer look at how the draft order looks ahead of the start of the playoffs.

[NFL Draft Declarations Tracker: The Latest College Stars Headed to the NFL] With the regular season finished, the Raiders hold the No. 1 pick in the 2026 NFL Draft. Las Vegas locked in the top spot thanks to the Giants' win over the Cowboys and will almost certainly be in the market for a quarterback when it goes on the clock on April... The Giants, meanwhile, joined the Browns as teams that went from contending for the top pick to losing valuable draft position after closing the regular season with two straight wins. Behind the Raiders, the Jets, Cardinals, Titans and Giants round out the top five.

As a reminder, there are four teams -- Atlanta, Green Bay, Indianapolis and Jacksonville -- without a first-round pick in 2026 as a result of draft-day trades and the Micah Parsons and Sauce Gardner... Here is the current 2026 NFL Draft order (via Tankathon): The Las Vegas Raiders didn't even have to take the field to clinch the No. 1 pick in the 2026 NFL Draft. Thanks to the New York Giants' 34-17 victory against the Dallas Cowboys on Sunday, the Raiders locked in the top pick in the draft for the third time in franchise history. The last time the Raiders had the No.

1 pick, they selected quarterback JaMarcus Russell in 2007. If they're indeed in the market for a quarterback this time around, they're hoping for a better result. Heisman Trophy winner Fernando Mendoza, a quarterback at Indiana, is the frontrunner to be the first pick in April's draft. Yahoo Sports draft analyst Nate Tice wrote on Mendoza's upside: Mendoza is an accurate thrower to all three levels who constantly goes to the right place with the ball. The offense uses plenty of RPOs, but Mendoza is an efficient operator in true dropback situations like on third down and in the red zone.

He’s also a solid athlete and creator. Here's a look at the draft order for the first 18 selections (with help from Tankathon.com). The 2026 NFL Draft order has been solidified for the top 18 selections after Week 18 of the 2025 season concluded, with the Las Vegas Raiders securing the No. 1 overall pick for the first time since 2007. The Raiders clinched the top spot after the New York Giants defeated the Dallas Cowboys on Sunday, finalizing the draft order for non-playoff teams based on record and strength of schedule tiebreakers. This sets the stage for a franchise-altering draft in Pittsburgh this April, where quarterback-needy teams at the top of the board will have their choice of the next generation of NFL talent.

The race for the No. 1 pick came down to the final week of the season, with the Raiders and Giants both entering Week 18 with 3-13 records. While the Giants had held the top spot for weeks, their 34-17 victory over Dallas dropped them to the fifth selection while elevating Las Vegas to the premier position. The Raiders' own 14-12 win over Kansas City didn't affect their draft position due to strength of schedule calculations, which favored the Raiders' easier schedule (.538 vs. .524) and secured them the top pick for the first time since selecting quarterback JaMarcus Russell in 2007. "There was no better way to end a bitter season than how the Raiders closed things out on Sunday," wrote Raiders reporter Paul Gutierrez.

The victory gave the franchise momentum heading into an offseason where they hold the most valuable asset in football. Behind Las Vegas, the New York Jets secured the No. 2 pick with their 3-14 record, followed by the Arizona Cardinals (3-14), Tennessee Titans (3-14), and New York Giants (4-13) rounding out the top five. The journey to the finalized draft order began with preseason projections but took definitive shape during the season's final month. Three of the top five picks changed hands in Week 16 alone, with the Giants' late-season surge dramatically altering the landscape. The complete top 18 order now stands as follows: 1.

Las Vegas Raiders (3-14), 2. New York Jets (3-14), 3. Arizona Cardinals (3-14), 4. Tennessee Titans (3-14), 5. New York Giants (4-13), 6. Cleveland Browns (5-12), 7.

Washington Commanders (5-12), 8. New Orleans Saints (6-11), 9. Cincinnati Bengals (6-11), 10. Kansas City Chiefs (6-11), 11. Miami Dolphins (7-10), 12. Dallas Cowboys (7-9-1), 13.

Los Angeles Rams (via Falcons), 14. Baltimore Ravens (8-9), 15. Tampa Bay Buccaneers (8-9), 16. New York Jets (via Colts), 17. Detroit Lions (9-8), and 18. Minnesota Vikings (9-8).

Notably, four teams will be absent from the first round due to previous trades: the Atlanta Falcons (pick sent to Rams), Green Bay Packers (pick sent to Cowboys), Jacksonville Jaguars (pick sent to Browns),... The draft order for playoff teams (picks 19-32) will be determined by postseason results, with Super Bowl LX in Santa Clara setting the final selection at No. 32. The Las Vegas Raiders are No. 1 − and former owner Al Davis would doubtless be sick about it. But the Silver and Black's current Commitment to Excellence unfortunately extends only to summiting the apex of the 2026 NFL draft order, the Raiders clinching − for lack of a better term − the...

4 when the New York Giants, who cruised past Las Vegas 34-10 in Week 17, defeated the Dallas Cowboys in their regular-season finale. The Giants' victory locked the Raiders into the league's worst record, even though they improved to 3-14 by beating the Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday afternoon. But Las Vegas' .538 strength of schedule, the weakest among the four 3-14 clubs, kept it in the top spot. (Note: Spots 19 through 32 in Round 1 will be determined by when teams exit from the playoffs, wild-card round losers slotting 19 through 24.) That will likely be a topic of some debate over the next four months, but Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback Fernando Mendoza from Indiana University will likely be the prohibitive choice − whether the Raiders use... Yes, the then-Oakland Raiders chose QB JaMarcus Russell No.

1 overall in 2007 in one of the worst draft decisions in NFL history. Who could they have taken instead? Calvin Johnson, Joe Thomas, Adrian Peterson, Patrick Willis, Marshawn Lynch and Darrelle Revis all came off the board in the first half of Round 1. The Las Vegas Raiders will pick first in this year’s NFL draft after the New York Giants defeated the Dallas Cowboys 34-17 on Sunday. The Giants’ victory assured that the Raiders, who were 2-14 entering their Sunday home game against the Kansas City Chiefs, would have the worst record. If the Giants (4-13) had lost to Dallas, Las Vegas only would have secured the top pick with a loss to the Chiefs.

2026 Nfl Draft Order Raiders To Select No 1 Overall

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