2026 Nfl Mock Draft Latest Projection As First Round Order Is Set

Bonisiwe Shabane

-Jan 7, 2026, 1:08 AM

2026 nfl mock draft latest projection as first round order is set

The 2025 NFL regular season is now wrapped, and the league's 14-team postseason field is set. It also means that the 18 teams that failed to make the postseason now know exactly where their first-round selections for the 2026 NFL Draft will fall. The Las Vegas Raiders earned the No. 1 overall selection, and it is widely believed they will take a quarterback with the No. 1 pick. Many presume that it will be Heisman Trophy winner Fernando Mendoza, but could Dante Moore ultimately emerge as the Raiders' quarterback of choice?

Elsewhere, pass rushers like Arvell Reese, Rueben Bain Jr. and David Bailey are getting a lot of love as potential top-10 selections. Fittingly, Notre Dame running back Jeremiyah Love is also getting that same sort of attention. How could the first round of the 2026 NFL Draft look? Below are the latest expert projections with the top 18 picks set ahead of the wild-card round of the playoffs. The regular season has concluded, which means the first 18 selections in the 2026 NFL Draft are locked into place.

Of course, there could be trades to shake that up — even the ones that we least expect. With the Las Vegas Raiders and New York Jets picking 1-2 in the draft, people are expecting the clear-cut top quarterbacks in the class to go off the board in that order. But what if a wild card entered the chat with a trade offer to shake things up? That's where we're heading at the top of our first post-regular season 2026 NFL Mock Draft. Obviously, there's still quite a lot that needs to be decided in the NFL Playoffs, and then in free agency. That is to say, none of this should be written in stone just yet.

However, with how things currently stand, we're projecting the entire first round of the 2026 draft, starting with the Raiders on the clock and making an obvious selection that, frankly, might be less obvious... Fernando Mendoza should be the No. 1 pick in the 2026 draft, especially for a Raiders team that needs to not grasp at straws to find an answer at quarterback. He's a more athletic version of Kirk Cousins or Jared Goff (though I wouldn't call him a super athlete by any stretch), and that type of stability with a core of Ashton Jeanty and... Having said that, I'm not entirely convinced that the Raiders won't eventually get overly enamored with Dante Moore's upside, but for now, the pick is Mendoza. The thought of the Jets not taking a quarterback at No.

2 has been rattling around in my brain. Naturally, I had to explore what that would look like. And with the Arizona Cardinals evaluating the future of Kyler Murray, what if the also quarterback-needy Cards traded up one spot, sent Murray to the Jets to answer the QB question, and then took... Because we're so early in the offseason, I'm not sure how in play this is — but I can say it's not unrealistic. And for the Cardinals, I love this direction. There have been so many ill-advised draft decisions over the years that has led to such a mismatched roster.

Moore can be an equalizer in that, a player with C.J. Stroud-like poise and arm talent that could start to elevate this team with a new coaching regime to the next level. The march toward solidifying the NFL playoff picture tends to define Week 18 annually. But for most fan bases, the turning of the calendar means flipping attention to mock draft season rather than the postseason. Sunday mark an important step in the pre-draft process, as the top 18 spots in the first-round order – occupied by all the franchises that failed to make the playoffs – are now set. And with a flurry of coaching staff and front-office shake-ups looming this week as the College Football Playoff continues, more clarity could be ahead in the coming weeks.

With Week 18's games now complete and more than half of the first-round order in place, here's our latest NFL mock draft projection: The Heisman Trophy winner isn't the elite improvisor or creator that recent No. 1 picks have been, but he's composed and clean in almost any scenario you could throw at him. Mendoza also does seem capable of enacting a significant cultural shift, which is more than needed for a Raiders organization that has severely whiffed in a series of resets. Moore is no mere consolation prize, and he's proven himself to be a highly composed and accurate distributor despite a limited body of work. Returning to school and vying for the No.

1 pick in 2027 remains an option, but Moore should be highly in demand if he does declare. The order for the first 18 picks in the 2026 NFL Draft is set. So it’s a perfect time for our latest mock draft As a new year begins, 14 NFL teams remain alive in the chase for Super Bowl LX. For the other 18 teams, the offseason has already begun. Coaches and general managers are losing their jobs, interviews are being lined up for their successors, and fans are scouring the internet for every little bit of hope.

Hope that when this time of the year rolls around next season, their teams will be the ones still alive in the chase for Super Bowl LXI. Of course, the 2026 NFL Draft is a big driver of that hope. So let’s take a look at how the draft could unfold, now that the order for the first 18 picks has been set. For this exercise there are no trades, and at the end of the draft we look at what teams without a first-round pick might do when they are on the clock. Picks 1 through 18 are set in the NFL Draft ... for now.

Something tells me this is going to be an eventful draft season of trades for a number of reasons. That's because it's not a particularly strong crop of first-round talent. That means we'll see teams willing to move first-rounders for proven players. I'd argue the last time we saw a first round this weak was 2022, and that year set the record with 18 trades involving first-round picks. That said, I'll play it straight with no trades, at least until we get past the Jan. 23 deadline for players to officially declare for the 2026 NFL Draft.

Note: This is the current NFL Draft order after Week 18 (via Tankathon). Who will be the first pick in the 2026 NFL Draft? While there are still playoff spots up for grab, the attention for many fans and front offices has turned toward the offseason and the incoming wave of talent from the NFL Draft. What makes this year particularly intriguing is that there’s no surefire No. 1 prospect and several of the teams picking near the top of the NFL Draft already have their quarterbacks for the future. Let’s dive into our latest 2026 NFL mock draft ahead of Sunday’s Week 15 action.

The 2026 NFL Draft order used is reflective of the NFL standings ahead of Thursday Night Football. If the New York Giants have the first pick in the 2026 NFL Draft, they’ll trade down. We’re excluding mocks initially for this exercise, but Caleb Downs is likely the player New York would target if it moves down a few spots. The All-American safety has arguably been the best defensive player in college football this season. He is uniquely versatile, offering the ability to cover tight ends or wide receivers, serve as a playmaker as a centerfielder in the secondary, or come down against the run. He’s a do-it-all defensive back who New York needs on its defense.

Does quarterback Fernando Mendoza offer the ceiling of a quarterback worth a top-two pick in the 2026 NFL Draft? This also isn’t necessarily the ideal landing spot for the signal-caller, as he would be at his best behind a strong offensive line with receivers who can create separation. The Las Vegas Raiders have Brock Bowers and Ashton Jeanty. Mendoza would make those around him better, and the desperation for the face of the franchise in Las Vegas makes using a top pick on a QB inevitable; we just wish the fit was... Related: Las Vegas Raiders Coaching Candidates to Replace Pete Carroll It is with great sadness to report the NFL is in the final quarter of its regular season.

A month from today, it will be over. For fans of several teams, the season has been over for quite some time and the days until the offseason were being counted. In today's thought exercise, CBSSports.com takes a look at the new draft order and examines which teams may be in the market for a quarterback. No trades are projected because it makes little sense until the draft order is finalized. Neither the Giants nor the Titans need a quarterback, but they are the gatekeepers to a team potentially moving up to take one of those players. As a result of this being, potentially, my last mock draft before the regular season finale, let's explore the remaining games that will weigh heavily in determining the top-10 overall.

Here are the games involving two teams with four wins or less entering Week 15: As a reminder, there are four teams without a first round pick: the Jaguars, Falcons, Colts and Packers. A pick will be made for each of those teams after the first-round mock draft. To set the stage, here are the current odds to be the No. 1 overall pick: This is a look at the first-round order for the 2026 NFL Draft heading into the Wild Card Round of the playoffs.

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 made the playoffs 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. Arrows reflect movement from last week's order. While there’s a long way to go between now and draft day, it certainly feels like a fait accompli that the Raiders will pick a quarterback in the first round for the first time... The Jets tore things down to the studs at the trade deadline and now have a pile of draft assets to help them reset, including four of the top 50 picks.

It looks messy in Arizona after the team’s collapse following a 2-0 start to the season. The first priority has to be charting a path forward at the quarterback position, with Kyler Murray’s future murky.

2026 Nfl Mock Draft Latest Projection As First Round Order Is Set

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