2026 Draft Review

Mahl opened the draft with Josh Allen, then let the room panic about running backs while Justin Jefferson fell into the second-round lap. Breece Hall and Jeremiyah Love in rounds three and four is a proper one-two at running back, even if both carry a questionable tag into week 1.

The real work happened in the middle. Baker Mayfield in round 6 is a top-ten superflex QB2 at a discount, and Geno Smith at 156 was the single biggest fall against market ADP in the whole draft. Marvin Harrison Jr. at 85 is roughly market price, not the steal it felt like on the night. Jaylen Warren, DK Metcalf and Jordan Mason give the bench actual starters rather than lottery tickets.

Three QBs with byes in weeks 7, 10 and 13 means no lineup headaches. One round 15 pick is still owed, but the roster is already complete.

Best pick

Geno Smith at 13.156, taken 51 spots after his ADP

Questionable

Jeremiyah Love at 4.37, a rookie taken 8 spots before his ADP with Achane and McBride on the board

Bye watch

Week 14: Harrison, Love and Ferguson all sit. Lock in a seed before then.

Jahmyr Gibbs at 1.2 is the safest pick on the board, and Dak Prescott plus Bo Nix in rounds 2 and 3 is a textbook superflex start. Javonte Williams and Quinshon Judkins round out a very reasonable backfield. So far so good.

Then the wide receivers. Parker Washington at 62 (ADP 81) was the first WR taken by this team, followed by Rome Odunze, KC Concepcion and Quentin Johnston. KC Concepcion at 86 against an ADP of 133 was the biggest reach of the entire draft. That is four dart throws and zero proven WR1s in a half-PPR league that starts two receivers plus a flex. Brandon Aubrey in round 10 is a fine kicker, but taking him while Chris Godwin, Jordan Addison and Michael Pittman were still on the board tells the story.

The bright side is age. This is the youngest roster in the league at 25.1, and if Odunze or Concepcion pops, the ceiling changes. Waivers will be busy.

Best pick

Bo Nix at 3.35

Questionable

Brandon Aubrey at 10.110 with the WR room still empty

Bye watch

Week 10: Nix, Odunze and Coleman all off. Dak carries the week alone.

Bijan Robinson, Jalen Hurts, Omarion Hampton, Brock Bowers, Malik Nabers. That is five straight picks that would start on any team in the league, and Bowers in round 4 quietly wins the tight end position for the year. Against market ADP and expert ranks this was the best draft in the league by a distance: the strongest projected starting nine, and the most value gained after round 5.

Davante Adams and Luther Burden give the receiver room a veteran and a rookie, RJ Harvey is a sensible third back, and Daniel Jones (ADP 68, taken 111) plus Jacoby Brissett in rounds 10 and 12 is the cheapest three-QB room in the draft, and Goedert at 154 was 48 spots below market. Whether Jones holds the Colts job all year is the question mark.

Will Reichard arrived in round 15 to fill the kicker slot, so the only thing left to fix is week 10, which is a disaster: Hurts, Burden, Harvey, Gainwell and Goedert are all off. That week is Jones or Brissett at QB and a thin bench behind them.

Best pick

Brock Bowers at 4.39

Questionable

Jacoby Brissett at 12.135, a third QB behind a QB1 who never misses games

Bye watch

Week 10: five players on bye including the QB1. Trade for depth before then.

Jonathan Taylor at 1.4 and George Pickens at 2.21 is a strong open, and Jaxson Dart in round 3 is a young QB with a real ceiling. Colston Loveland and Isaiah Likely at tight end give this roster two options at a position most teams punted.

The receiver room is deep on names, six of them, but it is Pickens then a queue of Zay Flowers, Carnell Tate, Jordan Addison, Matthew Golden and Romeo Doubs. Meanwhile the running back room behind Taylor is Chuba Hubbard (questionable) and Tyler Allgeier. One injury and the flex becomes a receiver by necessity. The market scores this as the worst projected starting nine in the league and the second most reach-heavy draft: Hubbard at 81 (ADP 122) and Addison at 112 (ADP 138) were both taken well ahead of where anyone else was drafting them.

The bigger problem is administrative. The final pick went on Harrison Butker, which fixes the kicker slot, but the roster is full and there is no defence on it. Something gets dropped on Wednesday or the DEF slot starts week 1 empty.

Best pick

Colston Loveland at 4.40

Questionable

Fernando Mendoza at 14.160 as a third QB, which is why there is no defence

Bye watch

Weeks 11 and 13: Darnold, Golden and Doubs off in 11; Taylor, Flowers and Mendoza off in 13.

Ja'Marr Chase, De'Von Achane and Trey McBride is the strongest opening trio anyone drafted. Add Patrick Mahomes in round 4 and this is a championship core on paper.

The paper gets thin quickly. Jadarian Price at 56 was a reach for a rookie behind an established starter, Bhayshul Tuten and Kyle Monangai are both questionable, Zach Charbonnet is on PUP, and Mahomes himself is questionable heading into week 1. Five injury flags on one roster is a lot for a Tuesday in September.

The superflex slot is the concern. Tua Tagovailoa at 161 is the only QB2 on the roster, and he is now at Atlanta. If Mahomes misses time, this team is starting a backup in a league where QBs score like receivers. Week 5 is Mahomes' bye, which arrives fast.

Best pick

Trey McBride at 3.32

Questionable

Jadarian Price at 5.56

Bye watch

Week 11: Price, Watson, Charbonnet and Tua all off. Week 5: Mahomes off, Tua starts.

Lamar Jackson at 1.6 is the correct pick, and A.J. Brown, Kenneth Walker and Matthew Stafford in rounds 2 to 4 lock in a floor most teams would envy. Jaylen Waddle, David Montgomery and Terry McLaurin keep the quality going.

This is the oldest roster in the league by a distance, averaging 29.4 years. Stafford is 38, Kelce is 36, McLaurin, Sutton and Deebo are all 30. That buys a lot of week 1 certainty and a lot of week 12 risk, and with only two QBs rostered there is no cover if Stafford's body decides it has had enough.

Six receivers and a single tight end is heavy at one position, but the receivers are all real NFL starters, which is more than several teams can say. Nothing flashy, nothing broken, and the expert ranks rate it the fourth-strongest projected starting lineup in the league.

Best pick

A.J. Brown at 2.19

Questionable

Travis Kelce at 8.90 when Kyle Pitts and Tucker Kraft were still there

Bye watch

Week 11: Brown, Stafford and Corum all off. Only two QBs, so Lamar is alone that week.

Saquon Barkley and Ashton Jeanty in rounds 1 and 3 is the best running back pairing in the league. Caleb Williams at 2.18 and Kyler Murray at 4.43 handle both QB slots with genuine upside. Through four rounds this was the draft of the night.

Then C.J. Stroud in round 7 and Kirk Cousins in round 15 made it four quarterbacks for two slots. Hoarding QBs in superflex is a legitimate strategy, but only if you turn the surplus into a trade before the byes. The receiver room of DeVonta Smith, DJ Moore, Alec Pierce and Xavier Worthy needs the help.

And yes, the team is called Rome wasnt builtin Odunze. Rome Odunze was drafted by Push Tush for Reggie Bush at pick 83. Rome was built elsewhere.

Best pick

Ashton Jeanty at 3.30

Questionable

Kirk Cousins at 15.174 as a fourth QB

Bye watch

Week 13: Jeanty, Pierce, Andrews, Lane and Cousins all off. Trade a QB for a receiver.

Drake Maye at 1.8, Chase Brown at 2.17 and Brock Purdy at 3.29 is a calm, balanced open. Drake London and Chris Olave give two receivers with target share, and Bucky Irving at 68 is market price with a real ceiling.

Jameson Williams, TreVeyon Henderson and Kyle Pitts keep the upside coming through the middle rounds, and Chris Godwin plus George Kittle are veterans who fell further than they should have. Aaron Rodgers at 42 is a third QB with a bye in week 9, which staggers nicely with Maye (11) and Purdy (8).

The one cluster to manage is week 11, when Maye, Henderson, London and Pitts all sit together. Otherwise this is a roster with fifteen usable players and nothing to apologise for. The numbers agree: second-best value gained against ADP and the third-strongest projected starting lineup in the league.

Best pick

Chris Godwin at 10.116 and George Kittle at 12.140, two veterans the market had 50 picks earlier

Questionable

Aaron Rodgers at 13.149, a 42-year-old QB3 when a bench RB was the greater need

Bye watch

Week 11: Maye, Henderson, London and Pitts off. Week 8: Purdy, Olave and Kittle off.

Joe Burrow and Jayden Daniels at 1.9 and 2.16 is exactly what a slot 9 superflex draft should look like: two top-eight quarterbacks with byes in weeks 6 and 7, no overlap, no drama. Nico Collins and Rashee Rice give two receivers who command volume, and Emeka Egbuka plus Brian Thomas Jr. add youth behind them.

Running back is where the risk lives. Cam Skattebo in round 5 is the lead, then Jonathon Brooks, Jacory Croskey-Merritt and Woody Marks are all questionable or unproven. Josh Jacobs at 12.141 looks like the steal of the draft on name value, but a player of that calibre does not fall 140 picks without a reason. Check the status before you pencil him into the flex.

The market view is less kind than the vibe: expert ranks have Daniels as a QB12, Rice as a WR23 and Thomas as a WR46, which drags the projected starting lineup into the bottom third of the league. The structure is clean, the ceiling is real, the floor is a question. Only two QBs and no QB3 is a deliberate choice, and one that needs solving before the week 6 and 7 byes. Harold Fannin at tight end in round 7 is a nice bit of youth. Jordyn Tyson is a straight IR stash.

Best pick

Rashee Rice at 4.45

Questionable

Jonathon Brooks at 8.93, a questionable RB when Bucky Irving went 25 picks earlier

Bye watch

Week 8: Collins, Skattebo, Marks and Tyson off. Week 7: Daniels, Croskey-Merritt and Thomas off. Get a QB3.

The talent is undeniable. Christian McCaffrey, Puka Nacua, Kyren Williams, Tee Higgins and Sam LaPorta would have been a top-three draft two years ago, and Trevor Lawrence plus Jordan Love in rounds 3 and 5 covers superflex properly, with Cam Ward as a third.

The problem is that McCaffrey, Nacua, Higgins, LaPorta and Jakobi Meyers are all carrying a questionable tag into week 1, and the kicker is too. Rhamondre Stevenson and J.K. Dobbins are the running back insurance, which is sensible, but this roster will live and die by the Sunday morning injury report.

Week 11 is a bye pile-up: Nacua, Kyren Williams, Jordan Love and Stevenson all off together. Makai Lemon in round 10 is the fun rookie swing.

Best pick

Jordan Love at 5.51

Questionable

Christian McCaffrey at 1.10, age 30 and questionable, with Cook, Lamb and JSN still there

Bye watch

Week 11: Nacua, K. Williams, Love and Stevenson off. Check the injury report every Sunday.

James Cook, CeeDee Lamb and Derrick Henry through three rounds is the most productive trio anyone opened with. Ladd McConkey, Tyler Warren and Mike Evans are quality on top, and Tony Pollard is a proper handcuff-plus.

The quarterback room is the issue. Jared Goff (bye 6), Malik Willis (bye 6) and Bryce Young (bye 5). In week 6, this team needs two starting quarterbacks and has exactly one, Bryce Young. Three QBs and still short in a bye week is a rare achievement.

Henry is 32 and Evans is 33, so the age curve is working against the top end, but the floor this roster produces through week 5 is very high. Fix the QB overlap with a trade or a waiver claim before week 6, and this is a contender: expert ranks put the projected starting nine second in the league, behind only the Jiggers.

Best pick

Ladd McConkey at 5.50

Questionable

Malik Willis at 7.74, a QB2 who shares a bye with the QB1

Bye watch

Week 6: Goff and Willis both off. Bryce Young starts and the superflex slot is empty unless a trade happens.

Jaxon Smith-Njigba and Amon-Ra St. Brown at 12 and 13 is the best receiver pairing in the league, full stop. Justin Herbert at 3.25 is a comfortable QB1, and Travis Etienne plus D'Andre Swift give a serviceable backfield.

The superflex slot is Tyler Shough, drafted at 72. That is a lot of trust in a second-year Saints quarterback when Stroud, Daniel Jones and Cam Ward all went later. Tucker Kraft at tight end is a solid pick, and Stefon Diggs at 32 plus Aaron Jones at 31 give veteran depth with obvious decline risk.

Bye week 7 is heavy: Herbert, Diggs, Shakir and Rachaad White are all off. That week is Shough at QB with no cover. Otherwise a well-shaped roster with a very high receiver ceiling.

Best pick

Amon-Ra St. Brown at 2.13

Questionable

Tyler Shough at 6.72 as the only QB2

Bye watch

Week 7: Herbert, Diggs, Shakir and White off. Week 8: Shough and Etienne off. Two straight thin weeks.