PITTSBURGH, April 24, 2026 —
Key Takeaways
- Indiana’s Fernando Mendoza went No. 1 overall to the Las Vegas Raiders — the first Heisman Trophy winner taken first overall since Baker Mayfield in 2018 — after leading the Hoosiers to a national championship.
- Ohio State placed 3 players in the top 11 picks, all on the defensive side of the ball, the most dominant first-round performance by a single program in over a decade.
- Jeremiyah Love became the highest running back taken since Saquon Barkley went No. 2 in 2018, landing with the Arizona Cardinals at pick No. 3 — a sign that the NFL’s devaluation of the position has officially reversed.
The Top Pick Nobody Argued With
Fernando Mendoza walked to the podium in Pittsburgh on Thursday night as the consensus No. 1 player in this draft class and the clearest quarterback prospect to enter the league since Trevor Lawrence in 2021. The Raiders made it official at pick No. 1, ending whatever suspense remained.
Mendoza won the Heisman Trophy this past season after leading Indiana to its first national championship, throwing for 4,280 yards, 38 touchdowns, and 6 interceptions while adding 620 rushing yards. He is the first Heisman winner taken first overall since Baker Mayfield went to Cleveland in 2018. Las Vegas, which has shuffled through quarterbacks for the better part of a decade, now has its answer — assuming the offensive line holds.
Only one other quarterback came off the board in Round 1. The Los Angeles Rams traded up to take Tennessee’s Ty Simpson at No. 13, a move that drew immediate scrutiny from analysts who had Simpson projected as a second-round talent. The Rams, who will have Matthew Stafford for at least one more season, appear to be building their succession plan earlier than almost anyone anticipated.
The Full First Round
| Pick | Team | Player | Position | School |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Las Vegas Raiders | Fernando Mendoza | QB | Indiana |
| 2 | New York Jets | David Bailey | EDGE | Texas Tech |
| 3 | Arizona Cardinals | Jeremiyah Love | RB | Notre Dame |
| 4 | Tennessee Titans | Carnell Tate | WR | Ohio State |
| 5 | New York Giants | Arvell Reese | EDGE | Ohio State |
| 6 | Kansas City Chiefs | Mansoor Delane | CB | LSU |
| 11 | Dallas Cowboys | Caleb Downs | S | Ohio State |
| 13 | Los Angeles Rams | Ty Simpson | QB | Tennessee |
| 28 | New England Patriots | Caleb Lomu | OT | Utah |
| 29 | Kansas City Chiefs | Peter Woods | DT | Clemson |
| 30 | New York Jets | Omar Cooper Jr. | WR | Indiana |
| 31 | Tennessee Titans | Keldric Faulk | EDGE | Auburn |
| 32 | Seattle Seahawks | Jadarian Price | RB | Notre Dame |
Ohio State Owned the Draft
No program had a better Thursday night than Ohio State. Three Buckeyes went in the top 11 — all defenders. Carnell Tate went to the Titans at No. 4. Arvell Reese went to the Giants at No. 5. Caleb Downs, the safety the Cowboys had coveted for months, landed in Dallas at No. 11 after a trade with the Dolphins.
Three top-11 picks from the same school, all on defense, is the kind of haul that defines a program’s recruiting legacy for years. It also reflects how thoroughly Ohio State has cornered the market on elite defensive talent at the college level — a run that shows no sign of slowing.
The Running Back Revaluation Is Real
For most of the past decade, running backs have been the most systematically devalued position in professional football. Teams stopped drafting them early. Salaries stagnated. The consensus hardened: you don’t spend premium draft capital on a position with a short shelf life and replaceable production.
Jeremiyah Love’s selection at No. 3 overall is the most direct challenge to that consensus since Saquon Barkley went second to the Giants in 2018. Love, who rushed for 1,480 yards and 19 touchdowns at Notre Dame while adding genuine receiving ability out of the backfield, convinced Arizona’s front office to break from recent orthodoxy. The Cardinals have not had a true featured back since David Johnson’s peak years. If Love delivers on the talent, the pick will be remembered as a turning point. If he doesn’t, it will become the defining cautionary tale of the anti-RB crowd for another decade.
Notre Dame actually produced two first-round running backs on the same night — Jadarian Price went to Seattle at No. 32, the final pick of the round. The last time two running backs from the same school went in the first round was 2008, when Arkansas’s Darren McFadden and Felix Jones both heard their names called.
The Jets Finally Spent Their Capital — And Did It Well
New York entered the draft with more first-round picks than any team in the league and a mandate from ownership to accelerate the rebuild. They delivered. The Jets took David Bailey, the most disruptive pass rusher in this class, at No. 2. They added a tight end and a wide receiver later in the first round, with Omar Cooper Jr. of Indiana landing at pick No. 30.
Three first-round picks used, three clear positional needs addressed. The Jets have not had a first-round class generate this kind of immediate optimism in years.
The Cowboys’ Night — and What Buffalo Had to Watch
Dallas entered Thursday with two first-round picks after a series of preseason trades and used both aggressively. The Cowboys moved up to No. 11 to secure Caleb Downs, the Ohio State safety regarded as the best defensive back in this class, and later added UCF pass rusher Lawrence. It was the kind of decisive, needs-based draft performance that Cowboys fans have been demanding for years.
The night’s quietest story belonged to the Buffalo Bills, who had traded away their first-round pick — through the Texans, then the Patriots, and finally to the Titans. Buffalo’s fans watched the entire first round without seeing their team make a selection. The Bills will be back on the clock Friday when Rounds 2 and 3 get underway. They will need to be sharp.
