The NFL Draft doesn’t have a slogan but “Expect the Unexpected” would be as good as any. It’s part of what’s turned the event into such a big annual draw, to the point where the league has it’s own “draft season” in addition to the regular season. That all comes to a resolution tonight when the first round kicks off at 8 pm Eastern. 

We’re trying to do our part to meet the demand for draft content here at NFL Trade Rumors. We have a Draft Rumor Tracker and a Draft Visit Tracker to keep up with all the breadcrumbs teams are leaving behind about their plans. We have prospect rankings and scouting reports to learn about the players who will begin the next stage of their professional dreams this weekend. And we have three different mock drafts trying to map out how the first 32 picks tonight will go. 

Those mocks, compiled by Nate Bouda, Ethan Woodie and myself, already contain some bold predictions. All three will be side-by-side in a table at the end of this piece to compare. But here are a few more bold calls we wanted to get out into cyberspace before things wrap up. 

No DTs Go Round 1

It’s not a banner year for the big fellas. I’m not sure that this qualifies as a prediction that’s way out there considering the well-covered flaws most of the top defensive tackle prospects have this year, but it would still be notable if none go in the first 32 picks. It happened in 2021 and 2017, however, historically it has not been a common occurrence. 

There are a couple of threats to change that. Clemson DT Peter Woods was viewed as a potential top 10 pick last summer, but toiled through an unimpressive 2025 with the Tigers. He had just two sacks and 3.5 tackles for loss on the season. At 6-2, right under 300 pounds and with sub-32-inch arms, Woods is a little sawed off for the position. Woods opted out of the athletic testing at the Combine, and in the supposed friendly confines of Clemson’s pro day, he only did about half the drills and underwhelmed on those. 

So what teams are left with is a player who doesn’t have the stats, doesn’t have great tape unless you go back to 2024, doesn’t have great athletic traits and didn’t show a lot of competitiveness during the pre-draft process. That’s a hard sell in the first round, even in a weak year. 

Ohio State DT Kayden McDonald gets some buzz late in the first round as a clean player from a big program who was incredibly productive this past year. He had a prolific 85 tackles and 11 tackles for loss as a defensive tackle on a stacked Buckeye defense. However, McDonald would be a two-down run stuffer right now, and banking on him to be any kind of factor against the pass in the future is a projection. Is that valuable enough for a first-rounder? Maybe this year, but I’m skeptical. 

And finally, there’s Florida DT Caleb Banks, who has first-round athletic ability and flashes on film. He’s 6-6 and over 320 pounds with rare athleticism for that size. He did compete at the Combine and was on his way to a great day until discovering that he had broken his left foot. Unfortunately for Banks, it was the fourth time he injured that same foot in a roughly 12-month span, and it necessitated his second surgery in that time span. That will spook teams, and while he’s not a bad kid, there is some buzz that he needs to mature for the rigors of the NFL. He might be one of the highest risk/reward prospects in the class, and it’s a gamble it feels like teams will be more willing to tackle in Round 2. 

Tennessee CB Jermod McCoy Falls To Round 2

Another one that’s not necessarily that far out on a limb — which to be fair is a little harder to do this year — but there’s a real chance McCoy experiences a major slide despite having the talent of a top-10 selection in a year where there may only be 12 of those guys. The medical prognosis would have to be really scary, and it seems like it may be. 

Personally my gold standard for NFL injury analysis is former Chargers team doctor David Chao, who runs Sports Injury Central. There are a lot of Twitter doctors, but Dr. Chao is the OG. He has the best past credentials and the best track record so far. His analysis of McCoy included the word “ominous” and validated the concerns about his longevity. That’s a big issue since teams ideally want their first-round picks to be long-term building block pieces. 

McCoy’s talent and the potential for immediate production (he’s fully healthy now and shredded his pro day) will make the value proposition worth the investment at some point. I think that point will be on Friday, perhaps even in the second half of Round 2. 

Oregon TE Kenyon Sadiq Slides

There’s not much debate in the consensus about who the top tight end in this class is, although our main draft writer has a contrarian view. Sadiq has been tops at the position for the whole process. He ranks No. 16 on the consensus board and is generally projected to go anywhere from No. 9 to the Chiefs to No. 19 to the Panthers in an absolute worst-case scenario. 

I think the floor is actually lower. Last year, we had two bonafide blue-chip tight end prospects in Colston Loveland and Tyler Warren. Loveland went No. 10 to the Bears and Warren went No. 14 to the Colts despite buzz both could go higher. That continues a trend across multiple years of tight ends sinking lower in the order than we in the media tend to think. 

Both Loveland and Warren were better prospects than Sadiq, despite any buzz you may have heard to the contrary this year. They were bigger, more productive and both were better blockers. Sadiq’s effort when blocking is impressive and he does well for his size, but at 6-3 and 240 pounds, there are certain assignments he’s always going to have trouble with. 

The team that drafts Sadiq is going to have to have a specific role for him to maximize his strengths and minimize his weaknesses. He has outstanding speed and can be a weapon in the passing game, but there are some schemes where he will fit better than others, and some places where his blocking limitations will be more of a hindrance. Most tight ends aren’t full-time players, but Sadiq might be a lot more of a subpackage player than is acknowledged right now. 

As teams compare that to the tackles, receivers, pass rushers and even cornerbacks in the back half of Round 1, along with the positional value equation, I think it could result in Sadiq sliding well into the 20s. 

The Cowboys Draft A Receiver — High

It’s been all about defense, defense, defense for the Cowboys this offseason after that unit sabotaged Dallas’ chances at a playoff run this past season. The wide expectation has been that both of their first-round picks this year (No. 12 and No. 20) will be used on that side of the ball, and there’s been rampant trade buzz that Dallas will move up from No. 12 to land one of the top defenders on their board. 

The other layer to that is the Bengals, a team constructed remarkably similarly to Dallas and which missed the playoffs for similar reasons in 2025, traded out of the No. 10 pick completely because they foresaw getting wiped out of all their top targets on defense. The Cowboys, picking two slots later, have said they have 12 first-round grades but not all 12 are defensive players. 

Cowboys owner Jerry Jones is the general manager but he leans heavily on EVP Will McClay during the draft. McClay’s track record as an evaluator is strong. He tends to take a best player available approach, regardless of need. If Dallas stays put, as is increasingly looking likely, and sticks with BPA, odds are the best player on their board will be on offense — specifically a receiver. They are one of the many teams said to be really high on Arizona State WR Jordyn Tyson, and hosted Indiana WR Omar Cooper Jr. for a visit last month. 

It would be a curveball, but one that could prove sharp. The Cowboys may have CeeDee Lamb and George Pickens locking it down as the best receiver combination in football, but Pickens isn’t under contract past this season and Dallas said yesterday it won’t negotiate an extension with him this year. Paying big money long-term to two receivers presents other team-building challenges. Adding a receiver gives the Cowboys flexibility with Pickens while also still giving them a player who can contribute alongside them in 2026. 

At Least Three WRs Are Drafted Before Makai Lemon

This hot take is courtesy of Ethan Woodie, our top draft writer. He ranked Lemon third in the class, so this isn’t too far off of that. With the surge of Tyson in the last week or so, it looks like he and Ohio State WR Carnell Tate are destined for the top 10 picks. 

Lemon has been commonly mocked to the Rams at No. 13, but it feels like confidence in that is starting to weaken around the industry this week. Receiver is also unique because of all the different body types at the position. It causes a wide variance in what teams are looking for. Lemon is a good player, but he can’t compete with the size of Washington’s Denzel Boston or the speed of Texas A&M’s KC Concepcion and Indiana’s Cooper if a team is prioritizing those traits. 

If the Rams don’t take Lemon, who is tailor-made for their system, it introduces some chaos into his stock. Lemon isn’t the most impressive athlete, racking up his production with toughness and vacuum-like hands to catch anything thrown his way. He might be limited to just the slot in the NFL, and for some teams that caps his upside. 

More Pass Rushers Go Round 1 Than Tackles

One of the big storylines shaping up for the first round is the demand for offensive tackles. There’s been so much smoke about a big run on the position sometime in the first round that it feels like the baseline expectation. There are seven prospects getting major first-round buzz, with a dramatic dropoff from that tier to the third or even fourth round. It includes: 

1. Utah OT Spencer Fano
2. Miami OT Francis Mauigoa
3. Alabama OT Kadyn Proctor
4. Georgia OT Monroe Freeling
5. Clemson OT Blake Miller
6. Utah OT Caleb Lomu
7. Arizona State OT Max Iheanachor

The only question seems to be when the run starts and in what order the tackles go. However, once again Ethan has a contrarian take with this bold call, and further examination shows he might be on to something. These edge rushers are widely expected to be first-round selections. 

1. Texas Tech DE David Bailey
2. Ohio State LB Arvell Reese
3. Miami DE Rueben Bain Jr.
4. Miami DE Akheem Mesidor
5. Auburn DL Keldric Faulk

After that, there’s a big pool of pass rushers in that late first to early second pool, including Clemon’s T.J. Parker, Missouri’s Zion Young, UCF’s Malachi Lawrence and Texas A&M’s Cashius Howell. There’s even a shot someone like Oklahoma’s R Mason Thomas or Illinois’ Gabe Jacas sneaks into the first 32 picks. 

Just two guys out of that pool have to go Round 1 for Ethan’s prediction here to hit. If one of the tackles slips to Round 2, the bar is lowered even further.

Dueling Mocks

Here’s a side-by-side look at the three final mock drafts our main writers put on the site this weekend. All three will be competing in The Huddle Report’s mock draft accuracy contest. 

*I was the only one to project trades, those teams are in parentheticals.