NFL draft winners and losers: Jets, Browns shine while Steelers stumble

We’re only 32 picks into the 2026 NFL Draft , which has 225 yet to come off the board over the course of Friday’s second and third rounds plus the final four on Saturday. Yet what occurred April 23 in Pittsburgh during Round 1 will go a long way toward shaping the legacy of this draft – one that isn’t necessarily expected to have a seismic impact on the league this year and perhaps not in the long run, either. That will be up to the players, and time will determine whether it’s a pedestrian group, maybe one that winds up exceeding expectations … or even falling short of what already seems set as a low bar.

Regardless, it’s never too early to give a microwaved assessment of something that probably can’t be fairly judged until at least 2029 – so let’s (prematurely) label the winners and losers of the 2026 draft’s first round: 2026 NFL Draft Round 1 grades: Analysis for every pick WINNERS New York Jets' franchise QB No idea who that is. Arch Manning? Dante Moore?

Joe Burrow? Get back to us in 2027 . But Gang Green’s plan to construct a support system for the man who will doubtless end the franchise’s (almost) six-decade Super Bowl drought – even ending a playoff absence that extends to 2010, now the longest in major North American professional team sports, would be remarkable – seems to be off to a promising start.

Pass rusher David Bailey became the franchise’s highest-drafted defender ever, coming off the board second overall – and a good defense is often among a QB’s best friends. But the Jets chose twice more in Round 1, getting Oregon TE Kenyon Sadiq 16th overall and Indiana WR Omar Cooper Jr. after GM Darren Mougey snuck back into the bottom of the round at the 30th spot.