The NFL draft is arguably the most important date on the NFL calendar. Top college students are waiting for their names to be called to the big stage while NFL franchises are waiting for the game changers who can redefine franchises, or find the missing pieces in their journey on winning the Super Bowl. Every year, the draft takes place in a different city that has an NFL team. This year the draft took place in Pittsburgh, home of the Pittsburgh Steelers.
There’s a total of seven rounds and 257 picks that take place across a three day stretch. Traditionally Thursday is when the first round takes place. Rounds two and three take place on Friday, and on Saturday, the final day of the draft, round four through seven conclude the event.
The NFL draft can provide hope for fans whose teams are struggling and for fans of teams who are a few key players away from being Super Bowl contenders.
To decide the order of the draft, the team with the worst record in the league last season gets the first pick. From there it goes in order until the winning team of the last Super Bowl gets the last pick of the round.
In the draft, teams are able to trade away picks for players, for more picks in the later rounds or for next year’s draft.
Although it’s way too early to judge a player and often takes a couple of years to determine which picks are hits and which ones are busts, it’s always fun to grade these teams’ draft class. Here are two winners and two losers of the NFL Draft.
Winner: Las Vegas Raiders (2025 Record 3-14)
The Las Vegas Raiders finished the 2025 season with the worst record in the league and in return got the first overall pick of the draft. They selected Indiana Hoosier Quarterback Fernando Mendoza.
Mendoza led Indiana to their first national championship this past season and won the prestigious Heisman award, which is given to the most outstanding player in college football. Mendoza posted a 41 touchdown season, the most in all of NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision, and produced 3,535 passing yards and a 72% completion rate with only six interceptions throughout the season.
The Raiders also drafted Cornerback Jermod McCoy from Tennessee in the fourth round. McCoy missed all of the 2025 season recovering from a torn ACL, a common knee ligament injury that athletes suffer and the recovery time is about 6-12 months. McCoy was projected to go in the first round despite the injury. McCoy fell to the fourth round due to concerns about the recovery of his injury.
Despite the injury concerns, McCoy had four interceptions for the Tennessee Volunteers in 2024 and showed huge upside in his film. He could easily be a steal for the Raiders if he stays healthy.
Loser: Los Angeles Rams (2025 Record 12-5)
The Los Angeles Rams have a pretty good track record in recent drafts such as getting a star and arguably a top five wide receiver in Puka Nacua in the third round in 2023.
The biggest headline and most questionable pick came out of the Rams camp as they selected Alabama Quarterback Ty Simpson in the first round with the 13th pick acquired from the Atlanta Falcons from the 2025 Draft.
Ty Simpson had a mixed season with the Crimson Tide in 2025 showing upside potential in the beginning of the season but struggling in the later part of the season. Simpson’s stats for 2025 was 3,567 passing yards and a 64.5% completion rate with only five interceptions throughout the season.
Even with the impressive stats Simpson was projected to be taken in the 2nd and 3rd round of the draft and could’ve stayed another season at Tuscaloosa and potentially be a top pick in next year’s draft but instead chose to declare for the draft.
Simpson graduated high school in 2022, redshirted and sat on the bench for three years before finally being named starter in 2025. The small sample size of games Simpson has provided uncertainty into his future and given he had a mixed season with the Crimson Tide there is concern if the potential is real or not due to how little games he played.
The Rams using their first round pick on Simpson was certainly a choice, especially since many top talents were still on the board and given the Rams are still in their Super Bowl window. Given their current quarterback Matthew Stafford being only 38 years old and having only a couple of years left of his career. The Rams should make a hard push for the Super Bowl now and the pick they had that was very valuable that could’ve helped them in the wide receiver position or add more depth to the offensive line but instead they looked into the future and are gambling on a quarterback who is unproven.
Winner: New York Giants (2025 Record 4-13)
The New York Giants had a very strong and impressive draft by trading star edge rusher Dexter Lawrence to Cincinnati in return for the 10th pick in this year’s draft. The Giants got both the 5th and 10th picks in the first round and used both picks well by drafting Ohio State Linebacker Arvell Reese and Miami Offensive Tackle Francis Mauigoa.
Reese during the 2025 season with the Buckeyes had 34 tackles and 6.5 sacks throughout the season and showed huge upside potential by being one of the best linebackers in college football. Reese was also a part of the 2024 Ohio State team that won the national championship. During the NFL Combine Reese ran a 4.46 in the 40-Yard Dash Drill showing great speed that can be used to overwhelm offensive tackles.
Mauigoa is one of the best Offensive Tackles in this year’s draft class. During his time at Miami Mauigoa showed impressive blocking skills and can provide a clean pocket in his side and can also create gaps for running backs.
The Giants have a load of young talent with high potential such as edge rusher Adbul Carter, quarterback Jaxson Dart, Running back Cam Skattebo, and wide receiver Malik Nabers. The Giants have a bright future ahead of themselves with these young players and they hope to progress forward next season and eventually win another Super Bowl.
Loser: Tennessee Titans (2025 Record 6-11)
The Tennessee Titans this draft had the fourth overall pick in this year of the NFL Draft. Last year’s draft the Titans drafted Miami quarterback Cam Ward who in his first season of the NFL showed potential but also made mistakes as a rookie but Ward had no star talent around him and it would be a tough season of learning the NFL with no help.
The first surprise of the draft was the Arizona Cardinals taking Notre Dame running back Jeremiah Love which left the Titans scrambling as most people believed Love was gonna go to the Titans. The Titans after scrambling around drafted Wide Receiver Carnell Tate from Ohio State which in the player rankings wasn’t the best wide receiver in the class.
Tate was the third best wide receiver in this year’s class behind Jordan Tyson from Arizona State and Makai Lemon from USC. Tate showed talent and posted 875 receiving yards with nine touchdowns catches from the 2025 season. Throughout the season Tate was wide receiver two as Jeremiah Smith is Ohio State’s star wide receiver and is projected to be one of the top receivers and top picks in the 20227 draft.
The Titans also traded back into the first round with pick 31 and drafted Auburn edge rusher Keldric Faulk with that pick. Faulk is a very young edge rusher as he is only 21 years old and has shown tremendous upside potential during his time at Auburn. Faulk had a standout 2024 season with seven sacks and 45 tackles.
Although Faulk had a standout 2024 season he struggled during the 2025 season only recording two sacks and 29 tackles during the season. Faulk has the potential to be great but he is more of a developmental piece and will maybe need a couple of years to develop into the talent he can be but with defensive minded head coach Robert Saleh now at the Titans Faulk has a great chance to develop into one of the best edges in the league.
The Titans certainly are on the right track in their rebuild process but still their draft this year was average but with this year’s draft class not having a lot of star talent the right move could be to wait a year and get more pieces for next year as the 2027 draft class is loaded with star talent.
If the Titans can build around Cam Ward and fix the defense in the next couple of drafts there could be a chance for a superbowl run as the AFC looks to be wide open.
