Chad Reuter’s third mock draft of the 2026 NFL Draft is built on movement. He projected four trades in the first round, two quarterbacks going within the first 16 selections, and a five-round board that keeps shifting as the draft gets deeper.
The biggest swing in his latest projection is not just at the top. Reuter has the Miami Dolphins using three of their league-high four Round 3 picks to help the offense, then sees a run on cornerbacks in Round 4 and running backs flying off the board in Round 5. Kentucky back Seth McGowan lands at No. 170 to Denver in that stretch.
That kind of board churn is exactly what makes a mock draft worth reading this early. Reuter’s forecast also follows a four-round second mock, which makes the move to five rounds more revealing about how the class is being viewed: a quarterback push early, teams hunting value in the middle, and a late stretch where positions start to stack up fast.
The quarterback conversation is already showing up in several projections. In his first mock of Round 1, Rhett Lewis had the Eagles taking a quarterback at No. 23 overall. Nick Shook projected the Jets and Bills leveling up at wide receiver in his first mock. Mike Band paired Jeremiyah Love with an electric young quarterback in his own first mock. Elsewhere, Lance Zierlein had linebacker Sonny Styles falling to the Cowboys at No. 12 in his third mock, Charles Davis pushed quarterback Ty Simpson into the top three and tight end Kenyon Sadiq close to the top 10, and Bucky Brooks sent edge rusher Rueben Bain Jr. outside the top 10 while giving Patrick Mahomes an explosive pass catcher.
The wider picture is clear even if none of it is real yet. The 2026 draft board, at least in these NFL.com projections, is shaping up around quarterbacks, corners and offensive help, with Fernando Mendoza part of the conversation as evaluators keep sorting the top of the class.
