The Raiders got their franchise quarterback on Thursday night, selecting Indiana quarterback Fernando Mendoza. They hope they have a shutdown cornerback in round two.
The Raiders selected Arizona defensive back Treydan Stukes at No. 38 overall.
Stukes, a former walk-on, played six seasons in college. He has versatility, having played inside and outside and could be a nickel corner in the NFL.
He finished his long college career with seven interceptions and 29 pass breakups.
Cornerback Colton Hood was one of two players in attendance for the first round of the draft who did not get picked, but he didn’t have to wait long to hear his name called in the second round.
The Giants selected Hood with the 37th overall pick. Hood did not return to the draft for the second round, but defensive tackle Kayden McDonald did and went to the Texans one pick before Hood came off the board.
Hood played at Auburn and Colorado before landing at Tennessee for the 2025 season. He had 50 tackles, 4.5 tackles for loss and an interception return for a touchdown for the Volunteers.
The Giants picked up linebacker Arvell Reese and offensive lineman Francis Mauigoa in the first round. They do not have any more picks on Friday, but have five picks on the final day.
The Texans have traded up with the Raiders for the No. 36 overall pick.
With that selection — the fourth of the second round — Houston selected Kayden McDonald out of Ohio State.
One of the top defensive tackles in this year’s class, McDonald stared for just one year at Ohio State. But he was the Big Ten Defensive Lineman of the Year and a firs-team All-Big Ten honoree.
He appeared in 36 career games with 14 starts for the Buckeyes, tallying 11.0 tackles for loss with three sacks, two forced fumbles, and three passes defensed.
McDonald was the one player left in the green room in Pittsburgh after Thursday night’s selections.
The Texans sent the Raiders No. 38 and No. 91 in exchange for No. 36 and No. 117 in this year’s draft.
Bills General Manager Brandon Beane didn’t make a pick on the first day of the NFL draft. He traded out of the first round but ended up with two more selections.
The Bills now have nine picks, including No. 35 overall.
They used that choice on Clemson edge rusher T.J. Parker, who had 21.5 sacks and 41.5 tackles for loss in his three seasons.
Defensive coordinator Jim Leonhard is switching the Bills from a 4-3 base to a 3-4, and the team likely will use most of its picks in helping him retool the defense.
The Bills also need help at inside linebacker, nose tackle and outside cornerback.
Texas A&M offensive lineman Chase Bisontis was a betting favorite to be a first-round pick. He didn’t hear his name called on Thursday night, but it didn’t take long for him to get taken on Friday.
With the 34th overall pick in the 2026 NFL draft, the Cardinals selected Bisontis.
The 21-year-old Bisontis is 6-foot-5 and 315 pounds and was a three-year starter at Texas A&M. He can play guard and tackle.
On Thursday night, the Cardinals selected running back Jeremiyah Love third overall. Now they’re adding a player they hope can open holes for him.
The 49ers have made their first pick of the 2026 NFL Draft.
After trading down twice on Thursday night, the 49ers stayed put at No. 33 and made wide receiver De’Zhaun Stribling the first player selected in the second round.
Stribling had 55 catches for 811 yards and six touchdowns for Ole Miss last year. He played at Oklahoma State and Washington State before moving to Oxford for his final college season.
The 49ers added veterans Mike Evans and Christian Kirk in free agency and have Ricky Pearsall heading into his final season. Brandon Aiyuk remains on the roster, but the 49ers have indicated that he’ll be off the depth chart in the near future.
The Patriots used a first-round pick on an offensive lineman for the second straight year and faced questions about where that player will line up for the second straight year.
Will Campbell’s selection in 2025 was met with questions about whether he might line up at guard because of his short arms, but the Patriots started him at left tackle as a rookie. Campbell struggled in the postseason, which meant that Thursday night’s selection of another college left tackle in Caleb Lomu led to executive vice president of player personnel Eliot Wolf being asked about where he’ll end up.
“Will’s the left tackle,” Wolf said, via a transcript from the team. “And like I said, Caleb has some versatility. So, we feel like some of the pro day workouts that he did were on the right side and we were comfortable with that. But again, he’s very athletic, so I don’t think either side will be a problem for him.”
The Patriots have veteran right tackle Morgan Moses returning for 2026 as well and Wolf was asked if Lomu could wind up at guard.
“I think it’s possible,” Wolf said. “Again, that’s maybe one that we’ll see a little bit more when he gets here. But just from a physical athletic standpoint, I don’t see a reason that he couldn’t.”
Whatever route the Patriots wind up taking on the line, they’ll need the group to be stouter than the one that fell short against the Seahawks in the Super Bowl.
University of Tennessee cornerback Colton Hood and Ohio State defensive tackle Kayden McDonald waited through three hours of 32 draft picks without hearing their names called.
The other 15 prospects to attend the draft in Pittsburgh all departed on Thursday night, finding out their new football home.
McDonald decided to return for the second and third rounds on Friday night.
Hood, though, is not expected back in the green room, a source tells PFT.
Attendees not selected in the first round have the option of returning or not, and it’s hard to blame Hood for leaving after the disappointment of not hearing his name in the first round.
The players who showed up and were taken are: David Bailey (Jets), Jeremiyah Love (Cardinals), Carnell Tate (Titans), Arvell Reese (Giants), Mansoor Delane (Chiefs), Sonny Styles (Commanders), Jordyn Tyson (Saints), Francis Mauioga (Giants), Caleb Downs (Cowboys), Kadyn Proctor (Dolphins), Ty Simpson (Rams), Rueben Bain Jr. (Bucs), Makai Lemon (Eagles), Dillon Thieneman (Bears), and Keldric Faulk (Titans).
Earlier this month, a report surfaced about Rueben Bain’s involvement in a fatal vehicular collision in March 2024. The Bucs were not caught off guard by the news, having done their homework on the University of Miami edge rusher.
Tampa Bay drafted Bain 15th overall on Thursday.
“We’ve known about this for a long time. I know it just came out a couple of weeks ago,” Bucs General Manager Jason Licht said, via Jenna Laine of ESPN. “It was a very tragic accident, tragic experience for the family, and it’s something you never want to see happen. But he’s a good person. He was involved in something that none of us ever want to be involved in or want any of our loved ones to be involved in. But he loves football. He loves football.”
Bain was driving on I-95 in Miami at 4 a.m. on March 17, 2024, when his Land Rover SUV rear-ended another car and slammed into concrete barriers. One of his three passengers, 22-year-old Destiny Betts, was in a coma for nearly three months before dying.
Bain was cited at the time of the incident, but charges were dropped before Betts’ death.
The crash became public knowledge on April 12. The story by The Read Optional included a statement by the Betts’ family, calling it a “tragic accident” and wishing “Mr. Bain the best as he continues his life and career.”
Bain was asked what the past two weeks have been like after the wreck became public.
“Yeah, you know everything has its ups and downs, but I just try to make everything simple as it could possibly be,” Bain said. “Try to prioritize whatever I prioritize in the moment. And right now, that’s just football and making sure I can just really make it as a main priority for me.”
Bain, at No. 15 overall, is the highest-drafted edge rusher the Bucs have selected since Licht became General Manager in 2014.
The Cardinals knew who they wanted to draft. They just didn’t know how to reach him.
Arizona was ready to select Notre Dame running back Jeremiyah Love at No. 3 as soon as it was on the clock. The Cardinals, however, had to wait to turn in the card since they couldn’t get Love on the phone.
“If you want me to tell you the honest-to-God truth, we had the wrong phone number,” Cardinals General Manager Monti Ossenfort said, via Saad Yousuf of TheAthletic.com. “The phone number that we were given was the wrong one. That was the little bit of the delay. We got that straightened out, and we called Jeremiyah and we got ahold of him. That’s what the delay was — technical difficulties. There [were] very minimal [trade] conversations. There was some surface-level, but nothing that came anywhere close to getting us to move off the pick.”
The NFL limited access to prospects’ phone numbers after several players received prank calls last year. This year, the league gave the list of phone numbers to a single point of contact at the club in football operations, with that person charged with protecting the information.
It is unclear how the NFL corrected the error in time for the Cardinals to call Love before turning in the card.
