Fernando Mendoza tops NFL Draft as Jets, Giants make bold moves

Fernando Mendoza became the face of the 2026 NFL Draft before the first night was over, and the decision carried real franchise consequences. Las Vegas took the Indiana star at No. 1 overall after Mendoza won the Heisman Trophy, led the Hoosiers to their first national championship and finished with 3,535 passing yards, 41 touchdowns and only six interceptions. He became only the third player ever to pair a Heisman, a national title and the No. 1 pick in the same year, joining Cam Newton and Joe Burrow, while the Raiders finally used a first-round pick on a quarterback for the first time since JaMarcus Russell in 2007.

The scale of the draft matched the stakes. Pittsburgh hosted the event from April 23-25, and the NFL said 805,000 fans attended over three days, a new record that topped Detroit’s 775,000 mark from 2024. The first round drew 320,000 fans on its own, another record, and the league’s 257 selections included eight trades in Round 1, a sign of how aggressively teams tried to reshape their next two seasons.

The Jets made some of the draft’s most consequential moves without solving their longer-term instability. They took Texas Tech edge rusher David Bailey at No. 2 overall, then added tight end Kenyon Sadiq at No. 16 and returned to the first round at No. 30 for Indiana wide receiver Omar Cooper Jr. after trading a second-round pick and a fifth-rounder to San Francisco. CBS New York reported that New York finished with eight total picks after a 3-14 season that extended its playoff drought to 15 straight years, the longest active streak in major North American pro sports. That kind of capital gives Aaron Glenn and Darren Mougey a chance to accelerate the rebuild, but it also raises the pressure to convert premium picks into immediate production.

The Rams’ selection of Ty Simpson at No. 13 was one of the night’s biggest surprises and one of its clearest signals that teams were willing to spend on quarterback upside early. Arizona’s Jeremiyah Love at No. 3, the highest a running back has been drafted since Saquon Barkley went No. 2 in 2018, underscored how heavily teams leaned into premium positions, especially quarterback, offensive line and pass rush. The Giants also emerged as a focal point in the draft’s bigger story lines, with their aggressive rebuilding approach and the selection of Ohio State edge defender Arvell Reese drawing scrutiny over how quickly the roster can turn over. The teams that moved early bought hope; the teams that hesitated bought uncertainty.