Buckeye magic, trench warfare and positional value be damned.
The dust has settled on the NFL Draft first round. If you had “Indiana QB goes #1 overall” on your April 2025 bingo card, please send over your lottery picks. The 2026 NFL Draft’s first round had a few clear through lines: NFL teams are betting on the Buckeyes, the battle for the trenches is ongoing and “positional value” is merely a suggestion at this point.
The Buckeyes Are Big Business
The real winners of the NFL Draft? The Ohio State Buckeyes.
Ohio State dominated the top half of the board. By the time we hit Pick 11, Carnell Tate, Arvell Reece, Sonny Styles and Caleb Downs already had their names called.
The Trend: We’re seeing a premium on pro-ready prospects. The NFL moves faster than ever, which means teams can’t afford players who need a year or two to marinate.
Instead, they’re drafting from pro-ready college programs (like Ohio State and Georgia) where coaching and competition levels are at an all-time high.
Most intriguing Hudl IQ radar: New York Giants LB/Edge Arvell Reese
Big Boys Are In Vogue
In case you needed another reminder, NFL teams love them some big boys. On Thursday night, nine offensive linemen were drafted in the first round, tied for the second most in the Common Draft Era.
The Trend: Teams are doubling down on protecting their most valuable assets, AKA the quarterback. If you can’t protect your quarterback, you can’t win football games.
The middle of the first round felt like a frantic grocery store run before a blizzard, but for 320+ pound human beings. We love to see it.
Most intriguing Hudl IQ radar: Pittsburgh Steelers RT Max Iheanachor
The "Positional Value" Rebellion
The Trend: For years, the analytics crowd told us never to draft a running back or safety in the Top 10. The 2026 NFL Draft cycle just dunked on the nerds.
In perhaps the second-biggest shocker of the night (behind the Los Angeles Rams drafting Ty Simpson), Notre Dame’s Jeremiyah Love went #3 overall to the Arizona Cardinals. Can the Cardinals block for Love? That remains to be seen. But in an era where RBs are often treated like disposable cameras, it’s interesting to see a team make a franchise-altering move for a running back so early in the first round.
Seeing Ohio State’s Caleb Downs go at #11 to Dallas (after a classic Jerry Jones trade-up!) is further proof that the “Safeties don’t matter” era is officially over. In a world where so many defenses are playing two-high safety looks to defend against the deep ball, a top-tier safety makes all the difference. Downs feels like a home run for the Cowboys.
Most intriguing Hudl IQ radar: Cowboys Safety Caleb Downs
What's Next?
Thanks for reading and following along throughout the NFL Draft! It’s been fun to get to know the prospects and point out the high-level trends that are impacting the sport’s pinnacle.
Now that the draft is over, we’re pivoting to college football. Stay tuned for in-depth newsletters on intriguing college football programs, X-factor college players and so much more in the lead-up to a new college football season.
