As the 2026-27 NFL season approaches, many young prospects from the NCAA got to hear their name called in this year’s draft. The draft was held from Apr. 23 – 25 in Pittsburgh as 257 players got to the next level and joined one of the NFL’s 32 teams.
As the NFL draft started to approach the consensus number one pick was pretty obvious for the Las Vegas Raiders as with the number one pick they took Heisman and National Championship winner Fernando Mendoza. The Raiders hope they find their franchise QB in Mendoza and continue their strong rebuild after drafting Heisman finalist Ashton Jeanty in the first round last year.
Some fans still have different opinions on the Raiders pick though.
“I think he’s going to be a total bust. If I had the first pick available to me I would have taken Diego Pavia, as he is obviously one of the best athletes in the draft. The Ravens got a steal by picking him up,” senior Zach McNulty said.
With the second pick the New York Jets selected David Bailey out of Texas Tech. This seemed like the safest pick, as he comes onto the team and is already the best big play pass rusher they have. Yet defensive scouts worry that he does not play the run, so there are concerns about whether he’ll ever be someone who can stop it effectively.
“I like the pick for the Jets. I think it’s good that they got a good defensive player to match alongside a defensive minded head coach,” sophomore Bryce Carlson said.
Next the Cardinals took explosive running back Jeremiah Love from Notre Dame with the third pick. Love was a Heisman finalist his final year in college and the Cardinals hope he can make an instant big impact for the team.
“I’m excited to see what he does. I think he’s a big play threat almost every time he gets a carry. Hopefully he can take the Cardinals offense to the next level,” sophomore Sam Eggert said.
In this year’s draft the Green Bay Packers did not have a first round pick as they traded it to acquire Micah Parsons last year. So with their first pick coming in the second round the Packers picked Corner Back Brandon Cisse out of South Carolina. The Packers hope this will address the problem in the corner back room as they ranked 24th In pass coverage last year.
“I’m glad we went corner back. I think it was one of the biggest weaknesses on the team so hopefully Cisse can come in and make a big difference on that side of the ball right away,” sophomore Owyn Buznel said.
In the later rounds of the draft the packers took edge Chris McClellan, DT, Missouri in the third, Dani Dennis-Sutton, EDGE, Penn State in the fourth, Jager Burton, C, Kentucky in the fifth, Domani Jackson, CB, Alabama and Trey Smack, K, Florida, In the sixth. Most experts gave the Packers a C grade on their draft, but it’s hard to put together a solid draft specialty without a first round pick.
“I was ecstatic when I saw we drafted a kicker. Brandon McManus was absolutely terrible last year he sold us multiple games including in our playoff exit. Trey Smack will hopefully turn the Packers special teams around and drain some kicks,” freshmen Cayden Kelley said.
In conclusion, many fans are excited about the new rookie additions to their favorite teams and hope to see them excel with a new season starting soon.
