Perhaps ESPNFL Network’s Peter Schrager put last night into perspective when he urged potential viewers to eschew their phones when they sat down to watch the opening round of the 2026 NFL Draft. He called it “the best reality show in television” and deserved to be watched in real time, without the potential temptation of being “sniped” by the likelihood of one’s phone alerts revealing picks seconds ahead of when even “live” broadcasts would, as I’m sure he’s experienced what I frequently do when I’m monitoring my struggling fantasy teams. When it comes to satellite and especially streaming, their respective time lags mean like it or not I’m existing in an alternate time/space continuum.
Turns out Schrager was merely seeking internal attention from his new corporate overlords who somehow chose not to include its shiny new toy in its Multiview option that curiosity got the best of me to sample when I took him up on his offer. That featured merely a troika of options from ABC, ESPN and wherever Pat McAfee was eminating from. What I learned is that not even those offerings are synched to each other, either. In the real-time horse race of which put up the pea green “PICK IS IN” graphic first, the order was usually ESPN gold, ABC silver and McAfee bronze. And it was further exacerbated by the fact that there was way more movement than usual even before that graphic and its now-iconic chimes appeared anywhere, as SPORTS ILLUSTRATED’s Mike Kadlick and Karl Rasmussen pooled their own resources–how fitting–to report:
(T)he draft’s action is never limited to just the picks themselves. We’ve already seen the draft board shaken up by trades over the past year, with six teams holding multiple first-round picks heading into draft day…We saw a whopping eight first-round trades go down over the course of Thursday night’s start of the 2026 NFL draft, including two swaps between division rivals.
Add it up, and no less than half of the first 32 picks wound up wearing #1 uniforms of different teams then how the 2025 final standings would have otherwise awarded them. Including a third of the final 12 involving three or more bounces and perhaps more of a need than usual to be paying attention to keep track of who actually was on the clock and, moreover, what they were doing while they were on it.
So even though any drama about who was going to go #1 overall was moot (heck, Fernando Mendoza’s first commercial as a member of the Las Vegas Raiders aired minutes after his selection was announced), if you happened to be a fan of either of New York (well, the metropolitan area to be precise)’s underperforming franchises, or perhaps North Texas and America’s polarizing one, you indeed got more than you had bargained for.
Which left the door wide open for the myriad of bloggers and supplemental watch partiers to dominate the very social media that Schrager begged us to eschew to offer instant reactions, some of them actually positive for a change. Witness THE ATHLETIC’s Scott Dochterman :
5. New York Giants: Arvell Reese, edge, Ohio State
The Giants likely can’t believe their luck. Reese has the most upside of any defensive player in this class, and he’s versatile and explosive. When you combine him with Brian Burns, Abdul Carter and perhaps Kayvon Thibodeaux, the Giants now have a ferocious pass rush. And, as we saw a generation ago, that recipe makes Super Bowl jambalaya.
Reese (6-4, 241) conjures up comparisons with former Penn State (and current Green Bay Packers) pass rusher Micah Parsons — and rightly so. Both were lethal pass-rushing linebackers in college and projected as edge defenders in the NFL. In his first season as a starter at Ohio State, Reese was a consensus first-team All-American and racked up 6.5 sacks, 10 tackles for loss and 69 total tackles.
Grade: A-plus
Or YAHOO! Sports’ Christopher Hart:
R1, Pick 10: New York Giants (via CIN)
Francis Mauigoa, OT, Miami
With the tenth pick of the 2026 NFL Draft, which the Giants got from the Bengals for trading Dexter Lawrence they take Miami offensive tackle Francis Mauigoa. He was ranked as the top blindside tackle by most outlets(.)
Or Dochterman’s tag team partner Nick Baumgardner who drew the short straw on weighing in on no less than THREE first-round picks of their stadium-mates:
2. New York Jets: David Bailey, edge, Texas Tech
The best pure pass rusher in the draft, Bailey (6-3, 251, with 34-inch arms) has a deep array of pass-rush moves that is better than any other edge in this class. Long, lean and explosive, Bailey got better during every season of his college career and should be an immediate force rushing the QB.
I do wonder if New York might’ve gotten more value here from…Reese — I had Reese higher on my board and believe he has a better long-term ceiling. But it’s very hard to argue with Bailey, as he’ll be a big-time factor quickly.
Grade: A-minus
16. New York Jets (from IND): Kenyon Sadiq, TE, Oregon
I love this pick. The Jets needed a pass catcher, and Sadiq was the best one left on the board. So what if he’s a tight end? He can also line up as a gigantic X receiver, or maybe even as a Z. An outstanding blocker at the line of scrimmage and out in space, Sadiq runs a 4.39 at 250 pounds.
He is a freakish athlete — arguably the best in this class — and the type of weapon who can always keep the math in the offense’s favor. Sadiq is built for the modern game. I like this better than the Jets’ selection of Bailey at No. 2, if I’m honest.
Grade: A
30. New York Jets (from SF via MIA and DEN): Omar Cooper Jr., WR, Indiana
The Jets clearly had guys they wanted in Round 1 — and it looks like they’ve got them all. After adding a pass rusher (Bailey) and a unicorn playmaker (Sadiq), the Jets selected one of the draft’s most QB-friendly receivers. Cooper was Fernando Mendoza’s favorite target at Indiana and should make life easier on whoever winds up being the Jets’ QB of the future.
New York also holds so many picks over the next two years that I don’t mind the aggressiveness here at all. Cooper is a first-round player in this class, and New York didn’t want to wait until Round 2 to grab him. This franchise added three foundational pieces Thursday night.
Grade: A
Many of the other rung climbers drew mostly favorable reviews. The Chiefs got the ball rolling by advancing three slots and tossing the woeful Browns a third rounder and a higher-placed fifth to assure their ability to land someone someone else that floated Baumgardner’s boat:
6. Kansas City Chiefs (from CLE): Mansoor Delane, CB, LSU
The Chiefs do not plan to be drafting this high again any time soon. As a result, Kansas City traded up to No. 6 (sending Nos. 9, 74 and 148 to Cleveland) and replaced Trent McDuffie with the best — and safest — cornerback on the board. The most comfortable man-coverage defender in the draft, Delane is very difficult to stack and fool in coverage and should be a factor in Kansas City quickly. This is a great pick. Delane is a high-floor player who oozes confidence and will have no problems entering a serious, championship-level operation. Love the aggressiveness the Chiefs showed here.
Grade: A
The Cowboys’ willingness to swap a couple of Round 5 picks along with their #12 to trade up a slot assured them landing Reese’s highly regarded teammate Caleb Downs, hailed as perhaps the top secondary talent of the night. Their other move that allowed the Eagles to land USC receiver Makai Lemon played a bit better with YAHOO! than it did with THE ATHLETIC–if for no other reason than it all but assures the veracity of the story that their now-former colleague Dianne Russini coaxed out of the loins–er–mouth of Patriots coach and paramour Mike Vrabel that will eventually land current top option A.J. Brown in Foxboro that dropped long before more salacious picutures of canoodling that now apparently dates back to his days in Tennessee–and prior to both her tenure at THE ATHLETIC and indeed her wedding day.
Vrabel will be on hand tonight but he will miss out on Saturday’s final four rounds of wheat-separating-chaff which yet another ex-Russini colleague Dane Brugler meticulously laid out in his massive guide called THE BEAST. No less than seven of his projected Round One picks remain on the board as of this writing–a phenomenon primarily driven by one of the more eye-rolling moves of a team that actually stayed stagnant that apparently caught the collective eyeroll of just about the entire BLEACHER REPORT team–and a few of their favored-nations comrades in arms this morning:
No one knew where Bama QB Ty Simpson would wind up getting drafted. The answer, it turns out: WAY higher than expected. Simpson → No. 13 → Rams was the shock of the first round last night…Our mock had him as a Day 2 pick. (Our grade for the pick was … not good.)…The pick ‘shocked the heck out of’ Mel Kiper… But, apparently, LA was sure enough of it to give Matt Stafford a heads up early Thursday…No immediate help in what could be Stafford’s last dance, though.
Yep, that’s an LA-based reality show that could likely eclipse anything else that Hulu may have up their sleeves. Just make sure when you do watch it–probably some time around mid-August when Simpson makes a pre-season start–you both put down your phone and don’t watch it in Multiview.
Courage…