I\u2019m getting excited for the 2026 NFL draft. Round 1 begins on April 23 in Pittsburgh, just over two weeks away. And while I was in Phoenix at the annual league meeting last week, I spent a lot of time talking to sources and trying to get the latest intel on what teams might do with their first-round picks. What follows is my first mock draft for the 2026 class. These 32 projections are based on what I\u2019m hearing, rather than what I would personally do at each slot. Nothing is set in stone quite yet, which is why I\u2019ll have a second mock draft in two weeks. But for now, this is my best guess for how things could play out. [\u2026] 23) Philadelphia Eagles. Denzel Boston, WR, Washington. Boston is electric, and Washington coach Jedd Fisch and Eagles general manager Howie Roseman are longtime college buddies. Some NFL sources I have spoken to have Boston as the second or third wideout in this class. And if the Eagles take him, A.J. Brown\u2019s future becomes all the more interesting and will undoubtedly hit the A Block on \u201cGet Up\u201d on Friday morning coming out of the draft. [BLG Note: Peter Schrager is one of the more accurate mock draft predictors in the game.]<\/p>\n
A.J. Brown landing spots: Six best NFL team fits\/trade packages for Eagles WR – NFL.com<\/a> NFL Mock Draft Monday: Seven rounds of speculation – BGN<\/a> Eagles 2026 mock draft roundup, version 4.0 – PhillyVoice<\/a> Latest Visits Update – Iggles Blitz<\/a> Albert Breer\u2019s Takeaways: How Kirk Cousins Became a Bag-Getting God – SI<\/a> Detroit Lions re-sign safety Avonte Maddox – Pride Of Detroit<\/a> Buccaneers to work out free agent OL Kenyon Green – PFT<\/a> 3 possible draft day trade ups for the Cowboys – Blogging The Boys<\/a> Linebackers the Commanders Should Consider in the 2026 Draft Class – Hogs Haven<\/a> NY Giants news: Dexter Lawrence requests trade, per report – Big Blue View<\/a> Tom Brady opened the floodgates for cheating in the NFL – SB Nation<\/a> Wishing peace to Arrowhead Pride\u2019s fearless leader, John Dixon – Arrowhead Pride<\/a> Social Media Information:<\/p>\n BGN Facebook Page: Click here to like our page<\/a><\/p>\n BGN Twitter: Follow @BleedingGreen<\/a><\/p>\n BGN BlueSky: Follow @bleedgreennation.bsky.social<\/a><\/p>\n BGN Instagram: Follow @BleedingGreenInsta<\/a><\/p>\n BGN Manager: Follow Brandon Lee Gowton on Twitter<\/a> | BlueSky<\/a> | Threads<\/a><\/p>\n BGN Radio Twitter: Follow @BGN_Radio<\/a><\/p>\n Each day, we highlight a BGN community post here in this space. Head over to The Feed<\/a> to submit your entry and have a chance to be featured in The Linc!<\/p>\n Mailbag Questions!<\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n Hey! I’m looking for another round of mailbag questions for the site!<\/p>\n I received a ton the last time around and I was able to get three stories out of them, so I appreciate the help.<\/p>\n I know we’re getting closer to the draft and have more national media discourse about the team, so fire away with what you have…<\/p>\n
The Patriots have figured as a potential landing spot for Brown all offseason, and it makes a lot of sense. Drake Maye led New England to the Super Bowl with Stefon Diggs narrowly cresting 1,000 yards and no other wide receiver reaching 600 on the season. More concerning was that no wideout totaled 200 yards across New England\u2019s four-game playoff run, with Diggs putting up 110 yards in the postseason. This offseason, the team released Diggs and signed Romeo Doubs, whose career high is a mere 724 receiving yards in a season — meaning the Patriots are once again set to field one of the barest, lowest-upside receiver rooms in the entire league. Brown would step into New England as the clear-cut No. 1 and he\u2019d probably be franchise\u2019s most legitimate \u201cX\u201d receiver since Randy Moss nearly two decades ago. Brown is also an excellent fit for Maye\u2019s arm and the Patriots\u2019 downfield offense. Since coming into the league in 2019, he\u2019s registered 22 deep touchdowns, the third-most in the league in that span, and his 101.7 receiving EPA on deep targets ranks fourth-highest, according to Next Gen Stats. Speaking of his draft selection, the head coach who landed Brown early in the second round in Tennessee back then was Mike Vrabel. A Brown-Vrabel reunion checks a lot of boxes, as long as the teams can come to an agreement on compensation.<\/p>\n
I respect the 7-round NFL mock draft. It is completely unrealistic, but so what. Today let us celebrate those with the courage and time to make 257 selections, of which maybe 25 will be correct.<\/p>\n
JimmySays: Ahkeem Mesidor is a really good player, but as noted, he\u2019s 25. He had the advantage of beating up on 19- and 20-year old kids. He\u2019ll be 29 when his rookie contract expires (not including a fifth-year option season assuming he goes Round 1).<\/p>\n
We found out a new 30 visit today. The Eagles will be bringing in DB Treydan Stukes for a visit. I referred to him as DB because he mainly played nickelback, but some project him at safety. I\u2019m sure the Eagles want him as a safety. He\u2019s got a similar profile to Drew Mukuba, who spent most of his college career as a nickel. Vic Fangio seems to want guys who have man cover skills, but also are physical and play the ball well.<\/p>\n
That, of course, speaks louder than anything to the mounting frustration in trying to get it right schematically for Hurts. Then there are the economics of the situation. Hurts signed a five-year, $255 million extension in 2023 that tied him to the team through \u201929. Next year is the first in which the team can realistically break free from him\u2014the Eagles would be responsible for only a $22 million guarantee that vested last month, which is subject to offset. Meanwhile, the Eagles have mounting cap debt that\u2019ll need to be cleared at some point, which explains why they\u2019ve been able to be nearly as aggressive building around him the past three years as they were over the three years he was on a rookie deal. So it\u2019s complicated. If Hurts doesn\u2019t get a new deal this offseason and things don\u2019t go well under Mannion, we could be asking bigger questions a year from now. On the other hand, if he and Mannion crush it together, Mannion could be gone as soon as a year from now, the same way Moore was. No one, by the way, is arguing that Hurts isn\u2019t a good player. He is. The long-term question will be how much he\u2019s worth to the Eagles and, more specifically, how much it\u2019s worth dealing with all the things that seem to hover around him.<\/p>\n
Suddenly, the Detroit Lions\u2019 safety room is feeling a bit crowded. On Monday, the Lions announced that they\u2019ve re-signed veteran defensive back Avonte Maddox. Immediate contract details were not made available. Maddox returns to the team after a very solid first season in Detroit in 2025. The former fourth-round pick spent his first seven seasons with the Philadelphia Eagles, but last year he signed a one-year, $1.4 million deal to help out with secondary depth. Capable of playing both nickel and safety, Maddox opened the season as a reserve, playing just 43 defensive snaps through the first nine weeks of the season.<\/p>\n
Free agent offensive lineman Kenyon Green will work out for the Buccaneers on Thursday, Aaron Wilson of KPRC reports. The Texans made Green a first-round pick in 2022. Green, 25, started 14 games at left guard as a rookie but missed the 2023 season with a torn labrum in his shoulder. He started 12 games in 2024 before the Texans traded him to the Eagles in the 2025 offseason.<\/p>\n
Trade up with Cleveland. Cleveland\u2019s GM Andrew Berry has spoke publicly about wanting to trade out of the sixth overall pick in this year\u2019s draft. With the Cowboys eyeing defensive help, there is a world where Arvell Reese, Rueben Bain Jr., Mansoor Delane, Caleb Downs, and Sonny Styles are all off the board before the Cowboys are on the clock. Could moving up to six make sense for the Cowboys? Using the Fitzgerald-Spielberger NFL Draft Trade Value Chart from OverTheCap.com, we can see what it would cost for the Cowboys to make the jump. The sixth overall pick is currently worth 2,092 points according the value chart. The Cowboys\u2019 12th overall pick is worth 1,741 and the 20th overall pick is worth 1,482. Doing the simple math, if the Cowboys used 12 and 20 to move up to six, they would have 3,223 points invested in the trade, compared to Cleveland\u2019s 2,092 (a 1,131 point difference).<\/p>\n
The Commanders will be switching defensive schemes this season under newly hired defensive coordinator Daronte Jones. Jones got his start in the NFL as an assistant defensive backs coach under Vance Joseph in Miami. After stints with the Bengals, and one year as DC at LSU, he landed with the Vikings, where he spent four years as defensive backs coach and passing game coordinator under Brian Flores. It remains to be seen how much Jones will put his own stamp on the defense. But it is a safe bet that it will strongly resemble the Flores scheme that he helped run in Minnesota. The Vikings\u2019 defense is linebacker-centric, and is predicated on keeping the opposing quarterback under constant pressure. It is nominally a 3-4 base, but employs variable fronts to create opportunities for linebackers to make plays in the backfield against the run and blitzing the passer. On passing downs, off-ball linebackers and edge rushers might rush the passer or drop into coverage to keep the offense guessing. Unlike traditional defenses, blitzes are frequently supported by zone coverage, instead of man. But it also makes use of man coverage in certain pressure looks as well.<\/p>\n
Star defensive tackle Dexter Lawrence has requested a trade from the New York Giants, per a report from NFL insider Adam Schefter. Lawrence, per the report, will not report to the Giants when the team\u2019s offseason program begins on Tuesday. A three-time Pro Bowler and two-time second-team All-Pro who is among the NFL\u2019s most dominant interior defenders, Lawrence has experienced just one winning season and played in just two playoff games since being selected No. 17 by the Giants in the 2019 NFL Draft. Lawrence had a down season in 2025, and at times seemed to be resigned to the situation. Lawrence, 29, signed a four-year, $90 million extension in 2024 that put him among the league\u2019s highest-paid defensive tackles. Two years later, though, Lawrence\u2019s $22.5 million average per year is just 11th among defensive tackles.<\/p>\n
It didn\u2019t take long for Tom Brady\u2019s dual life as an NFL owner and broadcaster to lead to teams cheating out in the open. While Brady may have triple-promise, pinky-sweared on his mother\u2019s life that he wouldn\u2019t use confidential information obtained by working for Fox to alter decisions inside the Las Vegas Raiders, Troy Aikman said the quiet part out loud this week when he revealed he\u2019d been hired by the Miami Dolphins as a \u201cconsultant.\u201d<\/p>\n
That\u2019s why it is heartbreaking to share the severity of John\u2019s cancer, which he has been battling since stepping away from AP to fight back in January. Terri and many other members of their lovely family surround him with company every day. John successfully underwent brain surgery to remove tumors later that month. He started receiving regular treatment, but the Stage 4 cancer has since proven to overwhelm and render those attempts useless. As of this writing, John is lying in his bed at home with family around him. He may have just days left as our fearless leader, a father, husband, grandfather, mentor and friend. Please share any memories, wishes, or other remarks below in the hope that John may be able to hear from the Arrowhead Pride community he loved dearly during this time.<\/p>\n![\"shamus_clancy\"](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/CDC01A40-5FEF-48BE-8A23-4CBD81649916..jpeg\"\/)
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