{"id":869162,"date":"2026-04-18T13:06:17","date_gmt":"2026-04-18T13:06:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/869162\/"},"modified":"2026-04-18T13:06:17","modified_gmt":"2026-04-18T13:06:17","slug":"2026-nfl-mock-draft-5-big-trades-as-cowboys-patriots-raiders-shake-up-round-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/869162\/","title":{"rendered":"2026 NFL Mock Draft: 5 big trades as Cowboys, Patriots, Raiders shake up Round 1"},"content":{"rendered":"

The 2026 NFL Draft is just days away.\u00a0 As the big draft night approaches, big questions, draft trade rumors and final player positional rankings<\/a> are being finalized.\u00a0 With all the buzz comes final NFL Mock Draft predictions are sure to get fans hyped up in one way or another.<\/p>\n

After months and months of prospect evaluations and matching prospects with team needs, draft analysts like Mel Kiper Jr. have made final predictions that have drawn great reactions.\u00a0 As FanSided has created a fantastic Interactive NFL Draft Big Board<\/a> featuring experts from each team site, NFL Mocks has focused on player narratives and the coverage of the league overall.<\/p>\n

In this lead up to the 2026 NFL Draft<\/a>, we explore how the draft board can instantly shift and change storylines with big trades that can shift where top prosects land.<\/p>\n

2026 NFL Mock Draft: Two teams maneuver into top 5 to grab game-changing prospects<\/p>\n

With the Las Vegas Raiders on the board and not much mystery over who will land No. 1<\/a>, this mock draft begins with the No. 2 overall pick and how who comes off the board following Fernando Mendoza can turn the Round 1 upside down.<\/p>\n

No. 1: Las Vegas Raiders \u2013 Fernando Mendoza, QB, Indiana\"Fernando<\/p>\n

Fernando Mendoza participates in Indiana University’s Pro Day | Rich Janzaruk\/Herald-Times \/ USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images<\/p>\n

The best quarterback in the draft will be the first name off the board.\u00a0 Although Fernando Mendoza isn\u2019t ranked as the top talent in the draft, he is the top player where it counts, and a quarterback hungry Raiders team will make sure he\u2019s the No. 1 player off the board come draft night.<\/p>\n

No. 2: New York Jets \u2013 Arvell Reese, LB, Ohio State<\/p>\n

This is where it gets interesting folks!\u00a0 Will it be Arvell Reese or David Bailey for the New York Jets with the No. 2 overall pick in the 2026 NFL Draft?\u00a0 While this AFC East squad can\u2019t lose with either player, Reese is the most ideal defender for head coach Aaron Gleen given his versatility as a side-to-side outside linebacker in the 3-4 or 4-3 base defense or a pass rusher in the nickel defense.<\/p>\n

No. 3: Washington Commanders \u2013 Jeremiyah Love, RB, Notre Dame<\/p>\n

The Commanders move up here ahead of the Tennessee Titans to select Jeremiyah Love making the exciting running<\/a> back a top 3 pick in this draft.\u00a0 With his explosive impact on the field, Love complements third-year QB and 2024 NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year Jayden Daniels in a major way.\u00a0 Commanders\u2019 fans will watch a QB-RB tandem that could be the best in the league for years to come.<\/p>\n

No. 4: Dallas Cowboys, via Tennessee Titans \u2013 Sonny Styles, LB, Ohio State<\/p>\n

The Cowboys make a splash here to move up to No. 4 to select a franchise caliber linebacker <\/a>in Sonny Styles.\u00a0 In jumping ahead of the Giants, the Cowboys ensure the talented Styles enters the NFC East wearing their uniform.\u00a0 Dallas is still looking to reshape their defense post-Micah Parsons and making a splash to select Styles sets that foundation.<\/p>\n

No. 5: New York Giants \u2013 Caleb Downs, S, Ohio State<\/p>\n

With Styles off the board, the pick here for the New York Giants is safety Caleb Downs.\u00a0 A versatile, playmaking defender, Downs checks off all the boxes of what new head coach John Harbaugh likes in a safety.\u00a0 He will also push third-year safety Tyler Nubin and have veteran Jevon Holland looking over his shoulders.<\/p>\n

\"\"Add us as a preferred source on GoogleFollow<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The 2026 NFL Draft is just days away.\u00a0 As the big draft night approaches, big questions, draft trade…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":869163,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2050],"tags":[7,1167,249,2326,2094,6,208],"class_list":{"0":"post-869162","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-england-patriots","8":"tag-football","9":"tag-new-england","10":"tag-new-england-patriots","11":"tag-newengland","12":"tag-newenglandpatriots","13":"tag-nfl","14":"tag-patriots"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/869162","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=869162"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/869162\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/869163"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=869162"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=869162"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=869162"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}