While plenty of attention in Week 12 went to Super Bowl contenders duking it out in the race for playoff positioning, plenty of fan bases around the league were locked into a race almost as competitive: the race to pick No. 1 overall in the 2026 NFL Draft. And what a race it's shaping up to be, with a full five teams showing admirable commitment to the tank in recent weeks.
The cream is beginning to rise to the top (sink to the bottom?), meaning that there wasn't a ton of change in the NFL Draft order from last week. What there was, however, was separation. The top of the board next spring is beginning to take shape, even if we still have no idea what teams might do — as the stars could align for multiple big trades considering who currently occupies the top two spots.
Updated 2026 NFL Draft order after Week 12
- Tennessee Titans (1-10)
- New York Giants (2-10)
- New Orleans Saints (2-9)
- New York Jets (2-9)
- Las Vegas Raiders (2-9)
- Cleveland Browns (3-8)
- Washington Commanders (3-8)
- Cincinnati Bengals (3-8)
- Arizona Cardinals (3-8)
- Miami Dolphins (4-7)
- Los Angeles Rams (via ATL [4-7])
- Minnesota Vikings (4-7)
- Dallas Cowboys (5-5-1)
- Carolina Panthers (6-5)
- Pittsburgh Steelers (6-5)
- Kansas City Chiefs (6-5)
- Houston Texans (6-5)
- Detroit Lions (7-4)
- Baltimore Ravens (6-5)
- Tampa Bay Buccaneers (6-4)
- Buffalo Bills (7-4)
- Cleveland Browns (via JAX [7-4])
- San Francisco 49ers (7-4)
- Dallas Cowboys (via GB [7-3-1])
- Los Angeles Chargers (7-4)
- Chicago Bears (8-3)
- Seattle Seahawks (8-3)
- New York Jets (via IND [8-3])
- Philadelphia Eagles (8-3)
- Denver Broncos (9-2)
- Los Angeles Rams (8-2)
- New England Patriots (10-2)
There isn't a ton of change at the top; that'll happen when both the Titans and Giants are in the midst of six-game losing streaks. New York has more talent than that record likely suggests, but they've been relentless in their ability to find way to lose football games this year, and who knows, their overall outlook might better off for it. (That is, unless Joe Schoen sticks around and decides to ruin it.)
The most notable change in the top 10 comes courtesy of the Cleveland Browns, who dropped back to No. 6 overall with a win in Vegas on Sunday that improved their record on the year to 3-8. Cincy and Arizona both dropped with losses, while Miami sits at No. 10 thanks to a worse strength of schedule than either the Falcons or Vikings. (Atlanta beat the Saints on Sunday, but they're still going nowhere and have to forfeit their first-round pick to the Rams. Yikes.)
There are major logjams in the middle, as a cluster of 6-5, 7-4 and 8-3 teams could wind up rising and falling over the last few weeks of the regular season. By this point, though, we're getting a good sense of which teams will be at or near the top of the draft board when all is said and done.
2026 NFL mock draft for the first 10 picks with current order
NFL Draft order | Mock draft selection |
|---|---|
1. Tennessee Titans | LB Arvell Reese, Ohio State |
2. New York Giants | S Caleb Downs, Ohio State |
3. New Orleans Saints | EDGE Rueben Bain Jr., Miami |
4. New York Jets | QB Ty Simpson, Alabama |
5. Las Vegas Raiders | QB Fernando Mendoza, Indiana |
6. Cleveland Browns | OT Spencer Fano, Utah |
7. Washington Commanders | WR Jordyn Tyson, Arizona State |
8. Cincinnati Bengals | EDGE Keldric Faulk, Auburn |
9. Arizona Cardinals | CB Jermod McCoy, Tennessee |
10. Miami Dolphins | OT Francis Mauigoa, Miami |
Cam Ward has gone through ups and downs as a rookie starting QB on a very bad team that just fired its head coach, but he's absolutely shown enough for Tennessee to continue believing in him as the future. That frees up the Titans to go elsewhere with their first-round pick, and while they might trade back when the moment actually arrives, here we've got them taking pass-rusher and ball-hawk extraordinaire Arvell Reese at No. 1. He can do just about anything in the front seven of a defense, and he'll inject some badly needed impact talent to a dreadful Tennessee unit.
The Giants also find themselves not needing a quarterback, and could either make a pick here or trade down. But this secondary is dire straits right now, and another Buckeye in Downs could be just the thing to get this group organized. He can play all over the field and might be the single smartest player in the draft class, a worthy successor to Xavier McKinney (a player whose departure Giants fans still haven't lived down).
The Saints might go QB as well, but the guess here is they give Tyler Shough at least one more year and take Bain to try and get younger on defense. So the quarterback run truly begins with New York and Cleveland at Nos. 4-5, with Simpson's polish giving him the edge while the Raiders fall in love with Mendoza's traits. That puts the Browns in a tough spot, so they opt to give Shedeur Sanders and/or Dillon Gabriel some protection up front.
The Commanders have plenty of needs around Jayden Daniels, but wide receiver feels particularly pressing given Terry McLaurin's age and the lack of other options around him. Tyson is an immediate difference-maker, a do-it-all star at Arizona State who can come in right away and take pressure off of the rest of this offense. That means Faulk falls to the Bengals, a dream situation for Cincy to take arguably the draft's most tooled-up pass rusher — and maybe trade Trey Hendrickson, too.