2026 NFL Draft prospects Edit via Liam McGuire
By Matt Yoder on

With the NFL combine officially underway in Indianapolis, it’s now officially NFL Draft season.

The top pick in this year’s draft is all but a formality as Indiana Hoosiers quarterback Fernando Mendoza is the unanimous favorite to be selected by the Las Vegas Raiders first overall after winning the Heisman Trophy and bringing the school their first national championship in a historic season.

But after Mendoza, it is shaping up to be one of the more fascinating drafts in recent memory.

The 2026 draft class does not have another top quarterback prospect alongside Mendoza that’s a guarantee to go early in Round 1. And after the shocking slide of Shedeur Sanders from what looked to be a surefire top-10 selection all the way to the fifth round, anything now appears possible. And with teams looking ahead to the quarterback class of 2027, that means we could see some surprises in this year’s draft.

What makes the 2026 draft class so compelling is the players, storylines, and realities that the best players in the class might not be the ones most valued by the NFL. Some players at low-value positions are seen as locks to be perennial All-Pros. Others might not have the measurables that teams desire. And then there are the college stars that might be total wild cards.

Here now are the top 10 most interesting prospects in the 2026 NFL Draft that will be worth following in Pittsburgh.

1. Rueben Bain Jr., DE, Miami

For anyone who watched the College Football Playoff or the Hurricanes season, they will instantly know that Bain was the gamechanger on Miami’s defense. He won the Ted Hendricks Award as the nation’s best defensive end and totaled 15.5 sacks on the season.

But he has short arms.

At the combine, Bain’s measured arm length was under 31 inches, which would make his reach one of the shortest for a top draft prospect this millennium.

It’s not like Bain’s arms suddenly shrunk the last few weeks, so teams are certainly aware that he doesn’t have the perfect measurables. Bain can go anywhere in the Top 10, and based on his performance, he would certainly have earned it. But if teams are that scared by his combine results and his inability to physically Stretch Armstrong his limbs, he could be in for a drop.

2. Sonny Styles, LB, Ohio State

On the other end of the combine spectrum is Ohio State linebacker Sonny Styles. Even though he’s long been viewed as a first-round prospect and a multi-year starter on the Ohio State defense, Styles flew under the radar in 2025 thanks to the rise of teammate Arvell Reese. That changed on Thursday in Indianapolis.

Styles posted what can only be described as superhuman athletic numbers, impressing scouts in every single category as a true physical specimen as he set never-before-seen marks. Even as a linebacker, a position that doesn’t normally see huge draft capital spent, Styles is going to be an incredibly enticing prospect given his performance, character, and athleticism. If there’s anyone who looks most likely to benefit from their appearance at the combine, it may just be the Ohio State captain who may see his rise in the draft go all the way near the top.

3. Caleb Downs, S, Ohio State

Feb 26, 2026; Indianapolis, IN, USA; Ohio State defensive back Caleb Downs (DB34) speaks to members of the media during the NFL Combine at the Indiana Convention Center. Mandatory Credit: Jacob Musselman-Imagn Images
Credit: Jacob Musselman-Imagn Images

Caleb Downs shares a lot in common with both Bain and Styles. Like Bain, he is another prospect that may not pass the measureables test with flying colors. Like Styles, he is a Buckeye captain doesn’t play a position that is seen as high-value in the early stages of the draft.

All Downs might be is just be the best pure football player in the draft. The Jim Thorpe winner was a standout player at both Ohio State and Alabama and enters the draft as the prospect with arguably the highest floor in the entire class. But only three safeties have been selected in the top 10 of the NFL Draft since 2010 (Eric Berry, Mark Barron, Jamal Adams). Whichever team is willing to be the fourth will likely have a franchise cornerstone for years to come.

4. Jeremiyah Love, RB, Notre Dame

For as much as there is a debate over taking a safety or linebacker in the Top 10 of the NFL Draft, it’s even more pronounced for taking a running back. No position in the NFL is under more scrutiny when it comes to positional value. Love was a dominant force with the Fighting Irish and is seen as one of the best prospects in years. Bijan Robinson (2023) is the only running back drafted in the top 10 since Saquon Barkley in 2018 and both of those picks seemed to turn out well… at least for the Eagles once they signed Barkley in free agency.

Like Downs, Love is seen as one of the contenders for best player in the class. If he somehow falls to the Kansas City Chiefs and Patrick Mahomes with the ninth pick, it could be something the rest of the NFL lives to regret for years to come.

5. Ty Simpson, QB, Alabama

Multiple quarterbacks have gone in the first round of the draft in all but three years since 2000. With several top prospects returning to school, the race behind Mendoza for the second quarterback to be taken is more of a crawl. Simpson is widely seen as the best of the bunch with the fall of prospects like Garrett Nussmeier and Carson Beck, who were once seen as legit first-rounders. But is there a team that sees him as a starting quarterback, especially in Round 1? QB-needy teams might feel they are better off waiting until 2027 to find their franchise guy, which could see Simpson and other signal callers fall even further than normal.

6. Carson Beck, QB, Miami

Jan 8, 2026; Glendale, AZ, USA; Miami Hurricanes quarterback Carson Beck (11) celebrates as he scores the game winning touchdown against the Mississippi Rebels during the 2026 Fiesta Bowl and semifinal game of the College Football Playoff at State Farm Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images
Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images

Speaking of quarterbacks and wondering where they might go, Miami’s Carson Beck is one of the most intriguing candidates. While he was still at Georgia, Beck was touted during the summer of 2024 as a potential top overall pick in the 2025 draft. But instead of declaring, Beck took a massive NIL deal to go to Miami. As the Hurricanes’ fortunes went up all the way to the national title game, Beck’s draft stock went down.

Beck put up some clutch performances throughout the CFP as Miami fans will long remember him leading the upset win over Ohio State and his last minute touchdown run against Ole Mis. He is now seen as a Day 2 or Day 3 selection. Whichever NFL team that ends up with Beck will hope to recapture the magic that saw him established for years as a former top prospect while also hoping to benefit from his hefty big-game experience in college.

T7. D’angelo Ponds, CB, Indiana/Omar Cooper Jr., WR, Indiana

For as great as Indiana’s season was in winning the first national championship in school history, its roster outside of its quarterback is devoid of elite NFL Draft prospects. Fernando Mendoza is the only projected first-rounder coming into the pros from the national champions. But Curt Cignetti’s Cinderella story in Bloomington wasn’t built on five-star recruits; it was built through acquiring more mature football talent.

That doesn’t mean that Indiana’s roster isn’t filled with NFL guys. And the two prospects who look most likely to prove that at the next level are cornerback D’agelo Ponds and wide receiver Omar Cooper Jr.

Cooper made the play of the season against Penn State with his clutch touchdown in the back of the end zone and Ponds had a pick-six in the CFP game against Oregon. Even though they will be drafted likely in Round 2, both could be easily envisioned as starters in the NFL for a decade or more.

9. Jacob Rodriguez, LB, Texas Tech

exas Tech's Jacob Rodriguez acknowledges the crowd after being honored on senior day before a Big 12 Conference football game, Saturday, Nov. 15, 2025, at Jones AT&T Stadium.
Syndication: Lubbock Avalanche-Journal

Rodriguez earned plaudits as the captain of the Texas Tech defense that dominated the Big 12 and advanced to the CFP. He picked up almost every award possible as a linebacker, winning the Butkus, Bednarik, Lombardi, and Nagurski awards in 2025. He even took snaps at quarterback. Rodriguez finished fifth in Heisman voting, the highest for a linebacker since Manti Te’o. He may not have ideal athleticism for the NFL, but he’s the ultimate intangibles player and is one of the greatest characters and best stories in the class. He will most likely hear his name called in the second or third round in Pittsburgh.

10. Harold Perkins, LB, LSU

Perkins burst onto the scene in Baton Rouge in 2022 as a freshman. The linebacker was a five-star recruit and immediately stood out, even in the vaunted SEC, with 7.5 sacks. But his college career was derailed in 2024 with a torn ACL, and when he returned to the field in 2025, both he and LSU were in a vastly different place than when they were when he was lighting up Death Valley. If he can come back and reach his freshman level, an NFL team could strike it very rich in the middle rounds of the draft.

11. Diego Pavia, QB, Vanderbilt

Diego Pavia made his career out of defying the odds. The Vanderbilt quarterback vaulted the Commodores into the national spotlight. And he let everyone hear about it. His very public Heisman campaign ended as runner-up to Fernando Mendoza after a stellar season in Nashville.

But while he found success in college, Pavia has almost everything working against him as a draftable prospect – age, height, and a brash persona that isn’t built to be a backup. But if any team does select him in the 2026 NFL Draft, they will have one of the most motivated prospects to enter the league in quite some time.

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