On April 23-25, the 2026 NFL Draft was held in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where the best players and players who entered the portal hoped they would be drafted by one of the 32 NFL teams.

Fernando Mendoza, who played and was the quarterback for the Indiana Hoosiers and also won the Heisman Trophy, was predicted to be the 1st overall draft pick since he was the best player. The Las Vegas Raiders had the last record last season, being 3-14, so they got the first pick in the draft. The Las Vegas Raiders selected Mendoza in the first round as the first draft pick of the 2026 NFL draft. 

I really like Fernando Mendoza as a player, and I wish he had been drafted by a different team since I really do not like the Las Vegas Raiders. He is too pure and good for the Raiders, but even if he is working with them, I don’t see them being very good these next couple of seasons. I think he will make the team a little bit better now that he is going to play with them, and only time will tell how he ends up doing throughout his rookie season.

There are seven rounds in the NFL draft, and the last draft number player, draft pick number 257, who gets chosen by a team, then becomes “Mr. Irrelevant.” The 2026 “Mr. Irrelevant” was Red Murdock, a linebacker from the University of Buffalo, who was selected by the Denver Broncos. 

Each player who enters the draft hopes to get chosen by one of the NFL teams, but that doesn’t always happen, such as Vanderbilt’s quarterback, Diego Pavia, who thought he expected to get drafted. Pavia was a finalist for the Heisman Trophy, and he was expected to get drafted, but never did. He is the first Heisman Trophy finalist to go undrafted since 2014. Although he thought he was going to be drafted, many fans speculated he wasn’t because he is known as being very arrogant both on and off the field, has a lot of attitude, and he never hired an agent to help him, which most players do to help them keep everything in order. 

However, he still found a spot on the roster. Pavia is now signed with the Baltimore Ravens.

The rookies will now have to fight and prove themselves to keep their spots on the team, and we will see them play next season.