The 2026 NFL Draft is over, and a lot of what happened was rather expected. The Las Vegas Raiders took Fernando Mendoza, and we saw Jeremiyah Love and Jadarian Price as the first two running backs off the board, for example.
All in all, the draft wasn't filled with surprises, but there were definitely some shocking moments. Across the draft landscape, teams definitely, at least on the surface, brought in a better draft class than others. And unsurprisingly, some of the teams that had the highest-valued draft capital ended up with the biggest and perhaps most impactful classes.
Let's dive into the three teams that improved the most thanks to this year's draft.
These three teams obviously improved the most in the 2026 NFL Draft
Las Vegas Raiders
Let's just get the obvious out of the way - the Raiders seem to be the most improved team in the NFL thanks to the Mendoza selection. It really would not surprise me if the Raiders knew from the second they clinched the first overall pick that Mendoza was going to be their choice.
Simply put, there was not another quarterback close of being worthy of the top pick. And just because it was a weaker quarterback class, doesn't mean Mendoza wasn't a first overall-caliber pick.
He's got exceptional size, solid arm strength, and can not only win from the pocket, but shows up in big moments and is rather accurate. His ceiling might truly be Joe Burrow-adjacent, but landing somewhere between guys like Burrow, Jared Goff, Kirk Cousins, or even Matt Ryan would not be a shock.
With the Raiders having signed Cousins in the offseason, Mendoza likely isn't starting in Week 1, but there really isn't any debate here - the quarterback position is the most important in all of sports, and after years of dysfunction, the Raiders may have just landed a future franchise passer.
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