9. Cleveland Browns: Drew Allar, QB, Penn State
Despite the fact that Drew Allar remains one of the most polarizing prospects in all of college football, first-round hype will not quiet down at this stage. Allar has all of the physical tools and intangible qualities teams look for at the position, and NFL teams will believe they can put all the pieces together. The discourse surrounding Allar is somewhat reminiscent of what people were saying about Josh Allen coming out in the 2018 NFL Draft. Not every prospect is going to turn out to be Josh Allen, obviously, but NFL teams will always teeter the line of confidence and hubris.
10. New England Patriots: Francis Mauigoa, OT, Miami
We’ve already got our second Miami Hurricanes trench player coming off the board here in the top 10 picks of this 2026 NFL mock draft projection. The New England Patriots already got a franchise left tackle (they hope) in Will Campbell to block for Drake Maye’s blind side. Now, they get the chance to pair him up with another top 10 prospect and have a stud couple of bookend tackles on rookie deals to continue building that offense. The Pats would probably love another couple of EDGE guys to emerge here, but you can’t turn down the chance to have stability at both tackle positions.
11. Las Vegas Raiders: Caleb Downs, SAF, Ohio State
The Las Vegas Raiders are in a similar boat as the Carolina Panthers in that they simply don’t have the talent on paper you need defensively to win consistently in today’s NFL. We’ll see which players emerge for that group over the course of the season, but getting a playmaker for the back end like Caleb Downs could be huge for Pete Carroll, who loves his defensive backs. Downs is widely considered one of the best all-around players in college football; he just happens to play a position that isn’t valued as highly by NFL teams.
12. Cincinnati Bengals: Spencer Fano, OL, Utah
We’ve seen the Utah duo of Spencer Fano and Caleb Lomu show some serious highs and lows early on this season, but those two guys still project as quality future NFL starters. The Cincinnati Bengals, for all of their pronounced flaws defensively, may have even worse problems on the offensive line. The Bengals have had to supplement by signing a street free agent like Dalton Risner, and they’re simply not getting good enough play out of Orlando Brown Jr. They need offensive line help badly.