To those dynasty owners who are currently sweating their dynasty playoffs, best of luck. For everybody else, it’s finally draft season! A lot has changed since my last mock draft, and today I’m not only updating the draft slots based on prospects’ values, but also based on PFF’s latest first round mock draft. Let’s get started.
1.01 - Jeremiyah Love, RB, Notre Dame
With the news that Jeremiyah Love is declaring for the 2026 NFL draft, the 1.01 of your dynasty leagues is all but set in stone. While his landing spot shouldn’t affect this in the slightest, in this mock draft he goes 12th overall to the Minnesota Vikings.
As far as the hypothetical landing spot, I’m pretty neutral on it. To be a smash spot, it would require the Vikings' offense to get back into the upper echelon of the NFL, which in turn would require J.J. McCarthy to progress. On the other hand, the overall scheme and play-calling is fantasy-friendly, and teams can’t key in on the run because of the Vikings’ outstanding pass catchers.
For Love’s part, he brings elite explosiveness to the table to go along with underutilized route-running and hands. He has also developed a lot from last year in terms of his early down rushing. While last year Love was very tentative picking through traffic, this year he’s been knifing through the line of scrimmage for nice gains.
1.02 - Jordyn Tyson, WR, Arizona State
Although Jordyn Tyson is actually my WR3, the fun of basing my mock on somebody else’s first round mock draft is that we get to discuss interesting counterfactuals.
In this particular case, Jordyn Tyson gets top five draft capital and steps right in as the undisputed WR1 on the Cleveland Browns. Meanwhile, his competitors for the distinction of WR1 in dynasty drafts both got drafted to situations in which they’d be expected to be their team’s WR2 (more on them later).
In Tyson’s case, I’m concerned that he tends to run his routes without much, if any, deception, but he’s exposive as hell, competitive, and shows solid instincts against zone.
1.03 - Fernando Mendoza, QB, Indiana
In this mock draft, the Jets trade up to take their franchise signal-caller. This would be a perhaps underrated landing spot for Mendoza. He would already have his WR1 locked in for the long term in Garrett Wilson, and the Jets have invested heavily in their offensive line over the last several years.
While I can’t claim to watch many Jets games, by all accounts Tanner Engstrand’s passing attack is well-designed, yet poorly executed by the lame duck quarterbacks currently on the roster.
Mendoza might get a bit of an unfair reputation as a “game manager” type of quarterback. In reality, he has the arm talent and chutzpah to make big time throws and force defenses to cover every blade of grass. He’s also extremely accurate and is an accomplished runner around the goal line. In Superflex leagues, Mendoza should be going top five at minimum.
1.04 - Carnell Tate, WR, Ohio State
In PFF’s mock draft, Tate goes 5th overall to the New York Giants. I ding him slightly because his projected target share would be capped competing with target hog Malik Nabers, but he’s too good to drop any farther than this.
Tate has the best hands in the draft, with no drops this year and incredible ability in contested catch situations. He’s a big, strong hands-catcher who plucks the ball away from his frame, making it extremely hard for defenders to play the ball when he has even a little bit of leverage.
Far more than a static contested catch guy, Tate has deep juice to create explosive plays and is a major threat on digs and crossing routes. He’s mobile, if not nimble, and explosive enough that defensive backs have to respect his ability to run away from them.
1.05 - Makai Lemon, WR, USC
If Lemon were more physically gifted, he would be my undisputed WR1 in the draft. Unfortunately, size matters both in terms of the risk that he’ll be pigeonholed into a slot-only role, and also in terms of catch radius.
It’s just harder to hit players who have a step of separation but a small catch radius because it increases the margin of error for recovering defensive backs. However, small receivers have become elite players before, and Makai Lemon has every single tool to be one such star.
Lemon moves differently than every other player on the field, combining elite agility with efficient footwork to make cuts on an absolute dime. He’s also competitive as hell and plays bigger than his listed size, routinely winning fades and jump balls.
In this mock, Lemon goes 16th overall to the Panthers, which means he’s both gotten a tier less of draft capital compared to the other top receivers, and he’s competing with Tetairoa McMillan, another favorite of mine, for targets. Regardless, Lemon is one of the absolute best football players in his class, and I will not be betting against him.
1.06 - Dante Moore, QB, Oregon
While I do like Fernando Mendoza better than Dante Moore, Moore absolutely has the tools and skills to be a franchise quarterback. He is a calm pocket passer who keeps his eyes downfield even when he has to scramble, but he also has great athleticism as his ace in the hole to pick up first downs.
As a thrower, Moore has great touch in the deeper-intermediate parts of the field, but in my opinion doesn’t quite have the highest end of arm talent to make those last couple special throws that other quarterbacks have in their bags. He’s extremely accurate, but is sometimes a little shy about challenging tight windows and gets to his checkdown faster than I’d like.
In this mock draft, he goes second overall to the Las Vegas Raiders. I doubt dynasty managers will get excited about the landing spot, but on the other hand I tend to think that we can tell when a quarterback has it, even on otherwise bad teams.
1.07 - Denzel Boston, WR, Washington
Denzel Boston is a big-bodied wide receiver who walks and talks like an alpha wide receiver. At his best, he has a “my ball” mentality and is a load to handle. He’s also fairly explosive with dangerous buildup speed, and moves much better than a static contested catch guy.
In this mock draft, Boston goes 18th overall to the New York Jets. While it’s not exactly great that he’d be Garrett Wilson’s understudy, he would have a completely clear path to being a full-time starter as the Jets’ WR2, and he projects well as a blocker, so he might clear 90% of the snaps as soon as the back end of his rookie season.
1.08 - Justice Haynes, RB, Michigan
We’ve reached the part of the draft where I’ll start projecting Day 2 running backs. While Justice Haynes has been out of sight, out of mind since going down with an injury, he was in the middle of a huge season at Michigan and has the kind of explosiveness offensive coordinators covet. It seems as if Jonah Coleman’s draft stock is fading a bit, which puts Haynes in the driver’s seat to be RB2 of the NFL draft.
1.09 - Jadarian Price, RB, Notre Dame
Another projected Day 2 running back joins the mock draft, with the explosive Jadarian Price. Although Price’s stats don’t jump off the page, you’ll have to forgive him for being his team’s RB2 behind Jeremiyah Love. Frankly, it’s impressive he siphoned off as much work as he did.
Price is a big play waiting to happen, can contribute to special teams early, and will likely be targeted aggressively by at least one NFL offensive coordinator on Day 2.
1.10 - Kenyon Sadiq, TE, Oregon
In this mock draft, Sadiq sneaks into the first round, going 32nd to the Broncos, which guarantees yet another endless discussion of Sean Payton’s mysterious “joker”. I’m positive this discourse collectively made humanity dumber, but it’s absolutely coming back if Payton drafts a versatile playmaker.
In Sadiq’s case, he is an outstanding mover at the tight end position, and would present matchup problems for both linebackers and defensive backs. He’s also a solid blocker in space, though he is on the smaller side and therefore might not project seamlessly as a true in-line tight end. As far as weaknesses, Sadiq’s production came and went over the season, and he has some drops on tape.
1.11 - Ty Simpson, QB, Alabama
Ty Simpson really faded down the stretch, to the point that it’s heavily rumored he may not declare. However, he’s in the PFF mock draft, going 20th to the Steelers. I don’t expect dynasty managers to get overly excited about a pocket passing quarterback drafted in the late first, but he’s still got the inside track to be a starter at the most important position on the field.
At his best, Simpson is a nimble scrambler in and around the pocket, and can pepper throws into the intermediate parts of the field with anticipation. His velocity leaves something to be desired as we get to the 20-ish yard range.
1.12 - KC Concepcion, WR, Texas A&M
Realistically, this slot is more or less a filler for whichever wide receiver goes fifth in the NFL draft. In this case, I’m pretending it’s KC Concepcion, the premier YAC receiver in this draft. While he needs to clean up his consistency with drops, he just moves differently from most of the other receivers in college football.
It’s easy to picture a franchise such as the Commanders or Niners deciding his playmaking ability is exactly what they need in an offense that asks its receivers to make plays in space.