DRAFT RECAP
// What happened, what nobody saw coming, and what it means for the analysts
Jacksonville traded up from #5 to #2 — giving Cleveland a 2026 first — to snag Travis Hunter. Almost nobody predicted the Jaguars at #2. Everyone had Hunter to Cleveland. The trade cost most analysts a lot of exact-hit points.
Dallas took Tyler Booker (G, Alabama) at #12. Virtually no one predicted this — most had the Cowboys going WR or EDGE. One of the biggest specific team/player misses in the class.
Grey Zabel (OG, NDSU) to Seattle at #18 and Tyleik Williams (DT, Ohio State) to Detroit at #28 were nearly universal misses across all final mocks. Niche selections that required actual team intel.
Shedeur Sanders was projected anywhere from #2 to #9 in final mocks. He fell out of the entire first round and was not selected until the Cleveland Browns took him in the 5th round (#144 overall).
For scoring purposes: analysts who placed Sanders in Round 1 get a miss on that pick. Analysts who correctly omitted him from Round 1 (very few) get credit. No analyst correctly predicted him to Cleveland in Round 5 — this was unprecedented.
Jaxson Dart (Ole Miss, QB) going at #25 to the Giants was the other QB story. Several analysts projected him going in Round 1 but few got the Giants at #25 specifically right.