2026 NFL Draft Day 1 Live Reactions and Takeaways

The 2026 NFL Draft is set to get started at 8 p.m. ET Thursday in Pittsburgh. The FTN team has been preparing for the draft from every angle since the Super Bowl, and now we’re ready to evaluate the picks as they come. All evening Thursday, the FTN team will react to all the picks that matter for fantasy, and we’ll add instant projections from our own Jeff Ratcliffe.

Bookmark this page and check back all evening as more thoughts and reactions get added as we all watch the next generation of fantasy players enter the league starting Thursday.

After the draft, check out our FTN Player Projections for an updated view on what is to come. Before that, though, let’s take a look back at all our draft coverage.

Pre-Draft Analysis

Check out FTN’s fantasy football rankings for redraft, dynasty and rookies! These include rankings from two of the top rankers in the business in our own Jeff Ratcliffe and Tyler Orginski.

Rookie Fantasy Scouting Guide

Get the guide now! 125 player profiles, comps, rankings and more, all in one place to prepare for the draft.

Mock Drafts

Jeff Ratcliffe and others have been fine-tuning their projections for this year’s draft for months now. Check out their mocks:

Jeff Ratcliffe:

Mock 1.0 (Jan. 7)

Mock 2.0 (March 27)

Mock 3.0 (April 14)

Mock 4.0 (April 20)

Mock 5.0 (April 23)

Others:

Tyler Orginski’s Mock Draft (March 23)

C.H. Herms’ Mock Draft (April 6)

NFL Draft Wish Lists

Our Tyler Loechner and Colin McTamany went through each division to identify their top goals and approaches to the draft, and what would constitute a success for each.

AFC East (March 30)

NFC East (April 1)

AFC North (April 6)

NFC North (April 8)

AFC South (April 13)

NFC South (April 15)

AFC West (April 20)

NFC West (April 22)

Other Draft Content

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