With the 2025 NFL regular season coming to a close, the first 13 draft order slots for the 2026 NFL draft are set as we wait for the result of the AFC North showdown between the Pittsburgh Steelers and Baltimore Ravens. The Las Vegas Raiders will have the No. 1 selection, followed by the New York Jets and Arizona Cardinals. The rest of the order will shake out over the course of the NFL playoffs, ending with Super Bowl LX in Santa Clara, California, on Feb. 8.
Bowers was named to his second straight Pro Bowl on Tuesday despite battling a knee injury for six weeks. He played three games through a posterior cruciate ligament injury and a bone bruise in his left knee that he suffered in the Raiders' season-opening win over the New England Patriots, sources told ESPN's Adam Schefter. He was then sidelined for three games to allow for recovery.
We're identifying each player in the playoff who could be selected in the upcoming draft and which round they'd fit best right now, giving brief breakdowns on prospects graded in the first three rounds. These players' draft stocks aren't etched in stone; they can all rise or fall during playoff action and the predraft process. But this is where things stand right now and a good picture of which teams could be sending a bunch of top talent to the early rounds of the draft.
Remarkably, we're less than five months from Day 1 of the draft, which starts April 23 in Pittsburgh. But plenty can change between now and then. The draft order won't be fully set until mid-February, and the No. 1 pick is up for grabs. The final stretch of the 2025 season, along with all-star events, the combine, pro day workouts and a ton of predraft interviews, will ultimately determine how draft boards will be constructed. But things are starting to take shape.
We're now seven weeks into the 2025 college football season, and the top names in the 2026 NFL draft class are starting to emerge from the pack. I've spent the past few months watching tape on the best players eligible to get drafted, and I'm ready to roll out my debut top-25 Big Board ranking. Of course, the class will change a ton between now and April 23, when Round 1 begins in Pittsburgh.