2026 NFL Mock Drafts - Grading the Experts (And Me)

Verse for today...

And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.

John 8:32

Note: I have listed this same grading information and past years grading information below my final mock draft which is always listed in this website under the tab called Draftman Rick's Mock Draft.

I entered my mock draft for this year in the Pro Football Focus (PFF) Draft Pick Challenge for Round 1 and won the contest. PFF is well known throughout the USA. It is the company Cris Collingsworth (Cincinnati Bengals and NBC Sports Sunday night NFL coverage) became the majority owner of in 2014. Around 3000 mock drafters entered. The prize for winning was free NFL tickets. Pretty cool!

Hope you are having a good day. Each year, I like to compare how my first round mock draft stacked up with the experts in the field. Anybody can SAY they are good at mock drafts. I like proof! I have reviewed lots of mock drafts from the experts who get paid to do this stuff. I include familiar names and those who might not be so familiar but have excellent track records. These mock drafts are almost all from websites or newspapers where you would expect to find the best of the best, so you will recognize many of the names. Two popular ways exist to grade a draft. You can grade it by seeing how many players you name to go in the first round who actually go in the first round, or you can see how many you pick to the correct team. Adding the two together seems like a fair way of scoring it. All of these appear to be final versions of each person's mock draft.* Also, check out https://www.thehuddlereport.com/mock.scores.shtml which grades mock drafts for the last five years from some of the best experts in the field and others who are just getting started. You have to have a well-established website to be considered. Maybe I'll get there some day. They score players going in the first round as one point (fair enough) and players to the correct team as two points (seems too heavy considering trades can royally mess that up). Anyway, my 5-year mock draft record would rank 1st of the 91 experts who have 5-year records using their scoring method, and for the second consecutive year, I tied for 1^st with one other expert out of 175 experts who participated this year!

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Here are the results, including where I fit in if scoring one point for going in the first round and one point for the correct team. I tied for 1st out of 24 mock drafters. Here are the scores. The date of the mock drafts is assumed to be the day of the draft unless otherwise known and listed.

Lance Zierlein NFL Network and www.nfl.com 29 + 9 = 38

***Draftman Rick www.jesuschristfootballanddraftmanrick.com 28 + 10 = 38***

Daniel Jeremiah NFL Network and www.nfl.com (4/22/26) 29 + 8 = 37

Dane Brugler The Athletic 27 + 10 = 37

Nate Davis USA Today (4/21/26) 29 + 7 = 36

Albert Breer Sports Illustrated 28 + 8 = 36

Brendan Donahue Sharp Football Analysis 28 + 8 = 36

Todd McShay The Ringer (4/22/26) 28 + 8 = 36

Jason Boris Times News Lehighton, PA www.tnonline.com 27 + 9 = 36

Rob Rang www.FOXSports.com 27 + 9 = 36

Forrest N. Long The Huddle Report 29 + 6 = 35

Walt Deptula The ROAR radio 29 + 6 = 35

Peter Schrager ESPN (4/22/26) 28 + 7 = 35

Field Yates ESPN Draft Analyst 27 + 8 = 35

Walter Cherepinsky Walter Football 29 + 5 = 34

Brian Bosarge draftcountdown.com 28 + 6 = 34

Kevin Hanson Eat Drink & Sleep Football 28 + 6 = 34

Robby Esch The Huddle Report 25 + 7 = 32

Mel Kiper ESPN Draft Analyst (4/15/26) 26 + 5 = 31

Lou Pinckney (4/22/26) 25 + 6 = 31

Jason La Confora Fansided (4/22/26) 24 + 4 = 28

Sam Farmer LA Times (4/22/26) 24 + 4 = 28

Bucky Brooks NFL Network and www.nfl.com (4/21/26) 24 + 3 = 27

Ourlads (4/21/26) 22 + 4 = 26

I used to consider Nolan Nawrocki to be the king of mock drafts. Nolan learned from the deceased all-time draft master of Pro Football Weekly, Joel Buschbaem. Nawrocki was hired as a scout by the Raiders in 2019 then let go in 2022 and has since drifted into the ether. Rick Gosselin and Michael Abromowitz were awesome but have stopped putting out a mock draft. So, who’s the new king of mock drafts? I’d say it’s Jason Boris of the Times News in Lehighton, PA. According to The Huddle Report, who scores lots of mock drafts, Jason is number 1 for his 5-year average. Jason is incredibly insightful.

May God always be your number 1 draft pick!

Draftman Rick