Best, worst, most interesting NFL Draft picks for every team, plus 10 free agent signings that need to happen

Welcome to the Tuesday edition of the Pick Six newsletter! 

If you read this newsletter on Monday, you may have noticed that we spent 97.3% of it breaking down the NFL Draft, which I’m only mentioning because we’re going to do the exact same thing today. That’s right, we’re not done breaking down the draft. 

At some point, we’ll stop talking about the draft, but that point is not today. We’ve got a draft-filled newsletter that will included the best and worst pick made by each team and we’ll also take a look at the five things that all the experts got wrong heading into the draft. 

As always, here’s your daily reminder to tell all your friends to sign up for the newsletter. To get them signed up, all you have to do is click here. 

1. NFL Draft takeaways: Best, worst and most interesting picks for each team

The best way to breakdown the NFL Draft is to take a look at every team, so that’s what we’re going to do today, starting with the AFC. Tyler Sullivan went through all 16 teams in the conference and came up with their best, worst and most interesting pick. 

Let’s check out his “most interesting” pick for a few teams: 

• Dolphins: QB Quinn Ewers. “The Dolphins need high-caliber quarterbacks behind Tua Tagovailoa, given his injury history. Last season, they whistled past the graveyard and left the backup QB roles barren. Now, they bring in a former five-star recruit in the seventh round who has intriguing upside as a developmental project.”
• Ravens: K Tyler Loop. “Could Loop’s selection in the sixth round signal that Justin Tucker’s time with the team is running out?”
• Jaguars: CB/WR Travis Hunter. “Hunter was the most interesting prospect in this class, so he’s naturally the most interesting addition for the Jags. Jacksonville spent a pretty penny to move up to No. 2, and now it’s time to see if Hunter can make good on that investment and play both ways in the NFL.”
• Raiders: RB Ashton Jeanty. “This wasn’t a shocking pick given how the board fell, but now that Jeanty is heading to Las Vegas, it’ll be exciting to see how quickly he turns the backfield around.”

If you want to see the full list of best and worst picks for each AFC team, be sure to check out Tyler’s story here. 

Now that we’ve covered the AFC teams, it’s time to breakdown the NFC teams. We gave that job to Cody Benjamin, who came up with the best, worst and most interesting pick for every team in the NFC. 

Since we covered the most interesting pick for the AFC teams, let’s take a look at a few of the worst picks out of the NFC. 

• Lions: DT Tyleik Williams. “Williams may well plug up holes on the other side, but Detroit arguably could’ve waited to target him.”
• Saints: QB Tyler Shough. “Shough is such a tough evaluation; older and experienced, he could benefit from a decent crop of skill weapons as an early starter for new coach Kellen Moore, but it’s hard to say with authority that he and his injury history warranted a top-40 investment. His selection felt a bit more like the Saints just needing a quarterback than falling deeply in love with one.”
• Panthers: RB Trevor Etienne. “Etienne offers versatility, but the Panthers just signed Rico Dowdle to pair with Chuba Hubbard.”
• Eagles: QB Kyle McCord. “Taking a quarterback isn’t wrong, but McCord’s slower delivery doesn’t necessarily make him a lock to even beat Tanner McKee as Jalen Hurts’ new No. 2.”

Cody covered the best, worst and most interesting pick for EVERY NFC team, and you can check out his full list here

2. Five things the experts got wrong about the NFL Draft

I think we all know one thing that the experts definitely got wrong in the draft: Shedeur Sanders falling all the way down to the fifth round. Plenty of people — like CBS Sports NFL insider Jonathan Jones — predicted that he would fall out of the first round, but no one had him going in the fifth. 

So what else did the experts get wrong? Jordan Dajani has the answer. Let’s check out three storylines that ended up being wrong. 

• Browns will definitely draft Travis Hunter at second overall. “As we inched closer to the first night of the draft, it appeared the Browns selecting Hunter No. 2 overall was as sure of a thing as Cam Ward going No. 1 overall to the Titans.”
• Jalen Milroe’s stock is quickly rising. “With Milroe being invited to the 2025 draft and multiple coaches and scouts declaring him as the best running quarterback they’ve ever seen, some believed Milroe could be a first-round pick. At the very least, it looked like he was going to be a second-round pick. Instead, Milroe fell all the way to No. 92 overall in the third round, and he was the fourth quarterback selected.”
• Donovan Ezeiruaku being a first-round pick. “Why did Ezeiruaku fall? The Boston College product was a -500 favorite to be a first-round pick on Thursday night, which is a shocking number.”

So what other mistakes did the experts make? Jordan’s got the full list here. 

3. 2026 NFL mock draft: Arch Manning is the top pick

After going 96 straight hours without sleep over the weekend, I assumed CBS Sports draft guru Josh Edwards would be sleeping for three straight days now that the draft is over. But apparently, I was wrong. As soon as the 2025 draft ended, Edwards started putting together his first mock draft for 2026 and we’re going to take a look at it today. 

One thing you’ll notice about the 2026 draft class is that the name at the top is a familiar one: Arch Manning. If Manning gets taken with the first overall pick, he’d become the FOURTH Manning to be taken with a top-two pick following Archie Manning (No. 2 overall pick to the Saints in 1971), Peyton Manning (No. 1 pick to the Colts in 1998) and Eli Manning (No. 1 pick to the Chargers in 2004, but then immediately traded to the Giants). 

One other thing you’ll notice below is that the Browns have two top-10 picks and that’s due to the fact that they have Jacksonville’s first-round pick in 2026. 

With that in mind, let’s check out the top-10 picks in Josh’s 2026 mock draft: 

1. Saints: QB Arch Manning (Texas)

2. Browns: QB Drew Allar (Penn State)

3. Giants: LB Anthony Hill Jr. (Texas)

4. Jets: DT Caleb Banks (Florida)

5. Titans: EDGE Rueben Bain Jr. (Miami)

6. Raiders:  QB LaNorris Sellers (South Carolina)

7. Panthers: OT Francis Mauigoa (Miami)

8. Browns (via Jaguars): OT Spencer Fano (Utah)

9. Colts: DT Pete Woods (Clemson)

10. Patriots: S Caleb Downs (Ohio State)

If you’re like me and you’re wondering how the draft order was made here, it was determined using SportsLine’s Super Bowl odds, but in reverse order. Anyway, if you want to see how the rest of the first round plays out, and trust me, you do, then you’re going to want to click here. 

4. 10 moves that need to be made now that the NFL Draft is over

For the first time in two days, we’re NOT going to talk about the NFL Draft. Instead, we’re going to take a look at the moves that need to be made now that the draft is over. Cody Benjamin came up with 10 moves that need to happen, and we’re going to check out four of them below: 

• Aaron Rodgers to the Steelers. “This is a tired connection at this point, with Pittsburgh publicly teasing Rodgers’ arrival for what’s felt like months on end. Yet it remains the most logical play for a Steelers team currently projected to open 2025 with Mason Rudolph and rookie Will Howard under center.”
• Kirk Cousins to the Saints. “We don’t expect the Atlanta Falcons to deal the veteran inside the NFC South, nor would New Orleans be willing to eat his inflated contract. If, however, Cousins is eventually cut loose as he reportedly desires, the Saints still need a proven arm, provided Derek Carr is unavailable due to injury and/or discontentment.”
• Nick Chubb to the Bears. “Chicago was rumored as a potential Ashton Jeanty landing spot in the draft. Instead, the Bears focused on the other skill spots. Chubb’s pure rushing prowess would be a welcome complement to D’Andre Swift’s change-of-pace burst, however.”
• Keenan Allen to the Chargers. “If Mike Williams can go back, why can’t Allen? Yes, Los Angeles added some fresh legs to Justin Herbert’s receiving corps by drafting Tre Harris, a potential downfield threat. Allen knows the city and the franchise, however, and he could help alleviate pressure on other youngsters like Ladd McConkey.”

Cody’s list includes a total of 10 moves and you can check out all of them here.  

5. Former Steelers star explains why Shedeur Sanders might not make it in the NFL

If you’re wondering why Shedeur Sander fell all the way down to the fifth round in the NFL Draft this year, you might just want to talk to Merrill Hoge. Before the draft started, the former Steelers running back broke down why he thought Sanders would eventually end up failing in the NFL. 

This wasn’t a hot take, either, as Hoge gave a nuanced argument, and if NFL teams felt the same way as Hoge, it’s easy to see why Sanders ended up sliding. 

So what did Hoge say? Let’s check it out. 

• Sanders was average at the two things an NFL quarterback needs to be great at: accuracy and processing. “I think the best way to sum him up is, he’s a really good college quarterback: His accuracy is good, his processing is good,” Hoge said. “And when I say good, I use a scale from 1 to 10, so good is around a five. So if you’re a five in college, OK? Those [accuracy and processing] are the two most important aspects of transitioning to the National Football League and then you build from there. Anticipation, pocket awareness and then we start building, but those two things, if you’re a five, you’re not a first-rounder. You’re not a franchise guy.” Yes, Sanders did lead all FBS quarterbacks with a 74% completion rate, but Hoge said that number is distorted because Sanders threw so many screens. 
• Sanders’ talents don’t translate to the NFL. “In the college environment, it can be hard to translate a kid to where he’s going to play, so you have to look deeper into it, you have to find things that simulate the NFL,” Hoge said. “You’re not going to throw 50% of your bubble screens and survive in the NFL. You can do that in college — they’ll sit there [at Colorado] and say their offensive line was bad and so that’s why we did those type of things — but if your quarterback is good, you can run everything. You don’t just have to run a bubble screen.”
• Sanders doesn’t compare favorably to recent former first-round quarterbacks. Hoge pointed to several recent first-round quarterbacks like C.J. Stroud, Jayden Daniels and Joe Burrow and said Sanders is nowhere near those guys in talent. “That’s the skill set you’re looking for,” Hoge said. “He ain’t even close, he ain’t even in the ballpark. … There’s some toughness to him I like, but how he moves, he ain’t going to put fear in anybody.”

If you’re wondering why you should listen to Hoge, he predicted back in 2014 that Johnny Manziel would be a bust before that draft, and now, it’s interesting to hear him make the same prediction for Sanders. ‘

Hoge’s full comments are worth reading, and you can check them out here.  

6. Extra points: George Kittle lands record-breaking contract

It’s a busy time in the NFL, and since it’s nearly impossible to keep track of everything that’s happening, I went ahead and put together a roundup for you. 

• 49ers signing Kittle to record-setting contract. The 49ers star tight end has agreed to a four-year, $76.4 million extension that includes $40 million in guarantees. At $19.1 million per year, Kittle is now the highest-paid tight end in NFL history, moving him past Arizona’s Trey McBride, who recently signed a contract worth $19 million per year. If you want the full details on the Kittle deal, we’ve got those here. 
• Eagles visit the White House, but not everyone on the roster showed up. The Eagles visited the White House on Monday, but a good chunk of the roster didn’t attend the event, including quarterback Jalen Hurts, who had a “scheduling” conflict. Besides Hurts, here’s the list of Eagles who didn’t attend: A.J. Brown, DeVonta Smith, Jalen Carter, Brandon Graham, Darius Slay, C.J. Gardner-Johnson, Zack Baun, Nakobe Dean, Josh Sweat and Nolan Smith. On the other hand, plenty of players DID show up, including Saquon Barkley, Lane Johnson, Jordan Mailata, Landon Dickerson, Cam Jurgens, Mekhi Becton, Reed Blankenship, Cooper DeJean and James Bradberry. We’ve got the full story on the White House visit, and you can check it out here. 
• Browns won’t be picking up Kenny Pickett’s fifth-year option. Pickett is officially set to become a free agent after the 2025 season after Cleveland declined the fifth-year option in his rookie contract. The Browns could have picked up the option, which would have put him under contract for 2026 at a fully guaranteed rate of $22.1 million, but with five quarterbacks on the roster, the team made the decision to let him walk after 2025.  
• Browns add Diontae Johnson. The Browns have signed Johnson to a one-year deal, according to ESPN. The 28-year-old played for three teams last season, which isn’t a great sign, but the upside for the Browns is that this will likely be his last chance to prove himself, so he should be motivated to play well. Johnson actually went to the Pro Bowl in 2021 after a season with the Steelers where he caught 107 passes for 1161 yards and eight touchdowns. 
• Steelers sign Robert Woods. The Steelers don’t know who their starting QB is going to be just yet, but they did add another receiving weapon for their mystery QB. The team has signed Robert Woods to a one-year $2 million deal, according to NFL Media. The 33-year-old spent the past two seasons in Houston, where he averaged 314.5 receiving yards per year.