2026 NFL Draft: 10 wild cards who could rise up boards

College & Draft Sports

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• Is Dante Moore the sleeper QB in 2026?: Oregon’s new starting quarterback has more arm talent than either Bo Nix or Dillon Gabriel and will look to reach the same highs those two did in Eugene.
• Nyck Harbor is the biggest freak athlete in the nation: The South Carolina wide receiver has Olympic-level speed at 6-foot-5 and 235 pounds. 
• Get a head start on the 2026 class: Try PFF’s best-in-class Mock Draft Simulator and learn about 2026’s top prospects while trading and drafting for your favorite NFL team.

Estimated Reading Time: 5 minutes

We’ve already broken down 10 prospects to watch at every position as we enter summer scouting for the 2026 NFL Draft. While we do our best to project the top players will be at every position, the reality is that there will be players who emerge during the 2025 season. 

Here are 10 wild-card prospects in the 2026 NFL Draft who could have big seasons and rocket up draft boards. 

QB Dante Moore, Oregon

Moore takes over at quarterback for Oregon this year following a year as Dillon Gabriel’s backup. The former No. 3 overall recruit in the 2023 class started a few games at UCLA as a true freshman the year before with mostly mixed results. While he only earned a 58.1 passing grade that year, Moore also showed why he was such a highly-touted recruit with a 6.4% big-time throw rate that was 16th among FBS quarterbacks. 

The Ducks have produced back-to-back Heisman Trophy finalists in Bo Nix and Gabriel at the quarterback position, and Moore has more arm talent than either of them. If he can follow in their footsteps, he can be the breakout star in this quarterback class.

QB Ty Simpson, Alabama

Simpson’s situation is similar to Moore’s. He entered Alabama as a five-star recruit from the 2022 class but was forced to sit on the bench for three years. Simpson is embroiled in a quarterback battle at the moment, but it’d be a bit of a surprise if he weren’t the starter in Week 1. 

While he’s only taken 65 dropbacks in his career, he has a solid 75.5 passing grade. Simpson is more of a pocket passer than Jalen Milroe was, although he does have adequate mobility. Head coach Kalen DeBoer helped Michael Penix Jr. turn into a first-round pick and will look to do the same with Simpson in his first year as a starter. It also doesn’t hurt to throw to Ryan Williams and have one of the nation’s best offensive lines in front of you, either.

RB CJ Baxter, Texas

When Jonathon Brooks suffered a torn ACL midway through the 2023 season, it was a true freshman in Baxter who stepped up as the lead back. The top running back recruit in the 2023 class stepped up, running for 665 yards and posting a 74.8 rushing grade.

Baxter was poised to be the lead back for the Longhorns as a sophomore but tore his LCL and PCL in the preseason, which caused him to miss all of 2024. He looks to bounce back as a redshirt sophomore and emerge as one of the top running backs in the 2026 class.  

RB Justice Haynes, Michigan

Haynes was stuck in a committee backfield at Alabama during his first two years of college football but now projects as the bellcow back after transferring to Michigan. The No. 2 running back recruit in the 2023 class was very impressive on his 106 career carries with the Crimson Tide, posting an 84.7 rushing grade while averaging 3.4 yards after contact per attempt. 

He’s a one-cut runner who shows good vision and nice contact balance, he just needs to extend the flashes across an entire season with the Wolverines.

WR Nyck Harbor, South Carolina

You won’t find a freakier athlete in college football than Harbor. In fact, he’s been the top player on Bruce Feldman’s “Freaks List” in both of his collegiate seasons, the only player who’s accomplished that feat. That’s because he has world-class size and speed for a receiver. He was a second-team All-American sprinter for South Carolina’s track team at 6-foot-5 and 235 pounds. He ran a 10.1-second 100-meter dash and a 20.2-second 200-meter dash and declined an invite to the U.S. Olympic trials to focus on football.

Harbor is still relatively raw as a receiver, but he did lead the Gamecocks with 376 yards this past season. If he can show some more nuance as a route-runner as a junior, he has the type of freakish tools that rarely escape the first round. 

WR Zachariah Branch, Georgia

Branch was the top wide receiver in the 2023 high school class and a top-five recruit overall. He showed flashes of his game-breaking ability as a true freshman at USC, as he was the only player in America with both a kick-return and punt-return touchdown. Branch couldn’t quite build on that as a sophomore, though, posting just a 67.1 receiving grade and 503 yards.

He has elite speed and quickness, though that makes him dangerous as a route-runner and after the catch. If he can become a bit stronger at the catch point at Georgia, he can reemerge in what’s a wide-open receiver class.

WR Evan Stewart, Oregon

Stewart was a top-10 overall recruit in the 2022 class and the No. 2 receiver, trailing only Luther Burden III. He battled injuries during his sophomore year at Texas A&M but still tallied 1,157 receiving yards across two years with the Aggies. 

Expectations were high after he transferred to Oregon but he had a career-low 64.4 PFF grade this past season. While he has intriguing speed and quickness, he must deal with physicality better. With Tez Johnson now in the NFL, Stewart is expected to have a much better year as the top weapon for the aforementioned Dante Moore.

OT Aamil Wagner, Notre Dame

The Fighting Irish continue to prove themselves as an offensive line factory. Immediately after losing two offensive tackles that were top-60 picks in Joe Alt and Blake Fisher, Notre Dame has another stud tackle in Wagner. 

He finished his junior year as the third-most-valuable Power Four tackle according to our WAA metric, trailing only Spencer Fano and Kelvin Banks. Wagner’s 78.1 run-blocking grade was also 17th among Power Four offensive tackles. He held up well as a pass protector as well, allowing just two sacks on 496 pass-blocking snaps. 

DI Zane Durant, Penn State

Durant lived in opposing backfields last year, both as a pass-rusher and as a run defender. He led all FBS interior defenders with 14 tackles for loss/no-gain in 2024, while his 28 pressures were a top-25 mark in the nation. 

Durant packs a punch despite being undersized (6-foot-1, 288 pounds) and has excellent quickness to shoot gaps.

EDGE David Bailey, Texas Tech

Bailey was one of the most productive pass-rushers in college football this past season at Stanford. In fact, his 93.2 pass-rush grade led all edge defenders in college football, as did his 30.2% pass-rush win rate. 

He has an advanced bag of pass-rushing moves already but must develop some play strength at just 240 pounds. Bailey has had sub-60.0 run-defense grades in back-to-back seasons. If he has similar production at Texas Tech, he could become a first-round pick.

EDGE Joshua Josephs, Tennessee

Josephs was part of a deep rotation of Tennessee defensive linemen, but he made the most of his 353 snaps. The junior led all edge defenders in the nation with a 91.4 run-defense grade in 2024 and was one of only three edges in America who earned 85-plus grades as both a run defender and as a pass-rusher.

Like his former teammate, James Pearce Jr., Josephs has an explosive get-off that allows him to blow up blockers before they even know what hit them. And like Pearce, he can become a first-round pick if he can keep up this level of play under a heavier workload next season.

This news was originally published on this post .

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