The first day of the 2026 NFL Draft ended with a flurry of trades, and the second day picked up where Thursday night left off. The Raiders traded out within minutes, and the Houston Texans gave them #38 and #91 (656 points) in order to get #36 and #117 (600 points). So, that’s functionally a 10% overpay and continues the tradition of Houston caring more about results than conventional wisdom. Ultimately, the value of the 28th pick in the draft was spent to acquire Kayden McDonald. To be fair, many
had a first-round grade on the nose tackle.
The Detroit Lions then traded up with the Jets, giving up a single pick (#128) to move from #50 to #44. That makes the trade the +1 selection move that brings things within a few percentage points (460 vs 444).
The Steelers then traded up to take ; giving the Colts #53, #135, and #237 in exchange for #47 and #249. That means that the host team only gave up 410.2 points in order to pick up 430.75 points. That suggests that the Colts wanted to move down more than the Steelers wanted to move up. Or, perhaps, that Chris Ballard showed less grit at the negotiation than Omar Khan.
The Panthers and Vikings traded spots by swapping 49 and 51, giving up 159 but getting back 196. This was within 1% of book value, and was essentially a way of making sure Lee Hunter didn’t get away from them.
