Every year, the NFL draft offers three days of excitement for avid and casual NFL fans alike. Franchises pick through the next class of star talent to decide which players fit best – and their fans complain or celebrate on social media about their decisions.
Teams will tout getting “their guys” in the NFL draft and sometimes it takes a little extra to secure them. Jacksonville made a blockbuster trade in last year’s draft to move up to the No. 2 overall pick to select Heisman Trophy winner Travis Hunter.
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That kind of movement is to be expected every year. The question is figuring out which teams will do it.
Any team can be a contender to move up or down come draft days. Some of them are better suited for each of those outcomes thanks to draft capital (either more or less than typical), the state of the roster or both.
Here are three teams which are likely to trade up in the 2026 NFL Draft and three we think are trade down candidates:
NFL draft: Teams most likely to trade up
Pittsburgh Steelers
The Steelers are armed with a league-high 12 draft picks in 2026. That’s a bit antithetical for a team expected to retain a quarterback entering his age-43 season.
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Half of Pittsburgh’s dozen picks are from Round 2 through Round 4. A pair of compensatory selections and a third-round pick from the Dallas Cowboys for the George Pickens trade makes them a team ripe for movement, especially on Day 2. If they fall for a player in the top 50 that they think will help them contend in 2026, don’t be surprised to see some aggressive moves from the Steelers.
Jacksonville Jaguars
Jacksonville doesn’t have a first-round selection but somehow managed to accumulate 11 total picks in the 2026 NFL Draft. None of them are in the top 50 selections. They received two picks from the Detroit Lions from a draft-day trade last year which bears fruit now as pick No. 81 and No. 100.
The Jaguars found their stride down the stretch of 2025 and won the AFC South in a down year for the Texans and a collapse from the Indianapolis Colts. They addressed needs in free agency but lost crucial starters, notably linebacker Devin Lloyd and running back Travis Etienne.
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Jacksonville may not break back into the first round of the draft but look for them to be extremely active on Day 2. This is an outstanding linebacker class and, considering their need at the position with Lloyd’s departure, look for them to move up and secure the best one they can.
New England Patriots
New England just made the Super Bowl in a surprising one-year turnaround powered by a productive draft and key free agent acquisitions. They’re hoping for another division title and playoff berth again in 2026 and that could come thanks to their 11 draft picks.
The Patriots’ 11 picks aren’t spread out in the middle rounds like the Steelers and Jaguars. Instead, they’re mostly on the end of Day 3. Four of their 11 selections are in Round 6 alone so that may make it tough for them to be active before Round 3, unless they’re willing to sacrifice capital in next year’s draft. Still, this class has good depth at positions they should be interested in (linebacker, edge rusher, wide receiver) so some movement up is expected.
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NFL draft: Teams most likely to trade down
Los Angeles Chargers
The Chargers have just five selections in the 2026 NFL Draft, tied for the second-fewest in the league. They have one pick each in the first four rounds and their sixth-round selection.
They did well to address some big needs on offense in free agency by bringing in potential new starters at guard and center with Cole Strange and Tyler Biadasz, respectively, as well as reinforcements at running back (Keaton Mitchell) and tight end (Charlie Kolar). But the defense remained mostly untouched additions-wise and Los Angeles lost their defensive coordinator Jesse Minter to the Baltimore Ravens’ head coaching job.
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A quarterback-needy team eyeing a fifth-year option for Ty Simpson or another passer could make a move up to the back end of the first round. If so, Los Angeles should be listening. Beyond that, there should be good prospects who slip in the second round and the Chargers should be open for business there as well.
Seattle Seahawks
The Super Bowl champions went all-in to win the title and it paid off. After a critical class of rookies in 2025 arrived, the team now has a league-low four picks to reinforce the roster in the 2026 NFL Draft.
Like the Chargers, Seattle should be open for business in trading pick No. 32 overall in the first round. All it takes is one or two teams looking for a quarterback and that extra year of financial control to make a move up.
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Unlike other teams in this group, Seattle doesn’t have a ton of needs after retaining most of their talent from their championship team. Running back looms the largest with Kenneth Walker III now in Kansas City and Zach Charbonnet recovering from injury. Losing Riq Woolen in free agency means they may need more options in the secondary but that’s about it for big needs. This isn’t a great class for running backs so keeping that first-round pick to get one isn’t crucial. They could opt instead to move back and recoup more picks to fill out key positions.
Dallas Cowboys
The Osa Odighizuwa trade netted the Cowboys a third-round pick that the team desperately needed. Prior to that, Dallas had just two picks in the top 100 selections, both in the first round.
Even still, the Cowboys have 72 selections between their latter first-round pick (No. 20) and their third-rounder (No. 92). Their top pick is outside of the top 10 which sees a slight drop in talent level in this class so Dallas could move off of either of the first-round picks to recoup more middle-round capital.
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Compensatory selections helped them out on Day 3 with two coming at the end of Round 5. But for a team with the worst pass defense in the league, they’ll need to add more developmental talent to that unit. Moving back in the first round shouldn’t keep them from getting a potential rookie starter at cornerback and/or safety. New defensive coordinator Christian Parker could certainly use the help.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: 2026 NFL Draft: Look for Cowboys, Steelers to make trades up, down
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