If there’s one singular event that never fails to determine the future of the National Football League, it’s the NFL draft. Every season, around 250 young men’s lives are changed when their names are read, selected to play for one of the 32 NFL teams. Following the draft, many writers rank each team’s draft classes, describing how successful they believe each draft class will be. In this article, I’ll be highlighting three of the teams who I believe could have done a better job with the draft capital that they had, and whose draft classes left me slightly underwhelmed, and questioning how exactly the selected players will contribute in the future.

• The San Francisco 49ers

The 49ers were one of two teams to trade out of Thursday’s first round, joining the Buffalo Bills as the other team who moved back to gain additional draft capital for the draft’s later days. However, unlike the Bills (who I believe made a great, round one caliber selection early on day two) The 49ers used their first selection in an extremely puzzling way, selecting Ole Miss wide receiver De’Zhaun Stribling 33rd overall. While Stribling undoubtedly has potential as a player, his consensus ranking from media outlets often placing him anywhere from the 90s-180s simply just does not warrant the first selection of the second round. The 49ers followed up this puzzling selection with even more questionable moves, drafting Indiana running back Kaelon Black in the third round. Selecting a running back also drastically lower on the consensus board than the spot where he was selected, at an age when most running backs begin declining in production even at the pro level (25 years old) is simply another selection that I can’t get behind. While the 49ers did make some selections that I’m a fan of, such as their other third round selection of Romello Height, I simply just cannot get behind the draft class that San Francisco left 2026’s draft with.

• The Jacksonville Jaguars

The Jaguars came into the 2026 draft without a first round pick, as they had used it in the trade up to select Travis Hunter a year earlier. However, even factoring in this lack of draft capital, the Jaguars simply just had one of the most mind-boggling draft classes in recent memory. A team’s first selection often defines their draft class, and Jacksonville’s selection of tight end Nate Boerkircher at pick 56 couldn’t be more defining for the Jaguars’ rookie crop. Similarly to San Francisco, the Jaguars first selection was broadly considered a massive reach, with Boerkircher typically projected to be selected as late as the 5th round of the draft. Jacksonville then followed this selection up with another massive reach, selecting defensive lineman Albert Regis approximately 80 selections above his consensus draft ranking. What saves the Jaguars from being my least favorite draft class despite their first two seismic reaches was their third selection, guard Emmanuel Pregnon from Oregon, a terrific value pick whose fall to the third round surprised most. Overall, however, Jacksonville’s class simply just leaves a lot to be desired.

• The Minnesota Vikings

Seemingly a tradition in my yearly opinions, I just do not love the way the Minnesota Vikings draft. Their first selection of defensive tackle Caleb Banks from Florida marked a reach for a player at a position of need, a selection marred even further by Banks’ extensive injury history. The Vikings then followed this selection up with a consensus reach, selecting Cincinnati linebacker Jake Golday despite several other linebackers on the board being far higher regarded. Similarly to the Jaguars, however, this class is redeemed by a great value in the third round, with defensive tackle Dominique Orange (Nicknamed Big Citrus) being the team’s third selection. This pick marked a selection I appreciated in yet another class that I viewed as underwhelming for the Vikings, with an interim GM showcasing a performance that I do not personally believe warrants him retaining the job full time. 

While I’ve gone through and critiqued each of these draft classes, it’s once again important to note that the draft just shows a fragment of the careers of each of these players. Once we see each of these draftees play in actual NFL games, it will become easier to identify who actually had the best and worst draft classes. However, considering the current results of the draft, these are the teams who I believe made the most puzzling decisions, selections that could potentially haunt them in the future.