Why the New York Jets could own the 2027 NFL Draft through the 2026 regular season
A brand new NFL regular season is nearly upon us. While the main focus is all about which teams will make their way to SoFi Stadium for Super Bowl 61 next February, one of the season-long storylines that will unfold is the fate of several 2027 first-round draft picks.
There are currently three teams who hold someone else’s first-rounder, and in the case of the perpetually rebuilding New York Jets, they own two additional firsts thanks to some massive midseason trades involving star defensive players. Let’s take a look at how the 2026 regular season could impact the 2027 NFL Draft order.
Just as they did last year, the Jets are poised for three first-round selections next April. The Jets traded cornerback ‘Sauce’ Gardner to the Indianapolis Colts for their 2026 and 2027 firsts, and 2026 blew up in Indy’s faces. Meanwhile, the Jets also received a 2027 first from the Cowboys’ midseason pickup of defensive tackle Quinnen Williams. It’s all golden for the Jets in terms of draft capital, and it’s more likely than not that their native first will be in the top 10… but there’s a twist as far as what happens with one of their extra picks.
Dallas is sending the Jets the “better” of its native pick or the Packers first. In other words, whichever of the Cowboys or Packers has the worse record will see their first go to East Rutherford.
Indianapolis has been mired in mediocrity for years, and last season’s 8-2 start cratered into an 8-9 collapse following the season-ending injury to Daniel Jones. The Colts retained Jones and he will be ready for Week 1 off of that Achilles rupture, but he’s the big question mark that probably makes or breaks Indy’s season. Without good QB play and without Jonathan Taylor maintaining his status as an elite running back, the Colts may be a double-digit loss squad. Their FanDuel Sportsbook over/under win total sits at 7.5, and Jets fans would love nothing more for the under to hit and that pick falling in the teens or better.
Dallas had a playoff-caliber offense and a layoff-caliber defense, as evidenced by the immediate canning of defensive coordinator Matt Eberflus. If Brian Schottenheimer’s offense can stay high-powered this year, the retooled Cowboys defense just needs to be average to propel them for a return to the postseason for the first time since 2023.
Despite three consecutive years as the 7-seed, Green Bay still figures to be an NFC contender. The big caveats are how the defense looks with Micah Parsons out until at least October due to injury, as well as what happens to their running game now that Josh Jacobs faces a league suspension. Again, it’s all about which of the Cowboys or Packers finishes with a worse season, so if they return to the postseason then the Jets should expect the Green Bay 2027 first-rounder to be in the 20s.
They do not, although the Colts do play the Cowboys, so Indy could influence the fate of Dallas’ native first-rounder and whether or not it goes to the Jets.
The Jets won’t play Dallas, but their home opener is versus Green Bay in Week 2.
Last season’s Micah Parsons trade to the Green Bay Packers cost Green Bay its 2026 and 2027 firsts. However, that 2027 pick could soon be re-routed to the New York Jets through the aforementioned Quinnen Williams deal.
Yes, and we can only hope it’s as thrilling as last year’s 40-40 tie in Arlington. This year’s edition is Week 6 at Lambeau Field on Sunday Night Football, and it’s possible that Parsons makes his season debut by then.
Oh, it didn’t take much. They just had to trade Myles Garrett to the Los Angeles Rams in a blockbuster deal. Under different circumstances, Garrett might have fetched multiple firsts, but the Browns did get talented young pass rusher Jared Verse in lieu of a 2028 first.
It’d be considered a colossal failure if the Rams weren’t at least back in the NFC Championship Game, let alone in yet another home Super Bowl. Even before Aaron Donald announced his return, this pick was projected to be in the 29-32 range for obvious reasons, which does create a non-zero possibility that the Browns could actually own the first and last pick in the first round.
They do not, and I’m not sure such a matchup would be suitable for television. There might be some Browns fans who are both Team Tank and want the Rams to have a disaster of a season, but there’s really only one team that figures to be losing a lot of games in this scenario.
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