It’s the eve of the 2026 NFL Draft, and the mystique surrounding the top of the board has never been greater.
It’s unclear just how or in which order the prospects will fall on Thursday, but some teams are trying to trade up, and some teams are trying to trade back; two likely suspects are the Arizona Cardinals and Kansas City Chiefs.
Chiefs Skip the Line in Major Draft-Day trade
In a three-round mock draft published by PFSN’s Cameron Sheath, a blockbuster deal took place between the Chiefs and Cardinals. In this deal, both sides achieve what they want.
The Chiefs, who are sitting at No. 9 overall, swapped places with the Cardinals at No. 3. A six-spot jump in the top-10 is going to cost a pretty penny, so they sent Arizona selection Nos. 9, 29, and 40. In return, the Chiefs received the third overall selection, as well as Nos. 34, 104, and 143.
The Chiefs utilized their newfound draft capital to land a “banshee” of a pass-rusher in Texas Tech’s David Bailey. At 6’3″ and 250 pounds, Bailey has consistently been projected as a top-three pick in just about every mock draft that’s been published throughout this cycle. He and Ohio State’s Arvell Reese headline their position group in this year’s class.
According to his scouting report, his pass-rush value is at a caliber that “very few other players” can replicate. “He’s a banshee off the edge with blue-chip upside as a pass-rush presence, and the building blocks are there for him to build a complete three-down game.”
The Cardinals, meanwhile, land Alabama quarterback Ty Simpson with the No. 29 overall selection, solving a conundrum of their own. Indiana’s Fernando Mendoza is the undisputed top quarterback in this class, but he’ll be the Las Vegas Raiders’ pick at No.1. overall. After him, Simpson represents the last potential first-round pick before a steep drop-off at the position.
Drafting him with the No. 3 overall pick would’ve been way too rich for Simpson, who some have believed could have slipped into the second round. Even then, he may not have been available where the Cardinals picked at No. 34. Trading back into the first round and landing their franchise quarterback may have been the most sensible path for the Cardinals.
“I don’t believe the Arizona Cardinals want to pick here, and recent talk of their apparent interest in Jeremiyah Love only strengthens that belief,” writes Sheath. “Working down the draft order, the Kansas City Chiefs were the first team I could make a strong case for in a trade.
“The Chiefs use the extra first-round pick they received from the Trent McDuffie trade to move up to three and land an elite pass-rushing talent. The Chiefs haven’t picked inside the top-10 since they traded up to land Patrick Mahomes II with the 10th pick in the 2017 draft, so why not make it count?”
The 2025 campaign was essentially a season to forget for the Chiefs. By the time Mahomes sustained a torn anterior cruciate ligament, the Chiefs were 6-8 and barely staying afloat in the AFC playoff race.
Mahomes completed 62.7% of his passes for 3,587 yards, 22 touchdowns, and 11 interceptions, resulting in a passer rating of 89.6. His completion percentage, yards, and touchdowns were all career lows since he became the starter in 2018. The underwhelming campaign saw Mahomes rank No. 17 in PFSN’s QB Impact metric with a grade of 77.2.
With two first-round picks, an opportunity could be presented before the Chiefs to retool their roster with blue-chip talent, but accumulating an assortment of draft capital could be difficult to pass up.
