For the first time since 2015, a conference other than the SEC led the first round of an NFL draft. It was the Big Ten, which placed 10 players on Day 1 of the 2026 class and produced No. 1 overall pick Fernando Mendoza. It is also, according to one PFSN analyst, the most overrated talent pipeline in college football.
That was the debate on the latest episode of PFSN’s Football Debate Club, where host Cam Mellor asked analysts Oliver Hodgkinson and Ian Cummings a two-part question. All three agreed the SEC produces the most NFL talent. So which Power Four conference is getting too much credit?
Why the Big Ten’s NFL Draft Production Is Overrated
Hodgkinson, PFSN’s college football analyst, didn’t hesitate to name the conference currently wearing the crown.
“This might come across as being somewhat controversial, but I think it has to be the Big Ten, because they are now being considered the premier college football conference,” Hodgkinson said. “The SEC has had the most NFL draft picks since 2007, every single year. And even in a year [2026] where they didn’t have the most first-round picks, [they] still had the most overall picks.”
The numbers back him up. The SEC set a record with 87 selections in the 2026 NFL Draft, breaking its own mark of 79 from a year earlier. The Big Ten finished second at 68, down from 71 in 2025, despite winning the first round and back-to-back national championships from Ohio State and Indiana.
Hodgkinson’s sharper point was about distribution. Ohio State led all programs with 11 picks in 2026 and 14 in 2025, a massive share of the Big Ten’s output.
“You remove Ohio State from the Big Ten, it’s a very top-heavy conference in terms of producing NFL draft picks,” Hodgkinson said. “When you lump everyone in as a whole based on just one team, there’s an element of being overrated there.”
Ian Cummings Says the ACC Hype Is Premature
Cummings, PFSN’s NFL Draft analyst, conceded the SEC’s edge over the Big Ten but aimed his skepticism south, at the conference that just enjoyed its best draft weekend in years.
“The ACC is, we’re a little premature with the hype with them,” Cummings said. “I think the 2026 NFL Draft class was a little bit reconstructive in terms of their image. They had [six] first-round picks, including four in the top 22. But you look back to the past two years since the Big Ten [expanded], the SEC has 166 overall selections to the Big Ten’s 139. The Big Ten has 21 first-round picks over that two-year stretch to the SEC’s 23. The ACC has just 80 selections over that span.”
Public draft tallies land within a tick of those figures, crediting the SEC with 22 first-rounders across the two cycles. The 80-pick ACC total is exact: 42 selections in 2025 and 38 in 2026, the latter tied with the Big 12 for third among conferences. The ACC’s six first-round picks in 2026 were its most since 2021.
“The ACC is making progress, but I don’t think they’re in that top tier yet,” Cummings said.
Mellor agreed the ACC’s 2026 surge felt like a correction year inflated by Miami’s extended postseason exposure, but he handed Hodgkinson the round. One down season from Ohio State, he reasoned, and the Big Ten’s production argument collapses with it.
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The honest answer is that both analysts are circling the same truth from different directions. The SEC’s depth remains untouched, the Big Ten’s brand is propped up by one program, and the ACC needs a second consecutive strong class before anyone should call its rise real. The 2027 draft will tell us which correction was the mirage.
