ArticleScore 100
2026 NFL Draft Steals & Reaches: Most Valuable Draft Classes
Jun 1, 2026Warren SharpSharp Football Analysis
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Player mentions
Isaac Guerendo
RB · SF · #general
.../> 2022: Tyrion Davis-Price , Round 3 2024: Isaac Guerendo , Round 4| 2025: Jordan James , Round 5<br /...
Jordan James
RB · SF · #general
... 2024: Isaac Guerendo , Round 4| 2025: Jordan James , Round 5 2026: Kaelon Black , Round 3 <...
CJ Daniels
WR · LAR · #general
...player they selected in the first six rounds, and that includes WR CJ Daniels (Miami) at No. 196, as he was expected at No. 202. San Fr...
Carson Beck
QB · ARI · #injuryupdate
...down these rankings because of their other moves. QB Carson Beck – expected at 114, taken at 65 DL Kaleb Pr...
Ty Simpson
QB · LAR · #general
...had just three picks…and they reached badly on all three. QB Ty Simpson – expected at 38, taken at 13 TE Max Klare – expected...
Max Klare
TE · LAR · #general
.../p> QB Ty Simpson – expected at 38, taken at 13 TE Max Klare – expected at 71, taken at 61 OG Keagen Trost – expec...
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Subscribe to the Sharp Football Email Newsletter to receive all our 2026 NFL content: Subscribe to our newsletter: Leave this field empty if you're human: Rather than grading draft classes, an exercise I enjoy doing and believe has some merit , I like evaluating draft classes based on a “wisdom of crowds” approach. The methodology I use incorporates consensus mock drafts from Ben Robinson and consensus big boards assembled by Arif Hasan. I lean more on consensus mock drafts to peg the first round and the big boards thereafter. Assigning draft capital to each pick using those sources, we can compare the total draft capital used to draft a player at a particular point in the draft relative to what was expected. The resulting metric is called DCOE, standing for Draft Capital Over Expectation, and measures expected capital used on a prospect vs. the actual capital used. Based on this methodology, we can determine which teams reached the most to draft a player and which teams were able to get great value on players drafted later than expected. These aren’t draft grades. There is no personal bias involved. But to answer a few questions about the methodology: Looking at big boards tends to predict the draft quite well. While we don’t know how these prospects ultimately will transition to the NFL, nor how strong their careers will be, that is not the point of this exercise. The goal is to examine the teams that overdrafted or underdrafted. Most Valuable 2026 NFL Draft Classes: *Note: Lower draft capital over expected is better. [[["Rank","Team","DCOE"],["1","Washington Commanders","-1.71"],["2","Carolina Panthers","-1.65"],["3","Indianapolis Colts","-0.90"],["4","Cincinnati Bengals","-0.81"],["5","New York Jets","-0.78"],["6","New York Giants","-0.78"],["7","Tampa Bay Buccaneers","-0.74"],["8","Las Vegas Raiders","-0.71"],["9","Atlanta Falcons","-0.56"],["10","Kansas City Chiefs","-0.50"],["11","Buffalo Bills","-0.41"],["12","Baltimore Ravens","-0.27"],["13","Dallas Cowboys","-0.06"],["14","Green Bay Packers","0.11"],["15","Cleveland Browns","0.16"],["16","Philadelphia Eagles","0.34"],["17","Los Angeles Chargers","0.54"],["18","New England Patriots","0.58"],["19","Detroit Lions","0.59"],["20","Tennessee Titans","0.64"],["21","Miami Dolphins","0.73"],["22","Denver Broncos","0.83"],["23","New Orleans Saints","0.87"],["24","Minnesota Vikings","0.94"],["25","Pittsburgh Steelers","1.07"],["26","Chicago Bears","1.32"],["27","Seattle Seahawks","1.50"],["28","Arizona Cardinals","1.90"],["29","Jacksonville Jaguars","1.93"],["30","Houston Texans","2.18"],["31","Los Angeles Rams","2.18"],["32","San Francisco 49ers","3.14"]],[{"row":0,"col":0,"visualRow":0,"visualCol":0,"prop":0},{"row":0,"col":1,"visualRow":0,"visualCol":1,"prop":1},{"row":0,"col":2,"visualRow":0,"visualCol":2,"prop":2},{"row":1,"col":0,"visualRow":1,"visualCol":0,"prop":0},{"row":1,"col":1,"visualRow":1,"visualCol":1,"prop":1},{"row":1,"col":2,"visualRow":1,"visualCol":2,"prop":2},{"row":2,"col":0,"visualRow":2,"visualCol":0,"prop":0},{"row":2,"col":1,"visualRow":2,"visualCol":1,"prop":1},{"row":2,"col":2,"visualRow":2,"visualCol":2,"prop":2},{"row":3,"col":0,"visualRow":3,"visualCol":0,"prop":0},{"row":3,"col":1,"visualRow":3,"visualCol":1,"prop":1},{"row":3,"col":2,"visualRow":3,"visualCol":2,"prop":2},{"row":4,"col":0,"visualRow":4,"visualCol":0,"prop":0},{"row":4,"col":1,"visualRow":4,"visualCol":1,"prop":1},{"row":4,"col":2,"visualRow":4,"visualCol":2,"prop":2},{"row":5,"col":0,"vi…