NFL Draft 2026 — Rounds 2 & 3 Review: Where We Were Right, Where We Were Wrong, and Who Won Friday Night

Ten of Kiper's top-40 prospects entered Friday still available. We said the draft gets decided in rounds two and three. It did — just not always in the ways we predicted.

Before the grades: our preview made five specific calls. Denzel Boston as the most obvious missed-draft in Round 1. Zion Young as the clearest edge value. A linebacker run coming early. Kayden McDonald gone within ten picks. The tight end class overvalued relative to what was available. Three of five held. Two did not. Here is the full accounting.

What We Got Right

Boston still available in Round 2 was taken by the Browns at pick 39 — the seventh selection of the second round — and Kiper called it the best remaining player on the board. We had him as a late first Round pick with the overall rank 27, described him as "pro-ready" with the kind of hands and catch radius that made his round-one slide inexplicable. Cleveland's receiver room combined for a league-low 1,467 receiving yards in 2025. They needed Boston more than almost any team in the league. They got him. That pick will look intelligent in three years.

Zion Young to Baltimore at pick 45 was the second clean confirmation. We had him as EDGE ranking 22, "quick-twitch, sets a firm edge, starting potential." The Ravens wanted a pass-rush complement to Trey Hendrickson — they found one with a prospect who had 46 pressures and 6.5 sacks last season. Young was the last remaining player from Kiper's final top-25 heading into round two. Baltimore was the team that needed him most. The match was obvious. It happened.

The tight end run arrived — and it arrived aggressively. We flagged the position as overvalued relative to the remaining depth, and Friday proved the point. Four tight ends went in an eight-pick stretch: Boerkircher to Jacksonville at 56, Klein to Houston at 59, Klare to the Rams at 61, and Roush to Chicago at 69. Kiper's response was direct — Boerkircher was his 127th-ranked player, Klein wasn't in his top 150. Three of those four picks he called reaches. The tight end room ran dry early, and teams paid above market to stock a position that didn't warrant the premium.

Where We Were Wrong

The linebacker run never materialized as projected. We called CJ Allen and Jacob Rodriguez as values that would be corrected "within the first ten picks" of round two. Allen went to the Colts at pick 53. Rodriguez to the Dolphins at pick 43. Both went day two — but neither triggered the run we anticipated. The position corrected individually, not as a wave. The Colts in particular landed Allen at the 28th spot on Kiper's board while making their first pick of the entire draft. That is exceptional value for a three-down linebacker, but the position itself never dominated the room the way it did through picks one through seven in round one.

McDonald took longer than predicted. We said he'd go "within ten picks of round two." He went at pick 36 to the Texans. That is 68th overall — four picks into round two. Technically within range, but the Texans were not a team we identified as needing interior defensive line help. Houston already operates one of the league's stronger defenses. The value was real. The destination was the surprise.

The Four Teams Who Won Friday

Cleveland Browns

The Browns entered round two with the most urgent receiver need in the NFL and left with the best available wideout on the board. Denzel Boston at pick 39 fills the WR1 void immediately. Emmanuel McNeil-Warren at pick 58 — Kiper had him ranked 33rd overall, a 4.52 athlete with five interceptions and ten forced fumbles across his college career — gives Cleveland's defense a rangy playmaker who can create turnovers. Austin Barber at pick 86 addresses the offensive tackle depth that the team needs after trading fourth- and sixth-round assets to move up. The tackle pick was questioned — Kiper noted better options at the position — but the receiver haul alone makes Cleveland the clear day-two winner. They addressed the single biggest structural weakness on their roster with the best available player at that position. That rarely happens cleanly in round two.

Baltimore Ravens

Zion Young at pick 45 was the best remaining player on the board at any position. Pairing him with Trey Hendrickson gives Baltimore a pass-rush combination that will command double teams, generate one-on-one opportunities, and make an already-elite defense considerably more dangerous. Ja'Kobi Lane at pick 80 adds the big-body receiver that Lamar Jackson's offense has needed — 6-4, 200 pounds, 11 red zone touchdown catches over the past two seasons. The Ravens did not overreach. They did not deviate from their board. They took two players who were ranked inside Kiper's top-22 and addressed two genuine roster needs. Efficient, disciplined, effective.

Indianapolis Colts

The Colts waited until pick 53 to make their first selection of the entire draft — and landed the 28th-best player on Kiper's board. CJ Allen is a three-down linebacker with exceptional diagnostic ability, the kind of player who reads and reacts faster than the offense can adjust. That is first-round value with a second-round pick, and it partially compensates for the pain of having no round-one selection at all. A.J. Haulcy at pick 78 — eight interceptions and twelve pass breakups over two college seasons — upgrades a secondary that lost meaningful production from Nick Cross's vacated spot. The Colts maximized a constrained hand.

Arizona Cardinals

The Cardinals addressed their interior blocking with Chase Bisontis at pick 34 — a strong, versatile guard who immediately upgrades the protection around Jeremiyah Love. Then, at pick 65, they took Carson Beck. We had Beck flagged in the preview as "the most interesting late-day quarterback conversation" — cerebral, experienced, potentially limited outside of structure, ranked 111th overall by Kiper. Arizona's current quarterback room is Jacoby Brissett and Gardner Minshew II. Taking a calculated swing on a developmental QB3 in round three while protecting the 2027 first-round class for a true franchise option is sound roster management. Beck won't start in 2026. He isn't supposed to. He's an insurance policy that costs a third-round pick and preserves Arizona's future flexibility.

The Two Questionable Nights

San Francisco 49ers

We identified the edge rusher position as San Francisco's most urgent need heading into day two. They selected De'Zhaun Stribling at pick 33 — Kiper's 73rd-ranked player, his 12th-ranked receiver, with a dozen receivers rated ahead of him still on the board. Then Romello Height at pick 70, Kiper's 107th prospect, an edge rusher whose college production was real but whose NFL translation carries genuine uncertainty. Then Kaelon Black at pick 90, a running back when two significantly more impactful options remained available. The 49ers needed an edge rusher. They got one — eventually, in round three, with a player ranked outside the top 100. The draft board offered better choices at San Francisco's biggest positional need for three consecutive picks, and they passed each time.

The Tight End Buyers

Jacksonville, Houston, the Rams, and Chicago collectively spent four picks on a position cluster that Kiper flagged as overvalued in real time. Boerkircher at 56 was his 127th-ranked player. Klein at 59 wasn't in his top 150. Klare was a slight reach at 61. Roush at 69 came with two superior tight ends — Delp and Joly — still available. The Rams already had the exception: Eli Stowers to Philadelphia at pick 54 was a smart selection, a legitimate mismatch-creator landing as the heir apparent to Dallas Goedert. But the run that followed it represented four franchises deciding to pay round-two premium for round-four talent at the same position within the same eight-pick window. One of those picks — probably Klare — might work out. The value calculus on the others is difficult to defend.

What Saturday Needs to Answer

Jermod McCoy, Tennessee cornerback, was Kiper's 29th-ranked player and the best prospect remaining on the board heading into round four. He missed all of 2025 with a knee injury and didn't work out at the combine. The medical question is real. But when a first-round talent slides to day three on injury concern alone, and the injury is a known, recoverable condition, one team will make the calculation and accept the risk. That team will likely look correct in 2027.

Kyle Louis, S/LB hybrid out of Pittsburgh, ranked 53rd overall — versatile enough to play four positions, athletic enough to play all four of them well. The teams that identified safety and linebacker as needs in round one and missed will be moving for Louis early on Saturday.

Rounds two and three raised the stakes.

Saturday resolves them.