2026 NFL draft: Which teams should trade up, down in Round 1? - ESPN

I love a draft-day trade.

There's a reason I just put 32 of them in my all-trades NFL mock draft a week ago. Though some might call that annual endeavor a cry for help or a sign that I have too much time on my hands, I consider it a thought exercise based on what teams are likely to be thinking about as they approach the draft. What sort of moves could they consider? Is there a player they would sell out for to add? Should they be moving down at all costs? For some teams, I produced scenarios when they'd trade up with one deal and down as part of another, because there are worlds where either move made sense given a particular set of circumstances.

Today, I'm approaching draft-day trades a little differently. Instead of trying to argue for what teams could do or are likely to do given their history, this column is about what organizations should do with their picks at the end of the month.

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Should they move down and recoup some missing draft capital? Should they strike and move up if a particular player is available? Does it make sense to try to trade some of their capital into future drafts? For different teams, each of those scenarios seem logical to me.

I've picked 10 teams that should lean heavily toward moving up or down over the 2026 draft weekend. These aren't predictions — they are suggestions. And there is at least one team where my suggestion would go against decades of how a certain general manager has approached the first round of his drafts. But given where each team stands and how they project to look in 2026, I'm going to make my best argument for why trading up or down is the right move on April 23 in Pittsburgh.

Jump to a team:
CHI | DAL | DET | KC | MIA
NO | NYJ |