Author: ESPN staff

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The Las Vegas Raiders are nearly on the clock at No. 1 to kick off the 2026 NFL draft. It will be the first of 257 total selections across seven rounds starting Thursday and wrapping up Saturday.

To prepare you for the draft, here is our cheat sheet for everything you need to know — top prospects, rankings, mock drafts, key nuggets, bold predictions, buzz and more. How does quarterback Fernando Mendoza stack up among recent top picks? What are the best team fits in Round 1? Which sleeper prospects could rise up the board?

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Who are the NFL’s highest-paid players at every position?

We tracked the best-paid players at 16 different positions — including long-snapper — and will keep the numbers updated as more records get broken. To get the full picture on the top earners in this league, we sorted positions by two categories, which in a few cases have the same player at No. 1:

Three-year average (APY)

Total guaranteed money

Salary information courtesy of Roster Management System.

Let’s start the highest-paid quarterbacks:

Jump to a position:
QB | RB | WR | TE
OT | OG | OC | EDGE
DT | LB | CB | S
K |

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Though it can be hard to project how NFL draft prospects will fare in the pros, we can get a better sense of their future by making one-to-one comparisons. So we asked a number of our NFL draft analysts and college football experts to pick their favorite prospect-to-player comparisons for the 2026 class.

Their comps were made based on style of play, physical measurements, production and versatility — or some combination of all those traits. And we opened up the possibility for former NFL players to be selected.

Who does Indiana quarterback Fernando Mendoza remind us of? Which

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The deadline for NFL teams to pick up fifth-year options on the rookie contracts of 2023 first-round draft picks is May 1.

Teams have to decide whether to keep the 31 players below for a fifth season. If the team declines the option, 2026 will be the last season on the rookie contract, making the player a free agent in 2027. If the option is picked up, the player remains under contract for 2027.

We are tracking the entire 2023 class — which had only 31 picks after the Miami Dolphins were stripped of their first-round selection for

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The NFL has announced dates for offseason workout programs for the 2026 league year.

Offseason programs are conducted in three phases: Phase One for meetings, strength and conditioning and physical rehabilitation, Phase Two for individual and group drills, and Phase Three for organized team practice activity — commonly referred to as OTAs.

Contact is not permitted in Phases Two and Three, but teams are allowed to run 7-on-7, 9-on-7 and 11-on-11 drills during OTAs.

Voluntary veteran minicamps can be held by teams with new coaches — this year, 10 teams will hold one before the 2026 NFL draft (April 23-25; ESPN,

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