2026 NFL Draft Day 2 winners and losers: Eagles’ Howie Roseman works magic again

After unveiling some winners and losers for the first round of the draft on Thursday, we are back with more, and this time, we have two rounds to work with, so it’s going to be twice the fun.  

Eagles general manager Howie Roseman made our winners list on Thursday, and once again, he’s also on the winners list. I wonder if he ever gets tired of winning. Roseman is the only person who made the list two days in a row. 

The second day of the draft was a wild one because we saw one player get free ketchup for life and we also saw the second round go by with zero running backs or quarterbacks getting selected, marking the first time in 23 years that’s happened. 

With that in mind, let’s get to our winners and losers, starting with Howie Roseman. 

2026 NFL Draft essentials

Winners

Eagles GM Howie Roseman

At this point, we might just have to name the “winners” section after Howie Roseman because he always ends up here. We put him here after the first round, we put him here last year and I’m pretty sure we put him here the year before that. I can’t remember a year when we didn’t have him as a winner. 

This time around, he’s a winner because he pulled off a blockbuster trade for Jonathan Greenard in the middle of the second round. To make the deal happen, Roseman just had to send two third-round picks to Minnesota. For the Eagles, this trade makes a lot of sense. The Eagles were in desperate need of some pass-rushing help after losing several key defensive players this offseason, including Jaelan Phillips and Nakobe Dean. Roseman didn’t love his options in the draft, so he went out and got Greenard and then they turned around and signed the linebacker to a four-year, $100 million extension. 

Although Greenard dealt with a shoulder injury in 2025 that caused him to miss several games, the 28-year-old has recorded at least 12 sacks in two of his past three seasons. This is another case of the rich getting richer. 

Offensive weapons

When I say offensive weapons here, I’m specifically referring to wide receivers and tight ends. Both positions have been drafted at a historical pace through three rounds. 

There have been 17 receivers taken so far in the draft, which is tied for the most through three rounds in draft history. Of that total, 12 were taken on Day 2. The Browns led the charge when it comes to drafting receivers: They became the first team since 1996 to use two top 40 picks on the position, taking KC Concepcion (24th overall) and Denzel Boston (39th overall). We handed out an ‘A’ or an ‘A-‘ to seven different teams that drafted a receiver on Day 2, so we were big fans of most of the moves that went down.  

Tight end was also a popular position to draft on Day 2. There were seven tight ends taken through the first 75 picks, which was the most since 1973. Overall, nine tight ends were taken in the first three rounds, tying the most in NFL history (the last time we saw nine came in 2023). At one point on Friday, four tight ends got taken in a span of eight picks. 

All those tight ends can probably thank Sean McVay. The Rams coach started running more 13 personnel last year, which calls for having three tight ends on the field, and he had so much success that other teams started doing it more. The NFL is a copycat league, which might explain why everyone drafted a tight end on Day 2, including McVay’s Rams (Max Klare). Even the Bears drafted a tight end (Sam Roush) and they made the move even though they already have Cole Kmet and Colston Loveland on their roster. 

The belief that defense wins championships

Someone once said that defense wins championships and I’m starting to think that person might have been right. Yes, I did just point out all of the offensive weapons that were taken on Friday, but it was defense that dominated the second round. There were a total of 22 defensive players in the round, which was tied for the most in a second round in draft history. At one point, there was a stretch where 13 defensive players were taken in a 14-pick span. 

The Texans were one team I certainly took note of. Houston traded up from 38th to 36th to draft Ohio State defensive lineman Kayden McDonald. If defense truly does win championships, then we might just want to give the Lombardi Trophy to the Texans. They already had one of the best defenses in the NFL and it just got even better with the addition of McDonald. The run-stuffing defensive tackle fills one of the few weaknesses that the defense still has. 

Another team that’s gone all-in on defense is the Chiefs. Apparently, someone forgot to tell them that you’re allowed to draft offensive players, because, through the first two days, Kansas City has spent all three of its picks on defensive players with CB Mansoor Delane (sixth overall), DL Peter Woods (29th) and EDGE R Mason Thomas (40th). With these picks, the Chiefs’ defense better be good this year, because they’ve done absolutely nothing to help Patrick Mahomes through the first three rounds. 

Logan Jones

With the 57th overall pick, the Bears decided to take Iowa center Logan Jones, who might actually end up being the biggest winner of the draft and that’s mainly because he’ll be getting free ketchup for life. In what might go down as the best draft sponsorship of all-time, Heinz decided to give a lifetime supply of ketchup to the 57th player taken in the draft. The company is based in Pittsburgh and with the draft being held in the Steel City, Heinz decided to go all-in. 

Jones had no idea that there would be getting free ketchup for being the 57th pick, but he seems totally on board with the giveaway. 

This is the worst-case scenario for Heinz because an offensive lineman living in Chicago — where hot dogs are one of the main food groups — might eat $7 million worth of ketchup over the course of his lifetime. 

On a non-ketchup note, this is a huge pick for the Bears. With the unexpected retirement of Drew Dalman this offseason, the Bears were definitely in the market for a center and getting Jones at this spot was definitely some solid value. The Bears did make a trade for Garrett Bradbury this offseason, so Jones will be competing with him for the starting job. 

Gennings Dunker

If your name is Gennings Dunker, you’re automatically a winner in my book. The Steelers drafted the Iowa offensive lineman with their final pick of the third round and it’s fitting that he went to Pittsburgh, because based on his looks, he might be more suited than any prospect ever to play for the Steelers. 

I’m now 99% sure that Aaron Rodgers is going to return, if only just so he can see Dunker’s mullet in person. 

Losers

Third round quarterbacks

There were zero quarterbacks drafted in the second round on Friday, but two in the third round. However, that’s not great news for those two, because if there’s one round a quarterback never wants to be drafted in, it’s the third. If you’re a QB taken in the third round, you are essentially doomed to failure and we saw two of them taken in that round on Friday night. 

First, the Cardinals took Carson Beck with the opening pick of the third round (65th overall). Eleven picks later, the Steelers drafted Penn State’s Drew Allar. 

Over the past 13 years, no QB drafted in the third round has made a Pro Bowl. In all of NFL history, only four quarterbacks drafted in the third round have ended up winning a Super Bowl as a starter (Russell Wilson, Nick Foles, Joe Montana, and Jeff Hostetler). 

To give you an idea of how much of a struggle it is to become a successful quarterback after being taken in the third round, here is a list of every QB who has been taken in the third round over the past 10 years: 

2016: Jacoby Brissett, Cody Kessler
2017: Davis Webb, C.J. Beathard
2018: Mason Rudolph
2019: Will Grier
2020: NONE
2021: Kellen Mond, Davis Mills
2022: Desmond Ridder, Malik Willis, Matt Corral
2023: Hendon Hooker
2024: NONE
2025: Jalen Milroe, Dillon Gabriel

Both Wilson and Foles were drafted in 2012 and if you eliminate that draft class, there have only been two third-rounders since 2000 who threw at least 80 touchdown passes in their career (Josh McCown and Matt Schaub). When you’re drafted in the third round, you’re a good quarterback, just not quite good enough to have any sustained success in the NFL. 

In a wild twist, Allar and Beck will both be joining a former third-round QB. Allar will be in a QB room with Rudolph in Pittsburgh, while Beck will be with Brissett in Arizona. 

49ers Day 2 strategy 

The 49ers made one of the most shocking picks of the day on Friday when they opened up the second round by taking Ole Miss WR De’Zhaun Stribling at 33rd overall. 

The pick might have been the biggest reach of the second round. Stribling was the 19th-ranked receiver on our big board here at CBS Sports and the 120th-ranked overall player. At ESPN, he was ranked as the 15th-best receiver and 76th overall. I don’t think there was a single ranking that had him in the top 70 and the 49ers decided to take him at 33rd overall. The bizarre thing is that this pick wasn’t even out of character for the 49ers because they have a track record of making bad picks on Day 2. It’s like they can’t get out of their own way. 

Based on that list, the 49ers might want to start thinking about just trading away all of their Day 2 picks, because nothing seems to be working out for them. 

The 33rd pick was a popular one and multiple teams tried to make a trade for it, but the 49ers held on to the pick and selected a player they probably could have gotten in the third or fourth round. 

Jermod McCoy

Last year, it was Shedeur Sanders who inexplicably fell out of the first three rounds of the draft. This year, that unfortunate honor belongs to McCoy. The Tennessee cornerback, who was ranked as the SIXTH-best player on Mike Renner’s big board, is still available as the draft gets ready to head into the fourth round. He was projected by most pundits to go in the first or second round, but so far he hasn’t found a single taker. 

The big reason for McCoy’s fall seems to be injury-related. McCoy suffered a torn ACL at the end of the 2024 college season and he didn’t play a single snap in 2025. He also didn’t participate at the NFL Combine, which didn’t help his cause. To make matters worse, NFL Network is reporting that he might have to get another knee surgery to replace a bone plug that’s used to repair a cartilage defect in his knee.

At this point, his knee just has too many question marks, and because of that, no one is willing to take a chance on him. 

Running backs

The draft got off to a hot start for running backs with Jeremiyah Love and Jadarian both getting taken in the first round. However, things have cooled off considerably since then. There were ZERO running backs taken in the second round, marking the first time in 23 years that there wasn’t a single running back taken in that round. Things didn’t get much better in the third round with just one running back going off the board. That happened when the 49ers selected Kaelon Black with the 90th overall pick. That pick was arguably another Day 2 reach by the 49ers. 

We’re not here to roast the 49ers, though; we’re here to talk about running backs. There were only three taken through the first three rounds, which is the fewest ever through three rounds in the Super Bowl era. 

The three running backs who were drafted all ended up in the NFC West, meaning no other division has drafted a running back yet. 

Although it was an ugly day for running backs, things should improve on Saturday and it won’t be surprising if we see eight to 12 of them go off the board over the final four rounds. 

Brotherly Love

The Falcons pulled off one of the coolest picks of the draft when they decided to take Clemson’s CB Avieon Terrell in the second round at 48th overall. The thing that made the pick so cool is that Terrell’s brother, A.J., already plays for the Falcons. The elder Terrell brother has been in Atlanta since 2020 when the Falcons made him the 16th overall pick in the draft. 

On the surface, this should be a good thing that they’re playing together and we should probably have them in the winners section, but we have them here because A.J. DOES NOT WANT HIS BROTHER ON HIS TEAM. Earlier this month, the older Terrell was asked about the possibility of the Falcons drafting his younger brother and he was totally against it.

“I want to play against him and see him walk on the sideline,” A.J. told ESPN. “I want to see him play and I want him to have his own story somewhere else. I don’t want the narrative to be the Terrell brothers.”

I have some bad news for you, A.J.: the narrative is going to be the Terrell brothers. 

The Terrells are now just the second pair of brothers since 1980 to be drafted by the same team in the first two rounds of separate drafts. The only other time it happened came with Kevin and Andre Dyson. Kevin was the 16th overall pick of the Titans in 1998. Three years later, Tennessee made Andre the 60th overall pick. 

Non-Power Four programs

When it comes to college football, there is no more David vs. Goliath because David has been squashed. Now that we’re in the NIL era, it’s become almost impossible for any players from a non-power conference to make it to the NFL. If a player at a smaller college shows some promise, then he’ll just get recruited by a Power Four school, and that will be that. 

If this year is any indication, we’re just not going to see very many FCS or Group of Six players get drafted going forward. Through the first three rounds, there were only three players drafted who didn’t attend college in a Power Four conference: 

27. Dolphins: CB Chris Johnson (San Diego St.)
58. Browns: S Emmanuel McNeil-Warren (Toledo)
84. Buccaneers: WR Ted Hurst (Georgia St.)

This draft also marked the first time in history that zero FCS players were selected in the first three rounds. There were only 24 players drafted last year that came from a non-power conference, and that number will likely shrink this year. Players are going where the money is and the money is in the Power Four and that’s created a situation where smaller schools are no longer producing NFL-caliber talent.