Winners, losers from Day 2 of 2026 NFL Draft: Browns keep adding playmakers

The 2026 NFL Draft continued on Friday night with the second and third rounds. While these picks do not always get as much attention as the first-round picks, teams still rely on these rounds to find immediate starters and potential stars. Let's take a look at some of the winners and losers from Friday's picks. 

Winner: Kayden McDonald

After not being selected in the first round on Thursday night, Ohio State defensive tackle Kayden McDonald was one of the rare players to spend an entire night in the green room without hearing his name called. He decided to return for night two and ended up becoming the early feel-good story of the night when the Houston Texans got him with the 36th pick. Not only did McDonald get to have the experience of walking out on the stage, but he also gets to join a Super Bowl contender and one of the best defenses in the NFL. Not bad. 

Loser: Pittsburgh Steelers' revolving door of quarterbacks

Until the Steelers figure out their quarterback situation, their ceiling is going to remain what it is. A nine-or 10-win team that can make the playoffs, and then not do anything when they get there. Ever since Ben Roethlisberger retired, it has been a revolving door of average to below-average to bad quarterbacks, and that door may have taken another spin in the third round. 

That is when the Steelers selected Penn State quarterback Drew Allar, adding him to a quarterback room that currently includes Will Howard and Mason Rudolph, and might eventually include Aaron Rodgers. 

It's just ... it's not good. 

Allar has all of the physical tools and an NFL arm, but has poor fundamentals and always seems to wilt under pressure. Those are not NFL qualities. New head coach Mike McCarthy is going to have his work cut out for him here. 

Winner: Shedeur Sanders (or whoever plays quarterback for the Cleveland Browns)

You have to say this for the Browns: They are trying to surround their young quarterback (or whoever their quarterback ends up being) with some playmakers. After taking two running backs early in the 2025 Draft, they followed that up by taking an offensive tackle in the top-10 (Spencer Fano), a wide receiver late in the first round (KC Concepcion), and then another wide receiver early in the second round (Denzel Boston).

Only one Browns wide receiver caught more than 25 passes a year ago, so this was a huge need. 

Now we see if they made the right picks and can develop the right quarterback with all of it. 

Loser: Josh Allen (again)

For some reason, the Buffalo Bills just do not seem interested in giving him more wide receiver help. They made no picks on Thursday. They made two picks on Friday. No wide receivers. Are they really counting on DJ Moore to be enough help? The Browns are giving their quarterbacks more help. 

Winner: Wide receivers

What makes the Bills' willingness to ignore the wide receivers so baffling is the fact that there have already been 17 taken through the first three rounds. It has become a primary position in the league, and it is where a lot of the talent is in this year's class. Teams are going for them. 

Loser: Teams needing quarterbacks

It has simply been an underwhelming year for the most important position on the field. Fernando Mendoza and Ty Simpson went in the first round, but only one of them (Mendoza) really excited people. There were only two quarterbacks taken on Friday, both in the third round, with Carson Beck going to the Arizona Cardinals and Allar going to the Steelers. Both are projects that seem to have their work cut out for them, and it seems possible that this class only produces one really good starter. Bad year to need the most important position on the field.