Time is shorter and the wait is longer when the 2026 NFL Draft takes the stage in Pittsburgh on Thursday night.

The vagabond event marks a return to the home of the Steelers for the first time since 1948. Across three days, seven rounds and 257 total picks at Point State Park and Acrisure Stadium, which opened in 2001 as Heinz Field, players anxiously await to hear their name and, when chosen, embark on their NFL careers.

Barring a trade, the home fans will be waiting awhile for the Steelers to be on the clock at pick No. 21. But not as long as years past. A change will be implemented to reduce the time between each first-round selection from 10 minutes to eight minutes. The NFL reduced the time from 15 minutes to 10 in 2008.

Speaking of trades, there has already been significant wheeling and dealing of draft picks. General managers are also planning to be nimble on the clock Thursday in the first round. 49ers GM John Lynch anticipates “there’ll be a lot of trade movement this year.” Chiefs GM Brett Veach, drafting in the top 10 for the first time, echoed the sentiment.

“There’ll probably be a lot of trades,” Veach said.

Nobody expects the Raiders to trade out of the top spot, where they appear determined to select Heisman Trophy-winning Indiana quarterback Fernando Mendoza No. 1 overall. It’s the first time the Raiders enter the draft with the No. 1 spot since selecting LSU’s JaMarcus Russell in 2007.

After months of waiting, at least three in-person meetings and additional conversations with Mendoza, Raiders general manager John Spytek still expects a little alone time with the telephone in the draft room Thursday.

“Unless you’re super convinced that you’re making the pick, you kind of just sit there and wait for a little bit and see if your phone will ring,” Spytek said. “Sometimes, you can get really good trade offers that maybe you didn’t expect and other times your phone doesn’t ring, so then you just pick.”

Veach comes armed with two first-round picks courtesy of a trade with the Rams, who acquired cornerback Trent McDuffie for the No. 29 pick in the first round.

The Jets, Browns, Cowboys, Giants and Dolphins also own multiple picks in the top 32.

Trades have been a prevailing storyline for the Jets, who follow the Raiders on the clock at No. 2 and possess No. 16 overall courtesy of their trade of cornerback Sauce Gardner to the Indianapolis Colts last year. New York has a second pick in Round 2 as well — No. 44 from the Dallas Cowboys, part of the deal for Quinnen Williams last year — and a total of five in the top 103 in this draft.

It’s enough of a stockpile that the Jets could move down or stay put and draft any number of blue-chip options — four of them products of Ohio State. Linebackers Arvell Reese and Sonny Styles, safety Caleb Downs and wide receiver Carnell Tate are premier players at their position in this draft class. Any of them could be fits for the Jets, whose list of positional needs runs deep.

But the top-ranked pass rusher in the draft is David Bailey out of Texas Tech. Bailey and head coach Aaron Glenn downplayed the Jets canceling his “top 30 visit” to team headquarters. Bailey said Wednesday in Pittsburgh he has spent a lot of time with the Jets’ brass and recently caught up again on FaceTime. As far as Bailey is concerned, he’s very much an option for the Jets with the No. 2 pick Thursday.

“It’s been good, man. I’ve had great interaction with them,” Bailey said.

At No. 3, the Arizona Cardinals have a new head coach and no set plan at quarterback. While the Jets reacquired Geno Smith, the Cardinals haven’t tipped their hand. Consensus opinion of the 2026 draft class implies the answer might not be in this draft.

Alabama quarterback Ty Simpson is not a consensus first-round prospect but demand outweighs supply at the NFL’s most vital position, which could push the one-year Crimson Tide starter up draft boards.

With that in mind, Arizona has room on the roster for most of the brigade of Buckeyes, Bailey or could be a candidate to trade down.

The Titans are looking for a sidekick for 2025 No. 1 overall pick Cam Ward and might be antsy with the Cardinals on the clock. Tennessee has been closely connected to Notre Dame running back Jeremiyah Love, who said Wednesday he’s open to any outcome that could transpire in Pittsburgh on Thursday.

“You draft me, I’m not doing too much of nothing other than football,” Love said of his mindset and what he shared with interested NFL teams the past several months. “I want to be a Hall of Famer, I want to be a Pro Bowler my very first year. I want to win offensive rookie of the year. I tell them all these goals that I have.”

Alabama (2021) and Miami (2004) hold the record for most first-round picks produced by one program in a draft. If projections for four Buckeyes to be selected in the top 12 picks hold up, Ohio State nose tackle Kayden McDonald, who accepted an invitation to attend the draft in Pittsburgh, could be the fifth.

Multiple teams join the Colts (Gardner) by starting Thursday on the sideline without a first-round pick.

The Denver Broncos traded the No. 29 pick to the Dolphins in the Jaylen Waddle deal last month. Cincinnati sent the No. 10 pick to the New York Giants for Dexter Lawrence last week and the Falcons and Jaguars parted with 2026 first-rounders during the 2025 draft.

The Packers acquired Micah Parsons from the Cowboys in the August deal that cost Green Bay its 2006 first-rounder (20th overall).

–Field Level Media

While the surprisingly competitive NBA playoffs have stolen the headlines – and rightfully so – two of the biggest names in the league have seen interesting stories get buried this week.

Here’s what I’ve observed both on and off the court from my seat thousands of miles away …

Thunder, Celtics are Two of Two

Can we just fast-forward to a Thunder-Celtics finals? Yeah, I know the 76ers have stolen a game in Boston. It’s why they play seven. Without Joel Embiid, they won’t win again. Here’s hoping for seven SGA-Jaylen Brown head-to-heads in the Finals.

Competitive games in most first-round series only serve to lead to this conclusion: The good teams aren’t as good as people think. San Antonio, Denver, Detroit, New York … We’ve barely tipped off the postseason and already we’re asking: Who’s the third-best team in the NBA, the one who could possibly deny an Oklahoma City-Boston showdown? There really isn’t one.

Where Big Man Comes Up Small

Watching Victor Wembanyama get hurt, I guess it answers my question: Why is the most unstoppable force the league has seen since Kareem Abdul-Jabbar standing 30 feet from the basket, dazzling us with his ballhandling (but not with his 3-point shooting)?

Wemby is quickly headed down the Giannis Antetokounmpo path. You know, the guy who can dunk pretty much anytime he wants, but who has an ego larger than his wingspan, so he feels obligated to show us what a great perimeter player he is. Wemby could average 50 points a game – he really could – if he just walked block to block, caught lob passes and dunked from 10 feet away. He can do it. It’s amazing. His 3-point shooting isn’t.

Jaden McDodo

It has now become clear why Anthony Edwards talks so much. It’s to keep the microphones away from Jaden McDaniels.

How ignorant do you have to be when, five seconds after you’ve stunned a vastly superior opponent, you blast every one of their players for being poor defenders? Label me Mick Cronin, but I’d have the loudmouth sitting at the end of the bench wearing a dunce cap for Game 3. Aaron Gordon, the guy who will match up with McDaniels next game, is a bad defensive player? Well, I guess we’ll see.

What’s The Guy Gotta Do?

Wemby was a unanimous choice as Defensive Player of the Year. That was easy. This wasn’t: Leaving Jaylen Brown, the league’s best midsized defender on the perimeter, off every single line of every single ballot. He didn’t even get a second- or third-place vote. Not one.

If the NBA had a Most Underappreciated Award, Brown probably wouldn’t get any votes, either. That would just show how underappreciated he is. The Celtics were a better team without Jayson Tatum this year, and an unhandcuffed Brown was the reason. He should be an MVP candidate and certainly an All-NBA first-teamer, but the league has now allowed Cade Cunningham and Luka Doncic back into the mix, which likely will come at Brown’s expense. Do you think they’d have changed the rules if their posterboy – Tatum – were the candidate?

Kerr Could Strike Gold Again

Warriors coach Steve Kerr left to a group hug with fellow old-timers Stephen Curry and Draymond Green after the Warriors bowed out of the play-in tournament, leading to speculation that he might retire now that his contract has expired. Frankly, that would be unfortunate.

Kerr has a rare opportunity this off-season to use a trumpeted return to rally new forces and create a one-season superteam the likes of which the NBA has never seen. He already has Curry, Green and Jimmy Butler returning, with the possibility of keeping Al Horford and Kristaps Porzingis. Now, all Kerr has to do is what he helped accomplish at the Olympics – talk modern-day Dream Teamers like LeBron, Kawhi Leonard and maybe even VanVleet into joining a historic farewell tour. Just like Paris.

Wouldn’t you love to see it? Better yet, wouldn’t you love to see him try to make it happen?

Nothing Clutch About Clutch Criteria

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander was a remarkable fourth-quarter player this season. Just as he was in the first, second and third quarters. He certainly has the numbers to make him a legitimate NBA Clutch Player of the Year. Or at least the number we’ve been given.

You see, the NBA defines a “clutch game” as one in which the difference in the score is five or fewer points at any point of the final five minutes of the fourth period. It could be 99-94 with five minutes left, then 109-94 a minute later, yet all points scored through the end of the game go down as “clutch.” Or it could be a 110-85 blowout with five to go, without a single truly clutch second among the final 300 even though the final score might turn out to be 116-111, the product of three late, meaningless 3-pointers.

While the Thunder were blowing everyone out, teams like the 76ers and Nuggets had to duel to the bitter end more times than not. It’s not surprising then that Tyrese Maxey led the NBA with 15 field goals in the final minute with a chance to tie or take the lead. Jamal Murray had 14. Those are clutch performers. SGA had 11, which made him – barely – an All-Clutch Second Teamer.

Brooks Koepka knows a little something about team golf.

Granted, he did not play much four-ball or foursomes while with LIV Golf, where team scores are simply cumulative stroke-play totals.

But in his first season back on the PGA Tour, Koepka decided to play the tour’s only team event, the Zurich Classic of New Orleans, and joined Shane Lowry to create the most fascinating pairing of the week. Seventy-four teams will tee off Thursday at TPC Louisiana in Avondale, La.

Lowry played the past two Zurich Classics alongside Rory McIlroy, the longtime LIV critic. They won the tournament in 2024, but McIlroy is skipping the event this year amid a stretch of majors and other signature events.

Enter Koepka, who’s grinding to qualify for those signature events. He and his brother Chase tied for fifth at the Zurich in 2017. He’s also played on four U.S. Ryder Cup teams opposite Lowry’s Team Europe.

“I’ve known Brooks a long time, back from his European days playing the European Tour,” the Irishman said, revealing he texted Koepka’s caddie with the idea at first. “… I said, ‘Are we going to tee it up in New Orleans?’ He said, ‘Yeah, let’s do it.’

“We’re here. To the outside, it might not look like it makes sense, but you know, to us it does. … We do have a good relationship. We’re going to have a good bit of fun out there.”

Koepka was enthusiastic about the team-up.

“I think the way Shane drives the ball, the way my iron play has been lately, and then Shane’s short game, I mean, I think it’s a pretty good combination,” Koepka said. “I like the way we’re going with him hitting off certain holes and me hitting off the other holes.”

The field will play four-ball (best ball) on Thursday and Saturday and switch to foursomes (alternate shot) on Friday and Sunday. A 36-hole cut will whittle the field down to the top 33 teams and ties.

Lowry and McIlroy winning in 2024 was an exception at a tournament where rank-and-file players have a better chance to break through, like Nick Hardy and Davis Riley in 2023. Last year, Ben Griffin and Andrew Novak pulled off a one-stroke win; it was both players’ first win on tour, but Griffin catapulted into the top 10 in the world with two more victories and made the Ryder Cup team.

“Everyone has their breakthrough moments,” Griffin said. “Fortunately for me, it was here last year. Now look at me now. I was a (nominee) for the Player of the Year last year. Going into this tournament last year I wasn’t talking to any media. … Every single week can change your career.”

Englishman Matt Fitzpatrick rose to a career-best No. 3 in the Official World Golf Ranking by winning last week’s RBC Heritage, his second trophy of 2026. For the fourth straight year, he will play with his brother, Alex Fitzpatrick.

They have yet to finish better than T11 and missed the cut last year. But there’s one major difference now: After years of grinding away, Alex Fitzpatrick won his first European Tour title last month at the Hero Indian Open.

“I think it’s changed over time,” Matt Fitzpatrick said of their expectations for this event. “I think the first year we played, I’d also won the Heritage the week before. You come in feeling good about your game and in a more relaxed way. Then the last two years it’s been probably a bit more of, well, we’re playing OK, nothing great, but also trying to enjoy it, but maybe a little bit more pressure.

“I feel like this year, yeah, our expectations are higher given the form that we had shown this year, but if anything, I think because of that form, we’re probably allowed to enjoy it a little bit more.”

–Field Level Media