Rich Breaks Down How Pre-NFL Draft Trades Played Out in the 2026 First Round

The first round of the 2026 NFL Draft did something that had only happened once before in the common-draft era, and Rich spent a chunk of the morning after walking through the math of it on The Rich Eisen Show. A running back, a safety, an inside linebacker, and a tight end all came off the board in the top half of the first round, a configuration last seen in 2006.

"Coming into this draft, the conversation was the number of positions that aren't supposed to be drafted very high, you know, off the ball linebacker, running back, safety," Rich said. "At the end of the day, last night's first round was only the second draft in the common draft era, meaning when the AFL and the NFL got together, only the second time to feature a running back, a safety, an inside linebacker, and a tight end selected in the top half of the first round. The other was 2006."

The 2026 names: Jeremiah Love, Sydney Styles, Caleb Downs, and Kenyon Sadiq. The 2006 mirror: Reggie Bush at two, A.J. Hawk at five, Ernie Sims at nine, Michael Huff and D'Onta Hightower as the safeties, and Vernon Davis as the tight end. Rich noted that Caleb Downs going eleventh overall and Sadiq as a tight end first-rounder both echo the kind of athletic profile that defined the 2006 group.

From there Rich walked through what teams had actually done with the picks they had banked from prior trades. The Giants converted the Dexter Lawrence trade into Francis Mauigoa. The Rams turned the James Pearce selection acquired from Atlanta into Ty Simpson. The Jets turned the Sauce Gardner trade into Sadiq. The Cowboys' Micah Parsons return became Malachi Lawrence. The Browns, having traded down off Travis Hunter into Mason Graham last year, used that line of picks to land Casey Conception. The Dolphins' Jaylen Waddle return produced cornerback Chris Johnson. The Chiefs spun the Trent McDuffie trade into Peter Woods. "Just food for thought, turning the picks into people," Rich said.

The Cowboys-Eagles thread was the one Rich could not stop pulling. After consulting NFL Network researcher Jack Andre, Rich confirmed the last Eagles-Cowboys draft trade had been in 2021, when Dallas moved down from ten to twelve and took Micah Parsons while Philadelphia moved up to take DeVonta Smith.

"When that trade went down last night and they moved down and the Eagles moved up, the pick that the Eagles traded up to get from the Cowboys, that pick existed, was from the Micah Parsons trade," Rich said. "The Cowboys move down and take an edge rusher who they hope in any way, shape, or form can turn into Micah Parsons. Can't get enough of stuff like that."