Being selected in the first round of the NFL draft, while it’s worth its weight in gold, has never been the deciding factor in success. Tom Brady famously went 199th overall in the 2000 draft, a sixth-round afterthought out of Michigan who barely got a look before turning into the best quarterback the league has ever seen. And he isn’t the only one.
Brock Purdy was Mr. Irrelevant, the very last name called in 2022, and he’s started a Super Bowl since. And what does it say about the depth of late-round drafting that a fifth-round cornerback nobody outside Seattle had heard of ended up starting on a Super Bowl-winning defense? Riq Woolen went 153rd overall in that same 2022 class, tied for the NFL lead with six interceptions as a rookie, made the Pro Bowl, and helped the Seahawks’ rampant ‘Dark Side’ defense strangle its way to a dominant win at Super Bowl LX.
Draft slot has never been destiny in this league. Four Day 3 picks from the 2026 class are proving that all over again, each carving out a real role through camp and the opening weeks for very different reasons. Four late picks, four genuine camp stories, four rookies who could matter far more than their draft slots suggested back in April.
4 – Eli Raridon, TE, Patriots
Two torn ACLs on the same knee cost Eli Raridon most of his first two seasons at Notre Dame, and he didn’t break out until 2025, when he started all 12 games and caught 32 passes for 482 yards, a 15.1-yard average that ranked among the best at the position in this class. At 6-foot-6, 245 pounds with a 4.62 forty, the traits were always obvious; the production just arrived late.
New England took him in the third round, 95th overall, and one outlet flatly asked whether he could become a steal given Austin Hooper’s departure and Julian Hill’s ACL tear thinning the room behind Hunter Henry. Consider what it took to answer that question in his very first game: with Jack Westover and CJ Dippre gone from the final roster and Raridon installed as the clear No. 2 tight end, he caught his only target of the season opener for a two-yard touchdown, the first score of the entire 2026 NFL season.
Online betting sites considered the Patriots a live underdog in that trip to Seattle on kickoff night. The odds from Lucky Rebel Sportsbook on game day listed New England as a narrow 3.5-point underdog, and when they raced into a 10-0 lead at Lumen Field, it seemed that they might well do much more than simply cover the spread, with Raridon and his debut touchdown crucial to that. Instead, Drake Maye threw three interceptions down the stretch, including one with just seconds remaining in the fourth quarter with his side in field goal range, to ultimately fall to a 13-10 defeat.
But none of that was Raridon’s fault. Head coach Mike Vrabel has praised how quickly he corrects mistakes. A confirmed complementary role behind Henry, with 25 to 35 catches and several more touchdowns realistic, positions Raridon for more as soon as 2027.
3 – Mike Washington Jr., RB, Raiders
Five years, three schools, one relentless workload. Mike Washington ran for 2,914 yards and 26 touchdowns on 587 carries across stops at Buffalo, New Mexico State, and Arkansas, adding 73 catches along the way. Las Vegas traded up to take him in the fourth round, 122nd overall, and head coach Klint Kubiak was reportedly “jumping on the table” to get him on the board, even with Ashton Jeanty entrenched as the starter.
Washington answered by ripping off 168 yards on 23 preseason carries, a 7.3 average, and a touchdown. Then Jeanty’s ankle injury in late August handed him an even bigger window. Is there a cleaner illustration of a coaching staff’s confidence than a fourth-round rookie forcing his way into the plan behind a first-round workhorse? Washington projects to carve out a genuine 8-to-10-touch role even once Jeanty is fully healthy, establishing himself as one of the league’s more dangerous handcuffs.
2 – Caleb Douglas, WR, Dolphins
Caleb Douglas doesn’t get to smooth over what happened on his draft night, and he shouldn’t have to. Miami took him 75th overall in the third round, and the reaction from the analyst community wasn’t subtle — Draft Sharks called it a reach outright, and RotoWire noted flatly that this would’ve been an easier sell two rounds later. Twenty-one catches in two years at Florida will do that to a prospect’s stock, no matter what a 4.39 forty and a 9.50 Relative Athletic Score suggest about the ceiling.
Douglas answered on Miami’s opening drive of preseason with a one-handed grab through contact for 28 yards, and Jeff Hafley didn’t hedge afterward: “He’s been consistent over time. He’s been really consistent.” With Tyreek Hill gone, Jaylen Waddle traded, and Chris Bell still rehabbing a torn ACL, the receiver who was supposedly a reach is now penciled in as a real option for new starting QB Malik Willis.
1 – Fernando Carmona, OG, Titans
And then there’s Fernando Carmona, sitting somewhere in Nashville in late August with a depth chart that had his name behind two more experienced players. Bleacher Report’s offensive line specialist Brandon Thorn wrote before the draft that Carmona’s tight margin for error and short arms meant his best shot at even sticking on a roster was probably at center.
Instead, Tennessee’s fifth-rounder took right guard away from veteran Cordell Volson and second-year lineman Jackson Slater outright, started the Titans’ preseason-opening win over San Francisco as the lone rookie starter on offense, and on September 1st, Robert Saleh made it official. “When he got in that spot, he just wouldn’t relent,” Saleh said.
Carmona now stands between Cam Ward and a pass rush that sacked him more than any quarterback in football last season — not a glamorous job, but exactly the kind of job that gets noticed when it’s done well.