2026 NFL draft: Updated defensive positional rankings

[ASFN Admin]

We are less than a month from the 2026 NFL Draft, and college pro days are quickly coming to an end. This means for NFL franchises, they will push to get their 30 pre-draft visits in the books and any local visits, and finalize their draft boards before the draft starts. With that, we have updated our defensive positional rankings and expanded them to a Top Five prospects. We will give one more update before the draft with our Top 10s heading into draft weekend.

Edge defenders​

1 - David Bailey - Texas

2 - Rueben Bain Jr. - Miami

3 - Keldric Faulk - Auburn

4 - Zion Young - Missouri

5 - Cassius Howell - Texas A&M

Defensive tackle​

1 - Caleb Banks - Florida

2 - Kayden McDaniel - Ohio State

3 - Peter Woods - Clemson

4 - Christen Miller - Georgia

5 - Gracen Halton - Oklahoma

Linebackers​

1 - Arvell Reese - Ohio State

2 - Sonny Styles - Ohio State

3 - Jacob Rodriquez - Texas Tech

4 - Jake Golday - Cincinnati

5 - CJ Allen - Georgia

Cornerbacks​

1 - Mansoor Delane - LSU

2 - Jermod McCoy - Tennessee

3 - Avieon Terrell - Clemson

4 - Colton Hood - Tennessee

5 - Brandon Cisse - South Carolina

Safeties​

1 - Caleb Downs - Ohio State

2 - Dillon Thieneman - Oregon

3 - Emmanuel McNeil-Warren - Toledo

4 - A.J. Haulcy - LSU

5 - Kamari Ramsey - USC

This article originally appeared on Draft Wire: 2026 NFL draft: Updated defensive positional rankings

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