New Mel Kiper Jr. NFL Draft 2026 Big Board Drops, Comparing Rankings to Todd McShay, Daniel Jeremiah

Amid the final countdown to the start of the 2026 NFL draft on Thursday, ESPN's Mel Kiper Jr. has unveiled his final big board ranking the top 150 players in this year's class.

Here is how Kiper's top 10, along with notable differences in rankings compared to The Ringer's Todd McShay and NFL.com's Daniel Jeremiah:

Mel Kiper Jr. Big Board Top 10 Rankings

1. Fernando Mendoza, QB, Indiana
2. Jeremiyah Love, RB, Notre Dame
3. Arvell Reese, LB/EDGE, Ohio State
4. Sonny Styles, LB, Ohio State
5. David Bailey, EDGE, Texas Tech
6. Caleb Downs, S, Ohio State
7. Jordyn Tyson, WR, Arizona State
8. Carnell Tate, WR, Ohio State
9. Francis Mauigoa, OT, Penn State
10. Spencer Fano, OT, Utah

One thing that the big board from all three draft analysts makes clear is the top five players in this class are Fernando Mendoza, Jeremiyah Love, Arvell Reese, Sonny Styles and David Bailey.

Those five players are all in the top five for Kiper, McShay and Jeremiah. Mendoza tops the rankings for Kiper and Jeremiah, while McShay has Love as his No. 1 player and the Indiana quarterback at four.

McShay and Jeremiah have Styles ranked as their best defensive player. Kiper went with Reese as his top prospect on that side of the ball, but Styles is right behind him.

The biggest split in the top 10 for Kiper compared to the other two is Arizona State's Jordyn Tyson being ranked as the top wide receiver and No. 7 overall prospect.

Neither McShay nor Jeremiah has Tyson in their respective top 10. Jeremiah is the low man on Tyson, having him ranked at No. 18 overall and fourth receiver behind Carnell Tate, Makai Lemon and Omar Cooper Jr.

If you include all pass-catchers, Tyson is fifth because Oregon tight end Kenyon Sadiq is No. 14 overall on Jeremiah's board.

Kiper does share an affinity for Tyson with B/R's NFL scouting department, which also has him ranked as the top wideout and No. 9 overall player.

Another outlier on Kiper's board is Rueben Bain Jr. all the way down at No. 16 overall. Jeremiah and McShay both have the Miami star ranked in their top 10, with Jeremiah the high man at No. 7.

Kiper did cite Bain's infamously short arms as something NFL teams will have to "be comfortable with" in their evaluation, but he didn't really cite any qualms with the way Bain plays the game.

With most of the prominent draft analysts having finalized their rankings, all that remains is for NFL teams to show us how they view this draft class. We will finally get those answers when the first round begins on Thursday at 8 p.m. ET.