2026 NFL Draft winners and losers from Day 2: Eagles' Howie Roseman works his magic again

Roseman fills a need with a trade for Jonathan Greenard, slam dunk pick for Steelers round out winners

John Breech

Apr 25, 2026

1:52 am ET

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13 min read

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After unveiling some winners and losers for the first round of the draft on Thursday, we are back with more, and this time, we have two rounds to work with, so it's going to be twice the fun.

Eagles general manager Howie Roseman made our winners list on Thursday, and once again, he's also on the winners list. I wonder if he ever gets tired of winning. Roseman is the only person who made the list two days in a row.

The second day of the draft was a wild one because we saw one player get free ketchup for life and we also saw the second round go by with zero running backs or quarterbacks getting selected, marking the first time in 23 years that's happened.

With that in mind, let's get to our winners and losers, starting with Howie Roseman.

2026 NFL Draft essentials

- Day 2 recap: Rumors, trades and picks from Rounds 2-3

- Interactive draft tracker: Filter every pick by round, team, position and more

- Round 2 pick grades: Full breakdowns for every second-round selection

- Round 3 pick grades: Full breakdowns for every third-round selection

- Full draft order: All 257 picks by team

Winners

Eagles GM Howie Roseman

At this point, we might just have to name the "winners" section after Howie Roseman because he always ends up here. We put him here after the first round, we put him here last year and I'm pretty sure we put him here the year before that. I can't remember a year when we didn't have him as a winner.

This time around, he's a winner because he pulled off a blockbuster trade for Jonathan Greenard in the middle of the second round. To make the deal happen, Roseman just had to send two third-round picks to Minnesota. For the Eagles, this trade makes a lot of sense. The Eagles were in desperate need of some pass-rushing help after losing several key defensive players this offseason, including Jaelan Phillips and Nakobe Dean. Roseman didn't love his options in the draft, so he went out and got Greenard and then they turned around and signed the linebacker to a four-year, $100 million extension.

Although Greenard dealt with a shoulder injury in 2025 that caused him to miss several games, the 28-year-old has recorded at least 12 sacks in two of his past three seasons. This is another case of the rich getting richer.

Offensive weapons

When I say offensive weapons here, I'm specifically referring to wide receivers and tight ends. Both positions have been drafted at a historical pace through three rounds.

There have been 17 receivers taken so far in the draft, which is tied for the most through three rounds in draft history. Of that total, 12 were taken on Day 2. The Browns led the charge when it comes to drafting receivers: They became the first team since 1996 to use two top 40 picks on the position, taking KC Concepcion (24th overall) and Denzel Boston (39th overall). We handed out an 'A' or an 'A-' to seven different teams that drafted a receiver on Day 2, so we were big fans of most of the moves that went down.

Tight end was also a popular position to draft on Day 2. There were seven tight ends taken through the first 75 picks, which was the most since 1973. Overall, nine tight ends were taken in the first three rounds, tying the most in NFL history (the last time we saw nine came in 2023). At one point on Friday, four tight ends got taken in a span of eight picks.

All those tight ends can probably thank Sean McVay. The Rams coach started running more 13 personnel last year, which calls for having three tight ends on the field, and he had so much success that other teams started doing it more. The NFL is a copycat league, which might explain why everyone drafted a tight end on Day 2, including McVay's Rams (Max Klare). Even the Bears drafted a tight end (Sam Roush) and they made the move even though they already have Cole Kmet and Colston Loveland on their roster.

The belief that defense wins championships

Someone once said that defense wins championships and I'm starting to think that person might have been right. Yes, I did just point out all of the offensive weapons that were taken on Friday, but it was defense that dominated the second round. There were a total of 22 defensive players in the round, which was tied for the most in a second round in draft history. At one point, there was a stretch where 13 defensive players were taken in a 14-pick span.

The Texans were one team I certainly took note of. Houston traded up from 38th to 36th to draft Ohio State defensive lineman Kayden McDonald. If defense truly does win championships, then we might just want to give the Lombardi Trophy to the Texans. They already had one of the best defenses in the NFL and it just got even better with the addition of McDonald. The