NFL Draft analytics label Keldric Faulk the steal of the first round
Published:
You can’t classify an NFL Draft pick as a hit or a miss until the player takes the field. However, in terms of value, it’s easy to see which teams took advantage of a draft slide or positional hierarchies. In that regard, there was no better selection in the first round of the 2026 NFL Draft than Keldric Faulk.
Friday morning, former Pro Football Focus data scientist Kevin Cole — now of the Unexpected Points newsletter/podcast — shared a graph detailing the biggest “reach” and “steal” of Thursday night’s first round, based on consensus prospect rankings. There was no bigger “reach” than the Dallas Cowboys’ choice of Malachi Lawrence at No. 23 overall. The best “steal” of the night, though, belonged to the Tennessee Titans, who took Faulk with the No. 31 pick.
The former Auburn standout is a younger and fairly raw prospect, but his upside is immense.
The Titans did well to leap back into the back end of the first round to secure him. Nabbing him with a first-round choice gives them the chance to pick up a fifth-year option on his contract. If they can develop him into the player they anticipate, that will be helpful toward their efforts of keeping him in Nashville beyond his rookie deal.
Following their trade up to choose Faulk, Tennessee has just one pick on day two of the draft (No. 69 overall). The second round of the 2026 NFL Draft begins at 7:00 p.m. E.T. (ESPN, NFL Network).
