Top 5 1st round worthy prospects The Athletic has available in round 2

This time tomorrow, the first round of the 2026 NFL Draft will be underway. That means all the outlets are releasing their final mock drafts. USA Today Wire sites were among them. One of the more notable being The Athletic's network mock draft.

Network mock drafts would seem to be more useful because it isn't just one person's opinion. It puts in charge of each pick someone who is presumably more in tune with the needs, wants, and tendencies of the team they cover exclusively.

Since the Raiders top pick has been settled and unchanged throughout the offseason -- surprise! it's Fernando Mendoza -- the question then becomes who they will take with their pick at 36 overall in the second round. And part of the answer to that lies in who is still on the board.

For that reason these mock drafts can still be interesting as it doesn't just predict who will get selected, but who will NOT be selected and thus be on available on day two.

The Athletic beat writer mock draft graphic

Once all of their picks were made, there were a few prospects who were not selected, but who, by many evaluator's judgment are worthy of being selected in the top 32.

Using Arif Hassan's Consensus Big Board, there were five players who were ranked in the top 32 who were still available for Day two. And, oddly, the top four were all Clemson players.

21. Avieon Terrell, CB, Clemson26. Peter Woods, DT, Clemson30. T.J. Parker, EDGE, Clemson31. Blake Miller, OT, Clemson32. Colton Hood, CB, Tennessee

The next five are fringe first round picks, some of which I've seen going in the first round in some mock draft. Others being hot picks atop the second round.

34. Chris Johnson, CB, San Diego St35. CJ Allen, LB, Georgia37. Caleb Banks, DT, Florida39. Zion Young, EDGE, Missouri40. D'Angelo Ponds, CB, Indiana

This article originally appeared on Raiders Wire: 5 round 1 worthy prospects The Athletic mock has available in round 2