2026 NFL draft order: After Week 12, Saints projected to pick top-3

Week 12 is behind us, and the New Orleans Saints are getting closer to locking up a top-five pick in the 2026 NFL draft. That's the only silver lining to an otherwise embarrassing home loss to the Atlanta Falcons. But do the Saints have the right people in place to take advantage of a high draft pick?

Longtime general manager Mickey Loomis has fewer hits than misses over the years, and ill-advised trades at the top of the board for Johnathan Sullivan, Sedrick Ellis, Marcus Davenport, and Trevor Penning stand out on his resume. None of them got a contract extension with the Saints, and both Sullivan and Ellis were out of the league after just five years. Loomis doesn't have a habit of learning from his mistakes.

At least he has a small army of former general managers advising him. Thomas Dimitroff joined the team as a consultant this summer. Loomis hired his old boss Randy Mueller for a similar role last year. And Jeff Ireland has positioned himself as a natural candidate to succeed Loomis once he's decided to step away. If there's any consolation, this year's rookie draft class has done well when everyone has been on the field.

But we're getting ahead of ourselves. For now, here's what the 2026 draft order looks like after Week 12 (not counting the projected playoff teams):

1. Tennessee Titans (1-10)

2. New York Giants (2-10)

3. New Orleans Saints (2-9)

4. New York Jets (2-9)

5. Las Vegas Raiders (2-9)

6. Cleveland Browns (3-8)

7. Washington Commanders (3-8)

8. Cincinnati Bengals (3-8)

9. Arizona Cardinals (3-8)

10. Miami Dolphins (4-7)

11. Los Angeles Rams (9-2), via Atlanta Falcons (4-7)

12. Minnesota Vikings (4-7)

13. Dallas Cowboys (5-5-1)

14. Carolina Panthers (6-6)

15. Kansas City Chiefs (6-5)

16. Pittsburgh Steelers (6-5)

17. Houston Texans (6-5)

18. Detroit Lions (7-4)

How could the Saints' final six games shake this up? They're going head to head against the teams currently picking first, fourth, tenth, and eleventh, and with so many two- and three-win teams clustered together, a couple of lucky breaks or, maybe, some positive momentum out of New Orleans could turn everything on its head. Or maybe the Saints really are worse than those teams and they stay at No. 3. We'll find out over the next month.

This article originally appeared on Saints Wire: 2026 NFL draft order: After Week 12, Saints projected to pick top-3