Colts NFL Draft: Expected 1st round picks that could surprisingly fall to the 2nd round and be targets for Indianapolis
The Colts have to get a bit creative when building out their 2026 NFL Draft class because they don’t have a 1st-round pick. So if one of these expected 1st-round selections falls to the 2nd, they need to pounce.
The Indianapolis Colts’ process for the 2026 NFL Draft differs from that of most teams in the league. The team doesn’t own a first-round pick due to trading it for corner Sauce Gardner.
This means they will have to wait and see which expected first-round talent falls out of the opening day of the draft on Thursday. This would give them a chance to target them in the second round on Friday, with the team’s first pick currently slated for pick 47.
Here are three expected first-round picks that the Colts would be wise to target if they fell out of the round, and each has a decent reason they could.
Toledo safety Emmanuel McNeil-Warren
Emmanuel McNeil-Warren is one of the top safeties in this year’s class. Ohio State’s Caleb Downs and Oregon’s Dillon Thieneman are expected to be the top two off the board at the position. Up next is projected to be the Toledo safety McNeil-Warren.
He has a versatile skill set and a large frame at 6-3. Has shown himself to be a good coverage safety and brings the boom against the run. The Colts need a starting safety opposite Cam Bynum after losing Nick Cross in free agency. If McNeil-Warren is available in round two, he would be an incredible option for the Colts to target and make their new starter.
Texas A&M edge rusher Cashius Howell
Cashius Howell is one of the most proven pass rushers in this year’s draft. In his final season at Bowling Green in 2023, he exploded for 9.5 sacks. This led him to transfer to Texas A&M. The jump to the SEC took a bit of getting used to, and he finished with four sacks and only started one game for the Aggies in 2024.
In 2025, the training wheels were off, and he was a full-time starter. And he showed just how good he can be, leading the team with 11 sacks and 14.5 tackles for loss. His showing in 2025 has him in play to be a first-round pick. Something he can’t control, though, could hold him back. He measured in with just slightly above a 30” arm length.
To put that into perspective, Miami edge rusher Rueben Bain Jr., whose arms have been a hot topic, actually has longer arms than Howell. Howell’s arm measured in at 30 1/4” and Bain’s came in at 30 7/8”. Howell would have the shortest arms by any first-round edge rusher in recent memory. If that forces him to fall to the second round, the Colts should pounce on the speed rusher and let him play right away. They haven’t been afraid of arm length outliers at other positions in the past, anyway.
Indiana wide receiver Omar Cooper Jr
The last one up is a player local fans will know well. Omar Cooper Jr. was a star wide receiver at Indiana University. Cooper was a star in the state of Indiana even before that, though. He played his high school football at Lawrence North in Indianapolis.
Cooper wasn’t considered a first-round talent before Indiana’s magical national championship season in 2025. In fact, most believed he would be back in Bloomington for his last year of eligibility, which would have been the 2026 season. Instead, he showed enough for NFL evaluators to project that he would hear his name called in round one.
The case for Cooper to fall out of round one is because of the position he plays. Wide receiver is a premium position, but every team has its own specific needs at the spot. He has projections that have him as high as the fourth wide receiver off the board. And projections as low as being the seventh off the board. It’s hard to imagine seven receivers going in round one. If he falls to the second, he would be a perfect complement to Alec Pierce and Josh Downs. Therefore, the Colts would be wise to make him a priority target in that case.
