The Rich Eisen Show’s 2026 NFL Sleeper Teams Draft Round 1: Titans, Dolphins & Saints

The show ran a sleeper team draft with no prep, no teleprompter and no heads-up between the three participants, which is exactly why round one produced a name nobody in the room saw coming.

1. Miami Dolphins, taken by guest host Seth Rollins. Rollins explained his method up front. He pulled up the Super Bowl odds and started at the bottom, and the first team that jumped out was the one everybody has written off.

"Everybody's saying they're going to win three games, four games," Rollins said. He has a friend who is a lifelong Dolphins fan and thinks they go winless.

Rollins is not buying it, and his first piece of evidence is a quarterback he watched beat up on his own team.

"As a Chicago Bears fan, I had to watch the Bears play Malik Willis multiple times last season," he said. "Malik Willis is a competent quarterback. He is the real deal. He is a legitimate athlete. He is a dual-threat quarterback. He's got a good deep ball and he's got Jaylen Waddle to throw the football to."

The bigger reason is the defense, and specifically Jeff Hafley arriving from Green Bay. Rollins admitted there are not a lot of sexy names on that side of the ball in Miami, which he considers beside the point.

"He will whip them into shape and they will buy into his scheme," Rollins said.

His prediction is calibrated, not crazy. He is not picking the Dolphins to win the AFC East. He is saying they finish ahead of the Jets, land at least third in the division, and do not end up among the five worst teams in football.

2. Tennessee Titans, taken by Chris. His pick came down to the quarterback and the people calling plays around him.

"I think Cam Ward is an absolute dog," Chris said, drawing a line to the second-year leaps the league watched from Caleb Williams and Drake Maye last season. He thinks Ward could do something similar.

Around Ward, Chris pointed to Carnell Tate, another year of Calvin Ridley in the offense, the signing of Wan'Dale Robinson, and Jeffery Simmons anchoring the defense. He stopped short of predicting an AFC South title but expects Tennessee in the mix.

He also noted, accurately, that the coaching staff is a collection of beautiful bald men.

3. New Orleans Saints, taken by TJ, under duress. Tennessee was his pick and Chris took it one slot early, so TJ pivoted live and landed somewhere he apparently already had a feeling about.

The foundation is the calendar. TJ said the Saints have the second-easiest strength of schedule in the league, while acknowledging that every schedule in this sport is hard.

On the quarterback, he was honest about the limits of his own scouting.

"I'm not an all-22 guy, but all the all-22 guys that I follow, they're very high on him," TJ said of Tyler Shough. "They say this kid's got something."

Add Chris Olave, a re-signed Alvin Kamara and Travis Etienne, and TJ thinks the mood in New Orleans is about to change.

"I just have a feeling that the days of the brown paper bags are over," he said.

Rollins liked the pick on the merits, pointing out the division was won last season by a Panthers team with a losing record. Two more rounds to go.