NFL Draft Anxiety Index 2026

By Jim Tomlin

Feb 11th, 2026 1:45 PM EST

The 2026 NFL Draft is set for April 23 to April 25 in Pittsburgh. (Kirby Lee-Imagn Images)

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The NFL Draft is a time of promise, when your favorite team increases its NFL betting chances for the future with smart selections.

At least for some teams.

Other teams wreck their fans’ hopes and make every NFL Draft pick feel doomed. Bookes.com has come up with an NFL Draft anxiety index in anticipation of the 2026 NFL Draft, April 23-25 in Pittsburgh. Here is a look, with the methodology explained below.

NFL Draft Anxiety Index 2026

This analysis comes from Bookies.com as part of our insight for customers at sports betting sites.

Methodology: Bookies.com used the posts on X and Reddit along with Google Trends search results for the NFL Draft to see which fans are the most anxious for the event. All data is from Jan. 5 to Feb. 5, 2026. For the social commentary scoring, we factored in posts in each team’s subreddit and fans posting on X platform about the specific team that included terms and phrases that complained about the lack of trust with team management/decision making, player’s ability and general anxious terminology. Teams with a higher total score are considered to have more anxious fans.

The top US sports betting apps have plenty of prop bets available for the 2026 draft and will keep adding more.

2026 NFL Draft: Which Fans Are Most Anxious?

Why would a team that has drafted one future Hall of Famer since 1979 make its fans nervous? We can’t imagine.

The Cleveland Browns have drafted 389 players in that 44-year span since (not including supplemental drafts). Even accounting for the fact that the franchise did not exist for three years in the 1990s, the Browns have gotten relatively little value out of their draft picks for generations.

So, it should be no surprise that Browns fans top our rankings for NFL Draft anxiety, with 118.8 points by our metrics. After all, Cleveland has selected exactly two Pro Bowl quarterbacks since the franchise rebooted in 1999. One was Baker Mayfield, who has been selected to the Pro Bowl twice with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, but never in his tenure with the Browns from 2018-21.

The Browns are the longest shot on the board at bet365 Sportsbook to win the AFC North in 2026-27, at +1200 odds. Cleveland went 5-12 in the 2025-26 season and fired head coach Kevin Stefanski; they will reboot again in the fall under new coach Todd Monken.

Second on our draft anxiety list is the NFL’s other Ohio team, the Cincinnati Bengals, at 114.3 points. The No. 3 team on our list is the host of the 2026 draft, Pittsburgh. Steelers fans register 81.9 points for being anxious, according to our metrics.

All three of those teams are in the AFC North. You don’t suppose that being in the same division as the Baltimore Ravens – who seem to hit on their draft picks every year – has anything to do with the anxiety among Browns, Bengals and Steelers fans? The Ravens finished 8-9 this season and fired longtime coach John Harbaugh, but they have +1400 odds to win Super Bowl 61 for customers using the Caesars Sportsbook promo code. That’s tied for fourth on the operator’s board.

Which Fans Are Fairly Chill About the Draft?

The least worried fans regarding April’s draft belong to the Seattle Seahawks (40 points).

As a fan, it’s amazing what a mood boost it is for your team to win a Super Bowl, especially in a great sports city such as Seattle. But this data was collected before Super Bowl 60, when the Seahawks rolled past the New England Patriots 29-13 to collect the franchise’s second Vince Lombardi Trophy.

It also helps when a team has a recent track record for finding value with its draft picks, as the Seahawks do. Cornerback Devon Witherspoon (selected No. 5 overall in the 2023 draft) has been selected to the Pro Bowl in each of his three seasons with the Seahawks. Wide receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba (No. 20 overall in 2023) led the NFL this season with 1,793 receiving yards. Kenneth Walker III (No. 41 overall, 2022) rushed for 135 yards on 27 carries in the Super Bowl and was named the game’s Most Valuable Player.

At DraftKings Sportsbook, the Seahawks are co-favorites to repeat as Super Bowl champions at +950 odds as of Feb. 11 (the division rival Los Angeles Rams are also at +950).

If the AFC North is anxiety personified, then a West Coast chill permeates the West Division in both conferences. Seattle’s NFC West rivals, the San Francisco 49ers, are second on our list of fans with the least NFL Draft anxiety, with 46.8 points by our measurement. Two AFC West teams are tied for third from the bottom at 49.8 points – the Denver Broncos and Los Angeles Chargers.

Check out our best sportsbook promo codes at Bookies.com as well.

NFL Draft Q&A

Q: Which NFL teams have the most anxious fans heading into the 2026 NFL Draft?

A: According to the NFL Draft Anxiety Index 2026 from Bookies.com, the Cleveland Browns have the most anxious fanbase entering the draft. The Browns ranked No. 1 overall with a total score of 118.8, driven by extremely high anxiety levels across Reddit discussions, X posts, and Google Trends search activity. They’re followed closely by the Cincinnati Bengals (No. 2, 114.3) and Pittsburgh Steelers (No. 3, 81.9), making the AFC North the most anxiety-filled division heading into draft season.

Q: How did Bookies.com measure NFL fan anxiety for the 2026 Draft?

A: Bookies.com analyzed fan behavior across three key data sources from Jan. 5 to Feb. 5, 2026:

Reddit: Posts in team-specific subreddits

X (formerly Twitter): Fan posts mentioning teams alongside anxious or critical language

Google Trends: Search interest related to the NFL Draft

Posts were scored based on expressions of distrust in team management, concern over player talent, draft decision anxiety and general uncertainty. Teams with higher combined scores were ranked as having more anxious fanbases.

Q: Which NFL teams are the least anxious about the 2026 NFL Draft?

A: Fans of the Super Bowl 60 champion Seattle Seahawks appear to be the calmest heading into the 2026 NFL Draft. Seattle ranked last (No. 32) with a total anxiety score of 40, showing consistently low concern across Reddit, X, and Google search behavior. Other notably relaxed fanbases include the San Francisco 49ers (No. 31, 46.8) and Denver Broncos and Los Angeles Chargers (tied at No. 29, 49.8). These rankings suggest confidence, or at least patience, among fans of these teams going into draft weekend.

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